I woke up hopeful this morning. And why not? I have more reason to hope than most folks. I am the precious baby girl of the Creator of the universe. I call Him Dad. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to hope. Whaddaya think?
It's hump day. And, for sure, when this day is over, I'll be over one BIG hump. I worked all day yesterday on the design stuff that's been hanging over my head. I am finally in a position where I think I can get it finished today, on time! I have 12 packs to contribute, 5 of patterned papers, 7 of elements. I think I've done my share! I still need to rename files, put the detailed stuff in all 12 files, finish two previews, zip it all up and upload. All in all, there will be 24 files to upload. Thank goodness they're all smaller than my usual, but then that wouldn't take much--I design one honkin' big kit every week. I'm pretty sure that will take a while, LOL.
At this point I am not even going to speculate on what else might get done around here today. I am just going to put my head down and work on that design stuff.
Listen hard and you will probably hear a "whoop!" when I get the last of it uploaded!
Hey, I found something wonderful in my fridge while I was cleaning it out the other day. Can you believe ALMOND JOY COFFEE CREAMER? Yes, I am tellin you the truth. It is made by International Coffee and it tastes wonderful. We are also not going to speculate on how long it's been in the fridge or how much preservative it contains. But, I very carefully tasted it and it was just fine, so I made some coffee and enjoyed that lovely flavor last night. I don't plan on buying these flavored creamers often--too expensive for my budget and I don't believe for a second that that preservative is preserving my innards like I'd like it to. I wish it were......... Also, too many carbs. (Sometimes I am convinced that most of what I love has too many carbs! Woe is me.......) But for an occasional treat, it works. And it tastes just as good as the candy bar for which it is named.
Alrighty, I'm gonna cut it off there. I have so much to do......... How about some eye candy?
This is by Laura. WOuld you look at the design on this? I love it. All those ciruclar elements and circular cuts of paper are a wonderful accent to the layout and form such a great background! As a designer, I am thrilled Laura worked in so many varied elements as well as giving you the chance to see the papers, up close and personal. You're also getting a good look at the "watercolor" texture on the solids. Love this, Laura!
I'm gone. Have a great day and YOU be BLESSED today!
About time I get this post up! Sorry, folks, I've been running behind and I am overstressed and out of breath!
I think this kit is so darned cute. It is perfect for any kind of summer "water" photos you might have laying around. It is bright, colorful, and fun. Let me show you The Lazy River (I had water parks on the brain when I put this together. Can you tell?)
You can buy the kit or you can buy just the elements, just the papers, or just the alphas. Anyway you want it. Everything is on sale for 30% off.........
Isn't it cute? Hope you love it! It's in the HotFlashDesigns store at A Cherry on Top.
God keeps giving me the gift of Tuesdays. I like 'em. I hope He gives me lots and lots more Tuesdays. I need 'em!
So, today, my main focus is going to be design. I am struggling, really struggling with that enemy of women called "balance". The simple fact is that I cannot clean and design simultaneously. It's just not possible. And I've been doing a lot of cleaning, scrubbing, sorting, etc and not enough design. And part of that is because I've been struggling with how I want to package/combine the stuff I need to be working on. I am working on those U-Build-It packs. Elements are limited to 8 per pack. I am really not up for doing 8 shells, for example. Nor am I up for making 1 red shell, 1 navy shell, 1 yellow shell and so on. That just seems stupid. But, how do I split this stuff up so that folks get what they want in a pack. I tell you, I am clueless. I have never worked under restrictions like this.......... I really need some prayers today for wisdom and inspiration as I must have all this stuff uploaded by tomorrow night!
IF there is time today, I have one shelf in the fridge left to sort through. I did two shelves and two drawers yesterday. I even did the messiest shelf on which a milk container had leaked. So, hopefully I can get that done without forsaking the design I should be doing.
I still need to dust the furniture in the dining room........... Once that is done, I will have cleaned all of the public parts of the house and can do some of the rest. Not that the public parts of the house are actually clean, but they ARE dusted and vacuumed.
That sheet I repaired yesterday is washed but needs to be dried.
I still need to order that attachment for the vacuum cleaner so I can get that area under the fridge clean. Oh, how I wish I could find the attachment I already own.
If I had time to go out, I have several desperately needed errands to run. First, I still have not gone to the grocery store. Do you know how hard it is to talk yourself into that when it's over 100 degrees outside? And there is not a bit of shade to hide your car in while you are in the store?
I need more brackets for the bookcase in the living room so that I can put that thing back together. And get all the books that came out of there back where they belong.........
