Waiting for blog candy goodies to get here and current reads

While some of the things I will be offering in my blog candy are here, others are still on their way.  I swear it feels like Christmas, waiting for them, so I can offer them to you, along with my card challenge.  Maybe by Monday.  I probably should be splitting the goodies into two offerings, but am going to keep it as one win.  I hope to offer another when I hit 100 followers.

So, what am I doing while I am waiting?  Since I cannot make any cards, or do any sewing my the dolls, because of the splint on my wrist, I am reading and then reading some more.   I live in an apartment complex served by the local Books on Wheels. Sometimes the driver just knows what I would like to read, and will bring along a treasure with the books I have requested.  A few weeks ago I discovered Lee Child and his Jack Reacher stories.  While I started with the newest, I have gone on to read in the order suggested by Mr.Child, reading in the order written, not starting with the prequel which would give too much away about Jack Reacher.   I have devoured these two this week, and am hoping for two more when the Bookmobile comes back.



I am also fond of the Amish stories by Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter.   Beverly Lewis has a new trilogy - the Rose Trilogy, and I just read the first in the series, "The Thorn". I am looking forward to the second book which is to be released in April.  Living so close to Lancaster, I have always been fascinated with the Amish and the simple lives they lead.  I am not sure I could do it. 

Oh, I have also been re-reading the entire Cherry Ames series, from the beginning, when the library can locate the books.  I particularly love it when I get one of the original books, and not a newer reprint. 

I have been on prednisone for my wrist and it is really creating a sleepless state that is getting old.  I hate being up all night, I really do. It affects me adversely, and I don't seem to be able to catch up, ever, sleep-wise.  However, I did get two more books read during one sleepless night:

"What a Difference a Dog Makes" is written by a man who felt the true value of his dog as he recovered from radical surgery for prostate cancer.  Since I have two friends currently dealing with cancer, I strongly recommended this book. "Pukka" is a pure delight,  a story told primarily in photographs, with some narrative, but told from the puppy's viewpoint as he relays details of his life with his new friend (owner).  For all of you who have ever loved a Marley-like lab, Pukka does not seem quite as crazy, but he still is all lab, and delightful.  Apparently, the author, Ted Kerasote, wrote a book about his previous dog, "Merle's Door", and this is now on my request list from the library. If you are a dog lover, please read "Oogie" as soon as you can.  If you have ever rescued a dog, it will touch your heart, and may do so even if you are not a "dog person".

Hopefully by Monday all of the goodies will be here for the blog candy, so if you are a card maker, start thinking about the photograph I posted about a week or so ago, for inspiration.  Making a card will get you an additional chance for the blog candy. 

The candy will include the following:  two cookbooks (one for desserts, one for coffee drinks), some vintage lace beading, the wonderful Hershey thin filled with goodies that I showed you before, a chocolate strawberry (wonderful real candy treat that you have to whack on something to get the pieces to open up!), a chocolate candle, hot chocolate scented body lotion, hand-dyed rayon seam-binding, two packs of Recollections flowers, three Magnolia stamps, one packet of Magnolia flowers, one 8x 8 K & Co paper tablet (Julianne), two Hampton Art wood-mounted friendship stamps, a Tim Holtz packet of Adage Tickets and an oriental paper and chipboard pack byJenny Ellory.  Whew!  I think that it is.  If not, the rest will show up when I take photos of everything. I want to thank Diana Crick of Magnolia-licious, for her very kind donation of the three Magnolia stamps and a packet of pink and purple Magnolia flowers for my birthday candy.  She is the best!

Thrift Shop Treasures

Some of you know that I live two doors from the local thrift shop.  This can be a good thing, and a bad thing!  There are several thrift shops in the area, but Impact Thrift is my favorite, especially the location near me (there are a few others).  I like the smallness of the store, the friendliness of the staff, and yes, its proximity.  While I can always find books that must join my collection, often times I cannot find those other treasures that speak to me.   I love English ironstone, especially that by Johnson Brothers, Meakin and let us not forget Wedgwood Queen's Ware.  I missed two lovely Meakin plates on Monday as I went just to look (no wallet), and they were gone on Wednesday when I went back.  However, there was other treasure waiting, from Johnson Brothers.  The first photo shows two dessert plates and a bowl in the English Chippendale pattern.  (The bowl looks stained but that is a shadow, not a mark on the bowl).   The second photo is also a Johnson Brothers pattern, Old Bradbury and I found two dinner plates in this pattern.   The blue ones may not stay here but were too pretty, and too reasonable,  to pass up. 

I found a lot of books that interested me, fiction, decorating, children's, etc.  However, these three were the real finds this week.  Left to right they are:

The Age of Fable (Thomas Bulfinch, 1942); Never Cry Wolf (Farley Mowat, 1963) and Lad of Sunnybank (Albert Payson Terhune, 1929). 



I have an inexpensive HP digital camera which I use mostly for posting photos on my blog or elsewhere on the web.  I am saving for a DSLR, but that is still a way off.  My HP does an okay job but it does not have a true macro setting.  I found this at Impact this week, looking like it had never been taken out of the box, complete with photo card, remote control, all the books and brochures, a warranty that had never been sent in and a long-expired coupon entitling the original recipient to 10 free prints at Larmon Photo (our local true camera store).   While the MP count is not great at 4.0, it does have 10x optical zoom, two macro settings (one of 1/2 inch away!), and a level for wide angle or telephoto with a range equivalent of 38-380 on an SLR.  There is also the ability to save custom settings.  Not bad for $12.00 with my coupon!  As a bonus, it also feels nice in my hand, not too light, like the HP, and not too heavy.  There is a hand grip on the right.

Now, for the real treasure of the week.  This gorgeous coverlet has a silk face with a cotton lining.  There is not one flaw on it.  It was $4.75 with my coupon!

I should add that the pink wing chair recliner, on which I placed the items to be photographed, also came from Impact, and is half of a pair.  There is a little wear on the arms but the mechanism work perfectly.  They came from a local high-end furniture store which recently closed (Oskar Huber).  I love the subtle flame stitch on them, and the muted shade of rose, like Meggie's "Ashes of Roses" dress in The Thorn Birds.

I bought this beautiful piece of cotton damask last week - 7 yards, 54 inches wide, $5.00, but again, I had a coupon so it was $3.75.  It is the prettiest shade of pale butter yellow.  I have no idea what it will become but it is gorgeous.   It originally came from the Holy Redeemer Thrift shop (which does a better job of marking their fabrics than Impact does) but I guess it was not needed and was donated to Impact.   In case you are not from this area, Impact profits aid local charities.   There have been times I have passed up beautiful fabrics at Impact solely because the yardage and width were not marked, and the fabric was rolled and taped securely so you could not measure it.   There is a pretty length of floral bark cloth there now, 4 yards I believe for $10.00, and a pretty Jacobean floral on a roll, but I don't know how many yards.  If either of these interests you, I could go over and take photos for you and try to get an idea of yardage.  Just let me know.