Monday, December 28, 2009

Back to reality........

We have a self cleaning option on our stove/cooker for the oven.  So after the turkey/bacon fiasco on Christmas Day,  I put it onto self clean on Boxing Day for 3 hours.  3 hours later the stove is a bit better, but still filthy.  So on Sunday morning, I sprayed it all with Easy Off oven cleaner and that will be my job Monday morning scrubbing the oven. 

Its a smooth/ceramic top on my stove, and that too was filthy; I have no idea why, but anyhow, spent ages scrubbing the top to get all the spots off it.  Then I had to scrub out the laundry sink, as the washer drains into there and it was blocked again.

Then of course the ironing was to do, the fire to clean out and more laundry to do.

By this time I figured it was time for a bit of retail therapy, so we went to the mall.  I needed new slippers, as mine stunk.  When you can smell stinky feet when you have your slippers on, its high time to change them.  Got new underwear, which I badly needed.  Then we popped into Home Depot to price out some stuff for future projects.

Of course had turkey for supper, still got more left, but not too much.  Managed to finish off the leftover veggies, so other than some dessert,  no more leftovers for us!!

I am taking part in a challenge on another site I go on, and thought it was interesting enough to mention on here.  For the month of January, you have to eat out of the pantry/fridge/freezer and try not to spend anything in the grocery store.  Any money you save, you can use it for something else, or better still put in your savings account.  I have another turkey in the freezer, plus a big ham, so I have got a good start.  I thought this would be an interesting challenge.    Also for anyone who decides to take part in this, you have a couple of days to prepare for this......like I have to!!

20 comments:

Canadian Saver said...

You certainly were busy!! I love the Mr Clean eraser pads to clean the stovetop, I have the same as yours and it works great.

For the pantry and freezer challenge, I always think those are good ideas, but I need my banana every morning so I don't know how I'
d do after a week!!
Good luck!

Karine said...

lol I could never, ever buy enough food and cart it all home to be able to eat out of the fridge or freezer for a month as I live alone! I have to do groceries every week unless I go to a family dinner and get handouts and sometimes I can't even get all the groceries I need in one shot because I would have too much heavy stuff to carry home as I have NO CAR!!! Now there's a challenge few people would be able to meet: go one month without a car!!! Not easy to do for most people, but I have to take that into account when choosing an apartment. I currently live 20 minutes door to door from work and within easy walking distance of two grocery stores and two pet supply stores as well as public transportation.

Scrappy quilter said...

That sounds like an interesting challenge. I just might do it. Nothing worse than cleaning an oven. Hugs

Karen from Sew Many Ways... said...

Hi Gill,
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. After a few dripping apple pies, my oven seems to be like yours. I'll run the self cleaning option after the next round of family comes this week. Your challenge sounds like fun. Wish I could try it, but we have so many people coming through here all the time, I think I would fail in the first week.
Have a great week,
~Karen~

MyBulletinBoard said...

Hey! Thanks. Glad we'll have some time to stock up!

Liz in the Republic

DeniseinVA said...

That's a great idea and a good way of clearing out what we've had that needs to be used up, plus saving pennies while we're doing it. I need my fresh fruit and veggies though but otherwise I will give this a go.

BadPenny said...

I have an oven cleaner a very nice man from Ovenu comes in when I can no longer fit anything in the oven !

Turkey smelled strangely of burnt birthday cake my daughter made.

I have also been known to rewash the ENTIRE contents of the ironing basket just to empty iy - very theraputic !

However today we must hoover all the debris up .

Good think you have an extra turkey !!! xx

Prairie Farmstead Ponderings said...

You certainly were busy yesterday, Gill! I hope you're beginning to feel caught up and things are more under control once again.

I am going to have to give the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser a try on my stove top ~ thanks for the tip, Canadian Saver!

The Good Life in Virginia said...

sounds like a not so fun time...cleaning stuff is the pits. though, it is something we've got to do every now and then :)

i think i would do ok eating out of the pantry/freezer but, would have to have some of that parmalat milk in a box on hand. got to have the milk in the house. and, probably would have to stock up on canned oj too before i would attempt such a challenge :)

have a fab week ms. gill.

