a little thing called craigslist....

Wow! I am now in love with craigslist!!!! In the past I had used this site once or twice when we had to look for apartments. People had often talked about posting things on craigslist but I had never felt the need to check out all that the list had to offer. That was until last Thursday....now I am an addict.

Last Thursday we started our toddler gym class at the local YMCA. Z is in love with balls and the gym at the Y. Whenever we would go to swim class he would be dragging us down the hall as he frantically signed "ball". He wanted to go to the gym much more than the pool :) Well his dreams came true last week because instead of taking a left into the pool...we walked down the hall to the gym (I walked, he "ran") and his eyes lit up with excitement. When we walked in, there was an employee shooting hoops. He had the rack of basketballs out and Z quickly ran to the rack and hoisted a big basketball into his arms. After the go ahead from the employee....Z was running around the gym with his very large ball :)

One of the b-ball hoops had been lowered and so I lifted him into the air so that he could shoot his first basket. What a joy and a mistake this was....he was elated and full of pride and wanted to do it again and again and again!!!! Just when I thought my back could take no more, it was time for us to go to our class. Z would not put the basketball down! The employee was very nice and let us keep it and we brought it with us to class. Z soon became the envy of all of the other toddlers. He had the biggest ball and soon had a row of children running after him to get this new treasure.

In this new gym the b-ball hoops were not lowered to Z's disappointment. He would stand under them trying to figure out how to shoot his giant ball into the hoop. Coming over to me and whining for me to help him, I lifted him in the air to show him that his 5 ft 8 in mommy could not help him reach the very high basketball hoop :) This was no good!!!

Thank goodness we soon found a Little Tikes basketball hoop and that was when Z became a toddler basketball star. He sunk basket after basket and was a real natural. His teacher came over and commented on his excellent basketball skills :) My friends in class told me that I had to get him a hoop of his own (they told me I had to!). So on the way home I decided that I would find a way to get Z his very own hoop and help to make him the next Larry Bird :)

After Z went down for his nap I "googled" the hoop and found out that it cost $30.00. Now the old me would have gone out after his nap and bought the hoop at whatever store I could have tracked it down at. But the new me was under a spending freeze....what to do? How could I find $30 without making my husband S mad? How could I justify this purchase????

That is when it hit me....craigslist!!! And so I typed "Little Tikes Basketball hoop" into the search bar and what would you know....two had been posted that day and for only $10! Now we were talking. I quickly emailed the first lady on the list and discussed the mint condition of her hoop. Before I knew it I had arranged a pick up of the hoop later that day! Okay....now what to do. I still was not allowed to spend $. Well I called my sister in desperation and she said that it was fate that two hoops had been posted that day and that $10 was nothing and that if I needed her to...she would buy the coveted hoop.

So I set out on my journey to pick up the hoop, making sure to call my mom, best friend L and my sister to let them know where I was going in case I was never to be seen again. My mom freaked out about me going to a strange person's house with her grandson and demanded that I call her as soon as I was done. Well the pick up was a breeze, the lady seemed very nice and the hoop looked great. Z lit up when he saw me bring it back to the car and when I handed him the ball he clapped with glee. I quickly called mom back and she was relieved to hear that we were all right and that Z was excited about his new toy. She even offered to buy it for him for his Valentines Day present :)

S came home later that night to see Z dunking hoop after hoop (I even had to raise it up one level to give him more of a challenge). He looked at me with a "how much did you spend today?" smirk but I quickly told him that this precious find cost us nothing! He then listened to the story, gave me a kiss, told me how proud he was of me (that I had been so resourceful) and sat down to play b-ball with his son!

Thanks craigslist (and mom), you have helped to bring one of the best toys into our house. The whole family plays with it daily and it is the first thing Z runs to every morning. You have found a new user in me and now I have my eye on a $10 easel for Z, I just have to figure out how to justify it to my hubby.........I will keep you posted!!!