Ewww...

Well, once again I am posting with a confession. I had no idea just how gross my kitchen sink had become.

Here's the back story: My very gracious mother-in-law had my boys the other morning so that I could run errands. I didn't intend to stop at Lowe's, but it's a lovely store, AND it opens before 9:00. I had 15 minutes to kill, and I saw they had hanging baskets. I needed grandmother gifts for Mother's Day.

Can I just say that it's amazing what I can accomplish when I don't have to get little people in and out of the car all the time? Especially at stores without carts where I shop for a maximum of 5-10 minutes. On the other hand, it's also amazing how much money I can spend so quickly, even when I have a list that I'm supposed to stick to? (Honey, if you're reading this, it really wasn't THAT much...)

Anyhow, back to my story. I still had some time after looking through the flower display, so I went to the cleaning aisle. I have been struggling for months to find a solution for my poor stainless steel tea kettle. You see, a certain woman in my house boiled water and forgot about it right up until the water was evaporated and the house began to acquire an odd smell. The kettle survived, but it acquired a yellowy hue and the previously-not-that-noticeable grease splatters turned black.

So, I was in the market for a stainless steel cleaner. I came across Hope's Perfect Sink. $4? Okay!

Here is how my kettle turned out. I'm not exactly sure what the yellowing is in the picture, but I assure you that's what the camera sees and not what I see.

I am blessed with some lovely sunlight in my kitchen during the early afternoon, which inspires me to clean for some reason, so I decided to see what this stuff could do for the sink.

Here's a shot midway through the process. You can see that I started at the upper left.

Now here's the embarrassing photo. This is only one of the nasty paper towels that cleaned up the mess. (Yes, I probably should have used rags, but I had no idea it would require so many paper towels.)

 













Ah, look at the way the water beads now!

And, the finished product. Drum roll, please!

Oh, wait, there's more! I couldn't help myself, so I cleaned the final piece of stainless steel in my kitchen--the center part of my toaster. It was quite dull and yellowed. Now check it out!

No, I didn't clean the tray inside with the polish, but I did make an effort to empty out the crumbs. That probably is a year overdue. (You did know your toaster had a tray in the bottom to catch crumbs, right? If not, you better go empty yours right away!)

Thus ends a long post about chain-reaction shopping and cleaning. From 15 minutes to kill clear through to a clean toaster.