Last Saturday found me rocking back and forth in a glider rocker in a parking lot at a Home Depot located about an hour from my home.  It was 30 degrees outside, and I had driven there to meet a couple -  complete strangers  - who posted said rocker on Craig's List. 

My mother is so cringing right now. Don't worry ma, I brought mace.

Now, I did this partly because Sandie says that a Glider Rocker is something of a must-have for a nursing mother. Actually what she said was some version of "Your ass will thank you", except she didn't say "ass" because she doesn't really swear very often, at least not with any deep, visceral conviction.  But that is partly why we are friends; because I will swear more liberally than she will (note: mother continues cringing), and I think it's funny that I can edit her words on my blog and make it seem like she said "ass" when in fact she did not. 

So anyway, Sandie says that a Glider Rocker is a must-have for a nursing mother.  Yet our bank account says that $400 for a Glider Rocker is a must-forget for a soon-to-be-at 70% pay nursing mother.  

So where does a woman go when a woman needs an expensive thing cheap?  Craig's List or eBay, of course.  And that is how I ended up with a lovely Glider Rocker for a mere $35.  But that is also how I ended up testing out said rocker in freezing weather in a Home Depot parking lot in front of two strangers in New England. 

Mother, relax. It was a very busy parking lot; lots of other people around. I was not in any danger.

The only small complaint I will register is that The Bonhnams, the lovely young couple from whom I purchased the rocker, Febrezed the hell out of the cushions such that I had to drive an hour home with the windows down. 

Could we talk about Febreze for a moment?  There is absolutely no component of that smell that is available in nature.  It is a chemical cocktail.  Clearly The Bonhnams, in spite of the fact that Mrs. Bonham happily nursed her child for 2 years in the glider rocker that is now in our home, are not riders on the organic product bandwagon. 

But that is okay. I've since aired out the cushions.  The long drive, the Febreeze, the bizarre-o moment where I'm rocking back and forth in a freezing Home Depot parking lot -- all of that is worth the $350 we can now put toward our daughter's education fund.  Or, perhaps more realistically, toward a car seat and a diaper genie.

I'm feeling rather smug about the whole thing at the moment.  Go, me.