On May 4, roommate and I had a set-to. I was extremely upset. I had discovered that she had not cleaned the lint filter in the dryer, apparently, ever. I checked the filter and came away with a compressed ball of lint the size of a softball. I don't use the dryer unless I do a load of towels, so there was no way she could claim she hadn't done it. I even showed her the ball of lint. I hate to think of the increased risk of a housefire, the strain on the dryer, and the increased cost of natural gas and electricity, trying to push hot air through all that lint.
I also discussed her failure to put dishes away. For the 6th time I told her "clean dishes belong in the cupboard and dirty dishes belong in the sink or in the dishwasher". By the 10th of May (6 days later), I had collected my dishes, used by her, found on the table 5 different times. By now, I figured, she should know what I wanted with regard to MY dishes in MY kitchen in MY house. Surely 6 requests should be understandable by any but the most severely mentally challenged. Therefore, I reasoned, that she was either rebelling against the idea I had any authority over my own stuff, or simply deciding that her desires were more important than mine and I figured the subject having been raised by me 6 times, surely she ought to be able to comprehend how important this was to me. So I concocted a plan. Every time she left dishes on the counter or the table or the stove, I washed them and then put them away, hidden in file cabinet drawers in the office. She left out dinner plates, bowls, salad plates, cups, and matching glasses, depending on her whim. And since I have a service for 12, it took a while. However, just in the last few days, all the salad plates had been put away in the office. Instead I replaced them with a stack of paper plates of the same size. Last night she finally asked "What happened to the small plates?" I told her I put them away and rehearsed that I'd spoken to her about putting them away 6 times and it was obvious she'd chosen to disregard my wishes. So, I took care of the problem.
She gave me her standard "I was using them". I replied "No, you were at work or asleep. Not once did I pull a plate away from you while you sat there with your fork hovering in mid-air". So, this morning, there are now no dishes on the table, nor on the counter, nor on the stove. Perhaps I have made a small amount of progress?
I spent months acquiring these dishes on e-bay for the best price I could manage. You can guess it took a while, one plate, one cup, etc at a time--60 pieces in all plus service pieces. Yes, they are important to me. You've heard that I have the world's smallest kitchen. I do. I have many things out on the counters simply because they will NOT fit in the cupboards. Also, the table is very light weight and a little bit wobbly. Finally, I am wobbly/weak legged and having balance problems. I have visions of losing my balance and knocking my dishes onto the floor, broken into smithereens. It doesn't help that if she is home, I have to try to navigate me and my 50 ft oxygen concentrator "cord" around her honkin big dog.
