Saying Goodbye to the Hot Tub

I've never had the desire to own a hot tub but since this one came with the house I thought I would give it a try. After all, it might be fun to invite some friends over, do some grilling and have a hot tub party! But alas after 2 years I never even started planning a party which involved the poor little hot tub. The first step would have been to actually clean the hot tub but it still looks like this:

I've been thinking about putting it on craigslist for free just to get it out of here probably for the past year. But I have dealt with craigslist a few times.

I claimed a free shop vac which "worked just fine"...for half the living room.

I tried to buy an antique toilet which "had no cracks at all" after I asked at least 3 times specifically if it was cracked anywhere above the base. I drove to Fremont only to discover a huuuge crack all the way around and through to the inside of the bowl. Did they hope I was blind?

My place of work convinced me to post and be in charge of e-mails from several unused items they had around the office. This resulted in many e-mails involving sending money orders for above the asking price but no actual interested buyers.

I put it off and put it off but finally had enough of looking at that dirty hot tub every day and my dad was here to deal with the electrical so I decided to give it a go, expecting the worst. I received an e-mail within 20 minutes. I left them a message with my address and asked what time they might stop by but of course I never heard another word from them. I'm assuming they drove by, saw how gross it was (despite my warning and included photo) and kept on driving. E-mailer #2 seemed enthusiastic so I called and left a message, he returned my call within 5 mins and said he would definitely take it, sight unseen and mentioned he had removed and installed several hot tubs so he even sounded like he knew what he was doing. Score! He came yesterday, jacked it up and undid all of the electrical but his friend couldn't make it until today with the truck. He left his $150 jack under the hot tub as collateral and sure enough, a huger than expected truck pulled into our yard this afternoon.

(I snuck in a picture from upstairs to avoid any awkwardness)

Whew, I feel I lucked out in this craigslist posting. I was fully expecting someone who had never thought of owning a hot tub until seeing my free ad would show up with a small car and try to bungee it to the top or something ridiculous! I'm sure this guy is going to refurbish it and make a bunch of money from it but that is fine with me. I'm glad our hot tub is going to find a new home and I hope it goes to someone who will enjoy it and actually give it the hot tub party it deserves!

Now I have a whole new, unevenly dirty deck area!

I have some flower pots to put against the fence and...and I don't know what else I can do! Anything pricey and eye catching is out of the question at the moment since it is somewhat visible from the alley. Otherwise cute patio furniture and an awning I saw at Lowe's last weekend come to mind.