Least Likely to Succeed

My house came with a few built in luxuries. Luxuries I would never have sought out. Things that were never deal breakers if the house did not have them. One luxury I wanted was space both inside and out. I think we succeeded in that. I also wanted one more bathroom for a total of two, at least while the kids are still at home. Low and behold we ended up buying a house with three. The third bathroom is a complete luxury that I would never have sought out, or missed had we bought a home with only two.

Another luxury is my dishwasher. When we first moved in I was keen to try it out. See what all the fuss was about. I have to be honest and say at first the lovely built-in device seemed like a dream. When everything was crazy busy I loved not having to hand wash my dishes. I just put them in the dishwasher. My sink was always empty and my counter tops were always clean. It allowed me to focus on other things. I seriously had to doubt whether I would revert back to my simple ways...or if I was doomed to be sucked in by the convenience of it all.

The honeymoon didn't last long. After a week of using my dishwasher I realized how much extra work it really was. I had to rinse each dish before putting them in the appliance. If this step wasn't done properly I would find caked on bits that were terribly hard to get off even by hand. The style of my dishes as well are not dishwasher friendly. Water pools in the recesses of my mugs and I always end up wiping them dry anyway. I was also put off by the cost of buying special detergent. And I had to wonder whether or not reports that using a dishwasher used less water than hand washing. That just doesn't make sense to me. Here I was giving my dishes a pre-wash before actually washing them. It felt like I was adding extra steps and that some how this was to make my housekeeping easier.

I could see the advantage of a dishwasher if I had guests over, a large family or if we were truly pressed for time and not at home all that much. But as an everyday device the usefulness eludes me. Of course this does not take into account the cost of buying a dishwasher, paying for the energy to run it and the water to sustain it. The cost of the dishwasher is huge compared to the convenience it provides. Very high cost for very little pay back.

I don't see myself using the dishwasher very often. It's been relegated to one of those luxuries that just came with the house. My dishwasher has been nominated for "Least Likely to Succeed". We may have a winner here folks!

A Room with a View

Things are settling down here. We are almost finished dealing with the old house. We are trying to find new homes for the appliances since our new house came with newer appliances. I still have a tonne of cleaning to do here and at the old place. For the most part this move has been pretty stressful but I am glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Our new routine is taking shape as we discover the many benefits of our new abode. One of my favourite spots in this new house is the kitchen. It's quite roomy, with a fair amount of cupboard space. Since I spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen, canning, baking and the like, the kitchen was huge on my priority list. My favourite feature is the view of this century old farm house.



My former home was quite cramped. I never really noticed while we were living there but now going back and forth between homes really shines a spotlight on it. We made do. We were comfortable. I am going to miss the old house. My old routines. My old views.

But at the same time I am enjoying the changes. We have new places to walk, bike and garden. Once the snow melts, look out! I will become Garden Girl once again, only now I have an acre to play with!

All Houses Deserve A Name

If you are a Lucy Maud Montgomery fan like I am, you know that a house is more than a house. A house has personality, character and charm. A house with all these attributes deserves an appropriate name. Montgomery gave many places names in both her fiction and her real life. Most people will know the infamous Green Gables, and perhaps Silver Bush. She aptly named the house that her husband and she retired to as "Journey's End", the house in which she later died. There are many famous houses with names. Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House. Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables.

A house needs a name if only for it's sentimentality but I have always known that my house will have a name. So now that I am more or less "Home Sweet Home" I have dubbed my house Willow Hill. The house itself sits on a slight hill and there is a large willow tree in the backyard. It's an older styled home with three bedrooms, a library (formerly known as the dining room) and 1 acre to boot. While there are still many boxes to unpack and a few loose ends to tidy up, we are more or less settled and glad to be home.