Rock hunting & opals

Hi again! sorry i wasn't here yesterday but we went rock hunting with a couple from the rock club! we are getting pretty chummy with them and they tell us they are GLAD to have met us too! :)
we expected to go for just a couple hours and wound up going for about SIX hours! lol but the BEST part of it was that we went JUST down the road from where DH and i live!! WOOHOO! lol
we found some Chrysocolla and quartz crystals!! and it was so much FUN! the heat, even though it was below average, was no FUN at all and we were REAL happy for the wind! lol
Before i take you along the journey, i want to share with you, the bracelet that was only a quarter.

the leaves of the flower stem, are bits of abalone and of course the photo doesn't do it any justice.
ANYWAYS, here we are at the lower level (not at the base, but up a little on the mountain)of the mountain by the mine area.

here is the actual mine entrance and this is as close as we got to it! hehe

here they are digging and searching.

for the BEST stuff, we need to go up THERE!

well, let me tell you, i made it up and didn't think i could stay. the heat got to me so bad that i poured some water completely OVER my head and only after that, i felt better, then the hunt for crystals was ON!! lol
here, at the top of the mountain, are mine vents.



WAYYYY out at the end of that road is Giant Rock!

And then since we were so close to our home, we invited them over before we were all done. They came in and saw my collection, as it is, ;) and when the subject of opals came up, i was completely FLOORED by our buddies' collection.

oh the fire and sparkle of them all was just INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL!!

He even had the nautilus shells that opalized.

every stone in every bag, had that fire and sparkle!!

Mexican Jelly Opals

i don't remember the name of these but how COOL, huh?!

just check out this handful!!

And i see that even HE buys SOME!! hehe

God Bless him, he even gave us one. i will have to share the photos later tonite or tomorrow, since they are still on the camera and the batteries died and needed recharging! lol
yes it was a hard and long day, even for my camera! it was POOPED! lol and so were we! i sure am GLAD that i only had a little overheat trouble and it was not heart related. i am soo GLAD that they didn't get upset with me too... they were soo understanding of our newness to ALL of it!!
i sure did miss blogland yesterday though. when they left it was going on 5pm and we were just BEAT! i got a good tan started on my arms and back! hehe and even a REALLY good watch tan line too! LOL
Stop back tomorrow to see some of the crystals we found! i even found a twin crystal!!! DH is outside in the workshop, while the batteries are recharging... i don't know how HE does it sometimes, either, i STILL need recharging! lol
Well, thank you SOOOOOO very much for visiting!! i hope you have a TERRIFIC day!! HUGS! :)

Leafy cactus and Sunday bargains!

Good evening!! :) it's Sunday night here and i am soon off to bed, but had to pop in to blog before hitting those sheets! hehe i have been staying up till midnight almost every night last week so i can download all those WONDERFUL freebies out there. Let me take a minute and gripe, er, um, i mean, explain my internet provider. with our provider, they have what they call a Fair Access Policy where we pay for them to allow us so many megs in a 24 hour period. if we go over that set amount, then the service DROPS LIKE A BRICK to worse than dial up speeds!!
But they don't explain anything important, like what the download actually means... we thought it meant ONLY what we download, but come to find out that it's EVERYtHING we open or view too! SOooooooo on occassion, with THREE of us using the internet, it has happened that we unknowingly go over and when that happens, we are basically locked out of using it at all, until it resets.
oh it's truly a real pain cause now i find it hard to visit all the blogs i want to or view the videos i want!! so to cut down on the STRAIN of my download usage, i download in between the late night hours of 11pm to 4am... in that time, it doesn't go onto OUR download numbers... it's actually ENDLESS during those hours and nothing counts against us! and still i don't view videos and keep track of all downloads, in some kind of way of keeping us from going over! but NOW it's impeding on my sleepytime, my time with that pillow! hehe oh the ways we sacrifice for the LOVE of our crafts!! lol
ANYWAYSssssss onto better things!! i wanted to ask if ANYONE knows of a cactus to suddenly start growing LEAVES???? lol just check this out!!

