Le régime dishwashing

One can look at having a signifant other who works in the consulting business as a good thing. The relationship is centered around weekends and holidays, which means having sufficient time and space during the week to focus on what each needs to do and dedicating meaningful available times with each other.

However, certain habits of a travelling consultant can cause annoyance. The nature of the job requires them to spend many days living out of a suitcase and gives them the excuse of being spoiled by daily maid service to tidy up the obvious mess.

Back home, moi = maid service.

The welcome party

After many enthusiastic reminders, he finally decided to take charge of this domestic endeavour. The dirty dishes were not only conveniently placed in the dishwasher. According to the consultant, he drizzled regular dishwashing liquid on the plates before starting the machine.




Unless you are planning a foam party in your kitchen, it is important to know the right directions, temperature of water and cleaning agent (only use dishwasher detergent) for this perilous task. Consult the manual for further instructions.

Never open a dishwasher while it is still foaming. It only means that there is more foam in it. There is always the option of ignoring the mess for a few hours because it will eventually subside and evaporate. Which is exactly what I did.

I have made a mental note to myself to prepare the apartment with more rags and a proper mop because the fabric mop (in the photo) has very low absorbance properties - it does nothing for me!

In existential theory,

If the mess was not there, it ceases to exist.

Hence, there is no mess to clean. I must say that am leaning towards disposable plates and eating utensils right now.

The Domestication of Me

I have always been the cosmopolitan girl with no real need to manage my own household (or housework!). To put it simply, domestication was never hardwired into my system.

With my impending marriage, I have been overwhelmed with the intense preparations -- phobias and lack of domestic skill struck me as a very serious personal limitation in the near future.

I sketched out a six-step program to liberate my soul.

Step one is to compose this list, of course.

Step two, identify my phobias and my current domestic skill sets.

Step three, identify theories and techniques to combat household hysteria.

Step four, putting theory into practice and immersing myself in the world of Martha Stewart.

Step five, evaluation.

Step six, final exam and graduation ceremony. This is when everyone has to curtsey or bow to me because I have achieved zen-like domestic goddess status.

This entry clearly ends at step one. Follow my journey and misadventures. Wish me luck.