And, like an idiot, thinking I had purchased two spools of green thread when I started on the little girl's dress, I used my green thread to zigzag that elastic in place on the messed up sheet. Well, now I have more to do with green thread and am almost out of green thread. Oh, I have more green thread, but certainly not in the shade I need. So, I need a trip to JoAnn.
And, of course, I still need to work on the kitchen, putting little bits and pieces of things away.
And, then there's the room I am now going to start simply referring to as the sewing room. I have a pile of fabric I've gathered up that needs to be "filed". Filing it requires the use of Pendaflex folders. Using Pendaflex folders requires Pendaflex-style racks inside the filing drawers. I searched on Amazon and the Pendaflex website for these racks. I need to take some actual measurements of the inside of one of the filing cabinet drawers before I actually order anything, but it appears you have two choices in buying these racks. You can find one that requires almost no size adjustment. However, they cost about two to 4 times the cost of the adjustable ones. And, the adjustable ones require enough strength to either bend or break or saw (with a hacksaw) the metal racks to size. Oy! Fortunately, the one filing cabinet I have dragged in from the garage has racks! Hallelujah! Now the question is whether or not the remaining 3 cabinets which I will eventually move in there have them.......... The racks that do not require adjustment are $14 (more or less) on Amazon and I would need to purchase 6 of them! It could take a while to accumulate enough "excess" cash to buy $84 worth of filing cabinet racks......... If I bought the cheaper, "adjustable" ones, I think I'd have to prevail upon Jim to "adjust" them.
And, I am getting sick of looking at copy paper boxes on my shelves out here. I want to get those painted. But that requires a trip to Lowe's. I guess maybe I can buy spray paint and primer at the same time as I go to get those clips.
In any case, anything that requires leaving this house is not going to happen til Thursday. So there!
Okay, let's do eye candy and I'll move on........
This fun page is by Ms. SarahWhithers. I LOVE it! I hang somewhere between smiling and giggling whenever I look at it. I LOVE that she had just the perfect photo to use with this kit. And, as always when I look at her pages, I am charmed by her use of "tiny" elements. I make 'em big, she uses them small and it REALLY works!
Deanna took a very creative approach to this page. I love that she left the photo LARGE and layered over it. So, the water you see in the background is part of her photo. It looks great. I am quite sure I like this, with the layering beneath and on top of the photo, a lot more than if she had cropped that photo down to fit the frame. The frame is a great way to draw attention to the sweet little face in the photo though!
Alright. I am outta here. YOU be BLESSED today.........
the day progresses. I have cleaned out more than half of the fridge. That bin full of shredding is at the curb. The other trash is at the curb. The empty trash bin has been moved into the house so that the shredding can continue. And I've completed the beginnings of another sewing project.
Now, don't get scared......... The "sewing project" is actually more of a mending project. Whilst looking for the floor in the sewing room, I finally decided to deal with the second fitted sheet with useless elastic. I will try not to fuss and fume about it, but this particular sheet set was NOT cheap. And the fabric is good quality, heavy but a high thread count. I swear to you, the "channel" through which the elastic is threaded is somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8" inch. How much good could that tiny amount of elastic do? Once again, there was no way to thread my heavy duty 5/8 inch elastic through that "channel". So, it is being zigzagged to the wrong side of the fitted sheet, just above the useless channel with the useless elastic.
I did about 24 inch pieces of elastic, 4 of them. And, I am perfectly prepared to add more if necessary. Right now, the elastic is being added to the corners. But, if this isn't enough, nothing is stopping me from adding 4 more 24-inch pieces down the middles of all 4 sides......... This sheet will last til long past when I die because of the quality of the fabric, even if that's 20 years from now, and I am not going to be cheated out of any of those years of use by crappy elastic.
Yup, that sheet was just lying there in the middle of the floor. Once I get all the elastic attached, I can wash it and either get it back into circulation or put it away properly. It appears to have been lying there for quite a while as I am seeing dust and dirt on it. But, it'll be better than new soon!
I have not dusted in the dining room. I probably won't tonight. I have been cursed with a headache for a good 4 hours. I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen, hoping for some relief. And, I ate wheat stuff today and I have stomach cramps, even though I prayed over the food and asked God to neutralize anything that was harmful. I guess maybe He thinks I should donate the uncooked pasta? That prayer worked amazingly well for years when Joe was alive......... I needed to eat SOMETHING for lunch. Particularly since I rarely eat breakfast any more. I honestly don't have much to choose from........ at least not much to choose from that is quick and easy. However, I did have several cans of clams in my pantry so I made some pasta with clam sauce. Yup, obviously not my best idea........
