I Cleaned My Oven!

Seriously, this should be national news! I actually cleaned my oven. Yay!!! Honestly, I wouldn't have cleaned it but the putrid burnt smell every time we tried to cook or bake was starting to get to all of us. If my man can smell it, it is pretty bad! He can't smell anything compared to my "super" nose as he calls it. I have self cleaning ovens. I know, I'm spoiled. Actually, I would be totally spoiled if the oven makers of the world would get together and put a nice vanilla smell in the actual oven-self-cleaning mode. It may just be my ovens, but every time I turn on the self cleaning ovens, it stinks and we all have to leave the house or keep the windows open. It's bad! A Vanilla scent would be so nice. They just need to get with the Febreeze peeps and maybe even the people who make little pine trees for cars. Self Cleaning Oven Scents, I called it first!

Anyway, there was so much junk in the bottom of my oven from things that had bubbled over and the salt that I threw on top of it to cut the burning smell, that I thought might be too much for my self cleaning button and way too much for the Easy Off cleaner. So what is a girl to do?

I got on Facebook to avoid the whole oven issue. And guess what was waiting in the news feed? A guy that cleaned his oven the "easy" way. Yeah, right! I read some more and thought to myself that this couldn't be any worse than the smell that fumigated my beautiful home every time I tried to cook a meal....or warm up our take out pizza. Hello Martha? Not so much lately, these days.

The facebook link mentioned doing a little something and then leaving it overnight. Perfect!

Warning!  UGLY oven pictured below.   I can't believe I'm posting this for all of the world to see.  Yes, this is my oven.  I was serious about sprinkling salt on things that bubbled over.

To Clean your oven:

Preheat to 150 While the oven is heating, put on a pot of water to boil. Once the oven has reached 150 F, turn it off and pour 1 cup of ammonia into a heat safe bowl or baking dish and place it on the top rack of the oven. Place the pot of boiling water on the bottom rack, close the oven door, and leave them both in the oven overnight.

So far so good! No putrid smell and it was as easy as boiling a pot of water! I'm liking this!

In the morning, I opened the oven door removed both the bowl of ammonia and the pot of water. Don’t dispose of the ammonia; you’ll want to use it later. Add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid dish soap to the ammonia, along with a quart of warm water, and using a heavy-duty nylon scrubbing pad dipped in the ammonia mixture, begin to wipe away the softened grease and grime along the sides and bottom of the oven. It should be a fairly easy job at this point. Wear kitchen gloves. It didn't take longer than 10 minutes to do this step.

This is what my oven looked like after rinsing and scrubbing a bit:

Looking good but still needs a bit of work!  I grabbed Easy Off Cleaner and did a little more work which yielded this:

Much, much better! I smile every time (the one time) I use my oven. The putrid burnt smell is gone. Hallelujah!!! And I feel a bit more like my inner Martha-self is smiling now too!

Dropbox

I thought it would be fun to share with you one of my favorite apps today! Do you have Dropbox?  It has become an invaluable resource for me.  And the best part? It is free!!!  I have the Dropbox app on my iphone, my ipad, and on my computer at home and school.  I love it for sharing images with clients and friends but my favorite feature is that dropbox automatically downloads all of my iphone and ipad images to my Dropbox account.  I'll have my images even if I, heaven forbid, drop and break my phone.  Yay!!!  And it does it automatically.  So cool!

And no, this post isn't sponsored by Dropbox in any way.  I just think they are a pretty cool idea serving in a much needed venue!

Do you have a favorite app?  I'm always looking for new ones!

Jewelry Cleaner via Facebook

I saw this on facebook and Pinterest and decided to give it a try! I am so glad that I did. It works better than toothpaste and a toothbrush, and much better than that red liquid jewelry cleaner that has something growing in it in the back of my cabinet. I may or may not have had that cleaner for a decade. Yikes! The recipe is simple and you probably have all of the ingredients already.

In a medium sized bowl or plastic container add: 2 tablespoons of salt 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of dish detergent 2 cups of water that was heated in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes 1 piece of aluminum foil that is larger than the bottom of the bowl (put it in the bottom of the bowl)

Then add your jewelry:

The solution bubbles a bit. I didn't leave my jewelry in there very long. It totally works!!!

Baylor Bowl Game Part 3 (Last One)

We met our sweet friends and their beautiful girls at the entrance and some random stranger snapped this image for us. We were full of excitement and determination that our Baylor Bears were going to pulverize that Florida team...bless our hearts!

It was so fun to be at an actual BCS Game. So exciting!

The flag was ginormous and the guy who sang the National Anthem.....well, let's just say, liked to add lots of runs to the song. {sigh}

It was cool to see RGIII walk on the field. The crowd went wild when they saw him!

