Yesterday I cleaned behind our oven.
Even writing it I still feel like quite a freak. Though I do have this odd sense of satisfaction knowing that a layer (or five) of grease, grime, and dust no longer coats the cabinets and floor behind the oven. I had been thinking (obsessing) over this for quite a while. I had wanted to strip and rewax our sad dingy linoleum floors for a while. But I could never bring myself to do it without first addressing the disaster behind our oven. I knew it was there; every time I would cook I could see the nastiness peek out at me from the little crack between the oven and the cabinet. Then there was the day I dropped one of our knives down that crack. But I didn’t dare try to get it. That would have opened up the whole mess that I really just wanted to put off forever until we moved out of this place and could just leave it behind.
Yesterday, first I decided to mop. Then, as I was filling up our bucket, I just went for it. I threw caution and sanity to the wind. I pulled the oven out and OH MY GOODNESS. Really. SO gross. It clearly had not been cleaned between us and the last tenants. And how did I know? The previous tenant’s cat’s mice toys under the oven. Which scared the living hell out of me. The very reason why I do not give those stupid things to our cat. Those little black eyes. Ugh. Then I felt this evil laughter that had to be coming from this ghost cat because I realized I had fallen for that before! When we first moved in, there was one strategically peeking out under the fridge. So one night I dropped something, went to pick it up, and caught a glimpse of this mouse. Then I spent about ten minutes mustering up the courage to look again only to find that it was a cat toy. Sigh. I think I’ve found the last of the toy mice that are hidden in our house. It’s only taken two years.
But after all the trouble, I did it. I cleaned behind the oven. My husband walked in on the disaster of our kitchen and gave me that look. The “Oh my, my wife is officially nuts. I wonder how much paperwork is actually involved in a divorce if they are mentally insane.” But now I can relax because it is clean.
Now I just have behind the laundry machines to obsess over.
I know this may be a long shot, but am I totally alone here? What are your crazy cleaning habits?
