A Machine For Michael: Blunders #2 & 3 and the one that got away

Blunder #2:  The Pink Necchi

GRRRR!  Some kid advertised this on CL for $25 and claimed everything was working.  I called and told him I wanted it and made an appointment for the next day to go pick it up.  I called that morning to tell him we were on the way and he said he had already sold it.  I hung up on him as an alternative to cussing him out.  His blunder:  not telling me that he would not hold it for me.  My blunder:  not driving over to Greensboro IMMEDIATELY to get it.  Oh well, Michael might not have wanted a pink machine anyway.

Blunder #3:  The Green Dressmaker

This machine had been at the Alamance Hospice League store since it opened in January.  Originally marked $10, after a couple of months the price mysteriously jumped to $40.  I’ve been drooling over it since the beginning, but the tensioner had completely fallen out.  Except for that fatal flaw it is a gorgeous machine inside and out—clean as a whistle.  And it is green.  BTW, it sounds pretentious to me to call it a “tensioner” but the word “thingy” would get you banned from some sewing machine bulletin boards.  So I won’t tell you that in real life I would call this the “tension thingy”.

Last week the price dropped back to $10 and I fell.  When I was shopping for myself I successfully resisted this.  When I was shopping for Michael I could not resist it.  I just WANTED to be able to believe that I could just get the tensioner back in.  The triumph of optimism over reason.  Functionally this machine is almost identical to a flawless 50’s beige Emdeko I already have, which made it an even sillier purchase.  But it is green and it just looks so cool.  

Up until now I have felt the same way about both tensioners and electricity:  no way.   No wires, no motors, no tensioners.  I will, however, do windows.  The idea of branching out has been creeping up on me and since this tensioner was already busted (in a couple of non-repairable ways) I actually disassembled and reassembled it, thus beginning that long, slow, painful climb up the learning curve.  Have I mentioned that springs intimidate me almost as much as electricity?  Well, that’s what a tensioner is:  plates and springs and the things to connect them.

And since Michael will eventually read this and wonder if I really did lose my mind over this whole project, let me assure all readers that there are more than $10 worth of parts in it if I wanted to go that route (the motor is green also).  But I will be holding on to it until the day I find a cheap machine with that type of tensioner to cannibalize.   

The One That Got Away:  The Lavender Kenmore

This one really wasn’t a blunder, but it was frustrating.  My favorite charity shop is closed on Mondays, which is the day they restock.  I usually drop by on Tuesday mornings.  Yes, being retired is TERRIFIC.  Thift shopping IS my profession now. 
 

The only problem is that they will put machines out without pricing them.  I know from experience that there is no way they will sell them without a price, and that only certain people are authorized to price them.  Unfortunately I think I helped create this policy soon after they opened.   That was the day the volunteer sold me a Singer 99 in a cabinet with a manual for $25.  The store manager got wind of this too late and she was NOT HAPPY.  To give her credit she stood by her volunteer and let me have it for the price he quoted, but I think they had a serious conversation once I was gone!  Anyhow, this is now verboten.  No price, no sale, period.

So there was this absolutely adorable lavender Kennie with no price, a Singer 603e and something else I have forgotten about now.  I left my phone number and asked to be informed once they were priced.  They called me a couple of days later, but the Kennie was gone by then.

Far as I can see, the only way to get around this would be to stop by there every day, or even every couple of hours!  It’s a half an hour drive, so I will just have to learn to live with the disappointment of missing some good ones. 

And, like the pink Necchi, Michael may not have wanted a lavender Kenmore!
 
Eye Candy:  Cute Shoes
Now, just because it is summer, some summer eye candy from my favorite consignment store, Secret Closet.  Don't you just love cute shoes?  And believe me, they are even better when you don't have to pay for them.  I always have a healthy credit at the Closet.