I just love a bargain...

I found the equivalent of the 99p shop in Jubail!! Ooooh, its fab and I got loads of lovely tat for hardly any dosh...

I found these, aren't they brilliant? They are for carrying your mobile phone and have a little zip compartment for your money too. They cost silly money but anyone recognise the logo? Think French designer of the little black dress and perfume with a number 5 in the name....
Do I look like I care its a fake? LOL

This is a notebook I made for my hairdresser neighbour... it has a matching large peg for keeping her notes in order but I forgot to photograph and its now residing on her fridge...

Chris and I ventured off to Khobar yesterday to the big supermarket to fill our new chest freezer with decent meat and I had to stop and photograph this road name sign.... they obviously go for the concise, easily memorable name theory here....
And its Mother's Day here tomorrow - everyone seems to celebrate the US date and there is a lunch for the compound ladies and we each have to bring a gift valued at about £10. They then do this weird thing where someone picks a wrapped gift, opens it and decides whether they want to keep it... the next person can choose a new unwrapped gift or 'steal' the previous persons... yeah, its sounds confusing but I guess I will figure it out as we go along!! Anyways, I hadn't a clue what to get until I spotted this wooden trunk and then dollied it up a bit to make it look acceptable (I hope) so that's what I am going to wrap up and take with me!! I'll let you know what I end up with... The big tag has a poem by Marion Baker on it:

Precious Memories

I have a box of treasure
Belonging just to me
Containing priceless souvenirs
And full of history

I have a box of memories
I only have the key
To unlock the many secrets
And reveal the mystery

I have a box that’s precious
In so many different ways
Crammed full of recollections
Of countless lovely days

This box cannot be stolen
Nor damaged by mankind
My precious treasured memories
Are here within my mind

Al Khobar here we come!

So it was Friday and Friday is Chris' one day off a week, and I am not allowed to drive so the poor man had to spend his only day of rest taking me to Al Khobar to find the scrap shop!! Its about an hour and half to drive there but being Friday, nothing is open until 4 oclock in the afternoon and everywhere shuts for prayers..... first prayers was at 5 oclock. Now the scrappers reading this are agreeing with me... an hour to scrap shop? So, we speed scrap... I must learn how to speed stash shop!! Well, we drove there and arrived in one piece... the drivers here are appalling.... really appalling... they have no lane discipline and none have figured out what the little indicator lever on the steering wheel is for.... though this could be because they don't have a spare hand... its on the horn.... all the time!! LOL Sooooo, the shop... well, its not a scrap shop as we know and love them... it did have some 12 x 12 papers - Chris says it did... he saw them!! I did not... I found some lovely ribbons - extremely cheap at 80p for a 20 metre roll, I found lovely beads for threading onto my BIA wires, I found some lovely offcuts of lace and sequinny stuff which will become covers of books and some gorgeous suede type sticky back stuff which will also become covers for mini books and by then they said they were closing for prayers!! :(

Hmmm, not quite the sort of place I would want to live... or even walk about alone in!!
Yay... look - they have an internet cafe!!
You get no points for identifying this place... but it was closed... it is Friday!
And nil points for identifying this place either... which was open... but you had to cross 6 lanes of traffic to get to it and I think I mentioned the driving....

So here is my haul... lovely lace, ribbons, even a ribbon with arabic on it!!

and these hearts... aren't they gorgeous? I can just see them dangling off the spine of a mini book...

So that Al Khobar... Chris says he will take me back there again before Christmas.... geee, I can't wait!! I think we will try Dammam next time... I hear they have a Marks and Sparks and BHS!!