Bird and Berry: Something New and Something Old

There is something new at our house and this is what it is making me in-vision.

Every once in awhile there are things in life that come up and make you put on the breaks and move in a different direction, and we have had one of those things come up. We just found out that in March we will be having the missionaries for our church living with us for six months. It will be either two sisters or two elders, but we are not sure yet which it will be. They will be living in our basement which works out well since it has it's own entrance, kitchen, bath, and bedroom. We have never wanted or considered renting out our basement, but when our bishop asked us if we would be willing to house the missionaries we couldn't say no. We feel like we have really been blessed in life and with our current situation, and saying no to an opportunity like this that we can so easily accommodate would have been ungrateful. I am a true believer that when you have more you need to give more.

I will admit though that when we got the phone call I was in a panic. Husband had to remind me that it was just the missionaries and that we were not opening up a bed and breakfast. The next day I was on the search for appliances for the basement though and right away I found a great fridge for $100 and and a stove that really peaked my interest. A few calls to bug the husband at work and I had the fridge arranged for pick-up the next day and an appointment to go look at the stove that night. I knew I was going to have to work my magic on the husband with the stove since it was a 1940's gas range in an old house downtown. The guy selling it told me it was in a vacant duplex of which he occupied the other side and that I could just let myself in (who does that anymore?). So on our way to a fancy dinner to celebrate our 8th anniversary we made a detour to a creepy old house to look at an ancient stove. I told husband that this date was my kind of date. I always joke with him that he could buy me an old dilapidated building and I would be ecstatic. We did as the man said and walked right in to find the old stove with hand written instructions on how to start it up. We surprisingly got everything lit and the stove was actually in decant shape both visually and mechanically. With a little back and forth and some finagling (of which I will not go into to save the integrity of my marriage lol) we had the old stove in our basement by saturday night.

I worked on cleaning it for most of Sunday and part of Monday and it shinned up nicely. It took a ton of elbow grease and my hands have a slight chemical burn on them from when I stupidly took my gloves off a couple of times, but it was all in the name of saving a piece of Americana. Now the missionaries by no means needed an antique stove, but I figured if I was going to buy something I might as well buy what I wanted.

The only thing missing from the entire stove is the knob for the timer, which sadly does not work. I just find it amazing though that it has all the other original parts and pieces to it.

It is a Kenmore 5 burner range that has a chrome griddle which still needs some major decreasing

a storage area a warmer

and a little oven (that you have to match lite) that I am dying to try and bake a batch of cookies or cupcakes in. The feeling of "domesticness" when in the presence of this stove is overwhelming. It makes every fiber in my being want to make an apple pie.