It's been a while since I worked on my incredibly fun party series furniture painting. I've been too busy with protest posters and house painting.
I've been toying with the idea of becoming a foster parent. Yeah, it does sound a little crazy with my restrictions on air quality but I just feel the need to contribute to the well-being of innocent children in our society who through no fault of their own are homeless, parentless, and vulnerable. I'm tired of reading about parents killing their kids, abusing them, neglecting them for their drug addictions, or any number of atrocities. However, how will I be accommodated in training sessions or meetings or teacher conferences or doctor's appointments? Besides the fact I have to work and we have absolutely no childcare in our area. Hmmmmm...this might be nothing but a fantasy, but it's a fun fantasy. For now.
Anyway, in preparation I've started looking around to assess what I would need for children. Which bedrooms to use and furniture and supplies I might need, besides the long list of requirements given to prospective foster parents by the foster care agency. I've started watching Freecycle and I posted requests for twin beds, bunk beds, car seats, baby equipment (they need a lot of stuff!). This is a bit scary because I don't want filthy, bug-ridden, garbage in my house, but buying new purchases soaked in formaldehyde is impossible so this is my only option. Sometimes one can get really good stuff off Freecycle.
My first bite was someone who had booster seats, in good shape, used briefly until her children quickly grew out of them. I pick them up and they STUNK of mold. I had them in my car for about five minutes before I couldn't breathe and got rid of them fast. So frustrating. Why would anyone think dirty, moldy items would be fine for children? People are stupid. I realized I needed to ask more questions and be very specific about my needs, but the weird thing about Freecycle is people often won't tolerate questions. They just go to the next person if you are too picky. But I'm also learning people who are trying to unload garbage will bend over backwards to avoid giving information. It's such a game. Sometimes I hate people.
The next bite was someone with a twin mattress. Totally clean, kept in a mattress protector in storage, no stains, no stink, no bedbugs, no animals, no smoking. Could a mattress be that perfect? No. The stains were very faint, but it stunk to high heaven of perfume which is a clear indication it must have smelled. I am so incredibly tired of people thinking Freecycle is a really FreeGarbagePickUpService! My frustration level was climbing.
Shortly after the mattress disappointment someone offered a twin mattress, again, perfectly clean and good shape including a really stupid photo of the SIDE of the mattress. No stains aren't usually on the SIDE. I reprimanded him, "Is is really clean? Or does it have stains, stink, bedbugs, animal dirt, and second hand smoke saturation? I'm so tired of people thinking Freecycle means Free Dump Service! If it's really clean, I'd love it." Needless to say, he didn't even respond to me, but my frustrations were released. Poor guy.
My next encounter was someone wanting to unload two dressers. Oh good! I was wondering where I'd put kid clothes. One of the dressers was beautiful and huge. I couldn't move it by myself so I passed. But the other dresser was a small child-size, white, with six drawers. It had problems. A few of the drawers were coming loose at the seams and had some glitches in the wood. At least the people were honest and they had me come directly to their house which is a sign of trust. I was hopeful. I took it.
I cleaned it up, repaired the drawers, glued the seams, and fixed it the best I could. Then I painted it! I really tried to stay away from dots, but I couldn't help myself! I'm an addict! As you may remember from previous posts I have dotted furniture all over my house with titles like "Fiesta" "Confetti" "Celebration" and "Spree"...this dresser because of its tropical-looking leaf pattern is called:
LUAU
Unfortunately, I don't even want to use it as a dresser now so it's still sitting in my kitchen as a display shelf for my colorful, garage-sale-find-fifty-cents-each ceramic collection! LOL!
So cheerful!
