Blizzard 2012 and a Clean Stove

Under normal circumstances, the two things in the title have nothing to do with one another.  And actually, under these circumstances they don't have anything to do with each other either because I would have cleaned the stove whether or not the Blizzard of 2012 was the hot news story or not.  But whether or not there's a relativity about them, they are going in a post together because their happenstance coincided with each other.  Now without any further ado...

Thursday morning before heading out to chore, Josh had a smirk on his face because we missed the 12 inches of snow that was predicted to hit us.  Its not a full blown smile because, while we missed the snow, we had just awful wind (50+  mph wind with much stronger gusts, per reports given by the channel 13 meteorologists).  The precipitation that we did get was about an inch of rain (give or take a couple tenths) and sleet. 

Meanwhile, and having absolutely nothing to do with the blizzard or lack thereof....

My stove top was in dire need of attention.  The drip pans of one of the burners had worn so thin that it would start to burn whenever I cooked on it.  The other three were just plain gross, no matter how much effort I gave to make them nice.  I keep my stove very clean, but even so, after so much use there's only so much one can do to keep the appearance up.  So I finally broke down and ordered new drip pans.  The Fed Ex delivery fella rang the doorbell at 8:00 Thursday morning, amid the wind and the blowing of the very little snow we got.  I felt terrible!  But after commanding him to be careful and giving him my thanks, I started in on the stove... 

The area around the drip pans needed scrubbing since the stuff had kinda cooked on over time.  What to use, what to use?  Didn't want to use cleaning products because A) its on my stove and will be around our food and B) its on my stove and will be around very high temps and, quite frankly, I didn't want to smell the raunch of the residue burn off when I cooked the next time.  So....

Out comes the baking soda and vinegar.  I made a paste and started scrubbing.  It worked so-so.  Then it dawned on me that I needed something a little abrasive...

...so out came my salt dish.  It worked like a charm!  Compare this picture and the polished area to the first picture and the area that hadn't been scrubbed yet.

I was kinda sorta disappointed that I couldn't get all the baked on ucky stuff off without taking some of the stove top finish off too, but it still looks a TON better than it did before!

Isn't she so pretty with the new shiny drip pans?

Now, back to the blizzard...
 

 

That's one happy guy!  I was a little anxious about opening the back door to greet him for lunch, wondering what kind of morning he had and, therefore, what kind of mood he would be in.  But it turned out that he was absolutely thrilled!  (Not to rub it in to those less fortunate!)  Why so happy about no snow?  Well, to mention a few reasons: the cows weren't stuck in the ditch, the silo conveyors weren't frozen still and inoperable, the baby calves weren't literally freezing to death, the rain soaked right into the soil to replenish moisture as opposed to the snow just sitting on top of the frozen ground and running off upon melting, the weather will stay milder since the snow isn't insulating everything keeping it cold, he doesn't have to wear his thick heavy multi-pound insulated boots to keep his piggies warm, there is no digging out the numerous drive ways of ours and the neighbors (adding hours of work to his already full workload), no dealing with snow drifts and having to find paths for the cows to find way to the feed source, the feed bags are still fully accessible... need I continue?  There's a reason for that happy face!

Lunch happened, Josh went back to work (would've been nice to be able to take the afternoon off, but even a blizzard doesn't keep him indoors....) and the kids and I finished up school.

I find it ironic that we were doing our plant journals in Science, measuring and recording our 22 1/2 inch popcorn plants, when all the local news stations had their urgent news voices in full swing reporting the winter weather.

After finishing up schoolwork, I got busy in the kitchen replenishing the Christmas goodie platter with three new goodies to go along with the leftovers from last week...

This was awaiting Josh when he came in that evening.  There is leftover candy cane bark, Christmas cookies, Oreo balls and peanut clusters from last week and Reese's bars, almond bark pretzels and cherry chocolate chip shortbread cookies fresh from this week.  The platter is full with plenty more in storage to refill as needed!

 

Hmmmm... which one shall I choose?
(This picture is from last evening... here it is 24 hours later and Josh is sitting here on the couch, watching Market to Market, with a plate full of Christmas goodies!  I'm glad I can spoil him and I'm glad he can burn off all those extra Christmas calories keeping himself warm working out in the cold!)