My dishwasher is broken and I am terribly put out by it. How sobering to discover how dependent I have become. I’ve been doing dishes by hand and it is drudgery, plain and simple. So, while mindlessly gazing through the window that sits above the sink, my thoughts trample aimlessly and recall a once beloved title among women: Domestic Goddess.
What happened to all of the domestic goddesses? Realizing this is a female term for females who have to toot their own luxuriating horn, it still describes excellently what used to be honored, but is now lost.
Do our daughters know how to be domestic goddesses? That used to be the important thing in every household: Cleaning, Mending, Washing…Householding. I think most of us know a little something, and we could probably manage if we absolutely had to, but face it—it is no longer an art like it used to be.
Our world today caters to instant gratification. We demand shortcuts, even of our shortcuts. I insisted on a delay feature on my new dishwasher. I never use the delay feature, but now I know I can set the timer and the machine will start when I’m not even there. Holy Cow! Since my memory is going, this is pure luxury.
Actually, what am I talking about? In the morning, when I begin to unload the dishwasher, but realize I forgot to run it the night before, I say a little prayer of thanks, because I don’t have to unload just yet. I can hit the button, turn, and hit the road. I’m free!
Maybe domestic goddessing comes in a robot?
“Doing dishes has to be the worst job, ever,” says my son as he passes me at the sink. “Thanks, dear, for your offer to help”. Having three college age children at home for the summer puts a real dip in the kitchen area. I am always buying groceries, I am always doing dishes (filling and emptying the dishwasher…and now doing them by hand!), I am always getting after them to move their junk from my space. And yes, I still feel this way after asking them to do their share (notice, I didn’t say FAIR share). Actually, they are more or less willing to help around the house, but I’m in a complaining mood right now. You know what really gets me is they keep telling me there’s no food in the house. ”Try cooking something, dear. But don’t dirty any dishes.”
This is quickly spiraling into a gaping wound. What I started off saying was we just rely too heavily on convenience. My children invented it. Their philosophy is “If it’s broken, mom will fix it, she likes doing that kind of crap.” The reality is that I’m just as lazy as they are. I like convenience. Even more so, because I remember the old ways, and it’s tough going backwards.
So, here are some questions I need answers to:
- How do you wash a strainer in the sink, anyway? I have enforced a “no strainer use” policy until the new dishwasher arrives.
- How do you remove tomato stain from plastic ware? Granted, that was a problem with the dishwasher too, but now it’s just plain hopeless. Spaghetti has definitely been outlawed!!
- How do you train boys to soak their dishes? Especially milk left several days in a glass tucked away in a corner.
- How do you inform boys, and enforce, that the kitchen is ever closed. Okay, so this is a little off topic, but I’m on a roll. My boys eat constantly and their dishes, wrappings, and leftovers are everywhere.
Our house probably sounds like a pigsty, with mother pig rooting around helplessly. Fine, maybe it is, but I still have my standards.
More questions:
- How do you rev yourself up into cleaning the house? I personally invite people over JUST for the incentive needed. But apparently it’s not often enough.
- Am I the only one who fills my liquid soap bottle with water to get those last suds, because I’m too lazy to fill it back up again?
- Do you sew your loose buttons on when they are still attached to the garment, or do you wait until it finally falls off, and possibly cannot be found ever again, so you resort to safety pins?
- Are you on first name basis with your favorite fast food place? Or, better yet, maybe you encourage your children to get jobs there, so you have an easy meal FOR HALF PRICE!
- Or have you developed your own style of fast food magic in the kitchen (opening boxes with flare).
Have other domestic goddesses turned in their mops only to pick up their interests providing little time for the mundane? What would Susa Young Gates say, I wonder. She was the domestic goddess of all other goddesses in her day. She had the perfect house, a houseful of kids, and was busier then than even most of us are today (check out her bio on this site—she was amazing!).
Oh, woe, is me. And curse my little dishpan hands and pruney fingers!
Well I am far from a Domestic Goddess, but I have heard, and do things myself, to get me motivated around the house.
From one sister who hated the chores that kept her hands busy, but not her mind, she used that time to memorize things. Poems, scripture references, she even memorized the entire Proclamation to the World: Family!
Great idea, but frankly, for me, this feels like more work! 🙂 She did however, figure out the root cause for why chores feel like chores. They can be so mind-numbing!
This may seem far too pragmatic, but my motivating force is my ipod. I have a speaker base in my kitchen, and ear-phones for times when the rest of the house is too loud. When I look at that pile of dishes, or a messy room or a closet that needs organizing and just don’t want to do it, I turn on the ipod. Music gets me started, and soon I get the job done. In fact, because I’m enjoying the music so much (because, of course I’m singing along) I often move on to another chore because I’m not ready to turn the ipod off! Not only do I listen to music, but podcasts. There are many interesting, informative and uplifting podcasts that you can download onto an mp3 player. I have a whole bunch of my favorites queued up and when chores call, I think, “Good! I can listen to the next podcast!” Or three, or four. It keeps my mind from growing numb while my hands are getting pruny.