I have decided that come what may, I want to have some kind of a garden next year. I realize it will probably cost me more to get set up than I will harvest, but I want the joy of eating what I grow myself. I don't plan on anything large right away, but I do want SOMETHING. THIS is a pretty easy concept and probably the least work and the least up front expense I've seen. How simple is this?
You can see where that came from by the water mark on the photo though there's not much detail there. (Edited to add: Well, no, really you can't because the photo is too wide for the space available here on the blog. But, I've linked it to Pinterest where you can follow it right to the source.) Fortunately, the photo pretty much speaks for itself. What is that, 10 concrete blocks and a few bags of decent soil? I think I can manage that much expense..........I think I can........ And the sprinklers will water it. If I put down that weed retardent plastic stuff under the blocks, I shouldn't even have to do too much weeding. Oh, I wish I could have done that this year! Just think of all the fresh veggies I could be eating right now! Anyway, this seems like a pretty cool idea. And if I want a bigger garden the following year, I can just move some blocks around and add a few more.
Well, I have more of the fridge to deal with and more sewing to do and I got several bills in the mail which I need to open and pay........ I need to move on for now.
I made the startling revelation that I think I am being raised from the dead, one little piece at a time. And, then, I ran across this:
God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I cleaned up my act,
he gave me a fresh start.
Indeed, I've kept alert to God's ways;
I haven't taken God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works,
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
Suddenly, God, your light floods my path,
God drives out the darkness.
2 Samuel 22:21-25,29
(The Message)
Appropriate, dontcha think?
We, in Christian circles, call stumbling on something like that
I know some of you will think I'm a little crazy when I say this, but "I love Mondays"! Yes, I do. To me, experiencing Monday is like feeling a fresh wind blowing. Whatever came before, victories and defeats, are blown away. What remains is a blank canvas. I get to paint the picture on that canvas this week!
I am noticing something these past few weeks. Something I've been reluctant to share, but here goes: I am coming alive again. Most of me has been dead for a long time. But, slowly, bit by bit, I am recognizing the me I really am instead of the me I had become. I have been a pretty debilitated unhappy stressed out dead inside person for at least a decade. And that is not me. It is just me, surviving. But the real me is not just a survivor. The real me is a whole lot more. I am determined to find more of the missing pieces of the real me and set them free. Look out, world, here I come.............
As I remember to cook.......... As I move loads and loads of stuff to the curb or the donation center......... As I live quietly and have time to think about what I want, what I want to be, I am changing. There was a time, a good while back, if you'd asked me about my dreams for the future or my goals, I would have stared at you blankly. I had no dreams, I had no goals, I really didn't much care about the future. All that is beginning to change. And I am reveling in the changes. Believe me, folks, this is a God thing, a miracle if you like that term (or even if you don't, LOL).
I just thought you'd like to know!
Well, I finished dusting the living room last night. I still need to do some dusting in the dining room, but that's a fairly quick and easy job.
I am excited to be continually making progress in that sewing/junk room. Oddly enough, by "shopping" other areas (like the garage) I am going to have good storage in there and I am going to utilize it. And I am going to create a space that is decluttered, not distracting, and restful to the eye. Every time I spend 10 minutes or so in there, it gets a little better. You can bet I'll be in there today, ironing stuff from my humongous pile of ironing, sorting stuff, eliminating trash and empty boxes, looking for fabric that can be reused (like the polka-dotted too-small pants I found in there yesterday).
And, I'm even going to get in a little sewing in there today. Last night, very late, I finished the seam that attached the ruffle along the bottom of the dress. Today I will trim that seam and top stitch it. I'm really proud of the way this dress is constructed. Truly, I remember how! I've done a lot of fairly complex sewing in my day and I am thrilled to be doing it again! I know an almost 4-year-old won't appreciate the care in construction, but I'll know it's there and it will make me feel good.
In the kitchen, I cannot do what I want to do which is finish cleaning the coils. I've decided that even though it seems like a waste of money, I am going to buy another of those long, skinny attachments for the vacuum cleaner. And I am not going to put that thing back together until it is clean all the way back. In making this decision, I had to take into account the difficulty I had in removing that grill. I couldn't do it; I had to ask Jim to do it. I can't count on him driving 20+ miles to remove that grill for me anytime too soon. So, it has to be cleaned properly NOW. My thinking is that clean coils will cut electricity use which will result in savings. So, perhaps I can defray the cost of the attachment that way in the future. And you can bet, since I am "in control" of this house now, I will put that attachment where it belongs so I don't have to buy another like it down the road.
