Stephen King Thrift Store Rescue and Mystery Photograph

 

I love to rescue random things from the Thrift Store.

I love reading Stephen King.

Somehow I missed reading this novel “Under the Dome”.  I have discovered it was also made into a tv series.

When I saw it at the Thrift Store, no brainer, rescue it and when I finish reading it I’m putting it in the Little Free Library aka Book Exchange at the end of the parking lot at work.

When I got home I found this picture tucked inside the book.

A real mystery, nothing written on the back.  A mystery picture inside a Stephen King book deserves a story, don’t you think?

Meet Mark and Julia, happy here but will that last?

Mark cannot resist buying anything with an “M” on it, hence the green cap from Michigan State University.  He someday hopes to go to Michigan State, Montana State, well you get the picture.

Mark does not understand the allure of a good mystery, horror or fantasy novel.  He loves autobiographies followed by biographies.  Before Julia met Mark she read all of Stephen King’s books.

After she met Mark she took up making jewelry, specifically necklaces.  She made the necklaces worn in the picture.

Mark loves to run and he takes his dad’s German Shepherd Max for a run almost every day.  The morning this picture was taken a hooligan squirrel chattered at Max from a tree and Max  instinctively ran in front of Mark tripping him up with the leash. The emergency room visit revealed no broken bones but a badly sprained wrist from throwing his arm out to break his fall.  The sling  is just to keep that wrist quiet for a few days.

Mark and Julia had a huge misunderstanding which led to mutual agreement to give their relationship a break.  One of the first things Julia did was to purchase the latest Stephen King novel, one she was dying to read “Under the Dome”.  One of the heroines in the book is named Julia and she was intrigued.

This picture was pinned to the cork board in her hallway, a place where she could see it every day, but now she removed the picture to use as a bookmark….

Mark has called Julia and invited her to lunch. He mentioned that during their break he got hooked on this series on television called Under the Dome which is based on a book by Stephen King.  Isn’t that the guy Julia used to read all the time?  He thought perhaps, as a shared and bonding activity, they could read Stephen King novels together.   As Julia was racing out of the house to meet Mark she tucked the book Under the Dome in her bag along with the matching his and her necklaces she had just finished making.

 

 

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Thrift Store Rescue

As Queen of the Design Feature I have many responsibilities.

Two of which are:

• I must be responsible and thrifty.
• I must not let my yarn get tangled.

I responsibly and thriftily (Not an easy word to read, is it?) went to the thrift store to find something that would keep my yarn from tangling and rescued this bright and cheerful bag.

Not as cute as one of those special yarn bowls but it also only cost me $1.50.  Just ran it through the washer and it was ready to go to work.

 

 

Thrift Store Rescue

My sister used to collect butterflies.  This bag caught my eye when I stopped at the thrift store to look for knitting needles for our knit for charity group.  Instant smile!  Ran it through the washer and I am going to use it to cart my lunch to work every day.  Hey my sister used to frequent thrift stores too.  She would be happy with this find.

Found some perfectly good knitting needles too!  Yippee!

Make My Day The Rescue Dogs

A big thank you to T & T (you know who you are) for the anonymous gift to the rescue dogs.

We know from first hand experience that our rescuers sometimes have trouble finding donations of food to keep us fed and healthy until we find our forever homes.

Treats are a total luxury and rescue dogs do not get these very often.

Thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of T & T boxes of treats (huge boxes of treats containing smaller boxes and containers) were delivered to Clear Creek Animal Hospital who shared them with the different animal rescue groups they support.

Thank you T & T for remembering us and caring!

Love and dog licks,

Rommy, Roscoe and Monty

 

 

 

 

Emily and Jake (formerly Mary and Jack)

A mostly true story but the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Updated!  The characters in this story have given me permission to use their real names.  Thank you Emily and Jake.

*******

This is the second time we had been to this building.  The last time was last week, exactly one week ago.

Emily was driving as usual and she was nervous for some reason.  She kept glancing over at me and smiling at me, making me suspicious, I suspected that she was trying to put me at ease.

I ignored her odd behavior, I was intent on having a good time tonight just like I did last week.

As we entered the building my anticipation intensified, and Emily’s anxiety intensified.

