A month of thrifted goods

This summer I spent a month visiting my mom in central Oregon and we made the rounds to all the thrifty places we could find and here's my haul.

The can of Poly was only $1.00 at the Redmond ReStore. I have SUCH plans for that little can. I've been wanting some for ages.
The white decorative pieces are a part of a drawer pull. I bought them at the La Pine ReStore. I don't have a specific plan for them yet, but liked that they were flat on the back and can be put on anything else flat. They cost me $1.00
That $0.50 glass dome also came from the La Pine ReStore. It's for a light fixture but I have plans similar to [this] for it.
The other little dome was just $0.10 at a garage sale.

That enormous roll of burlap strap came from the La Pine ReStore and cost me $3.00. I was so excited when I saw it and my mom says, "What on earth do you do with that?" Oh so many things. She doesn't believe me.

The glass tumbler came from the Bend Goodwill and cost me $0.99 - it is going to hold my makeup brushes in some coffee beans so I can be as cool as this person.

I love drinking my morning coffee out of a vintage Pyrex mug I have and since I didn't have one while visiting my mom I bought one. Found at the Redmond Goodwill and it was the half price color so I got it for just $0.50.


I've never owned a camera tripod but I know I *needed* one for photos at night or dusk. This one was at the Bend Goodwill and was $2.99

And when I got my new camera and had nothing to put it in, I found this case at the Bend Goodwill (during a spectacular lightning storm I might add) for $1.99.


I have been wanting a makeup brush roll for quite a while now but could never fit it into my budget. They had a few of these never used Mary Kay brush rolls at the Redmond Goodwill for just $1.99! Also I love anything Mary Kay because MK is also my initials. It makes me look important to have all my makeup bags monogrammed. ;)

The umbrella was on a clearance rack at Target for just $3.74. Pink? Yes. Polka dots? Yes! Also? It not only opens with the button, it closes with the button!

I read a ton of books while I was visiting and had to buy a couple extras. I remember Cat talking about The Day The Falls Stood Still so I got that at Bend Goodwill for $3.99 (more than most of anything else I bought. Why so spendy on books Goodwill?)

I used to have two copies of The Scarlet Pimpernel - one of my favorite books - and one is on loan to a friend and the other I couldn't find. This copy was just $0.99.

I have been traveling nonstop this summer and one of my travel bags had more hole in the top than it did top. I picked up this Skyway Kid's Gear bag for just $2.00 at Second Tern.

Yes, it is for kids. Did that stop me? No, it did not. Plus it has wheels and a retractable handle and no giant holes so there.

And the icing on the cake...my new super zoomy camera was found at a Bend Pawn & Trading for $90.00.
I have only owned pocket cameras and I can't afford a DSLR so this is a good in between. Plus I can ZOOM. Quite a bit. So much fun.

I wasn't wearing makeup so I was only brave enough to show you my haggard looking eyes.

They gave me a week to try it out which is why there is still a sticker stuck to the bottom.
Oh! I forgot to take a photo of all the movies I got there for just $2.00 apiece. Oh well. Anyway it was a really nice shop, as you can see from their website.

Minus the camera all my thrifty goodies cost me just $26.77!

Mosaic Monday - taste of fall

I've been away for quite a while but I could see the telltale signs of fall all around the house.


Like these overcast skies...

And my fall crocus.

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of this grass growing on top of a fence post in my neighbor's field. :)

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!

The house in the woods

 Here's where I've been the last two weeks. And the weeks before that? Well...that's coming later.

It was cool in the woods - too cool for someone who has spent that past month in the desert, but we finally got the sunshine back. So I went wandering. Lots of moss and leaves.

And heart-shaped fiddleheads.

The woods here are thick with ferns.

So the homeowners built this fabulous set of decks.

And on the upper deck is where they do container gardening. This year there is a lot of pink and white.

And look at the enormous heliotrope - the purple one for those that don't know ;)

Here's the main reason I was staying here. A funny boy who likes to sleep in strange places.

Pattern of Wounds book review

A brutal murder.
An unraveling conviction.

To catch the killer, Roland March must decipher the
PATTERN OF WOUNDS

Bodies left in the water, strange stab wounds in seeming pattern and Roland March connecting them like dots - the answer of which leads him to a killer already behind bars.

After reading countless "chick books" I chose one that seemed to say "dude book" or at least was more gender neutral than what I usually read. I actually love mysteries and have a few series filling my bookshelves.

The front cover says this is "A Roland March Mystery" and I learned it was part of an apparently ongoing series and that may be when I should have grabbed the first one and read it...you know...first.

As a result I felt like I was constantly playing catch up with the long list of secondary characters and I never could keep them all straight.

I think because I wasn't familiar with the characters and what was going on from the first book that this book didn't seem to go much of anywhere until partway through - until the "power point presentation" scene. But after that the pace was quick - pages were loaded with action, clues, and reveals. There were a few moments the hairs on the back of my neck were tickling from the intense creep-out.  Maybe I should warn you that this really is a murder mystery and they cover lots of crime drama subjects including stabbing, voyeurism, rape and various ways to kill and maim people.

I did figure out whodunit before the end but that's okay, sometimes I like feeling smart. So while the mystery itself was good, I just didn't love this book. I think I might like it better if I'd read the first and had a history with the main character.


Bethany House provided this book for the purposes of review. The opinions are entirely mine.

Wild Life

I've had ample opportunity to photograph the wildlife around my mom's place and the places we are visiting. We went to the Big Obsidian Flow one day and these butterflies filled the air.

Mario caught one for me so I could photograph it and we could figure out what it was. We were suspecting it wasn't good and we were right. It is a Pine Butterfly and they are causing defoliation problems here in the PacNW.

Then we pulled over for me to get some photos of the mountains and to try out my new camera. Apparently when we did this we disturbed this badger.

I whistled and got it to look up.

Totally makes me think of the line from UHF, "Badger? Badger? We don't need no stinkin' badger!" (An obvious homage to Treasure of the Sierra Madre which I've also seen).

My mom lives in a forested area and has a swampy meadow sort of area for a backyard. Not much of a place to stand so she and one of her brothers built a wide deck that makes a great place to watch the deer.

There are two doe that frequent the area with their twins. I don't know what the statistics are but two doe with twins seems unusual to me.

These fawns though! Sooooooo cute!

We went for a boat ride and I caught the tail end (no pun intended) of some geese taking off from the water.

We came back from the boat trip and hello! Look who is lounging in the back yard!

Gorgeous. Also tasty but these deer are not for eating. :)

As I sat on the deck this THING kept trying to land on me.

I've since identified him as a pine beetle. Next time we meet pal you are going to meet the bottom of my shoe.

Enough with the creepy thing - back to the cute!
They were curious about the pond/fountain.

So cute and fuzzy that I admit to a moderate amount of squealing when they do things like get hyper and jump and prance around the yard.

I stole - okay I seriously just typed "stold." I would make a disparaging remark about the area, the number of teeth I have and my new IQ but I won't. ;)

So I stole my post title from a book title by Molly Gloss which I will be reading quite soon. I ended up with one of her books since we both share the awesome name and have now collected three. This will be my first time reading them though.