You’ll be surprised. Sam here with my tale of woe. It’s been over two weeks now. (Our repair guy should be here this weekend. YAY!) In the interim, I’ve learned a few things while not having a working dishwasher. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of washing dishes by hand. I love the dishwasher and it frees up a bit of time that I can be spending with family. For instance, we can load the dishwasher and have an hour of ‘game night’ with the family.
I’ve had a few thoughts while having to handwash the dishes. First, what do I have to be thankful/grateful for about it? I’m seeing a lot of posts about false positivity and you know, what – false positivity is really systemic and it’s an issue in our culture. I hate it because, well, am I going to sit back and be all happy and roses enjoyable when it’s a load of garbage? Nope, I am very close to “I hate washing dishes by hand.”
But what’s the value in all of this:
First and foremost, I’m grateful when I have a ‘working’ dishwasher!
We’ve discovered some unique family time while doing the chore of handwashing dishes.
Growing up, I had quite a few chores to do. It gave me an appreciation for what’s involved in keeping a house – a behind-the-scenes appreciation.
Doing simple chores gave me (and hopefully, my children) a lot of resilience and strengths and an appreciation for the work that goes into running a home.
So the dishes in my sink that are about to get washed when I’m done shooting this video have really given me a new appreciation. What are you appreciating now that you never thought about? Instead of false positivity – smiling like everything is A-OK – what are you actually taking for granted that you should be really grateful for? Feel free to share your thoughts on our FB page.
Ellie’s Thoughts
I’m one of those crazy people who love doing my dishes by hand. In most instances, I can have dishes done while someone else is still loading their dishwasher. But I tend to enjoy tasks where my hands are busy. I spend a lot of time on a computer. The manual tasks seem to allow my mind to enjoy some free-thinking, or maybe free-association is a better term. Ideas I have rolling around in my mind seem to re-organize. It feels very creative without any effort.
But on a more practical level, I worked two years on Fishers Island, NY for wealthy families as a housekeeper/cook. Even there, most of the time I could do dishes faster than loading the dishwasher. The times I really appreciated a dishwasher was for cocktail parties where we worked to keep up with glasses.
If I had a choice, I would trade a dishwasher for a warming drawer. I’ll continue that thought on another day.
Between us, we have over 100-years of experience and Sam’s only 39! If you enjoy our life hacks and simple common sense approaches to sustainability and everyday life, please spread the word.
Hi, Sam here. I’m going to actually walk you through this very simple step-by-step process of starting your seeds in this really cheap and effective manner. So like I told you last time, I got these packets from my local grocery store and I had four packs of 24 cells. They were really, really inexpensive. Remember these were super easy. They’re super cheap. And they will last me a couple of years’ time. So we are going to plant our leafy greens, just a couple of varieties to get them started so that when I am ready to put them outside, I will have them ready to rock and roll.
What You’ll Need
Potting Soil
Yes, many people mix their own. ME? I don’t have time for that!
Trays – as described in previous video
Large tray or something to put under your work area for easy clean-up
Spray bottle of water
Seeds
Craft/popsicle sticks or other markers you’re using
Marker
Process:
Add potting soil to your seed tray
Dampen with water (I didn’t have it handy in this video)
The Brussel Sprout seeds I’m planting are very tiny, VERY tiny, so I’m putting 3 in each cell
Cover lightly
Label the sticks with seed name, brand, etc
Use the sticks (or any fancy tags you’re using) to label your cells so that you remember what they are
Lightly spritz again with water
Key Tip: Check your seeds every day so they don’t dry out, which will stress your seeds and hinder growth.
Next time we talk, we’ll talk about other things I don’t like – called the determinant and indeterminant tomatoes. They have screwed me over many years in a row. So until next time, Sam, Sam Groff, from Beyond TP and Milk. Be sure to like, share, join our e-mail list, and start your seeds!
Normally I’m lazy and will buy my pizza from an amazing local pizzeria, Ecole’s or La Cucina. Both restaurants are owned by amazing Italian families who are fabulous at making pizza. Ironically though, when I get pizza from both pizzerias, I still must cut the crust.
Why? Well, as I’ve been making my own pizza now over the last year – thanks to COVID! I’ve learned a lot about dough. Pizza dough, for instance, is quite elastic, So a quick once over with a pizza cutter won’t actually fully cut the crust. In walks Ellie with her life hack that I never realized would work so neatly.
SCISSORS!
No, seriously, your kitchen shears can be used to cut almost anything. Some are so sharp they can cut through bone. Why not pizza?
Well, because frankly, I had never thought of it. I have a utensil specifically designed to cut pizza, so why wouldn’t that work. Short answer, because the dough is elastic and unless you press super hard on your pizza cutter and regularly sharpen it, that sucker isn’t cutting all the way through even the thinnest of thin-crust pizzas.
Recommendation: the next time you get your favorite pizza, be it from a pizzeria, grocery store, or you are making it fresh, use your kitchen shears or scissors to cut that pesky crust all the way through. Trust me – you will be thanking Ellie as much as I do with 2 kids who LOVE pizza!
