Craig and His List

Craig and his list Our garage is an odd shape. It can hold 2.5 cars. Sounds great, huh? Well, it can house 2.5 cars in a single file. It's like a long ally to the house. I turn on the lights when I go out there because you never know what kinds of shady transactions or biker gang doings are going on down there. Well, that is maybe a bit dramatic, but it is long, narrow and dark. Now add on top of the narrowness we have the massive amounts of rubber made totes piled up on one wall. I'm not a professional Craigslist user, but I have used it from time to time, though I have only been successful a few times. Let me flash back for a moment to prove a point. Before we moved out to California, we had to have our house cleaned. Trying to stay on the cheaper side of life, I turned to Craigslist for help. I found a girl, down on her luck, who was trying to earn money so that she could start her own business. Her prices were super cheap & her ad seemed very open and honest. I replied to the ad and said I would give her $100 to clean my 2/2 house when she was only asking $70. My dad drives me to the old house and waits for me. The young lady calls me to tell me she is running late & stuck in traffic. She also wanted me to know she was bringing her mother. I explained that being a young woman with a craigslist ad, having someone go with you was a great idea. I appreciated her calling to let me know she would be late. When they arrived we could hear the car before we saw the car. The busted Mercury with no grill and a dangling bumper pulls up. "Whatever." I thought to myself. "She is working and trying to get by. I get it." I show she and her mom through the house pointing out what needed to be done as they sweetly followed and listened. At some point I happen to look down and see that the mother was wearing a house arrest anklet. *insert wide eyed emoji* well, she was wearing an "I love Jesus" shirt so maybe she'd turned things around. We all walk outside, me to get the money, the girl to get the cleaning supplies, & the mom to get the two very young kids out of the car. Oh, dear. I called my husband to let him know that I felt okay about this. 1) there was absolutely nothing in the house to steal and 2) they didn't look too artistic so I'm guessing they wouldn't be graffiti - ing the joint. I tell you all of this because it's not supposed to be like this. For most people they hire someone to get a job done and it goes as planned. I put the Rubbermaid totes up on Craigslist for $6 each. I had a few email or call and say they would be by to pick up the 12 totes and they'd bring the $6. No...they are $6 each! *sigh* I don't do craigslist transactions when alone, but as it turned out I had some one who wanted all 12 and understood the pricing as it was written. They would be in the area in a half hour. Great! This gives me enough time to talk "hypothetically" with my son about what to do if anyone came into the house who wasn't suppose to be and we were scared. Also, this slotted enough time to sharpen the large knife my husband had in the garage. Sadly, I'm not kidding about any of that. Can we still be friends? The man came. I had both boys inside and the poorly sharpened knife stowed away outside with me. No, not on me. That would just be crazy. The gentleman was just that. Super nice and helpful. Did not give off a creeper vibe at all. The transaction went down as it would for normal people. Now our garage was much bigger and had more room for activities! Our son loved riding his scooter up and down the garage and having a section of it designated as his toy room. While I unpack the oddball items that don't seem to have a place, nor do we need, nor can we seem to part with, our son could play in the garage. It's now a confined, safe area for play and requires very little supervision. This, my friends, is a parenting win!