Nothing Holds Up Baking...

...like an oven full of burnt.  Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, the burnt part wasn't my fault.  I've burned this before (Remember the muffin paperweights?  That was burning of epic proportions!), but this is like caked-on carbon in the bottom of the oven.

I would bake regardless, however, I have had the unpleasant experience of burning something on the stove top (it was underneath the pot, this is not a habit of mine!) and having to fan the fire alarm to appease it once more.  The burning smell went away and didn't settle on anything.  On one hand, I now know for sure that my fire alarm certainly works; I don't have to press the test button and then scramble to figure out how to turn it off.

So, in the hopes of saving myself quite the scramble, I have swiped the Easy-Off from my mum and now just have to get some really old clothes to conquer the burnt.  I have, so far, had the Easy-Off for about a week now and have not made the slightest effort to clean it.  I'm still working on the clothes (apparently this cleaning business is quite messy!).

I am committed to getting this done, though, and am hoping to have good news soon!  If anything, I have to absolutely get it taken care of before Nov. 3.  Why?  Because Nov. 5th marks six weeks until Christmas.

And Christmas means lots and lots of glorious cookies for all!  ^_^

The stove seems so harmless, sitting there with its novelty spoon (left), but what ominous things it contains!  See that black cloud?  I daresay burnt is the enemy of baking if such a thing even exists (right).