Dish Pan Hands

We pretty much sit at the table for dinner every night. The only exception is a pizza night (which was made for eating in front of the tv, right?) I think it's a good habit to get into to sit down and visit with one another, and I'm glad we're making it a priority in our home even now before we have children. To that point, I enjoy setting the table, and every night we eat off of the real stuff--no paper plates. And, I take some housewife-ly pride in that fact because my husband can't say we don't use all those dishes we (um, I) registered for.

But yesterday, it was all I could do to keep from picking up some paper plates.

You see, my dishwasher bit the big one on Saturday.

It was only 16 months old. Seriously. And seriously out of warranty.

And after washing all the dishes sitting in the washer at the time of death, along with the others that had piled up since then, my hands can't take it anymore.

So we hied ourselves to Sears yesterday and ordered a new one. It will be here Wednesday, which can't get here fast enough. I had no idea it was so critical to the orderliness of my household until I was dishwashing deficient. If I had to make a list of my favorite kitchen gadgets, I would say this is a kitchen gadget my hands cannot live without.

What's your fave kitchen gadget? I'm always looking for suggestions. A close second to the dishwasher for me would have to be my pineapple corer that I picked up in Boone, NC, and I can't remember the store name now. It rocks only slightly less than a working dishwasher.