Funny, huh?!! we don't know what it is and why it's doing that, but i will keep you posted, if it does anything else!! lol
Today we went to the swapmeet not really expecting much since Sundays have been REALLY light on the vendors but was pleasantly surprised to find more than usual!! :)
we stopped to check out a vendor that sells REALLY expensive and tiny gemstones! but today I looked at her clothes hanging there!! wound up buying two pieces!! Now since i gained this weight (gained 40 over the past few months, keeping 30 so far)i have been looking into BIGGER sizes! lol and that is what drew me over. Got this skirt for just THREE dollars! can hardly wait to wear this one! :)

and then i saw her tops!! WOWZERS!!! she had two beaded tops and some kind of expensive and GORGEOUS sweater and was saying how she is selling them cheap with hopes that if someone doesn't wear them, maybe they could cut them up and use them for something since they were soo PRETTY!
Cut THIS up???? i don't think soo!! lol

FIVE dollars for this top!! can you believe it?? i couldn't either!! the photo doesn't do it justice either, just take a look at this close up!

i bought this little hummingbird candle holder (with candle) for a dollar cause the lady that got my little pomeranian LOVEs hummers and i thought it would make a nice gift for her some day!
hehe i am tricky like that! :D

Then i found this headband with some black velvet scrunchies and asked how much. fifty cents each!! well, DH told me to get two and gave me a dollar, so i got two of the headband since my hair is too thin for that kind of scrunchie and the vendor tells me to take another! COOL!

Then i came across a little stand where the mom was letting her little girl help sell jewelry.
the prices were INSANE and when i bought this watch for two dollars, i saw a bracelet for a quarter but gave the little girl fifty cents (big spender, i know!)for it (i didn't see the photo and know it HAS to be uploaded from the camera and will share when i find it! LOL that kind of day, sorry!)
here is the watch i got though. :)

do you know what i got from the bookman??? NOPE!! not a book!! hahaha i got this COOL 16x20 framed print for a BUCK!! i was drawn to it and not sure why but i really like it! :)

got this silly little cage for three, was five until the guy came down for me!

oh and there is this one vendor there that we RARELY buy from since he is sort pricey. well, i was sure GLAD when we glanced over and saw signs for some of his necklaces for just two dollars each and jade turtle necklaces for four! i got these two for two dollars each. just FILLED with different stones.

and this tiger eye one for four!! just look at the multiple seed bead strands!!! i certainly appreciate THAT kind of work for what i paid!!! sheesh!

then i paid a dollar for this stone! yea, i hear ya!! i must have rocks in my head!! lol but just look at the grain in that thing!! looks like wood to me but am told (by the rockhounders at the potluck picnic today) that it is a Wonder stone! i have to look that one up! but it sure made me WONDER! HAHAHAHA ok it's late here!! hehe

this will probably be the first stone DH practises a wire wrap on, since it's nice and big but also very light!! :)
Then lastly, there was a new vendor with jewelry that drew my attention! Five bucks was on almost everything she had and i mentioned it to DH. she overheard and told me depending on how many i decide to buy, she could come down in price. well, we decided on the two earrings in the photo (goldstone and what they called fool's gold but i could swear the one of fool's gold is peacock ore, since it has so many colors, that probably don't show in the photo.) and she took off two bucks each,
totalling $6.00 for these!

FUN FUN FUN!! but the funny thing was, at the rockhound picnic, i brought out some of our bought stones and not too many people really cared about them! lol these are TRULY rockhounds in the rawest sense! lol i just thought it was funny, as i am OBVIOUSLY a newbie (not collecting a year yet)
but i can LOVE all KINDS of stone! polished AND raw! but they didn't seem to have the same appreciation! lol
oh well, i have gone on now for over an hour!! LOL it's late and i think DS can get my downloads tonight! he's a good egg that way, since he stays up late most every night anyway! And he has off tomorrow too, so he can sleep in!! :D
i hope you enjoyed our trip today and stop back tomorrow to see a true rockhound's home...well not actually his home but AWESOME things around it! hehe
HUGS!! Have a WONDERFUL night, my friends and i will surely see you in the AM!! HUGS! :D

Saturday's bargains

Good evening! How are you tonight? i sure hope everything is GREAT! :) Windy, as usual, here and the pool is getting COLDER!! lol it's now in the high 60's!!! brrrrrr
This is the DESERT, it's not suppose to be C-O-L-D in June!! LOL Good thing we got the swapmeet to keep us busy! hehe
This week we had a WONDERFUL start with our first buy being this older quilted satin glove box with SIX pair of gloves for FIVE bucks!!!

Then this Christmas throw for $2.00! :)

And this instruction book for pineapple doilies, fifty cents!!

Who doesn't LOVE chickens in their kitchen? i sure do!! this set was five bucks!

oh and when i found out this framed print was just TWO dollars, i jumped on it! :) i LOVE it!

This platter will go GREAT with the rectangle one i recently bought! this was a buck!!

And a dollar for this silky round tablecloth too!

Earrings were a buck each!

fifty cent pins!!

