Free Legos

Free: 3 buckets of Legos...

said a Craigslist Ad that I came across last night. "Text only" it said. So I texted. And who wouldn't? Legos are expensive these days. I received a text back immediately, letting me know that the Legos were, indeed, still available. "Lucky me" I thought. However, a little weary, I texted, "For free, are the Legos in good shape?" The response (typed exactly as it was received): "They are old legos like in 80s and my daughter legos in early 2000." Well, Legos are Legos, right? Their makeup hasn't changed over the years, they all connect the same way, and with how cheap things are made these days, maybe some Legos from the 80's would hold up better. I debated whether or not I should make the 40 minute drive to get them. I figured it would be about 2 gallons of gas... round up to $8.00...  3 buckets of Legos for $8.00? That was still a steal. I decided to take them off her hands.

Fast forward to today. Silas is asleep in his car seat, the sun is shining, and I'm on a beautiful back country road that I've never been on before... and I'm on my way to pick up FREE LEGOS! What a great day. 40 minutes later, I get to the house. I wish I would've taken a picture.

It was a small house. Window a/c unit installed with Duct tape around the edges. Two little cement steps that lead to the front door. Next to these steps were two SMALL dirty buckets. "No" I thought to myself. I went to the house and rang the doorbell. I didn't want to assume these buckets were the ones for me, especially since I was supposed to be getting three, but every inch of my being told me that these were "my" Legos. The only answer from inside was a small barking dog. I waited a little bit longer. Then I figured I'd look in the buckets to see what was inside.

Partially full buckets of random toys is what I found. Some Legos were included, but this was definitely not what I was expecting. "This is crap." I said to myself. I didn't want to take them. "Where's the third bucket?" I thought. Maybe the third bucket held all the "goodies." I called the Craigslist phone number. It wasn't able to receive calls... that must be why the ad said, "text only." So, I texted: "I'm at your house... you said 3 buckets on Craigslist. I see two by the door. Are those the ones?" And I waited. All the while thinking WHAT A WASTE!  I couldn't believe I drove so far for what was by the door steps. I called my sister to complain. Then I got a text back: "There sup be 3. Yes. I had to wrk late. I had my daughter take it outside. She must have mis one. I can drop other one off on Wednesday." Just as I was getting ready to text back, "No thank you. You can find someone else to take all of them" I see something promising.

A young girl comes walking toward the house... I thought perhaps my luck had changed. She went to the house and I rolled down my window to ask about the Legos. "Hi, I am supposed to be picking up three buckets of Legos." "They're right here" she replied, pointing to the buckets by the steps. "Your mom said there are supposed to be three." She paused and said, "I'll go get the other one."  Ha! I thought, she WAS saving the good ones for herself. She must not have wanted to get rid of them. The girl comes out with a REAL Lego bucket - you know, the ones that have a Lego shaped top? I wanted to open it to see if there was anything good inside, but I didn't want to waste any more time. I wasn't sure what to expect anyway. So, I took it, along with the other two buckets and put them in my car. I drove away, quite disappointed by what I had in my car.

40 minutes later, I got home.

Here are the buckets... as you can see, none of them are full, and none are purely Legos.

I took one bucket and dumped it on the counter. After seeing the contents, I realized that these needed a DEEP CLEANING. I filled up the kitchen sink with soapy hot water and then prepared a bucket full of sanitized water - good enough to sanitize my new wine-making supplies, so I figured it was more than enough to sanitize recently washed Legos.

Bucket No.1

As you can see, CRAP. Hair clumps, Duplex Blocks, Legos, Sponge Bob Square Pants characters, Sponge Bob dominoes.

Bucket No.2

As you can see, more CRAP. Old dirty spoon, dried playdoh chunks, wrappers, erasers, beads, Duplex Blocks, and some Legos.

As I went through these first two buckets, I separated the Legos and Duplex Blocks and threw them into the hot soapy water to be washed.

Then I got to the third bucket.

Bucket No. 3

Better. Mostly Legos and Duplex Blocks. But wait. What's that in the lower right corner? Here, I'll zoom in for you and take a picture...

What. Is. That? OMW... IT'S POOP! IT'S A POOPY LEGO CREATION! HOW DO I KNOW IT'S POOP? I SMELLED IT! OMW. OMW. OMW. I got a bucket of Legos and there's a POOPY LEGO CREATION, WITH HAIR, mixed in. I almost vomited. I looked at the rest of the Legos on the counter. I looked at the Legos in my sink. I couldn't do it. I couldn't keep these Legos knowing that any of them could have been exposed to poop. I scooped out the Legos from the sink and picked up the Legos on the counter. They were put back into the buckets and promptly placed IN THE GARBAGE where they belong.

And no, the bucket that the poopy Legos were in was not from the bucket that the girl got from inside.

Free Legos? I don't think I'll EVER try to get my hands on used Legos again. At this point, I'll be spending the extra money buying NEW.  NEW and never exposed to POOP Legos.

OMW. OMW. OMW.

Happy Monday.