The fourth 'r', refurbish

For over a year I fantasized about a wooden play stove/kitchen for my kids - in a perfect world, something made by a relative so that it came with stories and character. I'd seen a few in Mothering Magazine, but there was something stumpish about them that perturbed me. The plain rounded knobs, the unadorned wooden burners, so unreal. So I kept fantasizing...

...then, a few days after new years I was walking back to my mom's, to pick up the kids, and I see 'it', the stove, that I'd had in my mind's eye for over 365 days. It was sitting, almost stoicly next to piles and piles of bagged donations at valu village.

So I ask the nice guy, who's hauling all the stuff in if I can buy it. 'Sure' he says, seeming delighted to get a break from moving mountains and mountains of stuff, and tells me to meet him inside. My insides are glowin' yellow, fluorescent, I'm so happy...then, her majesty, the manager whips a stop sign in my face and says 'no, it's got to be categorized' or some other fancy sorting lingo, and tells me to come back tomorrow. The nice guy is standing beside her, rolling his eyes, as if saying 'don't listen to her, that's bull, just press her a bit'. So I tell her about the cooking classes I give to kids, and how this stove is a great way to introduce them to some concepts. She tells me she's busy dealing with the buzzing that's drowning out our conversation. I breathe out, and decide that I WANT this stove, today. So I tell her to take all the time she needs, I'm in no hurry, I'm not. I also tell her I don't care how much it is, this seems to shift her, as if she thought that part of my need was based on some preassumptions that I was going to bargain with her to get the stove for .99 cents. So she says, now softer, almost smiling '$9.99', and I say 'that's great, thanks so very much'. I just about want to hug her, and the nice guy disappeared.


So here she is! A late Christmas present to the kids which I plan to have refurbished in the next couple of weeks.

Today's adventure is a long and snowy walk back to the hardware store to exchange the humongous bottle of enviro friendly paint stripper for the smaller one, and to buy a can of paint - jr cookie monster is suggesting periwinkle blue.

I trust the universe to deliver all the treasures that I seek, so I know the knobs and other fancy additions we'll slowly make their way into our lives.