Why are simple things complicated?

I am pleased with the new dishwasher as it seems to do what it says on the label - i.e. it washes dishes. What I find difficult to accept is that it comes with a diagram of how to load it. Why? If the slots in the racks are further apart you put dishes between them, if they're closer together then it's plates. When you've got lots to fit in then everything goes in wherever it seems to fit best.

I got told off this morning because I hadn't put the tea spoons in the area of the cutlery basket designed for them. Not being at my best in the morning I was a little snappy - along the lines of does it matter? Isn't life too short?

Now I've been asked to buy a dishwasher cleaner because you may think your dishwasher is clean but is it really clean? Well surely it would be just as good to put it on the hottest wash every so often with nothing in it to wash? No you could have limescale and sludge in it. Isn't that why you put salt in it? At nearly £4 a time I think the cost is excessive and it would be a lot cheaper to do what I do with the washing machine every few weeks - hottest wash and no clothes in it.

This is on a par with the annoying adverts which start you wondering about whether bleach actually gets stains out or just changes their colour. Well actually I thought that was what bleach was all about - changing the colour of something. On a similar theme I use old fashioned washing soda and boiling water down the sink occasionally to stop smells. I'm always being told I should buy expensive sink cleaner because washing soda is no good. No, washing soda is cheap, does the job and has many uses - drain cleaner is expensive and has only one use. I love things which have lots of uses and I'm not a great fan of adverts.

Household tasks

I am definitely not a domestic goddess. I do housework because I don't like to live in too much of a mess but I'm not houseproud - good enough is good enough. I find silly little jobs assume gigantic proportions and I'm forever thinking I'll do a particular job 'when I have time'. Now that excuse is no longer available I find myself saying I'll do things when 'I feel like it'. Today I spent five minutes - yes if I'd thought it would only take that long I'd have done it before - prising the weeds out from between the flagstones which make up the path to the front door. One sharp knife and a placcy bag to put the bits in and it's done.

Yes all right I should have just got on and done it when I first saw it needed doing but for some things procrastination is my middle name. I'd always rather be doing something else such as reading, surfing the Internet or writing or just doing nothing. Cooking I like doing, the washing is almost always up to date, I don't iron because I either hang up to dry or put in the tumble dryer, the floors are generally pretty dust free - at least downstairs, bathrooms and kitchen are cleaned at least once a week but the windows rarely get cleaned inside unless I'm feeling in need of exercise and anything else has to wait for my once in a lifetime desire for a spring clean. I do dust occasionally though not in the living room because that would involve dusting model aeroplanes - don't ask - and I don't want to be responsible for breakages.

Decorating? Yes, well, it needs doing but when is anyone's guess. . . . .

Saturday chores done

Well apart from the washing which is ongoing. The floors and the bathrooms are done - (sounds as though we live in a mansion but new houses these days almost always have a downstairs loo and an ensuite as well as a 'family' bathroom.) Whilst useful I think they're designed to give whoever does the housework more to do. Tesco have kindly delivered my shopping right at the very beginning of the two hour slot which is convenient. So I have just about one and a half days to relax before it's back to work on Monday.

Maybe more later perhaps about books I'm currently reading.