Since it was the Tostito Bowl, each chair had a Tostito package taped to it. Inside we found two new kinds of Tostito's Chips and salsa. It was pretty cool to see fans watching the game while enjoying chips and salsa. It felt kind of like home....except without that little yellow line thing on the screen that tells you how many more yards they needed to make a first down. I missed that line. Ha!

Before the game, my man and I had tickets to the Tailgate Party....along with at least 30,000 of our closest friends. Oiy! There were people everywhere.

The best part of the Tailgate Party? The Queso Blanco....it was free! Well, maybe not free since we bought tickets to the Tailgate Party.

In the end, our Baylor Bears just couldn't get it together but we had an absolute blast! We loved reconnecting with friends from our Baylor days, loved wearing Green and Gold and being surrounded by others wearing our colors too (we live in the heart of Texas Tech colors), and loved getting away for a few days just the two of us....and the awesome sunny weather!!!

Baylor Bowl Game Part 2

We met our friends from our Baylor days for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! Yum! We hadn't seen them in years but it felt like it was just yesterday. We LOVED getting caught up on their lives and hearing about their beautiful girls. We treasured every second! The next day was New Year's Eve. It was fun to wake up to seeing lots of Green and Gold everywhere. This was a special spa day treat from my sweetheart who decided to join me. Yay!!! I didn't really consider us "Spa" people but oh what a wonderful day!!!

We donned the robes that they gave us to wear and then waited in the "Whisper" room. It was dark and quiet...until we arrived. We tried to whisper but it was hard to whisper as we were both in robes, funny spa shoes, and sipping cucumber water. Imagine our giggles when we learned that at that time, we were the only people in the room. Ha! After that, we just waited out by the pool....no whispering required!

And I much preferred my water with lemon slices and lots of ice. The facial was incredible (Mr. Incredible would not agree with that last statement) and the hot stone massage was too, but the best part? Spending time by the pool with my handsome man!

We even had a little poolside lunch in our robes. It's the thing to do apparently!

After lunch I was tortured in the body rub chamber....never again for this modest chica! And then we headed back to our room for a little nap and the Baylor Pep Rally!

It was so much fun!!! After the fun of the Pep Rally and visiting with dear friends, it was time to get ready for dinner. My man arranged for a special New Year's Eve dinner! That may or may not have come with Champagne! (Which was a first for me!)

I loved celebrating the New Year with the love of my life! We were missing our girls, but thankful to have time to getaway just the two of us.

Ten on Tuesday!

 

I know! Ten on Tuesday, it's been forever! So I'm going to try it...wish me luck! Ha!

1. Basketball Season is in full gear around here! In Tuesday night's game, Hannah had 12 points, a few slams, and several rebounds. Yay!!!

2. Rachel and Carly (the Corgi) are having a blast being back at college. Carly has adjusted well to being a college girl...wasn't she just a newborn puppy last week. Time flies. Ha!

3.  I am loving this new beauty sponge!  In the winter, my skin gets so dry and flakey.  Add water to the sponge and it not only makes putting on my  makeup so much easier, but my skin looks less dry.  YAY!!!  I purchased mine from Amazon but you can also get it here: 

4.  I bought a new candle for Christmas and it is so neat!  Normally, I use my Scentsy, but this candle is fabulous.  The crackling sound and the cool shape of the flame is very relaxing!  It is called a Glass Ribbonwick Candle by Woodwick Candles and you can find them by clicking here. 

5.  Speaking of candles, we have loved our fireplace.  We have had cold weather this year, not nearly as cold as you northerners, but cold nonetheless for our part of Texas.  And even though the high here was 60 Monday night, Hannah and I still lit a fire in the fireplace while we watched a little Dance Moms.

6.  Dance Moms, do you watch?  I'm really not sure why we like to watch this show, but we really do.

7.   The snowman above, is how Hannah wrapped gifts for her sister this year.  Pretty cute and totally creative!

8.  I love snowmen....just not looking like a snowman.  Ha!

9.  I hardly remember what coffee was like before my Keurig!  Can anyone relate?!  I was never really good at making coffee the old fashioned way (Just ask my Uncle Tony) so I am so thankful for a perfect cup of coffee every morning made by my Keurig.  My favorite flavors these days are Pumpkin Spice, Starbucks House Blend, and I like the Kalua.  My family thinks the last one is funny since I'm not really a "drinker."  And while there isn't any alcohol in this coffee, I like to pretend there is.   Ha!  I teach high school, remember?!

10.  I made it to 10!!!  I can't promise you will see 10 things on Tuesday every week, but I'm giving myself a gold star for today.  You get a gold star too if you made it to the end.  Yay!!!  Have a blessed day!