We were the last to arrive, and as we entered the group I saw that the other couples gave us a wide berth, it suddenly felt like we were an island separated from the others.  Wow maybe I wasn’t going to have a good time tonight!

As our leader entered the group, he was clearly puzzled and possibly exasperated as he almost shouted “Who is that crying like a baby?”

Half of the faces turned and looked at us as the other half turned away as if in punishment.

I looked at Emily adoringly, she had rescued me and I didn’t really want to let her down but I am a being who lives in the moment and at this moment I guess it was I that was crying like a baby.  Well not really crying I was just whining with anticipation of having a good time. The human half of the couples were staring at us, the other dogs were looking away in some kind of doggy embarrassment.

After only week, we were all already a pack – I think our pack is called puppy training class.  The others wanted us to succeed and supported us but didn’t know what to do and that’s why we had a leader who is called instructor or teacher.

Emily adopted me as an older puppy, I’m some kind of a lab mix and a real handful.  It’s possible and probable that I was unadoptable and she saved my life.

I adore Emily and just want to make her happy. I’m not sure how to do that yet but Emily is learning how to communicate with me and we’re going to make it work.

Wish us luck on our journey!

 

 

Make my Day Monty’s Rescue

Monty is the newest addition to the pack.

His rescue was in the fall of 2012. He was a puppy waiting to be rescued at the Colorado Pet Expo.

I was there to look at products not puppies! I had found some awesome stuff for my pets at the last year’s expo, I was on a mission!

However, in the middle of the Expo was the puppy rescue area.  Only the most hardened could resist the puppy rescue area, I was doomed…..

I am a German Shepherd lover. My two dogs were a German Shepherd and a German Shepherd mix.    I’ve always had German Shepherd’s and I understand their high energy and their great and sometimes annoying intelligence.  These two were more than a enough work for me.

I was “just looking” at the puppies.  These cute white and black puppies drew my attention, the rescue group promised me that they had the mother and they knew these puppies were Border Collie mix puppies.  They brought the six or seven puppies out of the pen for me to play with, all the puppies took off to explore except for this one male puppy who climbed into my lap and wanted to lick my face.  In the back of my mind I thought “Border Collie’s are herding dogs, just like German shepherds how different could he be?”  They told me they thought he’d be around 30 pounds when he finished growing.

I reluctantly handed him back to the rescue volunteers and went back to the Expo.  About every half hour I went back to check and see if he was still there. Each time at least one of his siblings had been adopted but he was still there. After about the fourth time I came back and only he and two other puppies were left, the volunteers told me he was getting attached to me and I needed to adopt him.  He really seem to be waiting for me each time I returned!

I had 1 million excuses not to adopt him, I am so tough – about the sixth time I went to look at him I told the ladies if he was still there in a half an hour I would adopt him and take him home.  The Expo was almost over and I really was worried that he wouldn’t find a home.

Right before the expo was ready to close I went back and he was still there, my last excuse was I didn’t have a crate and he’d be loose on the drive home. They couldn’t possibly let me take him home without him being secure in a crate, could they?  “He is so tiny” they said just hold it in your lap and you’ll get him home okay.  Well that made total sense to me!

I brought him home and as he grew it was apparent that he was not a border collie mix.  After watching the spots appear my vet guessed perhaps a Dalmation mix.?  Oh by the way he’s 50 pounds, 20 more pounds then I expected!

He has really stolen my heart and done some amazing things for the “pack”.  He found his place in the pack immediately and made it clear that we were his forever family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make My Day and Puppy Rescue, Rommy and Roscoe’s Story

Rommy had been the only dog in the house for over a year and he said he was lonely.

I always had 2 or 3 dogs at one time and they were a real pack!  I lost Troilus and Jack, Rommy’s pack mates, close together and did not have the emotional energy to look for a friend for Rommy.

I had been following this web-site, Colorado Puppy Rescue.  My favorite dog is a German Shepherd and they always had German Shepherd-mix puppies available for adoption.  One weekend I decided to check them out, Rommy and I went to the adoption site and arrived one-half hour early.  When we walked in and the line was already dozens of people long.

Rommy is a big dark red and black German Shepherd and people are mostly afraid of him on sight and avoid him (cross to the other side of the street, etc., when they see us coming).  The people standing in line were dog lovers, no one was afraid of him and he was enjoying himself getting all the attention he wanted.  We got to the front of the line and the volunteers said no German Shepherd mixes were left but to please come back again.

