Well this was definitely an Epic Weekend I'll never forget, that's for sure. I had fun meeting up with friends and had quite the adventure of cleaning my oven. Yes, cleaning my oven.
We'll start the weekend with Friday night. I had received word that my friends Penny and Vince Bell were back in town visiting from Florida where they recently moved to after a 20 year run in Sparta. Penny and Vince are wonderful friends and are animal lovers, always supporting my Adopt A Pet Of The Week. They even did a fundraiser for Father John's Animal House and volunteered. They're both absolute sweethearts. I was happy to have a beer with them.
Friday night I tried enjoying Moonshine Tiki Bar, but it was honestly too hot and muggy. If I had more friends around perhaps I would've stayed longer, but I was happy to just sweat one drink out and go home.
Saturday morning it was time for some errands. I was happy to drop off and pick up my dry cleaning. It was then time to start my adventure that ended up being Epic. Right before I went to Boston while cooking, my smoke detector alarms sounded. This has happened once before where it was grease that led to it. I knew it was time to clean my oven. Not a fun time. I put on some country music and went into cleaning mode. I scrubbed it down pretty well. I then pulled out the bottom part of my oven pan that I never use nor honestly think about. I saw a big old pile of built up grease that was pretty gross and likely part of the culprit.
The problem? I couldn't really get into it enough with my sponge. Yes, I even wore latex gloves and used a sponge. It was that intense! Even Madre said "wow Steve you're actually using a sponge I'm impressed!" I was taking this cleaning very seriously.
I'm very lucky where with my simple life I don't have to often call my parents for advice on how to handle some challenges. In this case, I needed to call my parents. I even sent a picture of the trouble spot in my oven I couldn't get to. Madre suggested a brillo pad but I wasn't too convinced since my sponges were also pretty narrow. Padre agreed I made the right decision to go to my local hardware store and ask for help.
McAfee Hardware is always fantastic. I went in with my picture, and their employee immediately said "I have an idea!" I then got a brush that was able to help me get into the trouble spot in my oven. I scrubbed the living daylights out of that as much as I could. Apparently the sides of my oven are razor sharp. I cut both of my thumbs. I gave it everything I had for sure. I didn't use oven cleaner. I used Lysol's Kitchen cleaner.
By Saturday around high noon, I was ready to give up and move on getting the bleep out of my house. I was stir crazy.
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Saturday my work wife bestie Shawn texted me inviting me to join her at Crystal Springs Vista 180 Pool. We know that's my happy place Heaven on Earth. I told her I could join her for a quick drink. I was there for exactly 30 minutes, and got to my bestie Jennifer's place at 1:30 exactly just like we had planned.
Bestie Jennifer had a groupon to Jersey Girl Brewing in Hackettstown. I was more than happy to join her. She took me on a couple of quick errand pit stops at Rockaway Mall first. I joined her at a kids sneaker store, Bath & Bodyworks, and then later the closing soon Christmas Tree Shop. I joked with her that by making me go to these places she was really making me earn my beer at Jersey Girl. We had a great time together, with many laughs as we were busting on each other. Best friends busting on each other cracking each other up, the way life should be.
Saturday night I ended up relaxing having an early night in and I was happily surprised. There was an apparent marathon of American Pie movies on TV! Yes! Reliving high school and college memories unexpectedly on a Saturday night was so much fun. I was cracking up over so much of it.
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Sunday I announced to myself that I was going to go to the Crystal Springs Vista 180 Pool for as long as I could until the rain started. Even I admitted I had to have sounded like George Costanza from Seinfeld as I was mumbling grumbling to myself out loud "I'll stay until the rain starts however long I can!" I left at 12:45pm when the rain drops started. I got home just in time before the rain started and wow. That storm definitely lived up to the hype! It was raining so hard for so long. My DirecTV went out. Ah well. While it's definitely time for me to upgrade my television watching situation, a little quiet during a massive rainstorm isn't always a bad thing anyway.
Sunday I also tried my oven. It still set off the smoke detector fire alarms, I'm hopeful that it was merely a case of the cleaning products burning off. Time will tell.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend!