Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Insanely Domestic

I cleaned the oven today. What a messy thankless task.
I didn't want to kids to have to evacuate with one of those harsh chemically sprays so I researched some practical at-home rememedies. I found one about mixing equal parts baking soda, salt, and water to make a paste. Then I spread it all over those "tough stains." Next I baked it all in at 500 degrees for one hour. Eeek! It looked like the sand dunes in there and I think I saw a statue of Lot's wife.
Turns out I created WAY more of a mess than my oven already was!. Scraping, vacuuming, wiping... Obviously, I don't recommend this method. My advice would be to keep foil liner on the bottom of your oven so you never HAVE to clean it!

Oven-cleaning is just one of the many ridiculous domestic tasks I am doing to prepare for Thanksgiving at our home. I also cleaned out and organized the fridge, the cupboards, the drawers, and the kitchen garbage. Of course, I tried to get the kids to help in this. They were helpful for about 30 minutes and then set about making messes in the rest of the house.

The cleaning out of the cupboards reminds me of another piece of advice. When you are putting away your groceries and your Karo syrup container falls on the floor and gets a crack in it, don't be cheap and try to fix it with duct tape. Just consider it a total loss and throw it away--better to save the hour it will take to CHIP away at the mounds of hardened syrup on the cupboard floor later. I learned too late that melting them with hot water was much quicker.

I really don't like housecleaning but, in honor of the holiday, I'm going to say that I'm THANKFUL that I have a house to clean. And I'm thankful that I have 4 great kids who make it look lived in. I'm also THANKFUL that my family will be coming to help us celebrate. I really do love having company and decorating and cooking for them and having the origami towel animals ready to greet them on their beds (or maybe at least some leftover hotel shampoo samples. ) It's just that housecleaning is a real hang-up...which is why I'm asking for a housekeeper for Christmas.

Do you like cooking or cleaning better? (don't tell me if you like both.) And forgive me for getting ahead of myself with the holidays but what do you want for Christmas? Go ahead and dream big...

5 comments:

Megz said...

Is there an option C. None of the above? I'd much rather eat at a restaurant and have someone do the cooking and cleaning for me.
I always like the idea of the home remedies too, but haven't found too many that are successful.

Sheree said...

I'd say cleaning. Cooking just gets me because I have to do all the CLEANING afterwards. And while I am going about my cooking, they are always making messes. I clean the upstairs, the downstairs gets dirty, etc. Drives me nuts because everything I do just gets undone all the time, I feel like a mouse in one of those wheels sometimes.

BUT, there is an end in sight. I am doling out the chores to the bigger kids and trying to teach them to clean A LA BYU dorms style. Everything spelled out. I think it will help eventually.

Michelle said...

I like cooking and hare cleaning up afterward. That is why Big T does the dishes. If I cook a tasty meal, it is only fair.

TisforTonya said...

I've always said that if I didn't have to clean up the mess left behind I'd be willing to cook more like the chefs on TV... someone fill and washes all those prep bowls for them, why not me?

As to the sticky mess in your cupboard... sorry - We have one of those little drawer divider baskets in our cupboard "the sticky basket" and it is the only place they are allowed to put certain items away (syrup, honey, etc...) that way if there's a tiny drip it gets caught and not spread to every single can of tomato soup. Of course, it probably wouldn't have helped much with a cracked jar :(

stephanie said...

Well, I like cooking better if I don't have to clean up the mess afterwards.

I hate cleaning the oven too!

I didn't get to vote in your poll. I always put up my tree between the 15 and 25 of november. I can't usually make it until after thanksgiving. I just love Christmas time way too much.