Mid Week Thrifting

So on Wednesday I decided to go to Montana Rescue Mission (MR.M) to see what I could thrift... and when I usually go there I look for new planters and mason jars because I am OBSESSED with planting and gardening... not sure if that is even a strong enough word!  As I was meandering through the crowed isles I have have my arms full with a jar and a few gardening books when I see a fish tank...!! SO EXCITED.... I immediately relieve my arms of its clutter and start examining the tank and all of its parts!...

You must know that growing up my parents had a large saltwater fish tank.... it was so beautiful and i guess somewhere deep inside me had really missed having a fish tank! When we moved to Billings we didn't take the tank with us.. way to much work to try and transport fish and all... but we did have a smaller tank for the rest of my growing up.

Funny story... when I was in the third grade my school had a "SCHOOL CARNIVAL" and each room was a different booth and the hallways were decorated and there was a cake walk ... and this particular year there was a FISHING BOOTH... it was set up in the main hallway between the upper grade classrooms and the gym by the bathrooms... I don't know why I can remember all that but I do... so don't judge.. And this booth was a kiddie pool filled with goldfish (you know the feeder kind.. not the real nice looking ones) And you would pay like 4 tickets to play an activity and then the prize would be a gold fish.  Well my mom was so  against us getting fish that we couldn't play that one... but as the evening progressed my Grammie had come with us and we all know how good Grammies are at spoiling their grandchildren.... and I was pretty good at asking hehe...  She took my sister and I around the booths and when we passed by the Fishing booth we got to play... but because it was close to the end of the carnival we were each given 3 goldfish as our prize! haha YAY For awesome Grandparents.

We took them home and then put our smaller tank together and named our fish... and they went on to live a long life... my mom had thought that they would be dead in a week but she was wrong..dead wrong.  They lived at least until I was a freshman in high school!  However, all of my friends' fishes were dead within a few days. I secretly wonder if the only reason they survived was because my mom was so against us having them in the first place....? But it was probably due to the fact that our goldfish lived in a heated 20gal tank with a filter and air.... but I am going to believe that God had a little lesson in there too :D

OK Sorry... big bunny trail..AND now back to MR.M.

So I decided to buy this $6.99 2.5 gallon tank and take it home. I thoroughly scrubbed it and cleaned it up good... but I was so excited to find that the air pump and tank filter worked beautifully... So I dove my little self down to PETS MART and bought a male beta and a moss ball. I spent a good amount of time wondering the fish section trying to decide on the perfect fish for our tank... but all of the ones I really wanted were schooling fish and they need bigger tanks so I decided that one beta would get to have the best life in a whooping 2.5 gals all to himself..

YES... a MOSS BALL... he is a little green round puff of moss that rolls around to the warmest parts of the tank filtering out alege by eating.  I named our  Mr. Marvin... he is a party animal! (not really)
And our beta is BOB... David named him. He swims around and attacks his reflection so I think I am going to try and paint a cool background poster for his tank... So I spent a total of $20 and now we have a cute little low maintenance pet/room enhancer! and I LOVE IT. I just hope I can keep him alive..

on the shelf at MR. M

All Clean

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Books 3-8

Books 3, 4, 5 The Wives of King David Series by Jill Eileen Smith

I really enjoyed reading Michael... it made me take another look at King David's life from the stand point of his first wife Michael. She was Saul's daughter and I had never considered the struggle that she went through with her dad trying to kill her husband... WOW.  It was a fairly quick read and I was excited to jump right into the other books in the series. I would have to say that Bathsheba was my favorite one to read... maybe its because she is the most known wife of David... but I enjoyed them all. Sometimes I have a hard time with books about characters from the Bible because how can you really write a whole novel about a person the bible maybe writes one paragraph on... but even though the story is semi fabricated it really takes the stand point of what the Human nature is and how anyone would react in these situations... So even though I know that these stories are not FACT... they are a good guess at how these relationships played out...

              
Books 6,7,8  The CIRCLE TRILOGY by TED DEKKER

These are some of the best books ever written!!  Ted Dekker is a brilliant writer who has a unique way of bringing the spiritual battle of Good vs Evil into a Thrilling story of Thomas Hunter.. who gets shot and begins dreaming of a second reality. Whenever he falls asleep in one world he wakes up in the other. I  Highly RECOMMEND these.... Stop everything and READ THEM NOW!.... I mean it. The series continues with green and I will be starting that one soon....