Cribs

Here's the story I vaguely mention in my last post:

Sending the kids to Joe's folks' house was such a huge blessing for me, but I knew it was putting a huge inconvenience on them, so I was hoping to make it as smooth as possible.  All that raw energy can wear a caretaker down!  Right now Eli naps and goes to bed well alone, but can only seem to manage it in his crib with his crib-tent (yep, we went that route), so in the hopes of him napping for his poor, worn-down caretakers I purchased a crib on Craigslist.

I love Craigslist, I really do - you can find all kinds of stuff at all kinds of prices, and you can sell everything from cars to clothes quickly and easily.  So I found a nice-looking $30 crib in Aurora, mattress included - perfect for sending to Craig! I picked it up and noticed there WASN'T an extra bag of hardware, so I asked the owner and she said her husband had posted the crib and sundry other items; OTHER items had notes about hardware, but this one did not so the hardware must be with the pieces they already gave me.  Okay, there were a number of screws included on the headboard and footboard, so I didn't question it and we loaded up and headed home.  ALSO, the woman's daughter was IN LABOR on the front porch! Her water had broken some time before and she was waiting for a ride to the hospital and I just felt so bad, I didn't want to take up ANY more of their time arguing over screws.  Which (hindsight) I should have, I guess, labor or no labor.  Also hindsight, I did not ask if they were smokers, which they WERE and the "handily included mattress" was completely unusable because it REEKED (and stunk up my car on the drive home).

Upon returning home, even before I unloaded the reeking mattress, I walk in the door and the phone was ringing; it was the crib seller, saying I forgot my hardware. Forgot?!  Oh, no my friends - I ASKED about that hardware and you said I HAD IT, so I plainly said, "I cannot drive back to Aurora for some screws.  You can mail them to me or you can drive them to me, but I NEED THEM."  They agreed to drop them off the next day (Tuesday).... but on Wednesday night when we still had no hardware I ran to Ace and got the required screws (not that difficult, and only 98 cents). The crib had originally been a drop-side crib (all recalled now, so I wasn't thrilled, but I'd forgotten to ask before I drove to freakin' Aurora) and some of the elements were damaged (continuing to be less-than-thrilled) so I wanted to convert it to a basic crib - easy!  It would only take a few minutes. However, Joe was none too pleased at being asked to be a handy-man on a crib while he was packing for deer hunting, so I had to come up with a new solution: to disassemble Caroline's current crib and pack THAT one with him. 

Thursday morning, 5:15 a.m., I disassembled Caroline's crib so Joe could pack it up so his parents could reassemble it so Eli would take a nap and leave them alone for 5 minutes.  Thursday lunch time, the hardware showed up.  I wouldn't have used it anyway since I got all the screws I needed at Ace and half their hardware was for the drop-side feature, but I wanted them to give it to me out of SPITE.  You OWE me that hardware, you un-forthcoming hardware-forgetting Craigslisters!

Sunday afternoon, back at the ranch, I got out the drill and the screwdriver and now the crib is totally CUTE and SAFE, though in the end it cost $30.98 and included a smokey little outdoor trampoline but NOT a mattress. Caroline's crib made it to Craig, but in the end they decided naps were for sissies and just had Eli sleep in their bed at night - hey, whatever works! I am just grateful beyond grateful that they took the kids, and it can hang out until I put it together next time I'm there.  SOMEONE will sleep in it, I'm sure.  For now, Caroline sleeps in her new crib at home and I have a saga to tell.

If you're going to sell or shop on Craigslist, DON'T FORGET: 
Cash only, don't expect me to give you change. We had someone need change for $100 once.
Call within reasonable hours (9 a.m. 9 p.m. is a good rule).  We had someone call at 11 p.m.
Ask if it's from a non-smoking home. 
Ask if they have pets.
Disclose if you are a smoker with pets.
Make SURE all parts are included.  Make that woman call her husband to ask if he forgot to leave a note about this particular item.
Make sure nobody's family members are going into labor when you pick up your items. I'm just sayin'.