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Did you know that you really should clean your dishwasher on a regular basis like you do your oven? I didn't! I have never once deep cleaned a dishwasher in the last 10 years. I just figured since it's main purpose is to clean that it stays pretty clean too. I've had the plastic pieces in mine turn orange in spots but I figured that was just because of our water. I'd tried doing the Tang and Lemonaide Kool-aid methods to clean it but it never did any good and just figured there was nothing I could do about the plastic.
Yesterday I had bigger problems than orange colored plastic though. I filled our dishwasher up and started it and a little while later Elle noticed that it was leaking water all over the floor. I couldn't believe it! Another water leak problem already?! I stopped it and drained the water, mopped up the floor with towels and pulled the kick plate off to see where the leak was. There was no water under the dishwasher though so I figured there had to be a problem with the seal. And there was; the problem was food build up in the form of a black goo at the bottom of the door. It was really disgusting.
Today I emptied out all of the dishes and washed them by hand. While the dishwasher was empty I scrubbed all of the crevises with an old toothbrush. After that I ran a normal cycle with a cup of bleach in it (added after the pre-rinse was done). I couldn't believe how much cleaner it was. There was still some residue though so I did a little more scubbing and then ran one more normal cycle with a cup of vinegar (also added after the pre-rinse) and look how sparkly it is now! Just like new and no more orange!
Now that I know better I will be deep cleaning my dishwasher at the same time I do my oven. I'm going to get in a habit of rinsing our dishes before loading them even though I was told that it's not necessary. I'm thinking that it is!
Last weekend we had a couple of days around 50 degrees and so I got the spring cleaning itch....then we got more snow yesterday and it's chilly again. Oh well! I've started the cleaning so it must continue! :) Today I vacuumed the rest of the tops of the cupboards and wiped them down. I took down the curtains in the kitchen, dining room and living room since they are all the same fabric and put them in the wash. Before I hung them back up they needed a good ironing and the woodwork on and around the windows got wiped down. After that, I pulled out the refrigerator and cleaned it and the floor. Several Cheerios had found their way under there! That is all the farther I got today. You'd never know I did any of it either. It's all of the behind the scenes housework!
Tomorrow I plan to finish up the kitchen and hopefully get to some sewing. Scott is traveling again so keeping busy with these projects helps the time to go by faster. I want to make some headbands for Elle that I found here. I have found some of the greatest tutorials online that people have took the time to make and put on their blogs. I'll have to do a post sometime linking to them. I did manage to finish knitting the washcloth that I mentioned last weekend. I kept dropping stitches while I was making it and do not know how to pick them up very well so always ended up ripping out rows until I got to the dropped stitch. You can't have a washcloth with holes in it! :)
Scott started a project today that I am so excited about.
A utility shed! I cannot wait till I can start cleaning out and organizing the garage after this baby gets a roof on it! 
Normally I'm not that excited about cleaning out the garage but I just can't take the mess anymore. It has been the catch all for everything. 
See what I mean?!!
Now that I know better I will be deep cleaning my dishwasher at the same time I do my oven. I'm going to get in a habit of rinsing our dishes before loading them even though I was told that it's not necessary. I'm thinking that it is!
Last weekend we had a couple of days around 50 degrees and so I got the spring cleaning itch....then we got more snow yesterday and it's chilly again. Oh well! I've started the cleaning so it must continue! :) Today I vacuumed the rest of the tops of the cupboards and wiped them down. I took down the curtains in the kitchen, dining room and living room since they are all the same fabric and put them in the wash. Before I hung them back up they needed a good ironing and the woodwork on and around the windows got wiped down. After that, I pulled out the refrigerator and cleaned it and the floor. Several Cheerios had found their way under there! That is all the farther I got today. You'd never know I did any of it either. It's all of the behind the scenes housework! 
The sun is shining, it is almost 50 degrees out and I am getting the itch to spring clean. My house is telling me that it is way past time to do some deep cleaning too! There are cobweb strings going from some of the recessed lights in my kitchen over to the cupboards and take a look at these apples. They are a glimpse of just how bad the dust is above my cupboards. Yuck! Getting the kitchen done is my goal for the week. I'm dividing it up into sections and will post my progress here....for accountability! :)
This is my catch all junk drawer. Pretty bad eh?!!
This is how it is supposed to look though. Hopefully it can stay this way for awhile. 
I admit it....I have a problem. Cookbooks are a real weakness for me. I love to browse through them and imagine making (and eating!) all of those great recipes! :) By nature I am not a collector except for this one thing! The sad part of the drawer in this first picture is that this isn't even all of my cookbooks. There were several that I couldn't fit in the drawer so they were in the cupboard above the ovens. I was determined to only keep what I could fit in the drawer.
This is what the drawer looks like now. All 44 of them in nice neat rows. (Yes, you read that right!) 
So this is the section that is done.
