I don't like doing the dishes.
But once committed to do them, I will do a good job of it.
First you set up the space so that you can work properly. This means organizing and stacking similar items to reduce the amount of space they use, thus liberating more space for you.
While you do this, you also want to start soaking things. So I put the larger dishes in the bottom of the sink, which is full of warm soapy water. Then the smaller platter goes on top, and so on.
You don't want to stack heavy stuff on top of glasses or fragile things, so these are scrubbed and laid aside in an organized manner.
Cutlery you can throw in the space between the plates, with knives and sharp thing facing away from you. You don't want to start bleeding in the middle of the job.
If you use a dishwasher which we do, basically for rinsing and drying, then you can start with the larger pieces, like dinner plates. Give 'em a good scrubbing and place them on the rack.
Again, you want to have everything organized with similar objects close to each other, using the trays properly, dishes with dishes, and glasses with glasses.
Then the cutlery is next, scrub it and place forks, spoons, knives together. I'll make it easier on you when it's time to put them away.
Once all the main stuff is in there you can place odds and ends in the remaining spaces, taking care to pay attention to the way the water will spray and flow.
You don't want to place an object out of the way of the spray, or where it will block other objects from rinsing.
You also don't want to fill a container with water and let it stagnate.
Once I'm done the dishwasher is a thing of beauty: Organized, functional, even color coordinated.
Pretty simple, no?
Well, not quite.
I've mentioned before how I live with my mother-in-law.
You can be certain that when she does the dishes all of this will be ignored and you will have heavy pots on top of delicate crystal, knives pointing every which way, plates facing each other, out of the way of the water spray and a mess of intermingled objects as if everything was simply thrown inside the machine.
Needless to say they come out dirty.
I've seen this happen before. Old folks stop caring about what once seemed important.
Just so you don't think I pick only on the in-laws, here is an example with my own mother.
I've seen my mother offer grandkids staying with her if they want to have ice cream for breakfast.
That would never happen when I was growing up.
She has given up.
She figures she did her job and now she doesn't need to care anymore.
Here's another with my mother-in-law.
I'm fairly sure most people living in a modern society know that metal objects are not to be used inside a microwave oven.
My kids know it.
In fact, it was my daughter who mentioned that grandma put a glass container with a metal ring inside the microwave oven, turned it on and left to do something else, ignoring or not noticing the blue and pink sparks inside the oven.
My daughter was the one who turned it off.
My wife tries arguing with her and going over what she is and isn't to do.
But I don't think it's going to work.
We can not make her care again (if she ever did.)
I don't think my mother-in-law is senile. She is too young for it.
I think she just doesn't care.
But then again, maybe that is where senile dementia starts.
People just give up; they cease to care about little things, then bigger things.
They let go.
Others may think it is too soon, but for them it isn't.
My mind is very important to me.
I hate to think it's going to go one day, and I think I'm going to try to keep it working all the way to the end.
There is no reason why it needs to go.
I've seen lots of old folks remain sharp all the way to the end of a long fruitful life.
Maybe this is the key.
Don't stop caring about the details.
Once important, always important.
Be creative.
Read.
Write.
Teach.
Care for yourself and for others.
Eat and exercise properly.
Do the dishes every once in a while.
Recommended reading: Book of Mr. Natural: Robert Crumb
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