Diamond in the Ruff

So this 1975 830 Bernina Record Sewing Machine, that has been sitting in my garage for about 3 years, (I thought this machine was really hard to use) became our families activity for the last 4 days.

Let me explain.  Every year our neighborhood puts on a garage sale.  We decided that it was time to get rid of some things in our home.  This was not fun.  We went through Tanner's bedroom and decided he was a big boy, so out with the crib in with a bed.  Everything Tanner used as a baby up to 2 years old went into this garage sale.  Also, in this sale was this Bernina.  Even though I knew the neighbor hood would indeed advertise, I thought since we had so much baby items, it would not hurt to put it on Craig's list.  It read as follows:   "Garage sale, lots of baby items, a crib, exersaucer, Little Tikes slide, and table and chairs.  Also, a Bernina 830 Sewing Machine"  With in 10 minutes of posting on Craig's list, 2 emails, by morning 6, by afternoon 10. REALLY?  What is up with this machine?  I can't run it, in fact it has just been collecting dust in my garage.  So we emailed everyone back with pictures, telling them that it was old and needed a good shop check over.  EVERYONE emailed back and wanted the machine.  So we had the first lady come over and check it out.  FYI we had not set a price because we were not prepared.  She looked at the machine, took the pedal and turned it, and then said that it was broken.  I broke out into automatic hives!  SERIOUSLY!  She said she would offer 40$ We said we would get back to her because there was so much interest.  I called a machine shop, and he asked for us to bring it down.  We did because we needed to know what we were selling.  He checked it out and said that it runs, it might need a new pedal down the road, BUT to not sell it for less than - hold on-----braces yourselves--$200.  This is an old machine Really?  So we let the cards fall and where they land, we will play.  We had to set up our garage sale at 7:30 so I could go to BB.  I left at 8:30 and the garage sale was suppose to start at 9 am.  This person came 10 minutes after I left, well what do you know, it was a Bernina Rep/tech.  He wanted to look at this machine.  He took it apart, analyzed it, and turned to Tom and said he would take it for $180.  I think Tom was shocked, and he agreed.  After money was exchanged, he turned to Tom and explained that the Bernina factory flooded, and that this machine was a sought after machine!   GREAT!  We are happy it went to a happy home and it will be fixed and used - or better yet he will sell it for the $850 they are going for???  We had a very busy garage sale.  Tom thinks more than a 100 people came through - alot of them would come in and look for that Diamond in the Ruff....and when that red box could not be found they would ask where it was and how much we sold it for - always with their response saying "Oh, they got a good deal, I would have paid more"    So what about the first lady who came to our house, and offered 40$ - well as she was leaving our home she said that if we were unable to sell it, call her back and she will TAKE it off our hands.  The last word of advice from the man at the machine shop was - "Don't ever double guess your selves, sell it and be happy, not ever say, Could I have gotten more."   What a fun weekend.  FYI - I stayed up Friday night to make cinnamon rolls and rice crispies for my kids to sell at a bake sale to raise money for their vacation this summer.  WOW they made 30$.  A big hit!  I did get one rice crispie for all my hard labor the night before.  HOW generous!