This Post Brought to You by Mr. Clean

I should get paid for posting this, but I'm not. Bummer.
However... you should know... HOLY MACKEREL...

Years and years and years ago (like 25 years ago) one of my mother's friends gave me this for my Coke collection:

Yes, gave that to me... to encourage me in my Coke collecting. How awesome is that?

Wait, you don't know about my childhood Coca Cola collection? *gasp*
When I was a kid I went crazy collecting Coke stuff. And it was awesome. This wasn't like a kid's rock collection when they just shove handfuls of playground pebbles into their pockets before heading home. This was a legitimate collection. Adults were always encouraging me in it and bringing me interesting finds to add to the huge shelf in my room. In 8th grade I entered my collection into the hobby contest at the South Texas Fair in Beaumont (not a kids' contest)... and took home first place.

Over the years I've cleaned out much of the collection. The main things I've kept are things of value because of awesomeness and a few things Carolena liked and put in her room. Every so often if we have had a large enough party Chris and I have used the big Coke cooler but for the most part it has sat in the garage.

My dream is to one day have a huge butcher block made to fit on top of it and use it as a kitchen island or a table in our house. We could just remove the top and fill it with ice and drinks as needed.

But... there is that big spray painted line. Who would do that?!

Due to rust and the black line we really need to get this thing refurbished. But, as of yet, that hasn't happened. The rust looks kind of cool - it lets you know this thing is legit and not some fakey recently made "collectors" item.

Ugh, but that spray painted line. Grrrr

Yesterday on a whim I grabbed a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I keep them on hand because they are insanely awesome at getting weird things out. It's a when you need one you need one kind of item. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps a Magic Eraser would get the spray paint off without removing the original red... so I tried it... annnnddd...

IT WORKED.

Miraculously... errr magically? the Magic Eraser removed the black spray paint without taking off any red or scratching the cooler. What? HOW?!

Crazy, right? I'm pretty giddy about it. As soon as I realized it was actually going to work I took some before pics.

So, now I just need a big butcher block on top and I'm going to make it a table in the dining room. Ohhh yeahhh.