i do love my dishwasher

I imagine most people marry into some unexpected traditions. Mine was china. My father-in-law sold restaurant china for a living. He believed in his product. I remember him telling me that he didn't eat on paper plates ever.



That fact was later verified at family picnics when my mother-in-law brought along "everyday china".

Among our wedding presents, my in-laws saw to it that we received that vast majority of our fine china, service for 12, of course, by encouraging all their friends along those lines. For our first Christmas, they gave us an heirloom set of Christmas china denoting the twelve days of Christmas.

So right off the bat we had three sets of china, including our everyday set. We lived in a tiny apartment in a not very great area. We had no dishwasher, but me. And we were eating off china every meal. I thought about those days this week. When our dishwasher gave up and died on us.

I asked one of the numerous dishwasher people that I talked to what the life expectancy was for a dishwasher. About 12 years, but with all the power surges in central Florida, I could expect significantly less than that. Ours was 8.

I got the new one ordered within 24 hours of awareness that ours was history. Unfortunately, it took the whole week to get it here and installed. So...I did what any self-respecting daughter-in-law of a china salesman would do. I went to Walmart and bought paper plates, bowls, cups and cutlery. I did get my share of dirty dishes to wash, since the dishwasher was full when it went offline.

The dishwasher and the installer showed up together. In an uneventful hour he got the old one out and the new one in and the before picture looked identical to the after. I loaded my new dishwasher full to the brim with the handwashed items since I really wanted to be sure they were clean and sterilized AND I needed something to wash in the new machine!

Doug came home and opened it up after the cycle had completed. The dishwasher nearly emptied itself right onto the kitchen floor. Apparently the installer had forgotten to bolt the dishwasher to the cabinet and with the weight of the dishes, now all on the open door...you get the picture. Luckily, he saved the day and the china! His father would be proud!