Are you wondering where I’ve been today?  Dollar General, maybe?  Uuuhh nope,  I had one of those flip-out-and-clean something episodes.  I get them every once in a while.  I’ll just keep walking past it (whatever it is) and think, “I really should clean that…meh, I’ll do it when I’m done blogging.”  Yeah, we both know that never happens.  Today, I decided that I was done blogging…momentarily. Blame the stove.  I walked past it, looked at it, stopped and went back.  Generally, what follows is something like, “That’s it.  I can’t take it anymore.”  The nearest I got to the computer was to Google my problem.  Here is what I found.

Her name is Anna.  Do I know Anna?  No, but she is my sister in dirty stove-ness.  In my quest to find a way to clean what remained after the flame thrower cycle I ran last week when it was warm enough to open the windows and/or run for the hills, I found her.  Again, this makes me dredge up my moldy explanation of my limited ability to creatively solve problems.  It’s a little something I like to call *book smart*  vs. *life smart*.  Yes, it’s relatively self explanatory.   If you’d like to amuse yourself, you’re welcome to read my take on this phenomena in which I own much stock.   Oh, and in case you’re wondering what happened to that series…well, don’t ask.  It’s still in progress, but I may have another, “That’s it!” episode if you ask me about it.  ;)  All right, so back to my stove dilemma.  Anna and I have essentially the same stove, but mine is ridiculously dirtier than hers.  Nevertheless I was *armed*  with her secret ingredient.   Free Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, of course!  I’ve acquired a nice stash of it, actually, from rolling my UP Rewards into them until I felt I had a sufficient sprinkling of orange in my midst.  Enchanted by the notion of a free cleaning solution miracle,  I scurried my way past Mount Jammipants to my beloved basement shelving full of free to retrieve a box of this magical wonder.  Thoroughly skeptical and muttering to myself about the stupidity of this endeavor, I tripped my way back up the stairs and pulled out my trusty Pyrex measuring cup so I could mix some water and baking soda to make a paste.  Using a (free) paper towel, I spread it on the inside of the door…everywhere.  I tried to convince myself that even if it didn’t work, I was attempting to fix it.  That was my mental offering to my perfectionist alter, who was still skeptical and on the brink of insanity.  OK, now all I had to do was close the door and set the timer for 15 minutes.    While I did this, I decided to check into the possibility of cleaning between the glass, which Anna addresses as well.  Genius!  That’s all I have to say about that.  Since that was successful, I need not say more about it.  With one problem knocked to the ground,  I was very hopeful that a little baking soda would save the day.  What happened?  Hmmpf, at least it’s better than it was.  Hmmm, maybe if I do it again?  15 minutes later.  Better still, but we’re dealing with perfectionism, you’ll recall.  I WISH now that I had taken a before picture because it is infinitely more clean, but not…OK, so I miss blogging too much to mess around with it anymore tonight.  After all, tomorrow is another day, I say as I channel my inner Scarlett O’Hara.  And tomorrow, I’ll bring out Arm & Hammer’s alter ego, Vinegar.  She’s MY alter’s best friend.