As an aside, all those parenting books that extol the virtues of teaching your children to do chores? They had better not list "time-saving" as one of them.
Where was I? Oh, yes - Susie dropped a dinner plate, bringing our total number of extant plates down to 4. Those of you well-versed in arithmetic can probably see that 4 functioning dinner plates is not at all an adequate number in this house. So, I (not too unhappily) trotted off to Target to procure some more.
Historically, I've bought the ugly, cheap sets of dishes at Target - you know, the ones with the black or blue stripes around the rim that sell for 12 dollars per set of 4 plates, bowls, small plates, mugs. I get 2 boxes, and I'm set for a couple of years until our inventory runs low again.
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| Cheery and bright! |
But, this time, I splurged. I didn't need a whole set, I reasoned - I had plenty of ugly bowls and matching small plates left. So I picked out 6 plates in a color I actually liked for $2.50 each. It felt extravagant, but - hey - I'm worth it.
I'm sure both Ann Romney and Michelle Obama do this sort of budget calculus all the time.
And now I can pack up the old plates for Anna's new place, because that's the great thing about having a child move out on his/her own -- you have a handy excuse to offload your old stuff and purchase new.
Any bets on how long these new dishes last?
I give you a week max. And it will end up being something totally stupid, and YOU actually break them. This always happens to me.
ReplyDeleteSince you actually like them, I'm betting they only last a couple of weeks!
ReplyDeleteThey will last until 34 hours after Target no longer sells their replacements.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking that maybe it's time for plates from someplace other than IKEA.
ReplyDeleteThe teaching chores pays off in the long run--but you know that because you've got a son that cooks for you!
Wait, you actually found plates you liked when you needed them?!?
ReplyDeleteWe've been breaking plates at a steady rate, which means that it is nearly time to replace them. Three years is our average time to go from an everyday set of 8-10 down to less than 5 plates. My kids must be scared of breaking them. To stave off the inevitable (mostly because I hate change), I've been using my mom's china (8 place settings) at least once a week.
After all, use it or dust it, right?
Sounds about average to me! Maybe we both need to shop at Pottery Barn, like Jen on the Edge....
DeleteMy last set of plates was made by Gary. The bowls have all survived, but the plates are steadily breaking. I think it must be the nature of plates.
DeleteThis is explains why I have a whole attic of stuff waiting for the kids to take it to their new apartments.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that I only have one child left at home, and a whole attic of stuff? Could it be they don't want mom's old hand-me-downs? Really? After all those years of saving?
21 years ago, I picked out some simple white Italian pottery at Williams Sonoma and bought 12 settings with my own money, even though we were about to get engaged and I could have registered for everything. (That's not actually relevant to the story, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.) We still have all 12 dinner plates, 11 salad plates, and 10 of the cereal bowls. I'm thinking we'll have them forever, as they appear to be indestructible.
ReplyDeleteWell, either they ARE virtually indestructible or else you don't let the girls wash/load/put away the dishes! Either way, it works. I can't even count how many sets we have been through in the past 21 years.
DeleteI have a drawer full of hand-me-downs for the first kid who moves out, too! Can't WAIT to replace all my crap with shiny new someday...
ReplyDeleteTo buy your own choice of dishes! Imagine!
Those are very fun. Here's hoping they last.
ReplyDeleteSo, i already commented on this one - a.) have you broken any dishes yet? And b.) i tagged you for the Liebster Award. I know you aren't new to the game, but here we are anyway. The questions and all are on my stupid blog. I'm sorry. You can ignore it. It's an "honor" but right about now i am feeling like a HUGE tool writing on people's blogs that they have it from me. Like an STD.
ReplyDeleteNone broken - yet. It's inevitable, though. And thanks for the STD, as it were!
DeleteBack in the day....before automatic dishwashers...my sister and I took turns washing and drying. Mother was fine with that because about the time she got tired of those dishes we'd drop a whole stack, breaking most, and then Mother could get a whole new set. I remember about 3 different sets before we got smart enough and strong enough to carry a stack of dishes to the hutch where they were stored w/o dropping them.
ReplyDeleteIf only "they" would cut the federal income tax on federal employees (who are dependent on the government, but oddly pay income tax) to a Romney-like rate of 13%, then you could eat off fine china and get rid of the dishwasher too, because then you would be rich enough to throw away fine china as if it were Chinet.
ReplyDeleteWow - someone show me the federal gov't jobs that pay enough to allow me to do that - I want one!
DeleteFederal employees are "dependent" on the gov't the way any employee is "dependent" on his/her employer. But I'm not sure I would characterize working for wages as being dependent, would you?