Angie Workman: March Deep Cleaning Main Floor

I'm not gonna lie.  I didn't finish.  I put the house cleaning goals at the beginning of the year because I know it *always* gets busier as the days go by.  Well, March ended up waaaay busier than I ever dreamed!

I did get my room deep cleaned...cleaned out all the drawers, under the bed, wiped down all the walls & baseboards, washed windows and dusted...

And I did get my five-year-old's room cleaned...with her getting ready to go into kindergarten I decided to get rid of her bookshelf that was full of board books.  Rearranging left room to get her some more grown up things...like a night stand and lamps.  I put those babies together myself...pretty proud:)  It was nice to clean the excess toys and clothes out.  She is able to keep it much cleaner with less stuff, and the stuff that is left has a home.  Also got all her walls washed, windows cleaned and blinds dusted.  You are probably wondering if this is a before or after...it is an after...after a few weeks;)

And the bathroom...got the walls washed, baseboards & blinds dusted, windows washed...and the floor steamed.  This is my new favorite toy for floor cleaning...

It is a Shark steam cleaner from Costco.  If you watch the coupons, they have it for $20 off ever few cycles so you can pick it up for just under $100.  It has been awesome for all the travertine tile I have.  I then use my hand steamer to clean up the grout joints like I showed last month.  I have also been using the Shark on my hardwood floor.  I encourage you to check with your hardwood floor manufacturer for their recommendations.  Many hardwoods are now prefinished and/or engineered and steam can damage them.  Some people also report dulling of the finish, but this one seems to put out just enough steam to get the job done, but not enough to damage my finish--mine is a traditional hardwood.  I figure it is better than the metal spatula I was using to remove the dried oatmeal and jam off the wood...so here's my steamed bathroom:

And then life hit...a trip to NASCAR in Vegas where we got a VIP garage tour and got to meet up with fellow connector Kass and her family...

And a third eye muscle surgery for my ten-year-old...medial rectus recession

And an awesome surprise visit from my Dad who traveled all the way from Indiana for my over the hill birthday...beautifully orchestrated by his wife and my hubby.

Needless to say, I got thrown off track!  I did manage to get the living room deep cleaned and started on the kitchen.  It's amazing how quickly cabinets can get in such disarray with four munchkins putting all their empty boxes and half eaten bags of chips back...feels so good to open the cabinet without everything falling out now!  I also got the idea to centralize all my baking supplies.  I love to bake and make rolls by the dozens.  My favorite flour is the Lehi Roller Mills peacock flour.  I get it from Costco in the 50 pound bags.  I found these cool two gallon buckets with gamma lids at Macey's.  I can unload a bag of flour into three of these buckets.  I have another bucket for sugar and another for all purpose flour and yet another for my speciality sugars.  I keep those in the roll out shelves on the bottom.  Then I moved all my other baking supplies to the cupboard above...and yes I am a cupcake sprinkle hoarder:)  Now I can place my mixer on the counter and have all my supplies right within reach.  My family is annoyed because they can't find anything anymore, but I sure wish I'd done it 11 years ago!

Another challenge in my kitchen is the sink.  My hubby talked me out of stainless appliances when we moved in because we had so many little ones and he didn't want to see handprints all over all the time--which really was a wise move.  But a couple of years ago, I bought a new double range oven and it was stainless...so I have slowly made the switch...except for the sink.  He told me I may end up having to get a new countertop if I tried to replace it, which honestly didn't sound too bad except for the money part of it, so I just have to find ways to love my sink.  These are my favorite cleaning supplies to make it sparkle.  I scrub it with the Bar Keeper's Friend and Magic Erasers to get those metal scrapes from the kids washing my aluminum baking pans.  And then I use bleach to get rid of all the stains.  And then go over it one more time with the first step.  It really does sparkle, so I suppose we'll keep her for now...

The other big kitchen challenge is the range...we found this awesome double oven duel fuel range, so I get all the advantages to gas cooking while still getting my standard electric and convection baking.  It's awesome--it can put out some serious baked good production.  But, as with all stainless gas appliances, it's not the easiest to clean.  My appliance guy recommended a good degreaser so it doesn't get scratched...and I have tried all of them.  The best I've found is plain oven cleaner.  I have pictured the fumeless version, but honestly it doesn't seem to work as well, but is great for in between cleaning that you aren't up for choking.  Then I polish it off with my stainless polish.  In case you're wondering what the Dr. Pepper is for...it's for my sanity:) 

And after a nice steam mop...the kitchen is *mostly* deep cleaned...la voila!

I didn't make it to the mudroom, the entry or the office...and there is a huge pile of DI junk piled in my basement...a new project for a new year because spring is here!

April Project:  Traveling to Nashville for an over the hill celebration with my high school friends...

all while running 13.1 miles!