And last we got two bracelets, at two dollars each! :)

a light haul this week so far but we did see two more puppies for sale! i didn't ask how much but did ask if i could take this photo of the one. they were almost identical little pitbull puppies and soooooooo SWEET!!!

DS (who works at our local Walmart) said there were SMALLER and younger pitbull pups there being sold for a hundred bucks!! and these puppies DO NOT come with papers at the prices these folks want for them!! Shelters are the BEST way to go! as cute as all these puppies may be, that we see at the swapmeet and outside of Walmart, but they are ALLLLLL backyard breeders. some of the people who sell them, we recognize from selling a few times a year and that is so wrong, in my humble opinion!! but they sure do keep it interesting as each one is as ADORABLE as the next or one before! :)
Anyways, tomorrow we are going to a Rock Club meeting/picnic at one of the member's homes. we are taking two pies! :) should be FUN! since they don't have a spot in the summer, to hold the meetings, they do it at a different member's home for a few months. i am also taking some fire agate stones for the host! :) i think he will appreciate them! :D
hopefully my feet and back won't bother me too much... doctor put me on different meds a couple months ago and NOW i am having side effects from the meds, causing my back to hurt and my feet to swell! :( not FUN when there is bargain hunting to do!! lol i do have an appointment for next week but was real surprised they didn't tell me what to do for the pain...or the swollen feet! i'd put ice on it if they were bruised but they aren't!! (shrugs shoulders) so it's ibupropen for a few days to get me through.
i sure hope you are having a much better weekend where you are! hehehe
Well, that's all for today. Thank you so much for sharing this time! HUGS!! Have an AWESOME evening! :)

Bargains and a big THANK YOU!

Good evening! How is your day? all good i hope! :) it was another June gloom day here, breezy but it warmed up nicely!
Ready to catch up on some bargains, we recently found? Me too! :D
Christmas in June? lol no it's just a few of the goodies we came across that were CHEAP! :)

This COOL tree shaped bottle.

Two MORE purses, like i really need them! LOL but when one can buy good leather purses for just a dollar, it's HARD to pass up! :) These are both, like brand new!

oh we recently got this box of goodies for a buck or two (i don't remember exactly)

this box of decorative pillows was the same kind of deal, a buck or two!!

This clothing brush and shoe horn were only a dollar!

and while visiting a buddy's stand, i browsed through some Rachael Ray magazines and was told to take them before he (the vendor) threw them out! lol OK, he didn't have to tell me twice!! ;)

and then DH saw these candle holders and bought them for a buck a piece. :) Isn't he a SWEETHEART?

And finally, this bracelet was originally $5.00 and i started to walk away, the guy calls me back over and tells me $3.00! lol SOLD! hehe the beads are all glass square beads, like i have never seen before! :)

That's all i got so far! i always look forward to my Saturdays though! lol Sunday, we basically go back to do our chatting and socializing but a bargain is NEVER far away! hehe
Oh and before i go tonite, i wanted to say a big THANK YOU to LouCee
for RAKing me, her latest kit called Ooohh La La , (which is currently on sale)!!!
i am truly & completely floored by the kindness of this OUT OF THE BLUE gesture and can hardly wait to download it tonite and PLAY!!! big HUGS to you and THANK YOU again, LouCee!!!
Thank YOU, too, for sharing THIS time together! i always look forward to your comments and visits daily!! Have an AWESOME evening and i will see YOU in the morning! :) HUGS!

Things we see & giveaway link

Good evening! How is your week going? oh i hope it's going GREAT for you! :) Things here are windy and hot, as usual, it seems! :) We had a bit of what they call June gloom, as it was overcast most of the day.
i thought tonight i would share some photos of the things we see in our area. Hope you enjoy!
i found this car quite a sight! it's a 1953 Ford delivery sedan and coral colored!


Then the other day when i pointed out what i thought was another old car, DH tells me it's a Bugati, a European sportscar. we didn't want to get a closer look to see if it's real or a replica! lol either way, we knew it was a very expensive car! They were turning into the municipal airport, probably to their private plane! hehe

By the desert museum and library, downtown, there is a small but LOVELY rose garden. here are some photos from it!






Before i go, i want to share this FUN giveaway over at Creating From the Heart!
Check it out!! if you scrap with REAL papers and embellishments, then you won't want to miss this one! :)
If you stop by next time, i will share some photos that got missed when sharing those FUN weekend bargains! hehe :) That's it for now, short and sweet! :) Thank you so very much for visiting and i hope you have a GREAT evening! HUGS!