5 on a Friday - Oven Update, Wacky Weather, WhatsApp & Phones, and a Reading Update

I am currently posting from Friday twin naptime. I have a list of things to do and the house is chaos and also... it's time to write a blog post.  All the other stuff can be done later (probably).  So here's some random Friday updates for you all

Oven Update:

Start with the most exciting - we got our oven cleaned!  I loved all the replies about my cleaning adventures.  I am so curious why my oven gets so so gross, or whether everyone's oven is gross and other people just aren't bothered by gross ovens.   I've never been bothered by anyone else's oven so maybe I need to lower my oven cleanliness standards.

Either way, a clean oven is nice.  Here is before:

And After:

It turns out the glass window can be see through. Who knew??!

May Weather

I almost wrote March weather because yesterday it HAILED!  It's been so cold recently that we've started turning our heat on again, overnight temperatures around 40f/5c and the house is 60f/16c.  It really feels like February and I am not cool with it. (I mean, I'm literally cold with it)

The kids were very intrigued by the hail though:

Whatsapp

Well after 4 years of not using WhatsApp I decided to sign up again.  No major reason why...  I think primarily I felt like it would be easier to batch my texting if I could use the web to send texts.  I basically feel Whatsapp is a new iteration of email threads, which is why I think everyone hates email and then just uses email adjacent things and kind of hates those too.

I probably should write a bigger reflection post on what 4 years of no whatsapp has taught me, but like my travel blog posts and recipe posts this may never happen.  The main thing I realized is that I like seeing people and hanging out with people and the rest of the stuff that happens on phones is just... stuff.  I didn't lose anything social by not being on it, and I'm hoping I won't lose anything social by actually being on it either.

If you want to read lots of thoughts on my complicated relationship with WhatsApp, I've got a lot of posts here

Phone Stuff

I still feel like my use of phone is too interrupting.  As in, I don't spend a lot of time on the phone, but I use it frequently during the day as a distraction device.  I've been at about 2 hours a day for a while now.  I know sometimes that's google maps or taking videos or facetime... but I also pick up my phone 70 times a day. That's 4 times an hour, every 15 minutes of my waking life.  Not ideal.  It will be interesting to see if the addition of whatsapp increases or decreases this or has no impact at all.

Reading Life

I just realized that the Modern Mrs Darcy Summer reading guide is out soon! And then I checked and it's out today! I am excited to flip through it and start crafting my summer reading life.  I have slowed down a bit on my reading recently, however I've really enjoyed some recent reads.

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

I felt this had mixed reviews but I LOVED it.  I loved the characters. I loved the smarts. I feel like this was written specifically for me, and also Rachel who comments on this blog, and also anyone who went to Reed College.  I mean, it's a book about smart people thinking that being smart is the best, while also generally being unhappy about their entire lives, and especially the bits related directly to being smart.  It's a book about social awkwardness.  In my opinion, it's a book about neurodiversity.  I loved it and I also feel all the criticism I read about it is valid and I can see why many people would not love it.

How To Read A Book by Monica Wood

This was a Lisa recommendation and I loved it.  Very different than what I normally read, but I super enjoyed reading perspectives of multiple characters in lives very different than mine.  

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is for book club and I am really enjoying it.  It would probably be even better on Audio.  Plus the main character is a blogger! So that's extra fun.

Have you had any great reads recently?  Is it annoyingly cold where you are? Is being overly interested in our phone use still a thing or is that something of the bygone 2024 era?

Cleaning Conundrums - Car, Oven, Fridge, House, Windows...

This is likely the most boring blog post ever but here we go!  A round up of recent cleaning wins, losses, and in-progress results.

Car Cleaning

A few weeks ago we had our car professionally cleaned by a mobile valet person.  I've never had this before, we usually don't clean our car or just hoover it ourselves but after 3 years of ownership it was getting a bit... grim.  In February Lily had a vomiting bug which unfortunately landed right in the back seat of the car. I googled what to do and the top answer was "Burn your car" followed by "take it where the taxis go" and then finally some mom blog websites said to clean it with baking soda and so that's what I did.  

On the plus side, the car did not smell like vomit! 

On the minus, there has been a lot of baking soda in our car since February.  That stuff is hard to get out of fabric.

Anyways, the mobile valet guy came (I did pre-warn that it was a very family used car!) and he managed to get most of the baking soda out and also all the grim stuff that driving a car for 3 years with 4 kids will do.  It was £75 and he spent over 2 hours working on it.   We only did the inside to save money, but I bet it would have looked super nice to do the outside as well.  Next time!

Baking soda slightly visible behind Ezra

Oven Cleaning

About once a year we get our oven professionally cleaned.  I started doing this after I accidentally splashed oven cleaner in my eye while cleaning our oven on the day we moved in.  Luckily I remembered how to flush my eye out (thanks Chem 101!) and then I brought the box of oven cleaner into A&E where they numbed my eye and then flushed it out more and then charged me nothing because the NHS is free (or taxpayer funded) and so I walked out with eye drops and also colored numbing dye dripping down my face while I took the bus home (Andy was turning in keys to our other home so couldn't get me... plus I probably still wasn't the weirdest person on that bus).

Since then I've paid to have our oven cleaned.  Every year I think "this is the last time I"ll get this oven cleaned, because there is no way this kitchen can last another year!" and after saying this for 6 years I messaged our oven cleaner and... he retired.

I googled how to clean our oven naturally and again the internet moms suggested baking soda and then I decided to save £60 and do it myself.  And that was 3 months ago and I have not even tried.  So a new oven cleaner is coming on Wednesday to clean our very gross oven.  That has lasted another year.  And currently looks like this.  Yuck.

(Roasted carrots and chunky chips for dinner)

Fridge Cleaning

I seem to be the only person in this house capable of recognizing when the fridge needs cleaning.  I generally wipe out the veg drawer when it gets super gross, and I also wipe the crumbs off the bottom when they annoy me enough.  However, when we went to Portugal and stayed at an AirBnB with an actually clean fridge I came home and realized that our fridge was just... gross.   

We arrived home on a Saturday, put the kids to bed, and while waiting for our grocery order Andy and I started properly cleaning all the shelves and drawers.  It was as empty as it's ever been and was the perfect time for a deep clean and I am so glad we did, because now it's just normal dirty and I am unlikely to clean it again for a year.

Standard fridge situation

Window Cleaning

We pay someone to wash our windows on the outside every 2 months.  First we had a person who did it for £8 but he was odd and unreliable.  Then we had someone who did all the windows for £15 and used a squeegee and it was so clean! But then he stopped showing up.  Now we pay a very nice guy £25 and he turns up regularly and does a great job.  I also use it as a reminder to clean the inside of the windows because toddler prints are everywhere.

House Cleaning

We don't currently have a house cleaner.  I have given up on the search. It's probably better financially.  Maybe we can do a one-off clean once a year.  Maybe our house will just be kind of gross until the twins start school.  

How often do you clean your car? Do you pay for it or do it yourself?  What about your Oven?  Anything else in your home you outsource cleaning? What do you hate cleaning or love cleaning?  Have you ever had a ridiculous cleaning related injury?