Thank you SO MUCH for your kindness and commiseration yesterday. It is so helpful to be able to spill one’s very minor and yet deeply irritating frustrations to friends, and have them respond with back pats and consoling words. 

While the pest control situation remains VERY IRRITATING, I feel much better about the sink. My dad and I did a FaceTime diagnosis and determined that there is a leak in the sprayer hose for the faucet. This is good news in some ways because a) it should be a fairly easy fix; i.e., replace the hose or at worst the entire faucet, and b) the leak is pretty gentle; I left a bowl under it last night and there are probably a couple of tablespoons of water in there (it must have been leaking for A LONG TIME, considering the volume of water the leak produces and the amount of water that was in my cupboard), and c) the water is clean water, not anything gross from the disposal or anything. 

The leak didn’t appear to have caused any damage, and I took the opportunity to clean out the cupboard (much more reasonable to clean as you need to than having a scheduled monthly-cleaning-of-all-the-cupboards, so there GRANDMA) and consolidate/get rid of near-empty bottles and containers and bric-a-brac. 

The Scrub Daddies seemed unscathed by the experience. Nicole asked if I like them (HI NICOLE), and yes, I do like them. They are very good at getting rid of tough, stuck-on food residue and somehow they do not smell or grow mold the way sponges do. They are also dishwasher safe and very cheerful to look at.

My father and I determined that the repair was probably outside my skill set. Actually, as I was lying scrunched under the kitchen sink, my phone in one hand, a flashlight in the other, I think my dad was gearing up to explain exactly what the next steps were… but as he was pointing out some sort of brackets that hold the faucet in place, and telling me about some special tool one needs to dislodge them, my mom, bless her, said in the background, “Sounds like the next step is to call a plumber.” And I did, and they will be coming out next week. (While they are here, I will be asking them to unclog some drains that have been bothering me for weeks now, but not to the point of being able to get past my terror of Drain Hair to do anything about it.) (Unclogging drains is usually my husband’s job anyway, but I am not going to pressure him lest he turns over the job to me.)

This morning, feeling much better about life in general, I opened the dishwasher to empty it and noticed that the dishes weren’t clean. There was a plate with some chocolate on it, which is how I could tell. Also, the little soap packet was lying on the floor of the dishwasher, semi-intact. Okay. Sometimes that happens – the mechanism that releases the soap doesn’t open at the right time or something. Fine. 

I fiddled around with the little soap door, added a new packet of soap. (What? Maybe the original soap packet was faulty.)

I ran the dishes again. 

When the dishwasher was finally done, I opened it to empty the dishes… and now there were two soap packets on the floor of the dishwasher. One was still semi-intact, the other was fresh as a daisy. 

It is a testament to YOUR calming powers that I did not burst into tears right there. I had some Dire Thoughts, including how I am never again shopping at the appliance store from which we bought our dishwasher (and the horrific, problem-addled fridge). We bought this dishwasher just a few years ago! It should be fine! 

(Okay, maybe “a few years ago” was actually six years ago. But dishwashers should last longer than six years, right? My parents had the same dishwasher the entire 18 years I lived at home with them.)

I mentally ran through what to do next: who repairs dishwashers? Is it the same people who repair the fridge? Could I ask the plumber to look into it? (Probably not.) 

And then I remembered. When I was under the sink, trying to figure out where the leak was coming from, my dad pointed out the valve that goes to the dishwasher… and had me turn it off. 

So basically I ran the dishwasher twice WITH NO WATER. But I was able to turn the valve on very easily and now the dishwasher is running again, this time with water. 

I feel like a dumbass. But a triumphant dumbass. 

Hope you have a happy weekend, Internet.