Heavy cleaning

Even though I clean once a week, today I decided to dedicate an extra day to "cleaning the house" so that I could tackle the sliding doors, stove and floor boards.  We're having our first party this coming weekend and we're also going to be gone for 3 and a half weeks at the end of the month so I really wanted to make sure I made time for those things before it got out of hand.  With that said, once I started cleaning the sliding doors/windows/screen doors, I quickly realized that the previous owners of this house either a) didn't clean very often or 2) didn't clean at all. It was one of those things where once you start looking for dirt, it shows up everywhere!  It was NASTY to see how much dirt had accumulated on the rails of the screen doors.  There was at least 2 inches of BLACK DIRT on them. Yuck!  Zoe was great today -- she was my little helper.  As I was tackling the nasty sliding doors, she was standing right next to me with a dry sponge and paper towels wiping down the windows with her pretend windex.  She kept saying "ewww" and "yuck" too as she was cleaning.  Hahaha.  Having her "clean" right beside me actually makes me feel less tired and I know that at the very least, she's learning to keep a home clean.

Next came the stove.  Since we've moved in, I've been wanting to tackle the char grill on our stove.  I had a feeling that it hadn't been cleaned in a while, and boy was I right!  Thank goodness Viking designed the thing so you could take it apart and clean all the pieces ... there was SO MUCH DIRT.  My hands certainly got a good workout from all that scrubbing I did (now I know why I don't get manicures).  This is the first house that we didn't buy as "first occupants" so I'm not used to cleaning other people's gunk! Even though I couldn't quite get rid of all the gunk (most, but not all), I feel a lot better knowing that my stove is that much cleaner.  Wow.  I sound like such a domesticated woman! Hahaha!

The floorboards were another pain in the butt to clean, but another thing I felt good about doing afterwards.  Again, throughout the 4+ hours I spent cleaning today, Zoe was such a trooper.  She was either cleaning right beside me, watching TV or playing on her own.  I love that I can get so much done now that she's so independent =).

Oh, and I did 4 loads of laundry as well.  Phew!  No wonder I'm so exhausted today.  I don't usually say I'm exhausted, but today, I really am.  But boy do I feel productive!  Go me!

Since we're on the domesticated tip today, check out what I made last night for dinner:

It's Sriracha Lime and Cilantro Hot Wings!!!  I've been wanting to make wings for Mike for quite some time now ... and Michael Symon on "The Chew" had a great one that I knew the hubs would enjoy.  As I was making them, I couldn't help but laugh at how far I've come in cooking.  Not only was I baking AND deep frying the wings (after marinating them for a few hours), I was also making something that was uberly spicy!  Those of you who know me know that I am a featherweight when it comes to spicy food whereas my hubby is the ultra heavyweight.  Nonetheless, I knew he would love them so I sucked it up and went for it.  If that isn't love, I don't know what is =).