Moving on Down!

It's been busy over here. In true Kate & Darin style, we've made the impromtu decision to move. We thought "hey, let's move somewhere cheaper," and next thing we knew, we were signing a contract. The place is cheaper, but it's also much much smaller--a 2 bdrm duplex just up the street from where we are now. My kids have never shared a room but I think they're really going to love it. We're only planning to stay there a year and I think they're young enough that it's okay. I've been spoiled living in such a big house these last 2 years and I'm really going to miss this place.
I have been completely absorbed in downsizing our lives and boxing things up, which I don't mind, but it's very very time consuming.
This new place has one thing I have spent many years longing for-a dishwasher!!!! Woohoo!!! I hate hate hate washing dishes. I spend way too many hours of my life elbow deep in soapy water. I feel like every time I leave my house the dishes get backed up. I often have to rush out the door after a meal and so they don't get done, then when the next meals dishes are added to those, there just isn't time to wash them all so I figure I'll just do them all at the next meal. But then you add that 3rd meal and there's so many it's completely overwhelming and puts me in tears. Literally. I know that sounds crazy and really stupid. You're thinking, Kate, just suck it up and wash the dishes. Yeah I know. It's just my thing. I don't mind cleaning anything else. I don't mind scrubbing the shower or doing the laundry. But for some reason I get completely irrational when it comes to dishes. They just don't end, they need to be done 3 or 4 times a day. After having done the dishes 2-3 times already, spent an hour or more cooking dinner, then 45 minutes trying to convince the kids to eat the dinner, I'm completely burned out and want to run as far from the kitchen as possible. The last thing I want to do spend another hour washing up all the plates, cups, pots, pans, etc. Nothing makes me feel more unappreciated than I do standing there at my kitchen sink washing dishes from a meal I worked hard to prepare for children who either refused to eat it, or waited until after everyone else was already done before they ate it. It's just a really crappy feeling for me to spend 3 hours in the kitchen every evening. But if I don't, it's even worse to wake up to them still on the counter. And so dishes and I are not friends. We don't mesh well. People like me are the reason dishwashers were invented. It only seems right that I should be allowed such a privlege as to have one of my own. And now, I finally do. And until the children are old enough to wash the dishes (thoroughly and unsupervised) I refuse to live without one again. Yeah, I'm just snotty like that. No not really. It's just a source of too much stress and heartache, and trust me, I have enough of that already. But I'll save those rants for another post.