Most of it was - FREE
(See when you earn points by buying EVERYTHING on your Visa, eventually you get some FREE $$$ ... in this case, $225 worth ... the card is completely paid off every month ... it goes without saying ... 
)First off, thanks to Jeff for the "Tip" on the Hobby Lobby $4.99/can matte sealant ... I got 5, then started adding earth/grass builder stuff during their sale ... then came the REAL deal of the century ... a MASSIVE sale on all sorts of trees from several AliExpress sellers ... palms of various kinds, cycads, evergreens, deciduous trees ... many of them quite ... LARGE ... finally two packs of 7 each large PVC rocks and logs ...my retirement-diorama building supplies are now pre-positioned and waiting for "retirement activation" later this year ...
... I plan to create dioramas for many of my smaller dino-models ... and for some BIG ones! This afternoon, as I worked on house projects non-stop, I threw out three drawers of home tool-related junk and dedicated them to the new diorama haul ... the really BIG trees got the "hanging treatment" on the side of one shelf ... heh-heh ... pretty ingenious, if I say so myself ... have a look!