We returned the very next weekend, this time one hour early, and there were already 8 people ahead of us!  They had 4 or 5 German Shepherd-mix puppies for adoption and I figured that not all of those people would want a German Shepherd puppy so we stayed and waited.  Just like the week before Rommy was making the rounds, getting hugs and leaning on people and just being so dang cute and friendly.  I was getting comments on how nice he was and questions like, were all German Shepherds like him?

Well, we get to the front of the line and I asked to see the German Shepherd puppies, and am advised they were all adopted!  Rommy had shot himself in the paw being so dang adorable that those people in front of us scooped up all the German Shepherds.  They did have other herding dog puppies so Rommy met them but was not impressed.  One of the volunteers came out from the back somewhere, took one look at Rommy and said oh you wanted a German Shepherd puppy, we have one in the back I forgot about.  Another puppy bit his ear and it was bleeding, we put him in the back to let that ear stop bleeding and forgot to bring him out.  Do you want to see him?

Rommy took one look at this puppy (now known as Roscoe) and said that is the one.  I thought it was my imagination so I held Roscoe under one arm and another puppy under the other arm.  I asked Rommy which one he wanted to take home and he sat in front of Roscoe and put his nose on him!

They have been best friends ever since.  Here is a picture of them when Roscoe was brand new to our house.

 

 

Jennifer Lim at Arts & Crafts Showcase 10-19-2014, Rescued Broken Jewelry

I took my friend Jennifer Lim an huge plastic bag of broken and “I’m tired of this piece” jewelry.

I had been saving all this jewelry with no idea what I was going to do with it.  Since at least half of it was broken I couldn’t take it to the thrift store.

She does this amazing thing with bits of forgotten or discarded jewelry, she re-purposes the bits and pieces and makes entirely new pieces of jewelry!

I wish I had taken a picture of that plastic bag of broken jewelry, sigh, but here are a few examples of what she did with those castaways:

Thank you Jennifer for being so fun and giving me back some memories!

 

 

 

If you would like to see Jennifer’s creative pieces in person, bracelets, earrings and necklaces, join us at Simpson UMC on 10-19-2014.  Her prices are unbelievably reasonable.  All proceeds she donates to the Simpson UMC Chancel Choir for special music and adding musicians to help our extremely talented pianist with Christmas and Easter Cantatas.

A light lunch will also be served until sold out.  There are many amazing artists that display each year and you will not be disappointed!

P.S.  If you would like to donate some broken jewelry Jennifer will make it into something amazing which she sells and donates all proceeds in support of the Simpson UMC Chancel Choir.  Bring your plastic bag of bits and pieces!

Favorite artist at Peach Festival

 

Christal Chapman was my favorite artist at the Lafayette Peach Festival, and she was fun too!

She rescues scrabble, dominoes and mah-jongg and other small game pieces from thrift stores. She then turns them into the bases for her works of art these adorable, creative and fun little pendants.

 

This is a very small sample of her work. She tells me that sometimes her projects take over her house. I hope to go and maybe watch her while she’s creating some day soon but at least go and pick out some more pendants!

She also rescues magazines and books for their art and to incorporate into her art.

Her mother also does some amazing paintings on these itty-bitty toy pieces, I was dismayed when I got home and realized I forgot to pick out one of her mother’s painted pendants. A lot of detail on a small canvas. Definitely need to hook up with Christal soon and I hope I can find and rescue some dominoes and mah-jongg pieces from the thrift store for her artwork.

 

Thrift store rescue 1

My sister love butterflies.  I bought myself a membership to the Butterfly Pavilion here in Colorado.  Hang out with live butterflies! The gift shop had these neat little butterfly trinkets.

They had these cute little bumblebees too.

 

I needed something to put them in,  I wanted to see them every day to just keep my sister close.  I planned I’m looking for a fancy little bowl somewhere but my sister was so thrifty I tried to thrift store first.  Here was the perfect little glass butterfly dish which I rescued from the thrift store for pennies.  My sister would’ve been pleased!

So these little trinkets are on my desk at work to just put a smile on my face when I need it.