I Need Help With My Oven

What a great post title, eh? But seriously, I don’t know how to work my old school analog oven. I’m pretty sure it’s older than me. I asked my landlord for help, but she’s the same age as me (re: also younger than the oven).

So in my desperate plea for help, I’ve uploaded some pictures. Maybe one of you grew up with one of these and knows how to use it! To be specific, I mostly can turn it on, but don’t know how to keep it on. I’ve set the clock and know how to use the timer, but it’s the two buttons on the right in the raised rectangle (close up below) that are messing me up I think. I also tried to find a manual/use guide online, but I’m pretty sure this oven is older than the internet too.

Here are the dials up close. The two buttons on the right – what the heck are those for??

Here are the “instructions” when I flip open the top of the oven.

I have salmon in there right now and the oven just turned off… argh. I keep having to check the light to make sure it’s still on.. and right now it’s off again. Soo frustrating!

Please help!

Ikea Purchases

I stopped by Ikea to pick up some rugs for the apartment. I wanted a shag rug for the living room, a door mat, and a runner for the kitchen. My preference is to buy things “pre-loved” from Craigslist or Kijiji because I always find good quality household items for way less than it would cost me for something new of lesser quality! I looked around online though and couldn’t find anything I liked. I wanted to buy something inexpensive so it wouldn’t be a huge deal if it didn’t fit in the space in the condo, so off to Ikea I went.
I ended up with this kitchen runner. It’s the HESSUM flatwoven rug. The colour goes great in the kitchen. It’s very neutral and the contrast shows way less than it does in the picture on the left. The size is 200 x 80 cm / 6’7” x 2’7”

Here’s a picture of the kitchen a few days before I moved in. The owners went with pretty much everything opposite to my taste lol, but the more I look at the dark cabinets, the more I’m starting to think they’re a good idea! They hide all the dirty fingerprints. Also, the configuration is very similar to the kitchen configuration in our condo (except we have a double sink and dishwasher yay!).
I also bought one of the HESSUM door mats. This one to be exact. I thought I would like it, but it’s way too small and looks too insignificant, so it’s gonna go back…
I wanted to exchange it for the other HESSUM rug (below), which is bigger, but ended up getting a rug with pretty much the same dimensions as the larger HESSUM, but in plain gray…from Dollarama! Ha! That store has everything…
I also bought the ALHEDE high-pile rug in off-white and I love it. Even Riley loves it – she’s always rolling around on it. It’s so soft and the pile is dense and thick. I literally spent an afternoon lying on it reading magazines. The colour is fantastic too – I would definitely describe it as gray, not off white. From far away it reads gray, but it’s off-white with flecks of black and gray. I bought the 195 x 133 cm / 6’5” x 4’4” size. It’s not quite big enough. The next size up isn’t much bigger but costs a considerable amount more, so I’m considering buying another one in the same size I have now and stitching them together along the long edge. I saw Sarah Richardson get that done with two zebra stripe rugs on Sarah 101. If I stitch two together, I have choices: I can keep them stitched together or cut the stitching it the configuration doesn’t work in the condo.

As much as I love Craigslist/Kijiji, it’s really nice to own something brand new every once and a while… even if it’s just from Ikea. Don’t you agree?

Fridge Door Switcheroo

I’m finally (mostly) moved into my apartment. There have been a few hiccups because the place was newly renovated by the brand new owners so I’m the first tenant, but things are coming along now.

One issue was the fridge door. The fridge is in the left corner and fridge door opens from the left side…not very functional.

I was lucky enough to have Monday off, so I took the opportunity to switch the doors so they open from the right instead of the left. I’m also lucky enough to have a Dad who gives me tools at Christmas, so I had everything necessary to make this switcheroo happen… a ratchet set and a drill were my main tools of choice here.

So with my drill and ratchet set in hand, I removed all of the bits and bobs…

Until I ended up with this… Fridge and freezer doors on the floor and my fridge (still full of food) and freezer (full of frozen veggies and booze) sittin’ naked. In hindsight, I maybe should have emptied the fridge/freezer before starting, especially considering I had to stack the fridge on a pile of books to get to the screws on the bottom… but meh! Nothing fell out, no food spilled… all’s good in the neighbourhood.

After removing the doors, I removed the handles and switched them to the right side. Following that, I reattached the doors. All in all, it took me about 40 minutes. Not bad I’d say. Here’s my new functional fridge doors!

Have you ever switched the opening on your fridge/freezer doors? Apparently you can’t switch all doors, so I’m happy these doors are reversible!