Cleaning the Air Intake Vent Cover

My husband isn't the most masipag person in the world when it comes to housework (neither am I) but I have to say that when he sets out to do something, he does it really really well. Wala akong masabi.

So this recent winter, we've noticed that the air intake vent for our central AC looks very dirty. We've been in this house for years and no one remembers how this used to look like before - was it brown ? silver ? was it clean when we moved in ? I remember hiring a company to come and clean out the vents but I don't remember them scrubbing the actual vent cover.


For sure, we knew that it wasn't clean.

Okay... I admit, I'm 100% it is dirty.

You know, the kind of dirt that builds up on the blades of the ceiling fan ? That type of dirty.

At some point, the husband gets on a ladder and starts wiping and scrubbing with a few sheets of Lysol wipes.

... and the layers of grime started coming off.

It wasn't easy though. The grime seemed "baked-on" and with that thought in mind, I decided to soak the grime with Easy-Off (my favorite go-to kitchen cleaner and degreaser).

I don't have pictures of that step where we both got on ladders and then wrapped the grate in plastic wrap, section by section, and then spraying with Easy-Off.

After letting it soak. Hubby then started scrubbing.

A couple of hours of elbow grease later, tadaaaaa!

For the record, silver pala siya.

Bargaining

Life these days is full of bargaining. There must be something in an 8-year old's mind that makes him want to oppose me at ever turn. For example:

Me: It's time to take a bath

Swe-cha: No.

Me: You have to take a bath

Swe-cha: I need a few more minutes

Me: you have 1 minute

Swe-cha: I take 10 minutes

Me: no, you have 1 minute

Swe-cha: I take 8 minutes

Me: you can have 2 minutes

Swe-cha: I take 2 minutes.

Me: okay, 2 minutes

Swe-cha: I take 10 minutes.

Me: We agreed on 2 minutes. That's it.

Swe-cha: okay.

I'm not complaining. I'm actually happy that Swe-cha wants to and is able to banter like this. Kaya lang, there are times when I can't help but roll my eyes.

Air Plants

I got some air plants last week and they arrived yesterday. As instructed, I soaked them for about an hour or so and then shook them gently to get rid of the excess water.

When the leaves were dry, I placed them in their containers - I just reused containers I had around the house. If you look closely, you'll recognize baby food containers, a candle holder and even an eye gel container.

I did purchase the white ornamental rocks from the local dollar store.

Ideally, these would thrive well with bright, indirect light - preferably, a south-facing window. This kitchen window faces east so I hope tihs works out well.

Chicken Barbeque

I have to say that I'm getting pretty good at making chicken barbeque.

Feeling ko, it tastes like Aristocrat's but I haven't been to that restaurant in more than a decade so I really wouldn't know.

It was made doubly-amazing when we discovered that yellow (Spanish) rice tastes similar to the java rice that I remember from my childhood.