Tackle It Tuesday–THE OVEN!

I have a short list of cleaning chores I HATE. 

The Oven

See I told you it was short.  (The moderately dislike list is longer)

To avoid the chore even longer I often vacuum, yes vacuum, out the burnt food crumbs on the bottom just to make myself feel better.  My smoke detector is disconnected in the kitchen because I set it off A LOT with the dirty oven.  Really, last 4 or 5 places I have lived the smoke detector was disconnected in the kitchen.  Not safe but saved my marriage.  It really really really really irritates the hubby.

I would like to say that I am not a terrible cook who constantly burns stuff.  I am just forgetful and maybe lazy.  I forget that certain dishes run over and don’t feel like making another pan dirty to put unde r it and just stick it in anyway.

So this morning, while still in my jammies and possessed with a desire to feel like something has been completed this week I dove into my dirty oven. 

I thought about before pictures but realized I would be embarrassed to show how bad I let it get.  So here are the aftermath and end result pictures.

I used this cleaner from the dollar store on the recommendation of my neighbor.  She used it 2 weeks ago and her oven is immaculate.  Mine did not turn out so perfectly.  I think is has something to do with my previously stated problem, unwillingness to clean at all.  I also think baking soda and a really good piece of steel wool would have worked just as well. 

I ordered new drip pans on Amazon because the current set are rusting out.  I also ordered a liner for the bottom of my oven.  I had no idea these existed.  The guilt I can avoid is worth every penny.

I am also saving up for a new stove/oven slide-in range that I will just take with us from post to post.  I have one at our house in Texas but it is currently being rented out (the house not the oven).  One of these days I will just trade out with the TX house and take my flat surface double oven slide in range with me.  I cried when I left it behind.

Now I am going to put some good lotion on my hands.  I also often forget to use rubber gloves .

Thankful for Little Boys

I am thankful this week for their ability to change anything, ANYTHING into a weapon.

How they can have a running conversation on their favorite Super Car throughout the entire day.

I am thankful for a boy’s ability to memorize the features of 20+ dinosaurs and make their brothers guess at breakfast every morning for weeks on end which one they are thinking about.

I am thankful they never care if they match but if they have on a super hero shirt or truck/car/motorcycle shirt holes or not.

I am thankful for running hugs that knock the breath out of you and squished up faces that hate kisses but take them anyway.

Thank you God for these boys.  They are more than I deserve and teach me something new everyday.

An Onion Shortcut

I love the flavor of onions but dread the chopping, tears, and mess that always comes with them.  When I buy them they usually sit there because I put off using them for the previously stated reasons.  Then they rot as I look at them day after day mocking me with their savory hard to get at flavor.

Being the lazy cheap resourceful person that I am I figured out a way to get around the chopping, at least for awhile.  It also lets you use up those onions you bought on sale before they go bad.

I buy a bag full of onions or 3 to 4 very large Vidalia onions at a time.  Then I peel (quickly) the outer skin, cut into 1/4th or 1/8ths, just until the easily fit into your food processor.  If they are too large they will not fall to the bottom and what is nearest the blade will turn to onion mushiness.  This is a picture of onions that have NOT been cut small enough.  The mushy result will be used in soup.

If you don’t have a food processor then I would recommend chopping all at one time.  If you are going to tear up then I suggest putting on some sad music and make a moment out of it.  Then you will be done for a few months.

I use a chopping blade in the food processor and pulse until chopped.  Turning it on and leaving it will turn your onions to mush.  The pulsing chops and knocks the larger chunks down toward the blade while keeping the mush at bay.  This takes around 2 minutes or longer if you let the 5 year old do it.

Then I fill gallon plastic bags with one to two large onions or 4 to 5 smaller onions.  Lay flat on a cookie sheet and label if you want.  I like to score mine with my hand so they are in easy to break off sections.  Also, laying flat on the cookie sheet makes them easy to stack in the freezer and keeps them from conforming to whatever object is underneath.  Because if they are in the metal grate then they will freeze in that shape, squish between the metal bars, and be impossible to get off without tearing the bag.  Not fun.

Once they are frozen you can easily, really easily, break off as much as you need for what every recipe you are doing.  They defrost in about 2 minutes or 30 seconds in a hot pan.  The bonus, no tears or running to the store for onions.

Because we are a cooked onion lovin’ family this is really the only way I use them.  If you are a raw onion lover I don’t see why this would not work for you too.  Someone give it a shot and let me know.  But if they will be cooked in anyway then this definitely will work with any onion.

FYI….if you stop to take pictures of the onions you don’t avoid the crying part.

A quick public service announcement:  Onions, even in small quantities cooked or raw, are life threatening to dogs and cats.  They can cause a deadly reaction called Heinz Body Anemia where the red blood cells will burst.  Treatment is available at your vets office but please be aware what your pet is into.

Linked up to Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family

Also, linked up at Women Living Well

Cookies and Milk for Dinner

Yup, I did it.

I made cookies and let them all eat it for dinner.

Why?  Well because it was Sunday and it was dinner time and I wanted cookies and I was tired and they wanted the cookies and they had a big lunch and I am THAT mom and any other excuse I could come up with .

I want them to remember making cookies and having fun together as brothers.  I want to also enjoy that time and not turn into Monster Mommy trying to clean and cook at the same time.  I want Sundays to be about God and rest and family and joy.  So I gave them cookies and milk for dinner.

Don’t worry it won’t happen every Sunday.  Usually we have cheesecake .

Linked up to Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family

Thankful Thursday–Music

As a mom you often find you cannot turn things off.

Your brain, children, dinner, pets, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.

To combat my distracted self so I can finish cleaning and laundry I use my iPod to quiet those thoughts so I don't walk back and forth through the house forgetting why I am standing in front of the refrigerator and then walked to the bedroom.

I only have three requirements for my playlist, it is easy to sing to, clean, and fun.

This is my newest (to me) favorite song.  I heard it on someone’s blog and had to have it. 

It also makes me feel like Spring and Summer are just around the corner!  Aaahhhhhh……

Being Average

…..that is what I once wished worked for me.

I didn’t want to stand out.  I didn’t want attention.  I wanted to blend in.

I wanted to be just the right amount of helpful but not so much that it got me noticed.  I wanted to be just funny enough that someone is amused but not so much that milk came out their nose.

I want things to go smoothly.  I want no large problems.  I want to be what everyone else thinks everyone else is and they are not.

Thankfully, not one of us is that average person, are we?  You always seem like you are when I see you out at the store or church but you aren’t are you?

Good.  I thought I was the only one.

What works for me this week is being average.  Those few seconds were unexpected now back to my amazingly unusual life.  Average is overrated.

Mondays - The Jumble Of Life

There are days, weeks, months even that pass when life moves so fast you lose track of time. 

You rush the kids out the door with lunch sacks in their hands.  They need to eat in the car.  You are late.

But if you give them just a few extra minutes you will find they made those extra 5 minutes into something special.

I hope and pray they remember this today and not their crazy mommy.