The First Time I Cleaned the Oven in a Embarrassing Number of Years

Note - this actually happened last... April I think. Finally finished polishing it up & posting it now. (Yes, pun intended.)

I am a creature of habit. You can always find me in the grocery store in the moddle of the afternoon on a Sunday. Which is why it was so odd to find me there on a Tuesday night, muttering to myself as I searched for oven cleaner.

You see, one afternoon, I decided to make bagel chips. I have no idea why we had all the bagels, but they were going to go stale before we could ever finish them.

I'd never made bagel chips before, but it seemed simple enough: slice very thinly, and dip in a bowl filled with oil & any spices you deem necessary. (Mine included lots of garlic & Italian seasoning, in case you were interested.) I might have gotten a little carried away with the olive oil, and some might have dripped off the pan and into the back of the oven.

I mention this because I was running late and took the bagel chips out to a friend's house without cleaning the kitchen first. When it came time that evening to start cleaning, I completely forgot about the oil in the oven.

About two weeks later, Husband decided we having frozen pizza for dinner. No, this was not the first time we'd used the oven since the oilspill, but apparently it was the "magic night."

As he opened the oven door to put the pizza in.... WOOSH!!

From the other room, I could hear a few things:

Bug: Fire! Fire!
Bird: Get away from the fire Daddy! Fire is hot! Stop, drop and roll!!

Husband: Amuses himself by closing the oven door, watching the flames die a little, then opening it & watching them reignite.

Bird: Get AWAY from the fire Daddy!! It's HOT!! Stop, drop and roll!!

She was getting more than a little panicked at this point, so he grabbed the fire extinguisher and put an end to the madness.

Now, if you've never seen the aftermath of a fire extinguisher.... it's not pretty. There's a powdery white chemical residue covering everything within a 4-foot radius of where you sprayed.

Once we sprayed the aforementioned oven cleaner, it took about 2 hours for it to work its magic. I have to say, I was pleased by how quickly all the chemicals, grease, and grime came out. I was horrified by how many paper towels it took (my apologies to the rainforest!).

But my oven is very sparkly now.