We’ve been noticing lately that the oven on our beautiful Viking range isn’t getting hot enough. A couple weeks ago, I was preheating it (or trying to) when Taryn came home from work and asked why the house smelled like gas. I’ve mentioned before that I have a very weak sense of smell from some virus or another that I got about 15 years ago. For many years, I had no sense of smell. Now, it comes and goes, but is usually very weak, if it is there at all. Perhaps I shouldn’t be the one using the questionable oven, right?! So, Taryn and I turned the oven off and opened some exterior doors and windows to air out the house. I’ve gotten a couple of repair recommendations from neighbors, but I haven’t called to get it repaired yet. Why? Because tucked in our storage area, between the water softener/filtration unit for our nasty well water and the utility sink, there is a perfectly functional, old, freestanding Frigidaire range, complete with a gas line. 

How old is this oven? Who knows. How long has it been down there? Who cares. It works. Without fail. It’s not flashy or fancy. It just quietly does its job, tucked away, looking over our junk and a cat litter box. Not usually what I consider a food prep area, but really, we aren’t prepping food there. We just toss the food in the oven and get it back out. We have never used the cooktop… because it’s not really a food prep area. And the cooktop on the Viking works just fine… and that’s in the kitchen, which feels better. So, I have little motivation to get a repair person out here to quote a ridiculous price, when I already have the work-around. And a friend of mine let me know that Viking only sells Viking parts to Viking certified repair people, and she had to get someone to come up from Indianapolis to repair one of her beautiful Viking appliances. So, there’s that too. I’d rather take a vacation than get my oven repaired. 

Of course, then I started noticing the things that I stubbornly refuse to modernize. I have not updated to a WiFi thermostat. I have an old, programmable Honeywell. I consider myself advanced because I have a programmable one and not just the dial Honeywell. I don’t actually use the programmable feature, but it’s there. Well, I do use it in the summer, because I hate finding myself out on the boat, looking at the sun beating down on my house, and realizing that the air conditioner is still set at the cool overnight temp. That’s too much for me to take. So, I use it in the summer. Not in the winter though. 

I still use the old coffee pot that I got from Walmart for $20. No Keurig or equivalent for me. It’s cheaper for me to make a whole pot of my tried and true Folgers coffee than it is to make one mug on a Keurig. With three coffee drinkers in the house, who needs all that fancy. My one concession was that it had to have an auto shut-off so I don’t burn the house down just for a cup of coffee. I can be taught. 

I keep a pot of water simmering on that beautiful, semi-useless Viking cooktop instead of using the humidifier on the heaters (we have two… ugh!). Those heaters are ancient. Who knows what is growing inside the humidifier. No thank you! I will simmer a huge pot of reverse osmosis water instead, thank you! That’s the pot in the Viking picture. It works. House feels good!

I don’t know if this is exactly the same, but today, as I stood in the kitchen (which is right by the front door), Travis left for work. As he left, he locked the deadbolt from the outside. I was right there. I could have locked it. Or we could have left it unlocked for a bit (gasp!). But he sticks with what works too. And that is locking the door as you leave. Even more frustrating… I do it too. I lock the door even if someone is standing right inside the front door. Thirty years of marriage have worn off on me, or worn me down. I can’t stop myself, even as I am frustrated by it. Let them lock it from the inside!!! Nope, they may walk away and forget. 

Have a great week everyone! In my house, we stick with what works. Maybe that’s why Travis keeps me around. Or maybe I’m confusing that with “the devil you know.” Either way…