I checked out Amanda's blog today, and she had a fun post about pet peeves. It's part of a writing prompt from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. Okay, I can handle that. I have pet peeves. A lot of them. Like clipping nails at the office, poor grammar, and people who won't just be flipping courteous and let me merge into their lane when I have nowhere else to go and it's just the nice thing to do (!!). Some of them bother other people, too, but this writing prompt is about pet peeves that bother you but shouldn't. Something that is totally normal but I somehow turn it into something completely assinine directed only at me for the sole purpose of making me want to claw my eyes out. I'm talking about sponges here. I don't know if a single object counts as a pet peeve, but it counts for me.
On Tuesday night, Dan and I headed over to Lowe's to check out counter top options for the new house. We'd been talking about granite tiles, and we went to look at the different styles. Until then, Dan had said nothing but good things about granite and then all of a sudden, he broke out with "it's porous so you have to be careful about food dyes and raw chicken and stuff." First, I'm not going to cut chicken directly on the granite. Second that's what sealants and antibacterial cleaners are for. Lastly, there are nastier and more porous things that touch the counter top than raw chicken. Like freaking SPONGES.
I've always hated sponges. In fact, I hate most non-disposable cleaning products. I'm in no way concerned about reducing my carbon footprint when it comes to stuff I clean with. Dust rags are the only exception to this. Those can stay. Sponges are just gross. I hate using them. They smell, and you can't tell me that tiny bits of stuff aren't hanging out in the porous material of your average kitchen sponge. Before I met Dan, I dated a guy who didn't understand my hatred and detest for sponges and thought I was wasting paper towels. Imagine his surprise when he took away my paper towels and handed me a sponge and then watched me freak out almost to the point of tears when I was told we'd be using sponges from now on. He was an a-hole, granted, but now you understand just how much I really hate them.
I've grown up and got past it somewhat in the last couple of years. I can say that I do use sponges for some things. Much to my chagrin, but it has to be done. I have good pots and pans that I don't put in the dishwasher and they have to get cleaned somehow. So I use those really nice Scotch Brite sponges with the green Brillo on one side. Somehow, buying the really good expensive ones makes it better. No generic Target dollar bin sponges for this girl (even though some of them are very cute). And it's preferred that the sponge itself is connected to something else (like a wand with dish soap inside) so I don't have to directly touch it. I wash the darn things in every other running of the dishwasher to keep them as clean as possible, and I don't keep them for more than about a month. For something that's not supposed to be really disposable, I make it so. It's the only way I can handle using the most disgusting thing I can think of.
And you'd better believe they never touch my counter tops.
4 comments:
I don't like sponges either. They are awful and gross and dirty. I never thought about putting them in the diswasher...but mine don't really stay around long enough for something like that. I toss them almost weekly. In between I put them in the microwave to kill germs. J tries to clean the counter with a sponge all the time and I follow him with anti-bacterial spray and a papertowel.
As for granite tiles...there is something new you should look into. It's basically a granite counter top kit made up of tiles...but really big tiles. Like three tiles will cover your counter instead of 20 small ones. It cuts down on the grout lines...which are another gross area that I can never seem to keep clean. I don't think the cost is too much more either.
Hahaha..I really can't read this post without thinking of sweet Shana @ Fumbling and her pet peeve of all SORTS of things...like paperclips and hearing people chew. But I absolutely agree with you on the sponges. The smell alone. GAH. We, too, have pans that have never seen a dishwasher, but I use the scrub brush with a handle because in my head, bacteria has a harder time clinging to bristles than to a sponge. I don't know if it's accurate, but it helps me sleep at night. I think you missed the prompt, though...weren't you supposed to write about an unreasonable pet peeve? Sponges? ABSOLUTELY reasonable. BLEH!!!! Also, congratulations on ditching a sponge-lover. Nothing good can come of that.
Ally said on my blog that in our little circle of blogging we are all super ocd and I think she's right. I use my sponge for awhile then one day wake up and realize gross...how many germs are on this? Then into the trash it goes. I mean its basically spreading germs around everything! Totally a reasonable and understandable pet peeve.
See, and here I thought I was such a weirdo about this. Good to know I have friends in my hatred of sponges.
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