Motherhood is a dirty job

I try to keep a clean house; even more so since we moved. My house is not a museum but overall it is clean. Bathrooms are clean; dusting occurs regularly; dishes get done; floors get mopped and vacuumed. However, some projects simply get delayed, and then procrastinated. Today I jumped into conquering the oven; it was time especially after Collin's latest batch of deer jerky.

Here is my latest cleaning tip for oven racks and gas burner stove grids.....

I thought I was pretty clever. They soaked for two hours while I scrubbed, wiped, rinsed, and scrubbed some more-- the oven and the stovetop. I have a self-cleaning oven but I hate the smell it emits so I decided to use the good ol' fashioned way - elbow grease. I worked for 2-1/2 hrs. and there was still room for improvement but the tub trick worked.

Gross, huh???? You can see the tub USED to be clean in the first pic but now this is the gross disgusting mess. The stovetop isn't perfect but much improved. (How does it get that bad anyway when I wipe it down daily?) Like most cleaning adventures, this puts me into 'if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie cleaning mode', first the oven, now the tub, then? It's like crazy pregnancy nesting, but I'm not pregnant!

 

This cleaning project is a lot like motherhood and life. Life is messy. It gets dirty even if you do your best to maintain things. Then you reach a point where you have to stop procrastinating and pull up your bootstraps (or your cleaning gloves) and work hard. No one likes to do the dirty work but dealing with it and making it things better is rewarding. The new situation may not be perfect but hardwork pays off.