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.

Attention: Military Personnel, Past And Present...Chick-Fil-A Has A Party Planned For You!

For those living in Davis County Utah (or, the surrounding towns and/or counties...), and you're part of the military, there's a restaurant in Layton throwing you a party.

It's a way of saying, Thank You!

The event takes place next Tuesday, June 11th at the restaurant at: 651 W Antelope Dr, Layton Utah, 84041. In addition to food, there will be a myriad of gifts and other prizes are also available. If you're in the area, please check it out.

Currently in our country, we're fighting about many things. Each "side" screams their point-of-view from the rooftops and all that yelling is canceling each other out. I hope there's one thing we can all agree on, and that is, we ought to treat our veterans better than we do. My father, six of his brothers all served in various military branches. Even though I never served, it's a personal thing in my family. 

I know life is complicated. Every once in a while, someone is there to make things just a little better. On next Tuesday night, there's a restaurant on Antelope Drive in Layton Utah, where a group of people are saying thank you to those who did and do things for others.

And that's a very good thing.

At Salt Lake Comic Con...You Buy My Book, I Give The Profits To Charity

It helps, when you write a daily blog, to store blog post ideas for later. It saves time when it comes to writing. I've got a few blog post ideas lined up. I've written recently about our Seattle trip, but I haven't highlighted the main reason we went--my nephew's wedding. I could write about that. On my commute this morning two cars crashed into each others right in front of me. That can be another blog post. And I even saw and videoed a small snake slithering in our back yard this after noon.

But with the terrible storms destroying lives and news of today's Mexico City earthquake, those topics just didn't seem appropriate. So, what to write about?

Earlier this month I placed an order of Speckled, my one and only book, for this week's Salt Lake Comic Con. The number of books I ordered was based on past cons, plus I added a couple more because the last thing you want to have happen at a con is to run out of books.

My family and I were kicking around an idea earlier--what if I donated all book sales from this year's con to disaster relief charities. After today, I've decided that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Now, before you think this is going to be a huge life-changing financial contribution, it probably won't be. I charge a little less for my collection of short stories than if it were a novel. It's shorter than most of the books sold at the convention as well. But, it's something. It's something I can do to help out in a small way. Plus, I get my book out to more people and hopefully those people will not only enjoy the collection, but will feel good about helping out as well.

So if you're at this weekend's Salt Lake Comic Con, 2017 edition, look for Booth #639 and check out mine and all the other books we have for your reading, and philanthropic needs. Hopefully, I'll see you there!