I will finish dealing with that dog hair that is under the cabinet bases on the other side of the kitchen. I got part of it last night, but it meant kneeling on a concrete floor covered by a thin layer of linoleum and my knees were protesting even before I started that. But, I can't just leave that stuff there in the part I didn't get to............ Besides, I've prayed over these joints that were creaking yesterday and I should have no problem today!
I must, I must, I must get started on cleaning out the fridge because REALLY SOON I must go to the grocery store. I keep putting it off, but I'm running out of even my backup supplies...........
My desk is in pretty good shape. Yes, there is still more stuff to go through and file/trash, whatever. However it is more than tolerable. I think the time I would have spent on this desk will be spent shredding. I have a partially full outdoor trash bin. I want to fill it up today and drag it to the curb this evening for "friendly" trash guys.........
And I am going to have to come up with a different concept for element packs to go with the paper packs I've put together for the U-Build-It coming up soonish at SBE. And, my deadline for uploading that stuff is Wednesday. Yes, I WILL be working on that today, tonight, tomorrow.......and so on, til I have finished.
Today, I thought I would show you a cute layout done by Laurie with my latest kit, The Lazy River, available in the HotFlashDesigns store at A Cherry on Top. I think you'll like it (wink).........
I think I might love everything about this layout. First, In my mind, to create this rainbow effect, I thought you'd need a "special" rainbow colored kit. Just look what she's done with this kit! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! I also really like the curved text that follows the curve of the rainbow colored insert. LOVE! And, the border along that rainbow colored insert--Wow! See, I told you you would like it!
Now, I'm gonna get rolling. I have mucho on my to do list for today (as usual). But with a Monday's clean canvas in front of me, I have renewed determination to work that to do list! YOU be BLESSED today!
Edited to add: Good golly! I just linked you up to a post from mid May of 2012 in which I was talking about needing to iron those valances I finally ironed yesterday. Time flies when you're not having fun and don't give but half a @#$%.
1) The itty bitty long-necked nozzle I planned to use to clean those coils on the fridge is MIA. I have no idea where. I've looked everywhere I considered to be "logical". I mean, I looked in the closet where the vacuum cleaner accessories are kept. That makes sense, right? I looked around the garage (now you KNOW THAT was hopeless). The only thing I can think is that it's been put somewhere "for now". When someone says they're going to put something somewhere "for now" there is an inherent promise that they're going to actually put whatever it is where it belongs later. Joe was a total fan of "for now" but "later" never came.
2) If I want to buy another of those nozzles, it's going to cost me $16.95 plus shipping. And, I could be waiting up to two weeks for it to come, meanwhile operating the fridge without that grill which I will have to stand in a corner somewhere "for now".
3) I used the smallest nozzle I had and I did get rid of a HUGE amount of dog hair, dirt, dust and whatever else off the coils in the front. I had a really difficult time doing this. I wanted to lie down on my stomach to get at it but that entailed rolling from my hip to my stomach. My hips screamed loudly in protest. I tried doing a maneuver like a push up in reverse and my right wrist protested......
4) I finally laid on my back, twisted my neck funny, so I could see what I was doing, and did what I could. In the middle of that, my neck popped. I HOPE it popped IN not out......... While I was down there, I looked across the narrow space that is my kitchen at the bottom of the bottom cupboards. What did I spy? Hunks of dog hair hanging from under the cupboards. More cleaning will have to be done.
5) I am thinking, at the moment, that I will not be retiring to Florida. Or to anywhere in the south except maybe East Texas. Nor will I be retiring to Western Washington state, Oregon, or California anywhere near the ocean. And that breaks my heart. I have dreamed of someday inheriting my mother's home. Not too soon, just someday...... She lives about 20 miles from Daytona Beach. If I lived there, I would get up in the morning, fix a thermos of coffee, grab my hat and my Bible and drive the 20 miles to the beach to have my morning devotions, there, in the middle of a view of the infinite majesty of the ocean.
It has been humid here all day. I cannot tell you how badly my hips hurt when I was trying to get at those coils under the fridge. My right wrist hurts. And my knees are NOT cooperating with any movement I have in mind! And that craziness in my hips was AFTER I had taken ibuprofen.......Challenges for the day have included standing up, shaking the feather duster outside (yes, I am right-handed), pushing myself up off the floor (used my right wrist, oops) and achy fingers. Lord, are you really gonna keep me in the desert for the rest of my life? I've been here 34 years. You got those disobedient, whining, ungrateful, unfaithful, doubting Israelites out of the desert after 40 years........ I think I behave better than they did........ You and I, Lord, are going to have to have a serious chat about this.
