Not the Dishwasher too!
Some weeks–or months–are tougher than others. You know, those stretches where everything seems to fall apart at the same time–well, I’m in the middle of one of those.
Let’s see: brakes and tires on one car, the A/C on another car, the A/C in the house, and two cats got really sick and had generous vet bills. The kitties recovered, thankfully and I learned how to make kitty milkshakes and force feed them to cats. The cars, at least one of them, is driveable now, though after a huge mechanic’s bill, the A/C on the other still isn’t working–and the power windows are shot. With 90+ degree temps, it really isn’t safe to drive without windows that open. But the house is cool–though the compressor is on the last legs and the repair guy warned us to start planning for that expense. Sigh, ok, really big sigh.
So after all of this, my dishwasher up and quits on me. Really? Of all things here the stupid dishwasher? Now I am feeling pretty sorry for myself as I stand around washing dishes. AND I’m the meanest mom on the block, having informed my kids that they are to wash their own breakfast and lunch dishes. Nothing piling up during the day.
Funny thing, when it is just one or two dishes, it isn’t a big deal to wash them. When they are just used, stuff isn’t stuck on and they are easy to clean up. As long as we stay on top of it, it actually isn’t so bad. And now, I’ve discovered, I have a whole to do list to which that same approach can be applied. Do it in small bits, do it when its fresh, don’t let it pile up. Been trying that all week. I’ll let you know how it goes.
It was interesting keeping track of what I did this week. It was a fairly productive week:
Words of Fiction Written: 11,400 words on 3 different fiction projects
Words of Nonfiction written: 5,500 words on three articles and a marketing plan
Blog Posts Prepared: 13 for four different sites
Emails written: 62 emails, about 2700 words
Social Media Interactions: 55, about 1400 words
Articles (Research and writing craft/business) Read: 34 research and 35 craft/business
Formatting: none
I did get my new story started. Forgot to add all the notes I wrote about it into the totals. Oh well. I got about 9000 words on it, so we’re off to the races. I’ve got a good sense of all four acts, which may or may not be a good things. We’ll see if the characters cooperate or not. LOL
I’ll leave you with a new entry from my Writer’s Sketchbook, just a few observations from around the neighborhood.
- She ran with an easy, loping gate, settling into each step like a bag of flour slumping on a shelf.
- One side of her shirt was caught up in the waist of her pants, one side hung free as though she could not decide on the right level of formality and thought it best to cover all her bases.
I would love to hear what you think. Please have your share of the conversation in the comments!
The dishwasher demon is targeting historical fiction writers this week. I was happily researching the tunnels under Alnwyck and zap! Now I am at Home Depot researching dishwashers. First, of course, I tried to trouble shoot myself and that meant finding the bloody manual – 1/2 hour on that, to find out that either i had installed a new garbage disposal unit improperly (sorry, not that), or I needed a new pump, which may or may not fix the problem. Then I had to clean out the drawer where I keep my manuals,culling it for everything that had been discarded during th 20th century–another half hour. Then, time out to remove and rewash and dry the dinner dishes. Oh, well Alnwyck by another name has been there since the Romans. It will be there when i get to it. As for the dishes, that’s another matter.
I’m sorry to hear it is a wide spread phenomenon. That is not fun at all. I have some large notebooks that I learned to keep my manuals in after one too many hours spent looking for the stupid things! I can really feel the pain! Thanks, Linda!
Awww Hope everything goes well and nothing else brakes.
Thanks, hubby says he’s going to order a pat of the dishwasher. Hopefully that will take care of it. I seems it is the computer-control panel is at fault and he’s really good with those things. Thanks!
I totally understand. I hope things get better quickly. I love your approach of doing a little at a time. I now have to hand wash all my dishes since we live in the basement and have a small sink. I try to do them each meal or it’s unbearable.
Great progress and the descriptions from the writers sketchbook.
Thanks, Suzan. There’s an old saying about how do you eat an elephant–one bite at a time. It seems to work for a lot of things.
Glad you liked the sketchbook. I”m have a lot of fun with those.
You’re an amazing woman, Maria Grace! You do so much each week! You do way more than me. I’m lucky if I get two blog post written a week, answer maybe a handful of emails, & comment on a few blogs and social media sites. I hope you get you dishwasher fixed soon and that nothing else breaks or gets sick!
Thanks, Candy. Things have been pretty crazy lately!
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