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Friday, December 20, 2013

The Stove...

I measure how clean my kitchen is by how clean is the stove top.  I can get all the counters clean, the sink scrubbed till shiny, dishwasher empty....then there is the stove.  It is covered in splattered, cooked on messes.  I find bits of hard macaroni from the kids making the blue box.  There are crumbs, splashes and muck on every piece.  So everything has to come off, burner grates (I have a gas stove), burner covers and there it is ready to be soaped, scrubbed and wiped clean.

Only it doesn't go that easy....there are pieces of junk that have become one with the stove, crumbs that move out of the way of the dish clothe, spots that my green scrubby sponge won't lift.  I spray cleaner on it and let it sit for 5 minutes while I work on the covers and grates.  I hate cleaning the grates by hand, I rather place them in the dishwasher, but I need to cook again soon.  I try to do it at night, but my brain is off so it doesn't  even register that I need to get them in the dishwasher before I run it.

So back to the stove top; someone has left the front door open and beautiful sun shine is now lighting up my stove, showing every layer of grease on the stove and on the knobs, under the knobs, next to the knobs and then I see it.  The entire front of the stove, the glass window to the oven, is covered in drips and chunks of who knows what.  It looks like I have not touched it in months, yet I know I did it last week!

So now the knobs, face plate and entire front of the stove get sprayed....and it needs to sit for a bit.  I hate trying to clean the knobs, there is no easy flat surface to scrub, so using the green scrubby sponge and a dishcloth I try to get them clean.  Of course I leave a burger knob turned on slightly, it smells like something died and starting rotting in fast action.  Whew, then I remember, O boy check the knobs make sure they are all off and stay off as I scrub them.  No luck the sun is still hitting them and they still look grimy.
 
Bring on the toothbrush.....hold the knob, scrub the knob with the tooth brush, work it behind the knob and clean, clean, and clean.  Finally the sun  moves on and my stove is clean....no more sun showing the grime and it looks good, especially since I can no longer see the stuck on stuff.

A clean stove means no cooking that night, I need at least one evening knowing that it is clean and will stay clean for just a bit of time.

Then tomorrow I will cook again, and try to wipe it down so that it will stay clean until my kids decide they need food.  The concept of cleaning has not arrived yet in their minds, it will come, it did for me!.
















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