Dirty Maggie May

[teela brown]

I'm starting May off by scrubbing the fronts of all my kitchen cupboards and drawers. They were painted with "easy-to-clean" semi-gloss about four years ago, but I still have to scrub the greasy haze off of them with a solution of hot water, Dawn, and vinegar.

I scrub the topmost ones first, rinse them with a clean cloth and hot water, and then dry them off with a dry cloth. I work for ten or fifteen minutes, then sit and rest, and then go back at it. I'll be done right about the time I have to start lunch preparations, I figure.

Bah. I want someone to invent kitchen surfaces that wipe completely clean with a disposable wipe, and I want cupboard doors that are totally flush without little ledges and grooves to capture and accumulate grease drips.

[Diamonds02]

I got into it with someone at the casino!

[teela brown]

Fisticuffs?

[JimNightshade]

Here's Martin Quittenton and a certain Rod Stewart introducing this thread:

https://youtu.be/EOl7dh7a-6g?si=EVal3MUSz-7CCmhT

Rant away!

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by teela brown

I want someone to invent kitchen surfaces that wipe completely clean with a disposable wipe...

My dream shack has waterproof cabinets, a floor drain, and a sprayball in the ceiling.

[teela brown]

Originally Posted by JimNightshade

Here's Martin Quittenton and a certain Rod Stewart introducing this thread:

https://youtu.be/EOl7dh7a-6g?si=EVal3MUSz-7CCmhT

I love that song! However, it's these guys' ditty that I had in mind.

[wring]

My account at facebook just got suspended. what the actual fuck. I'm pretty low key there, especially lately. all of my settings are set to friends only. how the hell does this happen?

[Sputnik]

Here’s a little tip that might work. Try WD40. Try it in a little remote area first. I have a gas stove that’s very messy. The only way I’ve found to clean the vent above it is with WD40. Easily cleans the gas residue. Then simply clean with windex when done.

[wring]

I tried that but my Facebook account is still suspended…

[Zeener Diode]

I've been trying to track a package I sent last week by USPS. I get nowhere with the link on my receipt, and when I tried signing up I keep getting error messages telling my user name is already in use. (I'm thinking this is a phony website, although it hasn't asked for pertinent info or money, so...) I'm heading to the local PO to get assistance.

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by wring

I tried that but my Facebook account is still suspended…

I get FB updates from my immediate family but all the links have returned error messages. I opened my page, it's there, but the family updates are still coming back as 404'ed.

[wring]

Um
The post you quoted was me attempting to be funny by suggesting that I tried the WD-40 thing on my Facebook issue. They have since contacted me and said golly gee whizers we can now see that you weren’t being bad and have reinstated my Facebook account. However, they have yet to reinstate my duck lady of Mason Michigan account, which was connected. I have to jump through a few more hoops for that.

[Jaglavak]

I think the WD40 thing was for kitchen cabinets. I have a few suggestions for how to fix Faceplant, but these days its such a fine line between practical joker and terrorist.

[Sputnik]

Not intended for use on facebasket or other interweb hangouts.

WD40 actually cleans grease and sticky crap off other stuff, just try a small spot first to see if it works on your paint. I did and it did for me.

[teela brown]

Got all the cupboard doors and handles clean. Then it was on to the next odious task: cleaning the toaster. I pulled out the little crumb tray which was packed with crumbs, and cleaned that. Then I turned the toaster upside down over the sink to shake out a year's worth of scorched crumbs. Bleh, I didn't know the toaster could hold that much. Several minutes worth of shaking and it was still disgorging crumbs from somewhere deep inside. That done, I used a chopstick to scrap away blackened grunge from interior surfaces. Then I cleaned the greasy outside with Sprayway and reunited the toaster with its crumb tray and plugged it back in.

But nothing will remove the carbonized black crud from the steel top between the slots. Maybe it's time to shop for a new toaster, as this one is about eighteen years old.

[picunurse]

Originally Posted by teela brown

Got all the cupboard doors and handles clean. Then it was on to the next odious task: cleaning the toaster. I pulled out the little crumb tray which was packed with crumbs, and cleaned that. Then I turned the toaster upside down over the sink to shake out a year's worth of scorched crumbs. Bleh, I didn't know the toaster could hold that much. Several minutes worth of shaking and it was still disgorging crumbs from somewhere deep inside. That done, I used a chopstick to scrap away blackened grunge from interior surfaces. Then I cleaned the greasy outside with Sprayway and reunited the toaster with its crumb tray and plugged it back in.

