Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Obvious Choice is J is for Jennifer…

…but this whole blog is about me so wouldn’t that seem a little like a cop-out or cheating? I mean there has to be something more unique I can find to report on the benefits of the letter J right? I said so yesterday and don’t want to be considered a liar or anything.

So let’s talk about something else, like June for example. June is going to be a big month this year. I’m turning forty in June. That’s supposed to be some kind of milestone right? I don’t feel forty. Well, after eleven years of gymnastics assaulting my physical being my body sometimes sure feels it. Sometimes even older (like when it rains and every joint in my body starts pointing and laughing at me). But mentally? Mentally I’m hovering somewhere around twenty-two.

Just old enough to drink but just young enough to be lazy with no one barking at you for it.

At least that’s how I spent most of my early twenties. Weekends weren’t filled with responsibilities or commitments unless they involved going to a ball game, the club or getting a real meal with family as opposed to eating Kix or Ramen every night.

Maybe if I went to less ball games and clubs I could’ve spent more on food. But let’s be serious, it wasn’t like I wanted to cook a steak on the stove top in my craptastic second floor apartment in Everett. Plus it wasn’t like I could even access the stove with the piles of dirty dishes cluttering it up.

What those dishes were used for is beyond me now. I remember a lot of things about that apartment and time in my life but what I ate while living in it isn’t one of them. In fact at one point the dishes got so out of hand it was easier and cheaper to just throw them all away and buy new ones.

No that’s not a joke. I was twenty-two and lazy remember?

Not much changed when I finally moved into my own place at twenty-seven. There were plenty of times a guy would come pick me up for a date, friends or family came over to visit and I’d just take the piles of dishes from the kitchen and stack them up in the tub behind the shower curtain.

I figured if anyone who came over was bold enough to peek behind that curtain then they deserved to see the specks of pasta sauce and old chunks of who knows what festering on my stack of bowls and plates. I moved them so those people wouldn’t have to see the nastiness in my kitchen.

The only time I remember doing dishes in that studio apartment was when I was having an overnight guest. I wasn’t mean enough to tell them they had to shower at the gym or something. So I guess that means I did dishes at least four or five times while living there before Matt moved in with me.

Thank god for Matt. He actually was the only guy who stayed over (before we were officially dating that is) that I did dishes for. When I said overnight guest I meant more like friends or family coming in from out of town. Guess that should’ve been my first clue that Matt was the keeper.

And this year he’s supposedly planning a party for my (alleged) milestone birthday in June. I don’t know how many people he’s inviting or who might show up but I’m just thankful we have a dishwasher.

Posted for April 2013 A to Z Blog Challenge J is for June

12 comments:

Launna said...

I envy you Jenn... lol

I never got to let go my dishes go in my youth... I had a baby at 18.

Today I have a dishwasher... thank goodness.. lol

otherwise I might have to put them in the show... hehe:)

jamiessmiles said...

I can't have a messy kitchen.... But any other room in the house I am a slob. C has figured out it is easier to guilt me into picking up after myself by doing it for me than to nag me to do it.

JudisJems said...

ah, the memories. I'd probably still have the dishes stacked up in winter in MA - but here in the warmth and with a DISHWASHER - it a whole other story. Now I can't stand having them in the sink for long, never mind spread out to stove or counter.

I love the way you did make it about you, and Matt, and the old days.

Love ya, Mum

Rob-bear said...

Mentally, I'm tapped somewhere between 22 and 82; some times on top of the world, and sometimes reaching up to touch bottom.

For the record, my wife make most of the meals, and I do most of the dishes. Doing dishes is a fairly mindless activity; it is when some of my best thoughts come to me.

Blessings and Bear hugs!
Bears Noting

Jak said...

I hate doing the dishes. That seems to be one of the most things associated with cleaning people hate the most. Dishes. On the other hand, I have had dishes not be cleaned when others have washed them or a dishwasher was used. This freaks me out even more, so I have to end up washing them myself. I am very particular about it.

Back in the day when 19-20 I briefly lived with my father. I wouldn't do the dishes, and he would leave them sit there until I would wash them. One day I got home and the dishes were gone. I was like... "oh crap, I am in deep @#$%"

Came to find out he threw them all out and got paper plates/plastic utensils. In fact, I traumatized him I think, because that is all he uses to this day over 10 years later lol

Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink

Ruby Wilbur said...

This made me laugh. I have to say I've never just thrown them out, but the bathtub trick? YEP. And I am not above stashing a few in the oven to this day. I USUALLY remember they are there before I pre-heat it...

Ruby is participating in the A to Z Challenge
Ruby Wilbur

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

It wasn't exactly my proudest moment Launna but hey, I was trying to be kind to my guests lol. When we moved into our last apartment back in Massachusetts I vowed to never go without a dishwasher again. It was the first thing we replaced when we bought our house. The one that was here wasn't working, we washed dishes for about 2 weeks before I was like screw it, we're pulling money out of savings. That's what its there for! Never again lol

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Too funny, I'm the exact opposite! The other rooms start grating on me but I have no trouble dropping a cup next to the sink and leaving it there forever. Tragic I know lol.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

See how much of a difference a tiny little appliance can make in your life? I mean the time and water savings alone make it all worth it. I was that way when we first got the sink, hated it taken up with dishes, but my old habits reared their heads eventually :-)

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Yup, I've been cooking a lot lately so Matt tends to take care of the dishes. Its a nice balance because though I'm not the best cook I don't mind doing it and he's cool with the cleanup. Both on his plate and in the sink :-)

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Oh no! I hate to laugh but seriously that's hilarious, your poor dad was traumatized by your lack of dish attention! Thankfully I don't think I ever forced another person to disposable but you never know, I lived with lots of roomies over the years haha.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Yes! I thought I was the only one Ruby. I tried the oven trick but did forget some stuff in there once so that ended that experiment and hence the bathtub.