Month: November 2007

Ok, I am so not trying to turn this into a home-improvement blog. But there have been some fun things going on around here which I want to share. Many of our readers know that we did not buy our house for its cosmetic beauty, but because it was in a great area, had pretty good “bones”, and was in our price range. Frankly, much of it was pretty awful-looking when we bought it. But, we have been really thankful to be here.

So now, after many months, we have updated/improved/replaced many things which needed attention that were NOT cosmetic and which, while adding to the very important “soundness” of the home, didn’t do much to enhance the appearance of the house (think electrical, plumbing, gas lines, gutters). But this past week, we made the first profound improvement to the place cosmetically. And from the back at least, things are looking pretty nice!!

Here is a before shot of the back of our house. The folks who used to own the place let their dogs live out here (as well as several thousand colonies of fleas…which we have since evicted!), and they (the dogs, not the fleas!) did a number on the brick walls, back doors, deck floor. Ick.

Here is how the other side looked, complete with random trash and Christmas lights (it was August!) left by previous owners:

Here is the same spot now (with one lonely, albeit lovely chair which belongs to my lil’ sis):

The pic doesn’t show it well, but the deck is actually a darker color than the house, so there is a bit of contrast. Still working on my Photoshop (or, in this case, Picasa) abilities…..

Here’s another before (remember this, Jamison?):

And this afternoon:

From what our sweet next-door neighbor tells us, this deck is over twenty years old, so I don’t know how long it will last, but hopefully we have just prolonged its life significantly with this latest TLC. I am loving this space. If you’re in the area, come on over for a glass of tea and a chat on the deck. We can fight over who gets to sit in my sister’s adirondack chair!

…is, it turns out, her amazing new dishwasher!! When our vintage model, a KitchenAid Superba by Hobart…quite the machine in its day, my mother tells me…and indeed, I think ours had seen better days…

gave up the ghost, I knew that ANYTHING would be a step up from washing all our dishes and utensils, pots and pans by hand. My month without a washer was helpful in demonstrating just how beneficial a real working dishwasher can be to the busy mommy of four. It was admittedly not a fun month, and I often felt as though I spent most of my waking hours in the kitchen, trying vainly to keep it somewhat tidy, while always staring at yet another stack of dirty dishes.

These past few weeks of having my new dishwasher has been a dream…I am very very grateful for this new convenience in our lives. I read a wee bit of the owner’s manual when we had the new washer installed (reading manuals is not my strong suit), enough to see that the company advises you NOT to prerinse your dishes before loading; only to scrape food from them, and place in the washer for cleaning. Never having owned a washer which would actually clean dishes that weren’t prerinsed, neither Jay nor I believed this would actually work, so we, being creatures of habit, loaded some well-rinsed dishes into the machine for its first cycle, and of course were pleased when they emerged an hour later, washed, hot and almost dry. And we were truthfully even a little surprised, especially since we couldn’t easily tell the hard-working washer was actually running….it was so quiet. (See? They have to put these nice little blue lights on the front so you can visually tell that it’s running, since you might not know otherwise.):

We had been very used to a lot of noise coming from the dishwasher, given that our previous model pretty much made it sound like a train was crashing through the kitchen every time we ran it.

Well, about a week later we got gutsy and decided to see if the new washer actually lived up to its lofty claims. It was hard for us, but we resisted the urge to prerinse our dirty dishes. Instead we loaded the arrogant machine up with rubber scrapers caked in peanut butter, a broiler pan with crusted fish that had been cooked on at extremely high heat, a pie plate with some scattered remains of chicken pie which had hardened nicely over it, bowls covered with dried raw egg on the insides, well, you get the picture. We threw them in, poured in the scant amount of cleaner we were instructed to include, ran the dishwasher through its water-saving, whisper-quiet cycle, and were truly shocked when everything came out clean and fresh the next morning. Clean. Dry. Spotless. Not even a water spot. Wow.

Well, needless to say, I am in love. I have never owned a dishwasher like this. I honestly didn’t know such a thing even existed, much less at a price the average middle class homeowner could afford. As God is my witness, if we ever decide to move from this house, I will uninstall this precious dishwasher from its place under the countertop by myself, wrap it in a comfy blanket, and carry it on my back to our new place of residence.

Here’s a picture of my new best friend (IMHO it hardly does the wonderful machine justice, but of course after all this blathering I must include a photo):