But nothing will remove the carbonized black crud from the steel top between the slots. Maybe it's time to shop for a new toaster, as this one is about eighteen years old.

Be very careful. I decided to replace my 20 year old functional, but grungy toaster a few months ago. I ordered, what seemed like a similar quality. Not so. The new one is slow, no matter where I set it the toast is either white or black, no brown. I went back to the old, grungy one. The inside is fairly clean, the outside is hidden behind the blender.

Stupidly, I did the same with the electric can opener. It will not grip the cans. The countertop has been christened with lots of soup and green beans. (Shut up. I like canned green beans!)

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by teela brown

But nothing will remove the carbonized black crud from the steel top between the slots.

Oven cleaner. Just make sure to keep it off the heating coils.

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by wring

My account at facebook just got suspended. what the actual fuck. I'm pretty low key there, especially lately. all of my settings are set to friends only. how the hell does this happen?

Someone reported you for something that's against the TOS, probably somebody that didn't care for an opinion you shared. It doesn't have to be true to grab a suspension -- there aren't enough humans to adjudicate every report that comes in so the alleged offender's account is just suspended.



One more reason why I try to never set foot on that site.

[Metal Years]

I got kicked off of there for using a name that they claim is a pseudonym. Also I only had FB to promote my server blog and there was a news story where an unpleasant person kind of almost got what they had coming and I shared and commented in ways they didn't like.

[Jaglavak]

"Hi, this is an update from Larry at First Financial International. We have approval on that $15 million in series C financing. If you text me your deets right away we can close the deal by 5!"

[wring]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

Someone reported you for something that's against the TOS, probably somebody that didn't care for an opinion you shared. It doesn't have to be true to grab a suspension -- there aren't enough humans to adjudicate every report that comes in so the alleged offender's account is just suspended.



One more reason why I try to never set foot on that site.

I kind of figured that somebody had reported me for something, but I’m seriously much milder there than I am damn near anywhere else and I only post friends only. Of course it could be some comment I made on somebody else’s page. I wouldn’t have any way of gauging that, but even my posts on other people‘s comments are pretty freaking mild.
Guess I’ll never know :: shakes fist::

[Zeener Diode]

Anybody else getting slammed with phishing attacks RE road toll charges? I started seeing these a few years ago, maybe one per 3-4 months, but lately I'm getting hit with several each week. (There aren't any toll roads in my immediate vicinity, so I didn't give these a second thought.)

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Zeener Diode

Anybody else getting slammed with phishing attacks RE road toll charges? I started seeing these a few years ago, maybe one per 3-4 months, but lately I'm getting hit with several each week. (There aren't any toll roads in my immediate vicinity, so I didn't give these a second thought.)

EZ Pass & NJ have been warning about these for a few months. I've seen 2 or 3 and they look pretty obvious anyway.

[wring]

I’ve gotten some and I’m not even aware of an easy pass system in my state

[Sputnik]

I’ve gotten two now for delinquent student loans. I have no student loans let alone delinquent ones.

[Diamonds02]

Originally Posted by teela brown

Fisticuffs?

I was butt hurt. Literally. From sitting down playing Texas holdem for a few hours. Then, I moved on to video poker, and gamed standing up. Some man sitting next to me complained about me standing and I was making him nervous. I would’ve just moved to another machine, but his tone was so rude. I told him to fuck off. Then he called me a FIB. I’m not from Illinois. WTF? lol

Yeah, I’m being slammed with EZ pass “toll violation” texts also. I haven’t been to Jersey in four years, and when I did go, I purposely avoided the electronic tolls and paid the attendants with cash instead.

I should start a separate thread called “casino shenanigans”. And boy o boy there has been a lot of them recently.

[Jaglavak]

Its where people go to play games.

[teela brown]

More crappy cleaning tasks were done. I cleaned the microwave, inside and out. But this time I remembered the trick of boiling a bowl of water inside first, and letting the steam sit in there for awhile to loosen all the crud. That was a good thought - the glass revolving plate cleaned off really easily and the bits of grunge stuck to the walls wiped right off with a paper towel.

My stamina for doing large cleaning jobs (like doing a deep-clean of the entire kitchen, which it needs) is limited these days. So I have to portion off the tasks and tackle them one per day. So far it has been cupboards, toaster, microwave.

The big kahuna, though, remains: the stovetop. The grates on top are too big to go into the sink, so I bought a long plastic storage container just for the purpose of soaking and washing them. While that's going on, I remove the dirty aluminum foil grease-and-crumb catching sheets from the stovetop and then soak the burners in pure Krud Kutter. Only a one-sided razor blade will shave off the soaked, blackened carbonization from around the burners. When all that's clean, I lay down a carefully-shaped clean layer of foil on the stovetop and replace the clean grates, knobs, and whatnot.

