Nesting

Yep! I've been nesting like crazy. In our first childbirth class last week we learned that nesting is actually a sign of labor, which freaked me out a little, but I've always been sort of...um...crazy awesome about keeping our place clean and organized so I think it is just me wanted to make things even better for baby. Plus, I know I won't have time once she is here to do some of these things!

That said, I have turned to Pinterest for some sweet cleaning tips lately and I thought I would share what worked...and what didn't! First, here is a short tutorial on how to clean your stove grates (for a gas stove). It was smelly, but it worked SO WELL! I will definitely do this again!

Before...hard to tell, but there was A LOT of crusted on food. Gross.

Supplies! I forgot to add my mask to this...didn't feel like breathing harmful/stinky fumes. You need: ammonia, plastic bags that zip and fit your grates, a sponge and a cookie sheet. That's it!

Put 1/4 cup ammonia and the grates in a bag and seal. Put them outside on the cookie sheet and let them sit for at least 12 hours. I just set them out overnight. The FUMES do the cleaning, so don't worry if they aren't soaking in the ammonia! This was about 2 minutes after I bagged them and you can already see the dirt in the corner of the bag in the lower left side of my photo.

Take them out (wear a mask again), wipe down with the sponge in warm, soapy water and rinse clean. That is it! No elbow grease required! Love love love!

Another thing that worked:

• Cleaning the grease from the vents above the stove. I REALLY wish I would have taken pictures of this. It was seriously amazing. Haven't cleaned them since we moved in 6 years ago and they look BRAND NEW!\

What didn't work:

• Using baking soda and water to clean my oven. What a mess and it still looks horrible. Let me clarify...the bottom looks great. The window (which the tutorial was supposed to be for) looks nasty still. I did find this PDF that explains how to clean a gas oven, so I might try this instead. 

What I will try next:

• My steak knives need some help. Apparently, lemon juice will fix that.
• My microwave, also gross, although it could be worse. We keep one of these in there so we always remember to cover our messy food! However, I will try this out tonight to see if this gets things really clean. 

I will keep you posed on the results!