Kitchen Bound

Today, the entire day had been spent in the kitchen.

I was waiting for the stove repair guy to show up. So I figured that I would place myself in the kitchen, where I could easily spot him when he arrived.

And while I was at it, I may as well go on a cleaning blitz.

The blitz took me to places farther than I imagined. All I was expecting to do was clean the counters, the kitchen table, and the little bookcase on wheels.

I wasn't expecting to clean the refrigerator ~ top, bottom, and sides. I even cleaned the door gasket with a toothbrush.

The fridge was a filthy mess. And on top of the refrigerator, I discovered another one of Attila's litter box alternatives. Was I really surprised?

Everything was removed from the top and sides of the fridge:

• accumulated recipe cut-outs
• old insurance papers
• Ariana's old school stuff
• the strawberry pot that held paid bills
• a towel
• forgotten dog treats
• cups and bowls
• bread, hot dog rolls, and taco shells
• a binder containing animal care instructions from when I went to Arizona last year
• a small copper coffee pot with heavy cat urine-catalyzed oxidation on the bottom
• an old Toyota owner's manual case
• magnets
• pictures
• my liturgical schedule
• Ariana's snake plate that I kept on top so that Neil would not have to look at it
• Tupperware containers that I forgot about

Anyhow, you get the idea.

I guess it's been a long while since I last checked what was on top of the refrigerator.

After the fridge was thoroughly cleaned, I edited through the stuff that was both on top and on the sides.

A lot of papers got tossed, so did a lot of magnets and Tupperware containers.

When I was finally done cleaning the outside of the fridge, the things that I did not toss out got very neatly replaced.

In addition to not expecting to clean the outside of the refrigerator, I was not expecting to clean half of the kitchen cabinets, the soffit above the cabinets, the floor underneath the cabinets and around the stove and fridge, and even the slats of the pantry door.

I did all that along with cleaning the counters, kitchen table, and the little bookcase on wheels.

I even packed a box of deconstructed sweater remnants and another box containing important papers and last year's bills.

The strawberry pot, which was over-stuffed with paid bills, got emptied into a plastic storage container.

Both the juicer and the dish drainer were scrubbed clean of this past summer's mildew.

The bay window seat (where I have the cat bed) was tidied up and the cat bedding replaced with clean bedding.

The floor was swept up.

Lots of stuff was thrown out.

Partway through this entire production, 'Miah showed up with the leaf blower.

Shortly after he left, the stove guy showed up.

I showed him the problems with the stove. And after checking out the stove and looking up the price of parts and labor, he asked me, "How much do you love this stove?"

Apparently, it was going to cost nearly $800.00 to get the stove fixed because it needed a new electrical harness.

Ouch!

The fellow advised getting a new stove instead, saying that with a 20-year-old stove, paying that much for repairs would be throwing good money after bad.

While the stove guy was there, I called Neil at work and discussed the matter with him. Neil suggested that I go on-line and look up new stoves and see which one we should get.

But you know, after getting off the phone with Neil and after the service technician left, I thought to myself, "Why even buy a new stove ~ spending $1400.00 ~ if I may not be around all that long to enjoy it?"

The stove still works, even with one blown burner. And according to the stove repair guy, as long as I keep the burned-out element out of the stove, the stove should be safe to operate.

So I guess I shouldn't have to worry about the house burning down.

After the stove guy left, I went back to my kitchen cleaning blitz.

I must say, the kitchen looks so much better now. How wonderful it is to see the top of the table again.

The knife block and the kitchen utensils are now on the counter by the stove. And what a big difference it makes to have my cooking tools on the same counter where I do most of the food preparation. I should have done that years ago.

Now that the kitchen has been cleaned out, I can take up Ryan and Ritchie on their offer to help me clean. What the kitchen needs now is a major de-griming so that it could be sparkling clean when prospective buyer come passing through.

But even without the major de-griming, the kitchen looks good now. 'Miah, Ryan, and Ricthie were all praising the result of my efforts.

And when Ariana comes home from having spent the entire day at school, she will be surprised by what she sees.