Mondays

Mondays are my catch-up day. I did my daily tasks (vacuum, dishes, made my bed, one load of laundry--though I didn't put the laundry away) and the weekly task of washing sheets (though I only did my daughter's sheets, I never believed I would wash all of our sheets each week.) I didn't need to catch up on any tasks from last week so today I was able to do some of my January tasks. Today I worked in the kitchen. I cleaned the stove top, drip pans, inside the oven (just a bit), and front of the fridge. I need to work on the oven a little more, okay a lot more, and the stove isn't perfect but it will keep getting better and better. If I didn't have my January calendar I would never have done those things at all. The stove would continue to get more disgusting and I would be embarrassed if anyone ever looked in my oven. We have lived here ten years and I don't think I have ever cleaned inside my oven. I waited so long that the self cleaning feature on my oven no longer works. I also cleaned the screens in the range hood. That I am sure I never did and they were gross. They are not on my list, but I will add them.

Here is the before:




In my defense, I never see these. The only reason I noticed them today is I was cleaning the underside of the hood and felt something sticky. It was the rubbery tabs used to pull them out. I'm trying to be greener so I used vinegar first and scrubbed like crazy with a plastic scrubby and my Pampered Chef kitchen brush. Not such a good idea because the gunk that came off the screens needed to be picked off the brush. Then I used orange glo and an old toothbrush. I was really happy with the results:




Sometimes I feel pathetic that I am so proud of something like this. It would seem insignificant to some people but to me it's something I would not have normally done. It's just another step in getting this house to where I would like it to be.