When You See That One Item...That You Gave Away

 As life goes on, we humans replace things...clothes, cars, some even replace humans. And because life goes on, sometimes you're the replacer, and sometimes you're the replacee. Recently we found ourselves replacing a bed frame. Our last one we used for more than a decade...

It was time.

Once upon a time, we had one of those Sleep Number beds. It was an interesting system and it worked, sort of. I mean, we used it and liked it, but after a while, we needed something else. So, we bought a mattress, but kept the frame, and used that frame for years and years and years.

The frame came in sections, most likely so it could be shipped all over the world. It made it nice for us. We broke it down and stored it in our garage. To be honest, I wasn't sure what we'd do with it, only that it needed to be someplace that wasn't a bedroom. My "cheap" side thought maybe I could use it for something in the future, like maybe, a chicken coop (I was just spit-balling...). And, given enough time and a need, I might have come up with something.

We did a mini-clean up in the garage a while back and assembled a pile to be donated to our local thrift store. We decided to add the bed frame to the pile. After all, people need things like bed frames, don't they? We stopped by the store and they took the stuff.

End of story.

However, since we find ourselves frequenting that particular thrift store every once in a while, it was bound to happen. I had forgotten about the frame when I went in. After a few minutes of meandering about, I remembered it. That happens when you see something you donated sitting on the sales floor.

I snapped a few pictures and walked away. I hope someone can use it. If not, we would have broken it down even further and tossed it in the trash. After all, if someone needs a lightweight, easy-to-assemble bed frame and they have twenty bucks, they've got a deal for you.

Kind Of Like Christmas...In March

After running a few errands this morning, having breakfast, and putting in a load of laundry, I took a trip to our local thrift store. It had been a while since I had the opportunity to meander through the aisles in search of treasures. Plus, there were some items I had been asked to "look for" for others.

Turns out, I hit the jackpot!

Or jackpots, depending on how you look at it.

A few days ago I was asked if I knew of place that sold telephone answering machines. They only needed the answering machine part. It was the first thing I searched for and the first thing I put in the shopping cart.

Last night one of my children mentioned to us that he was thinking about getting a bicycle. Guess what the thrift store has? Bicycles. Most are junk, but a few--including a nice blue Schwinn Frontier--were in good shape. After a few text messages including photos to see if the item passed muster, I picked up the bike.

Another child asked us the other day how much a tower fan cost. I said I wasn't sure, but something I was sure of is that I had seen a couple of tower fans at our local thrift store the last time I went. Sure enough, they had a couple today. After testing it to make sure it worked (it did...), I put it in the cart.

There's another member of the family that always appreciates gifts, only this one can't speak. The puppy loves new things to rip apart--the bigger the better. When I saw the big tan bear, and considering it was only a couple of bucks, the puppy was getting something fun.

Last of all, I checked the shoes. I don't need any more pairs of shoes, but I always check. It's amazing how some incredible shoes can be found in thrift stores. Back in high school, when Vans shoes were all the rage, I had a pair, but I could afford multiple pairs--they're kind of like Swatch watches, you know--finding a pair of authentic well-worn Vans is a find.

I picked up the shoes...they were for me. After picking up things for family, I bought a pair of shoes for me. Today was kind of like Christmas, in March.

And it was fun.