Elbow Grease Sunday

Slept in to nearly eight then two screened MSF at the kitchen table. I made breakfast for myself and some extra for my house guests to snack on before their brunch. The rest went in the fridge. They departed ahead of ten and I went about a task Mother had inspired me to do.

I was going to clean the oven for the first time in a couple years. Cleaning the oven and scrubbing the fridge are two tasks I never think to do but they make the most sense to stay on top of since your food goes in both directly and sometimes exposed. Below is the before picture. Most of what you see has fallen off my cardboard pizzas over the last few years. That is the primary use of the oven here. I used several paper towels to scrape the loose bits out. Then I used some wet ones to clean what I could get with a gentle scrub. I applied the Easy-Off I bought years ago when I last tackled this chore. I followed the instructions precisely and let it foam for two hour and a half hours to breakdown the grime. Could have done the over night method. After several hours, spent Musing and pushing the MSF War I returned to clean things up.

I used a damp scour pad and some warm rinse water to clean it in and went to town. I scrubbed until I could barely stand. I’ll feel this tomorrow. But I got the vast majority of gunk out of the inside of the oven. I tried scraping the racks but I was pretty played out. I got one halfway clean, the other I just wiped off. I circulated the photos, mostly to inspire the next person in this oven cleaning chain Mother may have started.

I used paper towel to wipe off all the surfaces and elements and replaced the racks. Then I started the Auto Clean function on the stove. It started poorly. I sat and watched things for forty five minutes with my vent hood on full blast. I suspect it just burned some residue off the elements. Was a bit alarming though.

While the oven smoked away for hours I worked away on Musings. My two regular readers know I’ve been behind in developing my daily drafts into actual posts. I decided today was the day I turned it around. Some along the way had been fully developed but had to wait until all others preceding it were shared. So I’m some cases I’d do a few and then hit some completed ones. For many hours I toiled. I skipped lunch and kept going. With an hour left for the oven I grabbed a can of Coke to fire me up and forced ahead. I developed over twenty and posted nearly all of them. I’ve almost caught up. One more push this week and I’ll have it. Around six I’d had enough and needed food. I went and checked the oven. It had finally finished after half a day. There was a white film in spots that didn’t go away. When wiped with a damp cloth it came back when dried. This is troubling. I should have dried the whole thing maybe? I washed it again with soap and water, producing the effect in the photo. I’d say it’s cleaner for sure.

For my dinner I microwaved the bowl of breakfast potatoes I’d put in reserve. I put shredded cheese in various layers and nuked it again. Then I added salsa. Irish nacho rip-off. I scarfed it down while checking MSF. We lost our war today, decisively. That’s two losses in a row. I’ll have to help more on defense. I cleaned up the dishes and wiped the oven racks off before putting it all back together.

After dinner I didn’t have it in me to go back to the computer so I used my phone to keep developing drafts. I got a few more done so that now I got a quick sprint to the finish. I look forward to getting these and MSC challenges all caught up, first time since August. I played some MSF but mostly Mused. Bedtime showed up at ten and I followed it into the dark, like Death Cab for Cutie would have.