For the first two years that we lived in the barn, we had no sink in our living space. I had to haul buckets of water up from the utility sink downstairs. I felt sturdy and pioneering, like my hero Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Then, when Alden was born, we decided it was time to “get modern.” We installed a kitchen with a real-live sink and felt pretty darn good about ourselves.

But inevitably, satisfaction turns to sour complacency and eventually to festering envy. This has been our grim reality for the past few years: the dreaded sink-side dish rack.

I have never had a dishwasher. And I’ve never wanted one. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed washing dishes. For me, there is something satisfying in taking a heap of dirty plates and turning them into a neatly stacked row of clean ones. But Robbi and I started to realize the sheer amount of time we were devoting to doing the dishes and decided that it might be better spent reading to the kids or just plain relaxing. And so, after much research and deliberation…

To make room for our new 18″ Bosch dishwasher, we had to remove a cabinet. It took every bit of handyman instinct I possess, but I managed to liberate it.

The process of getting the dishwasher into its new home involved more shenanigans than I care to recount (or you care to read, most likely).

But eventually, the task was complete, and we took a moment to revel in the bells and whistles.

But our moment of consumer bliss was short-lived. We were faced with the reality of buttons.

Which ones to push? And in what order? I was tempted to use my sheer masculine instinct, which has never before led me astray. But Robbi, the constant doubter, insisted that I consult the manual.

Here I am, under duress.

As it turns out, operating a dishwasher isn’t quite as complicated as I had thought. Apparently, you push the “start” button and shut the door. But not before inserting one of these bad boys into a little bin with a sliding lid that snaps neatly into place with a satisfying click.

For any of you who don’t yet have a dishwasher (there must be three or four of you out there?), liquid soap is a thing of the past. And that little red number is a “Pre-Soaking POWERBALL” that “bursts into action to help soften the toughest food residues like baked-on lasagna and dried-on oatmeal for easy removal.”

There could be no more perfect product for our household. Baked-on lasagna and dried-on oatmeal is just about all we eat these days.

Who knew that washing dishes could be such fun?