a treasure

This weekend my mom visited and so kindly brought me a treasure. In and of itself, it is a treasure that I find absolutely awesome and just totally me. But it is even more exciting because . . .

Once upon a time, I found a very similar item on etsy. It was overpriced, but just fit my space and my style. So I ordered it. It arrived in a box that had been cobbled together from two cardboard boxes - and that was it. Just a box. No bubble wrap, no newspapers stuffed inside, nothing. It was a good two inches all around from the inside of the box and when it arrived at my house, the back left corner was totally smashed. I cried.

I emailed the lady and she gave me the run around saying that to have FedEx make a claim on it, I would have to send it back to HER and she would have to send it to FedEx and it could be months before she got it back and then she would have to send it to me again and then they might pay to fix it. (All the while mentioning that I would have to pay the postage for all of this transporting.) Or I could just send it back but I would have to pay the postage.

So I decided to send it back and my dear and loving husband hauled it all the way to UPS in the big town and when she packed it and gave him the total, I think he might have bitten his tongue. $685. That was over five times what it cost me to get it here! (And much more than I paid for the item.)

So he hauled it back and I shed more tears (btw, this is the only item in all my years and years of buying practically exclusively off the internet that has ever given me a lick of trouble, so don't let this disccourage you!) and then I called a UPS dealer in my hometown over two hours away and she said it would cost $145 with insurance and delivery confirmation. And she kindly mailed me the tag and I didn't even have to haul the thing anywhere.

So I sent it back and the crazy lady on the other end disputed my return but thanks to PayPal (yay!) I got my money back and all was well.

Except I had no treasure. Sigh.

But this, my friends, is what my mama found and brought:

My treasure came from a car dealership in my hometown that was changing hands. The building was first an original International business and this little cabinet had been there a long time.

Ta-dah! Here it is looking as though it needs a haircut. I loved Fern atop, but she was hindering my son’s ability to get into all the drawers. (Because before I even got it entirely cleaned up, he was already cutting labels and filling up the drawers with his own treasures. Ahem.) So Fern moved and this is how the treasure stands at the moment.