Well, it wasn't exactly a promise. More a statement of intentions. I did not intend to work on that microwave grill any more. I intended to reinstall it and move on. However when I went to pick it up to screw it into place, guess what? In spite of all the time I'd spent on it yesterday, it was STILL sticky. I've scrubbed it again. It helped but not enough. I was disgusted. I went looking for some sort of "tool" I could use to scrape it, hopefully without scratching it. Well, I dug around and finally came up with a cheese spreader, like you might use for a cheeseball or soft cheese if you were having cheese and crackers. Small, but sturdy. Able to fit into the space and not sharp enough to gouge anything. And I went over the thing again, with my "tool". Is it clean now? No, it's not. Not completely. However, I think I've gotten rid of enough of the yucky sticky stuff to not be grossed out when I have to handle the thing to put it back in place.......
In the meantime I also cleaned the interior of the microwave. This gets cleaned pretty often because I often sit things in there to be heated or reheated without a cover. Stupid! I don't know why I do that. It just makes more work. But, I do.......
Quite some time ago, I had taken down the valances that were on the windows out here to wash them. I held off on putting them back in place, because, honestly, I wanted to wash down the walls. Well, what I wanted and what I can accomplish in the foreseeable future are two different things. For me to really wash down these walls, I would have to hire some day laborers to move all the furniture. Because of budgetary limitations, that's not going to happen soon. And, once the furniture is actually moved away from the walls, I want to paint as well. So..........I ironed yards of valances today. They are ready to go back up. I hate it, but that is the way it's going to be..........
I also emptied another box of miscellaneous stuff in the sewing room. Some went in the trash. Some went into the donate pile. And, some went into a box I set up for fabrics I can reuse. I found a pair of cute black pants with tiny white polka dots. Somewhere in this house, there is a top that matches them. They have that multi stitched waistband that I hate messing with, and, oddly, the pants still seem to be too small. I can't imagine that in that the bottom half of me always shrinks first. So, I saved those to do something else with. There is actually plenty of fabric there to use in little girls dresses, as a yoke, as seam or neck binding, as a big tie bow, something.......Who knows? By the time I get around to doing something with those, they might fit with a repair to that elastic in the waist.
I managed to vacuum from the back of the hall, through the entry way, through the living room/dining room, and across the threshhold into this room. By the time I finished that, my back was saying nasty words to me. So, I've rested a while and will try to finish that up shortly.
I did sort through a bunch of stuff on the desk and pay some bills. I'm glad to have that taken care of.
It has been overcast and dreary here most of the day. We did actually have rain. Now, I don't count it as "rain" unless it is enough to leave the surface of the patio wet. Yes, it was "rain". Thank you, Lord. I won't have to run the sprinklers an extra time tonight and I won't have to worry about the sprinker-less shrubs tonight either. Maybe that will help compensate for all the water I've used while scrubbing and scrubbing on that darned microwave grill.........I hope.
Punkin is hiding under the other desk. I can only assume that there is thunder somewhere that is too far away for me to hear but close enough for her to hear. The sky is certainly cloudy enough for more rain to fall. That would be perfectly fine with me! I normally turn on lights throughout the house around 6:30 or so, just so I won't get busy on something and get trapped in the office in the dark, LOL. Today I turned on lights throughout the house by 4:30. See, I told you it was a dark and dreary day. Very un-Vegas-like, but a break for my airconditioner. Humidity is easier for an a/c to deal with than the intensity of the desert sun.....
Well, I'm going to move along now. I may be back later.
Well, I know today, being Sunday, is supposed to be a day of rest. It's not going to happen for a variety of reasons. First, my design student is full of enthusiasm and full of questions. And it's not even noon yet, LOL. Second, I have that fridge to clean inside and the coils under. And then there's everything else. Until this house is way closer to what it ought to be, I can't quit. I have enough "off" days as it is......
I decided I am going to have to go after that microwave grill again. Part of it is still icky sticky and it's part that has to be touched to remove or reinstall the thing. I don't want to touch that!
I am blessed with lots of little wood shavings by the front door, by the door to the garage, and by the doors in the office. In order to properly install all the new locks, wood had to be chiseled out of the holes where the strike plate fits and wood had to be drilled elsewhere. SO.......I have to get rid of that before it gets tracked all over the house.
