Did Somebody Say FREE?????

I am a member of Freecycle. I love Freecycle because I get FREE STUFF and I also get to get rid of stuff. People come to my house and pick it up - which means no packing my van full of crap to take to the Goodwill. YAY. My junk is your treasure! Let me clarify: SOME of my junk of my chosing is your treasure :)

Today I had someone (who sounded like a man, but was actually a grumpy ol' woman, come by and pick up all my old ugly clothes that I don't like to wear anymore, a very nice lady with a cute little boy that Keira decided was her "brother" picked up some crib bedding, and another nice lady who I've previously done "business" with picked up some of Anika's old play clothes.

My friend TT, has a stroller to get rid of. TT lives out of town, so I suggested that he bring the stroller to me. People don't like to drive 30km to get FREE STUFF. Some guy named R said he would love the stroller and could come and get it. I emailed my address and told him when I would be home. The stroller was never picked up, so I emailed him back and said I would leave it outside my front door because I didn't have room for it in the house, so please come and get it now. R never came to get the stroller. So I relisted.

Let me back up here a little before I continue...last week or so I posted on Freecycle looking for some sturdy wooden chairs for my kitchen table. The chairs I have right now are like the old wooden gymnasium chairs - the base isn't flat and the back is open - which makes putting a booster seat on it a bit of a hazard. A very nice lady named B messaged me and said she had some chairs from Montana's that would be perfect for me. She said they were green so would need to be painted or something - that's OK with me - um hello! slipcovers!!! would be so cute. So I drive out to Raymond to pick them up (because I drive 30km's for FREE stuff). Luckily I only had Traver with me because when I picked up the chairs realized that these were the bar stool height ones. I measured them and they sat 30 inches high and a normal chair is about 19-20". I was a little bit miffed but decided to take them anyway. The 4 chairs took up my entire van.

Because the chairs are so big (and presently unusable), I left them outside my front door. They are heavy and ugly and the kids in the complex are more interested in stealing the kids battery operated Barbie car gifted to the girls from a friend. My parents were in town for a few days and now a few days later I have yet to find someone to help me cut them down to regular size - so outside they sit.

I have a new friend TE. She is a wonderful, thoughtful lady. She went up to a FREE clothing drive in Calgary this weekend and surprised me today with a bag full of goodies - a huge bag of clothes for the kids, a doll stroller (so Keira and Anika would now EACH have one, so don't need to fight over the one we have anymore), and an old classic boy Cabbage Patch (very manly) doll for Traver. As we are standing at the doorway giggling about our new FREE stuff, I realize MY CHAIRS ARE MISSING!!!! and the stroller is still there!

I doubt it was the same little punk that rang my doorbell tonight after the kids went to bed. I open the door and a little 5 year old-ish boy peaks out from around the cement pillar and says "Um..my sister Nikki Nikki Nine Door'ed you." The chairs were bigger than he is. And what would he do with 4 wooden bar stool chairs anyway?