I Had Some "Feels" When Ol' Bessie Was Being Hauled Away

Lisa and I live in a 2 family home. We moved here 5 years ago in July. The old owners put the house up for sale about 2 years after we moved in. It was a very unsettling time for us. We flirted with the idea of buying a home. The stress we experienced during the almost 6 months of people looking at the house, dealing with the realtor, and not knowing what the outcome would be, was something we didn't want to go through again. We were also angry because we had been misled. And, the guy who had been living upstairs had made our lives hell for almost a year.

We came very close to leaving.

Thankfully, a wonderful lady purchased the house and moved in upstairs with her daughter. It's been almost 2 years now and life has been peaceful. Not only is she our landlord and upstairs neighbor, we consider her a friend. She's incredible. Thoughtful. Down to earth. Funny. An animal lover. Big heart. She loves our fur-kids unconditionally. We adore her.

Her daughter is pretty cool too...

A couple of weeks ago, she informed us that she was buying a new stove for her place and ours. My eyes widened. She shopped around and eventually sent me a link to the model she had decided on. Did I like it? What color did we want?

It all seemed a bit surreal. The thought of getting a new stove 'bout near sent me doing cartwheels in the yard. 

Our current stove wasn't broken, it was just old. The burners were slightly warped, the oven cooked uneven, one of the burners was unusable, and despite frequent cleaning, it looked dingy. However, it was the stove provided when we moved in here. I had become accustomed to the quirks and flaws. I knew exactly where to place the cookie sheet in the oven and exact bake times for everything.

Today was the big day. The Lowe's delivery truck pulled up in front of the house. Lisa got out of work a bit early. I sat at my desk most of the time to stay out of the way.

I was bursting at the seams with excitement. Having a brand new stove was going to make my time in the kitchen so much easier and we'd be able to bake 2 cookie sheets of biscuit love at a time versus just one.

That's a really big deal for us. 

Despite my excitement, as I watched Ol' Bessie being hauled away, I had some feels.

I wanted to wrap my arms around her dinged and dingy body, give her a kiss, and thank her. But, that would have far exceeded my level of public display craziness.

Ol' Bessie and I had did have a chat last night. Just her and I. We're good.

Our old stove had a history and some stories to tell.

I would really like to, at this point, recall the first meal I made after we moved in, but I can't, for the life of me, remember.

What I do remember is the late night run to Walmart the day after we moved in to purchase a set of pots and pans.

I remember standing over the stove and making our homemade wedding favors. Dipped pretzels. Lisa helped when she got home from work and, that evening, our dear friend Lorraine joined us.

I remember whipping up lots of trial and error pup friendly meals when Coco joined our family. He wouldn't eat store bought food. That began our journey of making homemade meals for our kids.

Over the years, the old stove cooked hundreds of meals. Some of which we've shared with family and friends.

The oven has baked hundreds and hundreds of cupcakes, cookies, and other sweet treats to celebrate special occasions or simply to hand out "just because."

I remember baking the first batch of homemade dog treats in the oven over 4 years ago. Since then, we've fired up the oven several times a week to bake biscuit love and other homemade dog treats.

I remember when our Pyrex baking dish exploded for no reason.

I have scars on my arms from hot cookie sheets and oven racks.

I have no shame in admitting I was a little sad to see Ol' Bessie being hauled away. Even though our old stove was a pain in the ass most of the time, the old clunker never failed us.

I felt the same bundle of "feels" when we purchased a new vehicle in the fall of 2015 and our new sofa last spring. 

Twenty minutes after Ol' Bessie was hauled away, this beauty was brought in. The excitement resurfaced. It was time.

I'm super excited about our new toy.

You can bet baking will commence tomorrow.

I'm making stuffed mushrooms.

And, I'm totally doing a happy dance.

Thank you to our wonderful landlord, upstairs neighbor, and friend.

You rock.