I am not looking forward to this. I'm seriously thinking of investing in an induction top stove so that I can skip this worst of all cleaning tasks.

[JackieLikesVariety]

I JUST realized this is the minirants thread, right? (ETA: I had the vague thought it was something to do with Rod Stewart but didn't think it through)

I need a new brain, but no. have to plow on with this one.

[Diamonds02]

Originally Posted by wring

I’ve gotten some and I’m not even aware of an easy pass system in my state

Michigan has only one toll, that I know of. To cross the Mackinac. I don’t remember where I read that, Reddit? Probably not ez pass.

I have never been up there, but I can’t fucking wait. It will be a hell of a adrenaline kick.

[Diamonds02]

Originally Posted by Metal Years

I got kicked off of there for using a name that they claim is a pseudonym. Also I only had FB to promote my server blog and there was a news story where an unpleasant person kind of almost got what they had coming and I shared and commented in ways they didn't like.

I have been running under a one for 11 years. I’m surprised I have not been caught yet!

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by Diamonds02

Michigan has only one toll, that I know of. To cross the Mackinac. I don’t remember where I read that, Reddit? Probably not ez pass.

I have never been up there, but I can’t fucking wait. It will be a hell of a adrenaline kick.

I hate that damn bridge so much. Back thirty years ago when I lived in Interlochen I had reasons* to drive up to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario two or three times a year, necessitating a white-knuckle drive across the Mackinac Bridge. Then a woman driving a Yugo was blown over the guardrail during a wind storm. It didn't keep me from crossing but I sure as hell made sure I wasn't in a Yugo.






*Booty call. It's possible I would have driven a Yugo for it, I don't know.

[wring]

Yeah, I’ve written over the Mackinac bridge myself and white knuckles at the whole way. It’s a scary, scary bridge and that was even before the Yugo incident.

OK, so some of you know that I am a rubber duck fiend I buy them and give them away to kids and other people I think need them in the last year or so I’ve been doing what I called bedazzling them where I get a plain rubber duck and add things like a hat or a necklace sunglasses sometimes a gun various other things and I’ve gotten more than a little obsessed lately and continue to find other things to put on them today. I was expecting two packages both ordered from Amazon. One was being delivered by Amazon and they showed up pretty much when they said they would and that was cool. The other item was being delivered by the US Postal Service instead who knows why. I track these mothers. I mean I have nothing else to do with my time other than oh my goodness I getting a package today so yippee yippee yippee where is it now so I know that it went out for delivery this morning, so I was downstairs in our lobby starting at about 1 o’clock in the afternoon and stayed there until Amazon delivered around four never leaving the lobby. We secure building so delivery people have to buzz up to our apartments to get us to open the door remotely and I like to save them time and effort by just waiting in the lobby if I know that they’re gonna be here and that way, I can let them in get my package and everybody’s happy except days like today. So I’m sitting in the lobby waiting and waiting and waiting refreshing browser windows every few minutes and the US Postal Service one suddenly says oh we tried delivering and we’re unable to access the building at 2:11 PM. You gotta appreciate the freaking driver who didn’t say 2 o’clock or 215 they said 211 sounds legit doesn’t it except nobody showed at 2:11 I was there from an hour before that two hours after that that lying piece of shit and sadly what he was delivering or she was delivering was the ones that I was really looking forward to because it was something new I hadn’t spotted before, and I was really looking forward to trying to bedazzle some new ducks so that they’d be hoisting a beer Stein dammit now I have to wait

[Detroit Hoser]

When delivery persons do crap like that (making up a specific time to say nobody was home when they never actually tried to deliver the item) it reminds me of when I worked for the Census...


The addresses that were assigned to me received at least four notices in the mail two months prior to my knock. The fact that I was on their doorstep meant no one had responded, usually because they wanted absolutely nothing to do with the government (regardless of Constitutional mandate.) If I was unable to get the interview with them after they slammed the door in my face, it went against my monthly score which determined my yearly evaluation. I knew exactly how many refusals I could take before it would hurt my score. So when necessary I'd create a fake name, Google Voice number, and say they were a caretaker who attested the residence was vacant. Then in the notes I'd type "does not speak English." That was until someone spit on me and I quit.


I hated that fucking job so much.