I started out to dust the living room on Friday when I decided instead to unload those shelves so I could work on that bookcase. With all those shelves collapsed on each other, all the way down, it was a total eyesore. I need to finish the dusting in the living room. At some point, I want to go to Lowe's and buy some new METAL clips to hold the shelves in place. I am DONE with plastic clips!
The desk could be a bit less cluttered. Ain't nobody gonna declutter it but me, and, if I don't stay on it, it will be a nightmare in short order.
And, I am chomping at the bit to work in that sewing room some more. I am sensing victory. Not today, not tomorrow, not the day after. But it's coming. I am actually going to get that room whipped into shape. THAT is a miracle, but it's going to happen. I swear by all that is in me, it's going to happen.
I have to make 35 elements for the U-Build-It stuff I have to have uploaded by 7/31. And I have to make previews for 7 files and then get everything uploaded, about 13 or 14 files in all. All by 7/31. I'm starting to feel the pressure about that.
I have to get my new release post up here and in the forum at A Cherry on Top.
I have a goal. It has a deadline, but I don't know what the deadline is. It could be today, next month or 20 years from now. Whenever it is, when I move on up to heaven, this house needs to be as decluttered and clean and pretty as I can make it. I do not want my DD to have to sort through mountains of leftovers from my life. This goal pushes me on. And I am pushed on by the thought that the Lord gave me this house and He has helped me hang onto it all these years. The least I can do is honor Him by taking the best care of this place as I can possibly manage and as He provides.
Here is my verse for today:
"The Lord will bless those who fear the Lord--small and great alike." Psalm 115:13.
One of the possible translations for the word "bless" in that verse is "empower to prosper". I'm all for that!
Gonna go for now and get busy on this day's tasks. YOU be BLESSED today!
Well, I have spent the major part of the last 3 hours working on that filter from the microwave, the grill from the microwave, and the grill from the fridge. I have gone after everything with the scratchy side of a sponge, a purple rag, the rubba scrubba, my dish brush, dishwashing detergent and water too hot to put my hands in. All with mixed results.........
I think the filter is reasonably clean. The only visible grease on it was on the "frame" and that now looks clean. I went after the refrigerator grill and I think it's clean. However, I also think it's stained. It looks as though someone spilled watered down paint and some of that splashed on to the grill. While the dust and crud is removed, I can't budge those white spots. Oh, well, at least it's not dirty and cruddy any more.
The most disappointing is the microwave/hood grill. I have spent most of the time on that. It is better but it has a long way to go and I don't think I can spend a whole lot more time on it, at least not this round. For one thing, I have been using so much HOT water that the kitchen is now steamy! But the deposits of cooking grease are just not coming clean. It is clean in spots. It is cleaner than it was in other spots. But, it's not clean. Does that make sense? There seem to be spots where all my efforts haven't made any impact at all. I am thinking maybe I could get it close to clean if I stood there and went after each of the slats one at a time, maybe with the purple rag. It seems to make some of the grease deposits kind of roll up and then you can get them off. But it would take hours and hours more time. And to be truthful, I have many other things to clean and many other areas of the house that still need attention. And, for sure, I am a bit disgusted with the whole process and I am NOT going back in that kitchen til it cools down!
I also don't think I am going after the coils tonight. It's 11:20 PM and that doesn't seem like a good time to be crawling around on the floor of the kitchen. Besides, the light will be much better in the daylight.
I have decided that even if I can't get this stuff completely clean, I am going to celebrate. It is cleaner than it's been for a long long time. And, if I stay after it, eventually maybe I'll be satisfied. It occurred to me that the microwave/hood thing was installed in 2006. And, for all of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, I cooked pretty much every night on that stove. So, it has built up over a period of years. Maybe I shouldn't expect to clean it all in one try. But, I am doing much less cooking now and if I can keep after that thing, I should be depositing less grease on it (from reduced cooking) than I am able to clean up. Anyway, that's my theory and I think I am going to have to run with it.
I have so many other things to deal with. Right now, I need to clean out my fridge. If I don't break down and go to the grocery store soon, I'm going to be living off frozen veggies. And I don't want to put more in the fridge til I go through what's in there.............. And, a week ago, I started scrubbing down the cupboard doors, once again trying to get rid of a layer of grease that had accumulated on them. I made it through 5 doors. There are at least 12 more....... And then there is the sewing/junk room and the garage and......... Well you get the idea. Yup, I think I am done with that grill for now!
