The thrill of the hunt…

I had such a lovely weekend. The grandparents kindernapped their favorite kiddos, which means James and I suddenly had twenty four hours of escape. The best sort of surprise, I think.  We knew just what to do with it. An exploration expedition was called for, and the search was on. Chief on our list: a bench for the dining room table and a bed of some sort for Bean. Other things we always look for- old school desks, old glass insulators (from power lines), old ledger paper and ribbon.

First, we had to get sustenenance:

Fantastic does not even cover it. Divine? Heavenly? Is that too much? Fresh, local food, simply prepared, beautiful surroundings…absolutely lovely. It is inspiring my own work in the kitchen here at home, I must confess.

After all that wonderful food, we needed to walk it off and so the hunt began. We've been saving for these needs for a while, but we were still pretty limited as to what we could afford. I think that's half the fun of the thrifting adventure. Can we find it? Can we find it in a price range we can afford? Can we keep our eyes focused on the prize? The previous weekend we had visited every "fee farket" (as Harper likes to call it) in forty miles with the kids, and had come up completely empty handed and a bit discouraged.

Not this time.

I spied this.

I caught my breath. I almost didn't want to go closer. What if I drew near and it was impossibly out of my resources? I edged closer. Eyed the tag. Then my jaw dropped. Not only was it in my price range, it was ridiculously underpriced. It was just so perfect! Bean will be sleeping in our bedroom for the time being, but everything I had seen was too wide, too long, too big, too short to fit at the end of our bed. Big pack and plays would have monopolized all the space with no room to walk- bassinets were too short for our tall babies that quickly grow beyond them. This cradle is nice and deep, but narrow. And long. Lorelei (who has quickly claimed it as her "rocky bed") can fit in this head to foot, all stretched out, and she's a tall two year old. David has already snuck a nap in it. I totally did a happy dance right there in the store.

As if that wasn't enough, James spied this around the corner from the cradle as I was doing my little dance.

A *pink* old fashioned school desk. For Lorelei. Which brings our school desk collection to three. My happy dancing continued, because we got it for an absolute steal. Next to free, I'll take it for a song!

And that bench?
Six foot. Sturdily built, because our kids are hard on furniture. No cheap composite wood imitations.
Check, check, and check. The most expensive of our purchases, but still less than we thought we'd have to spend.

James was staining it with a new sort of stain that has the polyurethane and stain all in one. I don't think we'll use it again. It dried awfully fast, and it was hard to work with. And doesn't go on in the typical way.

I still can't believe how increadibly blessed we were on this hunt- we found both things we needed and a school desk for Lorelei and all for way less than we thought we'd have to spend. It felt so good putting that money back in the bank! More money for curriculum in June…another exciting hunt to be had. I could get used to this.