Dishes!

My house is always full of boy noise.  From early in the morning till late at night there is the constant hum of trains and honking horns and 'vroom vroom'... not to mention belches and songs about bugs.  Now that Baby Boy is mobile, and learning that he also has a voice - the noises include his happy squeals and irate growls (depending on who has the toy he wants). 

Sometimes, I need just a few moments of quiet. 

Today I carved out some "Me" time in the form of dishwashing the old-fashioned way.  We usually rely on the dishwasher to do our dirty work (pun intended), but recently we found that our model was on a large recall.  Since the issue that initiated the recall is FIRE related (and we're not big fans of fire); we've determined that the dishwasher is off limits until we can schedule the repair.

So, this afternoon I filled the sinks with hot water: one side soapy, one side for rinsing.  I pulled on my blue rubber kitchen gloves.  I cranked Pandora (my favorite Jimmy Durante station fit my mood perfectly) and then I started.  I adore the feeling of accomplishment that comes with something so basic as cleaning, and there are few types of house cleaning which so quickly show results.

Dirty mug goes in the soapy water... comes out sparkly clean.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Bliss.

With each plate and fork and sippy cup, the boy noise started to fade into the background a little.  It was replaced by a calm that I rarely feel these days.  The moments were few, but they served as a re-charge of sorts.  It was exactly what I needed.

Before long, the dishes were done, my gloves were laid out to dry and I was wiping down counters when my husband walked in and said, "Wow. It's 1950 in here."  Right behind him came a blur of little boy activity and excitment. 

With my "me time" effectively over and normalcy now restored - I turned off Jimmy Durante and embraced the noisy fellows that make my life so very amazing (even if I do need a break now and then).