Oven Spoonful

The pregnancy thing has set off a spending spree in our house.

We have spent the past year or so saving up for some much needed things around the house. When we learned we had a little one on the way, we decided the saving had to stop and the spending needed to start, otherwise, all that saved up cash will go to diapers and legos.

So the thing I have been dreading since we moved into our home 3 or 4 years ago happened:

New oven.

Why dread a new oven? We needed one, and new appliances are so fun to use! Well, because the old one needs to be moved out. The former owners were not the cleanest cooks in the world... I'd actually put them up there with the nastiest cooks in the world. When Larissa and I cook, I am right behind her if she drops an apple peel on the floor, I am an obsesivly clean cook. If I were cooking with these folks, I'd be in a straight jacket.

Boil overs must have been the norm. The sides of the over were caked with some sort of 6 year old yellow/red sauce, and the eyes on the oven were battered with all sorts of dried foods. I could see all sort of food between the coutner and the oven, but I was too afraid to look too long, much less pull the darn thing out and clean.

When the new oven came, I had no choice... Cheez-its, pepperment candies, the occational writing utinsel, dust bunnies of all shapes and sizes (one looked like Nixon), and dried liquids on the floor and the side of the cabinets... Twas gross. One good thing was that there wasn't one single bug back there. I was so certain I was going to see cockroaches run for cover when I moved the oven... yet I didn't even see one dead one, which gave me great comfort.

I dont know why I do this, but if I see something I hate or despise, I HAVE to take a picture of it. Which is why I have a folder on my computer full of spiders I have seen in the house.

So enjoy the before and after pics on this blog... and I encourage you to clean behind, under and the sides of your oven. At the very least go to Home Depot and buy the gaurds that prevent food from falling down there...

Please note; the clean pics are clean... you see stains on the floor, but thats just from the concrete that was poured, they are indelible stains, I assure you.