[wring]

I generally have a whole lot of sympathy for people who do shitty jobs like that so I’m pretty laid-back about it. I often give positive reviews for delivery people because I know most people don’t but the whole fake. I tried when I know they didn’t pisses me off.

[Diamonds02]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

I hate that damn bridge so much. Back thirty years ago when I lived in Interlochen I had reasons* to drive up to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario two or three times a year, necessitating a white-knuckle drive across the Mackinac Bridge. Then a woman driving a Yugo was blown over the guardrail during a wind storm. It didn't keep me from crossing but I sure as hell made sure I wasn't in a Yugo.






*Booty call. It's possible I would have driven a Yugo for it, I don't know.

Originally Posted by wring

Yeah, I’ve written over the Mackinac bridge myself and white knuckles at the whole way. It’s a scary, scary bridge and that was even before the Yugo incident.

I like to flirt with danger! Good thing I didn’t have the means to satisfy my wanderlust and thirst for adrenaline twenty years ago. I drove a Plymouth Horizon. Similar to a Yugo.

Thirty years ago, I was in eighth grade. While I was in geography class, Hoser was out there crossing geography for that ass!

[picunurse]

My husband has been in the hospital for 100 days today. That seems so monumental to me, but maybe not. He's lost 85 pounds since he was admitted.

I've used most of the money I had access to. I got the mortgage paid. I just applied to Meals on Wheels. I'm on a wait list. The person I talked to said it shouldn't be more than 3 weeks.

My friend who takes me to the hospital has some other commitments next week, so I won't be able to visit.

I'm afraid. I'm NEVER afraid of anything, but now I'm afraid.

Edit: I didn't come here for anything. I just needed to vent.

[Solfy]

You can vent to us anytime picu. You are doing hard things and I’m proud of you keeping on keeping on.

[C2H5OH]

^^^ This. And Solfy says it much better than I can

[picunurse]

Originally Posted by Solfy

You can vent to us anytime picu. You are doing hard things and I’m proud of you keeping on keeping on.

Thanks, I need to hear that sometimes. I do get low now and then, but I always come back.

I haven't been feeling well the last several days. My B/P is pretty low. I still went to the hospital yesterday, but almost lost it on the stairs into the house. I hope the Rampathon folks show up soon.

[Detroit Hoser]

Me, too. Sending you love, my friend.

[Rebo]

I'm sending you good wishes and love, too. What a marathon you've been running.

[picunurse]

Hubby went into A. Fib last night. His heart rate is in the 120s to 140s He is at risk of a stroke. I'm very worried.

[wring]

Sorry to hear, hope they’re taking good care of him and that you take the time to take care of yourself too

[Jaglavak]

So I installed a timer on the porch light this afternoon. Its the kind that replaces the light switch. Got the light switch out and the timer in, no problem just like it says in the destructions. Works great. Aaaaand now the lights are out in the kitchen, bedrooms, and bath because why wouldn't they be. I checked the breakers but no dice. It makes no sense because that stuff is on different circuit, but I suspect it was just that breaker's time to fizzle. There is no fire danger, and the fridge and water heater are still working so I'll deal with it in the morning. This is how a 10 minute job turns into an afternoon of fun with wiring.

[Sputnik]

Nothing is ever a 10 minute job. If you finish in 10 minutes, just wait.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Sputnik

Nothing is ever a 10 minute job. If you finish in 10 minutes, just wait.

Plenty of 10 minute jobs, not in plumbing, but just about anything else.

[Jaglavak]

I suspect the problem is a submain breaker that I offended with the arc welder last year. When I switched it off to work on the light switch I think that was its last gasp. The big question is, does the hardware store stock the right replacement. If necessary I can temporarily repurpose the one for the bedroom heaters. Anyway, right now I'm brewing coffee on the camp stove and then we'll see.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

I suspect the problem is a submain breaker that I offended with the arc welder last year. When I switched it off to work on the light switch I think that was its last gasp. The big question is, does the hardware store stock the right replacement. If necessary I can temporarily repurpose the one for the bedroom heaters. Anyway, right now I'm brewing coffee on the camp stove and then we'll see.

I try to keep a few spare breakers for these situations, but somehow 2 out of 3 times, the one that fails will not be one I have in stock. My first house had a really shit noname panel and I got so sick I ended up replacing most of the breakers with compatible but better made replacements from the Craftsmen store.

Current panel is only 15 years old and the better quality Square D, so I should be good for a long time. Might be the next owners issue in fact and not mine. I still have spare 10 & 20amp breakers. But this was tied to remodeling of the kitchen this time. All new breakers went in for the kitchen.