Scores You're Proud to Talk About

Unlike a certain sulky expat in the Southern Hemisphere, I've got some scores to be proud of this weekend.

It has been a while since I've blogged about my FreeCycle/CraigsList treasure finds, so here are my latest:

LittleMan has been in desperate need of a long, low dresser for his clothes. Having something that he cannot pull over is crucial, and a local lady provided me with the perfect solution.

Yes, the colors are a bit strange. However, it is solid wood and her father actually hand-made this for her when she was little. We will paint it eventually, but for now it actually matches the colors we have in their room. I'm in no rush.

As a rule, I never go after an ad posted as a Curb Alert. I am not going to drive halfway across town with my kids in tow only to have someone beat me to the item. However, this past Monday I happened to notice an ad that was in my neighborhood. It was listed as a white dresser, and I could not resist looking. Here is what she posted.

It was actually around the corner from me. As in I had practically walked past it on the way home from the preschool that morning. If I had turned my head to the right instead of left I would have seen it. I threw LittleMan into his carseat and booked it around the corner. It was still there.

Trying to get it into my Jeep was a logistical nightmare. The top of this thing goes to my collarbone, folks.

I got the drawers and shelves in, but this thing is also solid wood and heavy as a motherfucker. To my surprise and delight the woman came out of the house to help me. We hoisted it up onto my bumper, and it was exactly half an inch too big on each side. Fuck!

She then offered to put it in her van to get it to my house. What a kind soul! We loaded it in her van, she strapped her two toddlers in the car and followed me down the street to help deposit it in my driveway.

I think I am going to bake her some Christmas bread.

And now. The pièce de résistance. My new sewing table.

I have been looking for a cabinet-style table. Something to keep the pins and needles in and little fingers out. My mom has a great one, and I have been keeping an eye out for something similar.

I finally came across one for $40 in a CraigsList ad. It had drawers, and as it was the most reasonably priced table I'd seen, I inquired as to the type of machine it took. The girl didn't know because she had been using it as a desk and sent me close-up pictures to see if we could determine what type of machine fit.

From the photos, the hinges did not look the same. I wrote back thanking her for the trouble she took to send me the info, but that it did not look like what we needed and that I hoped she would find a good home for it.

She responded how disappointed she was that it wasn't the right fit because she wanted the table to go to someone who really wanted it. If I changed my mind, I could have it for free.

Talk about temptation! Ah! It was killing me! So I called my dad to get his opinion on the difficulty converting it, and was it worth it?

Oh yes! We picked up the table the night before Thanksgiving. It is gorgeous! Not only does the top fold out to the left, but to the right as well.

On Thanksgiving morning, Hubbie and my dad tried to figure out if we could get my machine into it.

Notice LittleMan helping out, leopard print slippers and all.

So far, it's a no go. My dad seems to think that it will not be hard to convert. Hubbie, as usual, is being a whiny little bitch a bit pessimistic about the whole thing. I think we'll get everything up and running after my dad visits again next weekend.

The best part, though, was when I asked the plot-thickening What's that?

As usual, in their rush to look at the technical aspects, the men missed one of the finer details.

We pulled it up, to find a thread compartment.

I was taken. Hook, line and sinker.

So there you have it. My three latest FreeCycle/Craigslist finds. All of which were free, and all of which have made NATUI a very happy girl.