Kitchen Sink Party

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Happy Friday dear friends. I hope this day has brought you good things, happy thoughts. I didn't plan to post anything today. I'm feeling a little wordless, which is very unlike me. I'm also very busy creating rosaries, knitting Christmas gifts, sewing a baby quilt, and fretting about un-purchased Christmas gifts (this is a really ridiculous thing to fret about -- I just wish people would not buy every single thing they want at the moment they want it).

I cleaned up my stash of beads last weekend (oh what a job) and I felt horribly guilty that I had collected so much and it was not being used. So I have been frantically stringing rosaries in the past few days, some commissioned jobs and some just for fun. If you need a handmade rosary for someone, please check out the "Available Now" rosaries at Prayerful Beads now or in the next week and you'll find some new things.

Anyway...about kitchen sinks. I saw Leila's post (dontcha just love Leila?) and feeling very domestic lately (as I do when it gets so cold that all I want to do is stay in my home) I decided to participate.

I can't say my kitchen sink is very pretty. It is very simple (like me) and very unadorned (like me). There is enough clutter here and there (not mine, but those I pick up after) all over my house, that I need to have a clean (read: uncluttered) kitchen.

My kitchen is small by today's standards (you can see the whole thing here -- though we painted over the summer and the border is now gone and new window treatments are up, and my microwave now matches), but it is efficient. With just a few steps, I can get where I need to be. The only exception is the island, which prevents me from taking a straight path from the sink to the fridge and back again. But without the island I would have almost no counter space, and so I need the island. The island is where I do all my work, by and large.

My sink is to the right of the dishwasher, so I usually stack to the right, rinse and then load on the left (with the exception of sharp knives which always go on the ledge behind the sink -- never, never put sharp knives in your dish water, or the dishwasher). I have one of those sinks with a small sink on one side (with the disposal) and a really large sink on the other. I planned it that way when we renovated the kitchen, and I like it that way. Because of the little sink with the disposal, I do have to plan ahead when doing dishes to make certain I have all my dishes scraped and rinsed, and the little sink scoured, before I start washing anything that didn't go in the dishwasher.

I have a long dishwashing post in the works (along with a laundry series), but at this point they are just in my head. I do love to have an organized system of washing however, and I think it's a good practice to get in to.

 

This morning, like most mornings, I have a sink full of soapy water with a few breakfast dishes in it, like the pot from the oatmeal. I make one sinkful of soapy water in the morning (really hot water and Palmolive dish soap) and one late in the afternoon for dinner prep. With really hot water and Palmolive (they are not paying me to say this, it is just that with experience I have learned that this brand's bubbles last the longest) the morning's dishwater lasts until after lunch and the dinner dishwater lasts until after dinner -- if I do things right -- and that's the subject of another post.

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