Stella Jones said...

What a good idea! I will certainly take part in that challenge. I thought for a minute that the challenge was to pop over and help you clean your oven!!!! but I wasn't keen to do that because mine needs doing too. I'm going to do the spraying this afternoon and the scrubbing this evening, I am, I am, I am....?
Blessings, Star

bubble said...

hope you had a lovely christmas...love your blog header...so pretty! xxx

CannedAm said...

I've been doing thepantry/freezer thing for a while and I'm going to have to do some real shopping soon. I'm down to 2 turkeys and some assorted other small meat packages! I could probably go another two weeks and only use one of the turkeys.

Re the cooktop: Someone on frugalshopper tipped me to baking soda and a half a lemon. It really does work well. Anything that doesn't come up with it needs to be removed with the razor. Shines up so nice. I like it so much better than the cerambrite cream that they sell for the cooktops. Smells nice, too :)

I don't have a self-cleaning oven and I can't breathe the fumes of the oven cleaners. I have to keep foil in the bottom and change it out regularly. Then when it's warm, I scrub with comet and a scrubby. Works pretty well, but it's hard work. I'm dreaming of a self cleaning oven...

Made some changes to my blog. Let me know if they don't work.

Lib said...

I need to clean my oven keep forgetting to turn self clean on.
We are so stockpiled We've are eating from it and no shopping.
With all the 50-75% off sales I have over 1/2 my shopping done for Christmas 2010.
Stay warm and have a great day!
Blessins',Lib

Miss L said...

Don't you just love Xmas! I love all the leftovers but I do agree that the house is always in such a state afterwards.

Jenn Jilks said...

YOU ACHIEVED A LOT. I am not sure what I have done! We had roast beef for Xmas dinner. Not quite the same. But we only had one son and a girl friend. So things were quiet, and she wasn't well at all.
A different sort of Christmas, but my oven does need a good clean!
Three loads of laundry and tons of dishes later...things look good!
Thanks for sharing.

CannedAm said...

Gil -- I expect to post more frequently. I have several unfinished posts leftover from spring and summer that I am going to finish up and post. They're out and about ones, and a big part of why they didn't get posted.

The site where I got that format is: ourblogtemplates.com They give very good instructions on installing them and not losing all your side stuff (widgets). They have A LOT to choose from, plus they don't leave a big watermark for their site, just a small mention at the very bottom of the blog. Works for me! I still had to work it a little to get it just right (have one more thing to do), like adjusting the font color and the font size in my header. I had to do it while the kids were sleeping as I cannot do things that require my full attention while they're awake!

I might not make it up to daily posting, but I do expect to at least get it to weekly. I need to tidy up my tags. They're so finite, they're all over the place. That's going to be a chore...

Thanks for the feedback!

Anonymous said...

Gill.. you read my mind.. or was that a text from you earlier today asking for bacon? heehee only teasin.. we bacon eaters gotta stick together here.

Watching "Dances with Wolves" and the lovely rolling hills remind me of your back yard there.. see I'm still thinking about wandering northwards.

With love

~Olivia

Anonymous said...

Hi Gill. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I agree with you. I think people start decorating for Christmas way too soon (before Halloween is a bit much). I actually saw some blogs today that posted about Valentines Day! We haven't even finished celebrating Christmas or the New Year in my home. Hope you are soon recovered from all the work you put into your holiday. Good luck with your challenge!

MyBulletinBoard said...

We are working on saving and paying down debt. As for the pantry, I think I'd better concentrate on stocking up right now. With the growing unrest, anything could happen. I read a file from the American Trucking Association just the other day about how fast things could tank with just one or two days of a truck stoppage -- for whatever reason. The stores are already reducing stock on their shelves which makes them even more dependent on immediate re-stocking. From what I've been hearing, things in Canada are a little more secure, for the moment. Keep us posted!
Liz, in the Republic

http://www.truckline.com/Newsroom/White%20Papers/When%20Trucks%20Stop%20America%20Stops.pdf

Anonymous said...

Try BarkeepersFriend on your stove top

{{{SIGH}}}

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