Microwave Obsession

hoSeveral years ago I had a conversation about house keeping with my cousin. She told me that you can always tell how clean a house is by looking at the microwave!

She explained it like this..

• There are some people who have immaculately clean microwaves. These are the kind of people that wipe up every spill or overflowed mess as soon as it happens. These people keep the window streak free and the turn style spotless.
• There are the people that may have a spill or two on the inside but keep the outside reasonably respectable. They may let it get a little trashed every now and then but they will get to it when they can.
• Then there are those that allow their microwaves to become so repulsive that you don't want to use it! They are the ones that have instant oatmeal spilled several times over, the red or brown splatters that you can't quite decipher, and the black cracks and crevices.

It seamed very sound at the time. Though I am sure my cousin never expected me to take it to the extreme. Being a young inexperienced mom at the time, I took that metaphor as law. I have rarely had a spot in or on my microwave that has lasted more than a day. In fact when my nephew live with us for a year he would ofter get in trouble for NOT using the provided tooth brush on the crevices inside.
Here's the thing... I was cleaning my microwave this morning (This time with a tooth pick because I just couldn't quite get the corner the way I wanted it.) and I just started laughing at my self. Because when I turned around and looked at the rest of my kitchen I found it quite ridiculous that I would be wasting my time on this chore when there were so many other obvious flaws with my house keeping!
The stack of pans that I haven't gotten to, the various items on the island that have yet to find a proper place, the sticky spots on the floor from the various spills by "Not-me" (a subject for an entirely different post), these are all reminders of my inadequacies. And here I am cleaning my microwave! As if by some miracle, a stranger would walk into my house and be so blinded by the cleanliness of my microwave that they would be unable to see the rest of the mess!
Make no mistake. I have No plans to stop cleaning my microwave. I figure having one perfectly clean area in my house is better than none. Although I'm sure my husband would prefer it to be our bedroom or a bathroom! Still it is a little silly.