Since the beginning of the year (excluding the few days when our dishwasher was broken), I've been making an effort to keep the kitchen counters and sink clear of dishes. It sounds so simple, but we're lazy and so it's not. But I hate coming home to a cluttered kitchen, and I really hate trying to make dinner around stacks of skillets and piles of crusty silverware, so I decided that I was going to start acting like a mature adult and keep the kitchen clean.

Now, whenever I finish using a plate or glass or spoon I immediately put it in the dishwasher. Because would you believe? There is a space in our kitchen to keep dirty dishes! Until they're ready to wash! Brilliant. I also have a wire rack in the right-side sink that I put dirty non-dishwasher items in. The rule is that when it's full, I wash the items rather than allowing the stack to spill onto the counters. So simple, like I said.

Except. My darling (supposedly brilliant) husband cannot re-train himself. And it is, quite frankly, driving me bonkers. Let's say Rob eats a snack. Afterwards he will take his dirty snack plate to the kitchen, rinse it under the faucet, and then set it on the clean counter. The counter that is directly above the dishwasher. The counter that is not more than THREE INCHES from the top of the dishwasher door. And if he's the one who clears the dinner table, he'll take the plates, rinse them, and then leave them in the sink to "soak." Dinner plates don't need to soak! They don't really even need rinsed! He could totally use that effort to put them in the dishwasher. I'm just saying.

And the thing is, he's very appreciative of our now-neat kitchen. He's complimented me repeatedly on my efforts, told me multiple times that the kitchen looks great. And yet?! He still leaves his cereal bowl sitting next to the sink! It's incomprehensible.

I'll watch him do it, and then I'll say, "See, this is an example of when you could put the bowl in the dishwasher." (A mere three inches away!) At first I thought he just needed reminding, so I was patient. You know, for the first two months. But now I'm getting pissed off.

Yesterday I slid my dinner dishes into the dishwasher and had just finished wiping the counters when Rob came over and plopped his plate on the (pristine) counter and started to walk away. "Are you kidding me?" I accosted him. "Seriously, how hard is it?" (Three inches!)

He stammered a bit before finally formulating his excuse: "I just think it's more efficient to stack everything and then come back later and load them all into the dishwasher, rather than doing it one at a time."

Well of course it's more efficient. For him. Because I'm the one who later comes along and puts them away!

So, I wonder which is more efficient...smacking him upside the head with my hand or with a dish towel?