Icky Ick!

Oh boy, do I have a doozie for you today.  Saturday while my husband was watching our beloved Hawkeyes play NIU I was checking Pinterest.  I found a pin on how to clean your oven hood vent fan cover.  It was a super simple home remedy, you just boil a pot of water, add 1/4 c baking soda (a little at a time, it really foams up), then just soak your vent cover in that boiling water for a bit (I did 10 min).  I walked away from it, went to the basement to check the score of the game (we beat them, btw!) and came back upstairs to check the progress.  Holy Stinky, Batman!  Ew, my entire house smelled like the bottom of a frying pan!  Gross!!!  I cautiously walked up to the pot of boiling stench and saw clumps of nasty grease floating on the top!  OMG!!!  Bleck!  Gag!  P.U.!  I pulled the covers out of the water with tongs and rinsed them under the faucet to get the remaining grease off, then decided I needed to do them one more time, just to be sure I got it all.  I ran that stinky pot of boiling water outside, dumped it in the grass, and came back in and refilled it with clean water to do this whole process again.  The second time it didn't stink as bad.  And those vent covers looked brand, spankin' new!

So, notes to self (and you) about what I learned:
~ Don't pour the water in the grass, it kills it.  Whoops!
~ Do this yearly, before the build up gets so bad it'd be a better idea to just move to a new house
~ Do this when you first move into a new house so you don't realize that, after a year of living there, you've been living with someone else's scum
~ And last, maybe most importantly, do this on a day you can have the windows open so you don't gas yourself out of your house!

Of course I forgot to take before and after pics, but believe me when I say, this is a miracle remedy and really does the trick.  And thank you to the blogger who pinned this, I'm sorry I didn't actually pin this idea so I could go back and give you credit.  It started with a Mark who blogs.  I know, I'm shitty.

On another house note, we painted our bedroom this weekend.  Man does that make a difference!  I love it!!!  We bought 3 paint samples, lived with them on the wall a week before choosing, then made our final decision.  This is the first time we've ever done this.  We always pick up the color swatches, pick one we like and just buy a gallon.  Then I get it on the wall and realize it's not really what I/we wanted.  (Let's be honest here, it's really 'I'.)  So this time we took our time and it sure made a difference!  I bought curtains, I LOVE them!  And rearranged the room a little, which made a huge difference. So now I feel like we have a calming retreat to lay our heads down in every night.  I still want to get some shelves and pretties for a wall, will work on that over the next few weeks.  Why rush it? :)  I tried taking pictures this morning but the sun is coming in so bright that it washes out the photos. Will try again tonight so I can show your our handy work tomorrow.

What did you do this Labor Day weekend?

Here's Bren's first day of Preschool picture.  Sorry it's a funny color.  :(

Erin