She’s one cool cat…we hope…

So the last entry I made was about that AMAZING “new” 1950’s oven we found on Craigslist, but I’m about to one up myself with this one. The Mr’s early morning Craigslist searches paid off yet again in the form of a road trip to Cincinnati to bring home this beauty:

Isn’t she lovely?!

Oh, but wait! There’s more!!

Check out the inside:

Check out that action!

That’s right, folks! Not one, not two, but THREE lazy susan shelves. Oh man, I can barely contain my excitement!! Okay, so I’m actually not containing it at all, but who can blame me?? Did you notice that this fridge matches our oven perfectly? The couple we bought the fridge from actually had the exact same oven, matching cooktop and even a matching kitchen sink in their kitchen! It was a thing of beauty. If the sink would have fit our bathroom vanity, I would’ve figured out how to rip it from the countertop, but alas, it was too big. And since we’ve already been down the road of why the cooktop won’t fit, you already know it stayed behind as well.

Which brings me to how we managed to bring the fridge home at all. It was a many-faceted plan, orchestrated by a master of many-faceted plans: The Mr.

Step One: Confirm with Craigslist seller that they will hold the fridge until we can travel up on the weekend. (Sweet-talking accomplished by yours truly.) Thanks, Tung!

Step Two: Confirm that Spartan Granny & Papaw can stay with SpartanKiddo for the weekend. (Sweet-talking not necessary, they actually kept him 2 days longer than we needed just ’cause!)

Step Three: Confirm that our local Enterprise can get us a pick-up truck.

Close up

Step Four: Borrow a dolly/two-wheeled cart from your father-in-law.

Step Five: Book a hotel room in West Chester, OH. Cause, you know, Ikea is in West Chester and if we’re going to Cincy, we might as well check out Ikea. I mean, we’ve been eying those chairs for the kitchen table, and you just never know what else you might find there.

Step Six: Brush up on Tetris skills while thanking Enterprise for the extended cab pick-up when the Ikea trip was more successful than anticipated. (Who saw that coming? lol)

Step Seven: Chat with friends in Lexington about picking up that sweet set of nesting Pyrex mixing bowls your wife bought that one time they posted a pic of their yard sale on Facebook but hasn’t actually been to Lexington to pick up. If we’re gonna road trip, we’re gonna road trip!

Love the details.

Step Eight: Make sure your eyes completely wig out on the highway because you haven’t adjusted to your new progressive (ahem, BIFOCAL, ahem) lenses and ask your wife to drive the rest of the way to Cincy.

Step Nine: Call Enterprise first thing in the morning when you realize a tire is going flat. Find closest Firestone and wait for the nail puncture to be patched, thus setting you an hour behind schedule to meet the sellers. Be grateful for their understanding!

Step Ten: Assume your wife is strong enough to lift a big-ole refrigerator 3 ft off the ground into the bed of a pick-up truck while you push from underneath.

Step Eleven: Watch your wife run after a firetruck filled with strapping young firemen who just happened to stop to test the hydrant outside the seller’s house, desperate for a new plan to load that gigantic fridge. Chuckle as they drive off, completely ignoring her.

Step Twelve: Remove the appliance doors with the tools you wisely packed.

Step Thirteen: Express your extreme gratitude to the neighbors of the seller for immediately dropping whatever they were doing and running (ok, maybe Vince sauntered) right over to help complete strangers carry a fridge out of the house and load it into the pick-up.

Neighbors Vince and Neal doing the heavy lifting, while seller Tung, The Mr & I stand by helpfully.

Step Fourteen: Cover fridge with canvas you also wisely packed and spend the next 20 minutes debating and testing the best method of strapping that gorgeous hunk o’ metal down with the best neighbors ever. (Seriously, these guys saved our bacon!!)

When they finished strapping the fridge down, it was so secure that the entire truck moved when the big guy tried to rock the fridge. Nice work, guys!

Step Fifteen: Ask your wife to load the doors and drawers into the back of the cab, thus pushing the limits of her Tetris skills to a whole new level.

Cheese!

Step Sixteen: Celebrate a job well done with a group photo taken by yet another neighbor trying to mind his own business, even if his dog was all up in ours.

All these guys get a meal on us if they ever happen to be in our neck of the woods! And yes, we really mean that!

Step Seventeen: Ask your wife to drive home, because, well, old-man-eyes.

This is inside the freezer. Don’t make ’em like that anymore!

This butter holder is built into the door and has it’s own cooling unit with wiring that The Mr had to cut to remove the door. And notice the spots for a dozen eggs fit compactly below.

Two metal crisper drawers at the bottom.

Overall, this road trip was a smashing success!! We met some awesome people and brought home a work of art. Now the real struggle begins as we try to determine is she will actually run. Tung & Chik know she ran well 10 years ago, and we can hear the compressor running and circulating, so we are hopeful. I’ll be calling around today to find someone who still knows how to work on our new gal, so cross your fingers that I find the perfect person and we get cool air blowing soon!!