Deep Cleaning

So Saturday was deep-clean-the-kitchen-day. Do any of you ever do that? I do the regular wiping off of surfaces and that kind of thing, but every so often, usually 4-6months, I just feel like the kitchen needs a real good overhaul. So that's what I did for half the day Saturday. Usually it's family coming in or some big event that pushes me into gear for a "deep cleaning". This time it's Josh coming home for 10 days of leave (we pick him up on Friday!!!). Not that he would really care if it's clean or really clean, but it matters to me, and lets me relax a little more while he's here....probably the melancholy in me that likes my ducks in a row. Below are two of my kitchen "friends", Ajax and bleach. All the counters got a good bleaching.

While the counters were being bleached, the oven went on self-clean. I don't know why they call it that; you still have to wipe it out when it's done. So maybe it should be called partial self-cleaning. And it stinks something awful while it's doing its thing!
Then it was time for the stove. Yuk! Do any of you hate cleaning the stove as much as me. My sis, Tina, has always had gas stoves and secretly I'm jealous. They are sooooooooo much easier to clean. These drop ins have to wiped out underneath...if you can get your hand down in there far enough. The worst part are the burner pans and rings. I really, really don't like to clean them...scrub, scrub, scrub and they don't look a lot different. Of course when I get in this mode, I want every spot on any surface GONE! So when I get to cleaning these things, it really makes for an interesting time because these rings and covers NEVER come completely clean. Any suggestions on what to use on them? I got out the Brillo pads (like SOS) and Ajax.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Here's our floor in the kitchen after I mopped it. This is where the finish appears to have come off, so it's always darker than the rest of the floor. It's clean, really it is! One day I'll have a new floor.

Yes, I got under the sink too. I do keep up with this fairly well since the trash sits under the sink, but it needed a good wiping down too.Diesel didn't seem to care much about my obsessive-compulsive cleaning day...

Ta Da! The stove is done! I was actually pretty pleased with it. The burner rings came cleaner than I thought they would and I just covered up those burner pans with good ol' aluminum foil. Tacky or not, keeps the mess down.
Nice clean counters... Now I won't want to cook in here!
Oven is clean!
Hmmm...this doesn't look a whole lot different, but it is cleaner and I feel better.This is the next big event for today. We are getting cable TV! For some of you, that may not be a big deal, but we have never had cable. Well, that's not actually true. We did have it for 3 months on a trial basis once, but we decided we needed other things worse, so we ditched it. The TV has been sitting in the family room all weekend. The cable guy was supposed to come on Friday, but was running late, so we had to reschedule for today. The TV is a beast to move! We are very grateful to my mom and dad for giving it to us - we love it - but it's a beast to move. So we opted to leave it there for the weekend. Maybe the next post will show us watching TV and enjoying a cleaner house.