Craigslist

I was part of a conversation on one of Brian's facebook statuses - "I'm going to kill her." But to understand that, you have to understand the history behind it. I have a habit of finding things on Craigslist that I like and every time we actually go somewhere to buy whatever, it turns into a fiasco.  


The first "adventure" we went on was when we got a small four wheeler for the kids. We had found it under the "barter" section of Craigslist. The only issue? It was in Carlisle  and it wouldn't fit in any of the vehicles that we had at the time. We ended up borrowing Brian's brother's conversion van (with no a/c) and hooking our trailer up to it. When we got down to the exit on I675 that Fairfield Commons is off of, traffic was crawling. Apparently there was an accident just past the exit so we decided to get off on the exit and try to find a way around. But I read the map wrong and somehow ended up on the on ramp back onto I675 into traffic that was completely stopped. While we were stopped there - for 30 minutes - we realized that the brake lights on the trailer weren't working... and it was about dusk. By the time we were able to get off of the correct exit off of I75, it was completely dark. We knew that we couldn't go any farther without having any brake lights, so we stopped at a WalMart and got some battery operated flashing red lights and some zip ties and attached them to the back of the trailer. I used the map on my phone to get to this person's house from the WalMart we were at and it took us pretty extensively through a neighborhood. We got almost all the way through the neighborhood - almost 10 minutes of going on side streets - we turned onto the next to final road and it was blocked off because there was a train track running through the middle of the road but didn't have any crossing. I checked my map a dozen times and it showed that the road was solid and that it was the way to get there. So we had to backtrack to get out of the neighborhood and find another way around. We finally got there, about an hour late. We decided that we liked the four wheeler, so the guy came over to the van to look at the gun we were trading for it. But... Brian had taken the clip out of it while at the house to see if it had any bullets in it and apparently never put the clip back in it. Thankfully, the guy let us take the four wheeler anyway with the agreement from Brian to meet up the next day to give him the clip. The drive home was uneventful especially compared to the ride down there.


The next "adventure" was when we found the bedroom suite we wanted - it was in Kettering. The people were getting ready to move to Florida - like the next week - and needed it gone ASAP. Unlike the last trip, this one was pretty easy getting down there. That should have been our first clue. Once we got there, the bedroom suit was upstairs. These were very narrow stairs with a VERY tight turn to go down the stairs. (The bed is a platform bed... it's 3 feet off of the ground. I have to use a stool to get into it. Brian on the other hand, can just turn around and sit on it.) So needless to say, it was incredibly difficult to get downstairs. It was also January, 31 2011... the day our massive ice storm started. We were trying to get back before the storm started, but once we realized how hard it would be to get the furniture down the stairs, it didn't look too good. It started sprinkling as we were putting blankets over the furniture and put the tie straps on to hold it all down. By the time we got back to the interstate, the rain had turned to ice. The roads were incredibly slippery since they were getting a good coating of ice on them. Every turn, every tap on the brakes, every acceleration was a nail-biting occasion. That was once incredibly stressful drive back home. Once we got home and backed the trailer into the garage, the blankets had a solid sheet of ice on them. So solid, in fact, that when we took the blankets off of the furniture and put them on the floor, they had retained the shape they were in as if they still had the furniture under them! But before the blankets had frozen solid they had let some ice in at places where it would flap in the wind. So I got dry towels from the house, my hair dryer, and an extension cord and spent the next hour or so melting the ice and drying the furniture off so it wouldn't warp.


After that, we have gotten better at planning our trips to get items so they're not near as eventful. Next was Timothy's bunk bed set. It was his birthday present last year, so I stayed home with the kids while Brian went to go get it. From what he told me, this house was horrible to get into because it was on a main road in Beavercreek. But, hey, it was only $100.00 for the frame, the bed mattress, and the futon mattress. The only down side was these people had smoked in the house, so it aired out in the garage for about 2 weeks before we set it up in Timothy's room. The mattresses got a daily soaking with a bleach mixture and Febreze.


Then, for Thomas's birthday last month, we decided to get him a bunk bed set also since he was in complete awe of his brother's set. The one we found for him has a bed on top and a desk underneath. Seeing as the desk he had was one more move across the room from falling apart, we were essentially killing two birds with one stone. It also came with an over sized chair with a futon mattress that folds out so someone can sleep on it. It will comfortably fit someone with a sleeping bag. It was perfect for him because it would give him more space in his room, give him a new desk, and still have something for a friend to sleep on when he starts having sleepovers. Again, since it was going to be a surprise, Brian went alone to get it. This one was already close to where he works, so he was able to go there and get it on his lunch break. He was pretty hesitant about getting it because of the place I sent him to the time before. But, he called me when he left... apparently this house was in a high end of town. He told me the house was so clean, that he felt bad going in there with his shoes on and in his greasy work clothes. It was a good thing that the woman I had talked to had gotten her husband to take the bed apart the night before because it was all on the second floor. No smoke on this mattress this time! And it was only $250.00 for all of it!


Since we had gotten rid of the bed Thomas had before - which had 6 drawers under it - we needed to get him a new dresser. Again, we found what we wanted on Craigslist. It is a modern dresser with 8 drawers in it, has a huge mirror on top, and also came with a matching nightstand which would be the perfect table to put next to his chair for his clock and a lamp. We had to go to Centerville for this one. But the guy had already moved it down to the living room so we didn't have to go upstairs. Nothing too eventful from this trip. But nothing really eventful happened on that trip.


Not every transaction via Craigslist has been dramatic. We have gotten a car dolly and the trailer we have now from there and nothing eventful really happened at all on either of those.


But... This week, I found a piano on Craigslist that I wanted... it was free other than the cost of gas to get there and back, so I couldn't pass it up. Brian was very adamant about NOT getting this piano, mainly because he didn't feel like driving an hour and a half - one way - to Trenton to get it. But finally, he decided he would go with me to get it. He hooked up the trailer and we took off on our latest adventure. Going down there wasn't bad until we got off the exit we needed. Apparently the most direct road from I75 to Trenton is some back road that's all torn up and just kinda pieced back together. The entire time on this road, Brian and I were both cringing at the thought of bringing this piano back on this road since it was so incredibly bumpy. But that was nothing compared to when we got there. Yes, the piano was in this lady's living room so it SHOULD have been relatively easy to load. But this piano turned out to be the heaviest thing I've ever tried to move in my life. It was hell trying to get this thing out the front door and then trying to get it down 3 steps and then trying to push it up the ramp onto the trailer. We strapped it down to the trailer and headed back. But the problem with that was we couldn't take it through any towns because we didn't want to stop at all the lights with it being as heavy as it was. So we decided to risk it and come back on the bumpy road. But that in itself was horrible because the piano is incredibly top heavy and every time we would hit a bump, it would look like the piano was about to tip over. Every time we turned, it looked like the piano was going to tip over. Once we FINALLY got home, we found that it was actually a Autoplayer Co piano from New York. After some research, we found out that it was made in 1918 from the serial number on it but that it had been modified to not have the player parts in it anymore. I had a place picked out for it in the living room but Brian doesn't want it upstairs - he would prefer that it go in the basement. Uh... no. That thing is too heavy to try to move down a flight of stairs. So, I think I'm going to put it back on Craigslist.


Hince his "I'm going to kill her." status on facebook.