I knew I would jinx it! AAAAAGGGHHHH

Well, the sweet deal I was planning on getting fell through.  I'm going to tell the whole story here in a minute, but I will say this:  I'm somewhat relieved that this didn't work out because now I will be making my purchase from the person I wanted to in the first place.

I'm ready to buy a longarm machine (for all those that guessed right - you gals are good! :-p ).  Right after Easter I started talking to the Nolting dealer I had visited a few years ago and have kept in contact with.  His name is Doug and he's a nice guy.  He and his wife have a shop up near where we used to camp all the time and he had let me come in and test drive machines when I visited them.  I told Doug what I have to spend and he laid out a few options for me.  One was a used machine, a little bigger and a little older than I was thinking of, but it was in my price range.  I decided to think on it for a couple days. 

In the meantime, on a whim I checked online, on Craigslist.  Unbelievably, there was a machine exactly like I wanted within 4 hours of my house that was for sale right at my price.  I called and talked to the son, who was the contact person on the ad, and we agreed upon a price and I though we had a deal.  All we needed to do was make delivery arrangements.  Last night I receive a text from him that he will be calling tonight so I'm assuming that we are ready to roll.  Nope.  He called to tell me that he didn't realize how many people would be interested in that machine and he received an offer from a woman that was quite a bit more than he was even asking on Craigslist.  Right then and there, I was done with him and that machine.  The man made a deal with me and he backed out on it, and I lost all trust in him.  Now, his excuse was that his dad was uncomfortable with the deal and didn't like the fact that the son had agreed to deliver the machine.  That said, he had mentioned that to me last week and I even agreed that we could work that out, that I was willing to change the delivery agreement.  Last week he said no, he would work it out with his dad.  Either way, I'm the one who can sleep with a clear conscience tonight.

So, after a short bout of self pity and an indulgent dinner of Kung Pau Chicken, I am now back to talking to Doug from Nolting.  The used machine we were discussing is still available.  I'm not jumping right into getting it, because there are a couple more options out there, including the possibility of a brand new machine.  I doubt I'll go with brand new, because it's just a little more than I want to spend.  I do know that I'm going to go through Doug and Nolting rather than a private party.

Live and learn.  I'm just glad all this cost me was time.