She's able to leap piles of junk in a single bound!

It's HER day!!! You know, that very special day!!! That once a year kind of day...it's
Cassie's BIRTHDAY!!!!
WOOHOO!!!
CELEBRATE!!!

You just couldn't ask for a better junk sister than this. Cassie's not afraid to put on the gloves, and dig into her work. And that smilin' face tells me she's found some awesome junk! (is that a lamp shade?) Plus, she's the best darn trailer pullin' junk haulin' gal around!! And she always has the BEST junk!

Happy Birthday Junk Sister Cassie...hope it's grand!

Bathroom makeover...finally!

It's deer hunting season up here in the North, and my three guys left the house bright and early this a.m. As they exited, I jumped out of bed to get our 1/2 bath made-over before they came back home.

First, I need to explain our 1/2 bath is small. The key word here is small. So small it has a pocket door and once inside, you can hardly turn around. But, hey, it serves the purpose and is convenient since it's right inside the back door and next to the kitchen...it's the guest bath, for the most part.

BEFORE:Yep, that's right folks. A totally ugly light fixture with brass details, "sponge" painted walls in three shades of green and beige and yes, that's a birds nest wallpaper border. My excuse for the ugliness? Too busy working on projects for Junk Fest and totally ignoring my house...obviously!

I admit...I thought it was kinda cute...like...10 years ago.THE NEW REST ROOM:Laura Ashley "Canvas White" painted walls with grey and black accents. I used metallic spray paint to cover up the ugly brass. No, didn't buy a new light fixture.Love the new towels from Target and I got the black rugs there too. Yep, on sale.What to put in a small bathroom? A really LARGE old window, of course! It really looks neat and hard to capture in a photo, but you get the idea. It's BIG!My new mercury glass looking votives were only .99 cents each! Again, purchased at Target... Speaking of new looks, how do you like our new blog header?

It's time.

Time to share a bit of a recent junking adventure some of us JunkGirls were on.

There's something about those two pieces sitting next to each other, don't ya think?



Now...THAT'S what I'm talking about!!


Cassie, Andrea, and I (Lynette wasn't able to make this run, but she'll be there next time!!) decided it possibly just might be that perfect piece for my kitchen. WOOHOO!
I felt a little guilty, getting two of the larger items of our wares....but these two pieces come with a need for some serious elbow grease. I'll be posting the "after" pics as soon as it's in the kitchen!

Happy Birthday, junk sister Lynette!

Help us wish our junk sister, Lynette, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! When she's not delivering mail...or taking care of her family, odds are she can be found JUNKIN'!
That's the birthday girl on the right, and Missy on the left on one of our many junk excursions...that's right, she's usually got a smile on her face!
During this outing, Lynette was happy to find a purchase for her house... woohoo!
And, in the process, met up with our new junkin' friend, Gretchen, and found more fun stuff!CHEERS to you, our fellow junk sister! We hope you celebrated in style TODAY!
We love ya!

No tricks....just treats!

Happy Halloween! No tricks here....just wanted to share some pics of my fall/Halloween decor....AND a recipe for some yummy pumpkin cookies I found last night!
Below are some "faux" mini pumpkins I painted white and stained.

Here's a fun little trick-or-treater I found at the Paris Streetmarket in Colorado last fall.

White Chocolate Pumpkin

Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

2 cups white chocolate chunks or chips

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice & soda.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in pumpkin puree. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add in the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the white chocolate and pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoons (2 inches apart) on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-22 minutes until set.

Don't forget daylight savings time ends this weekend! Set your clocks back an hour!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A quick repurpose...and my lust for rust

Is there anyone out there who loves rust as much as me? I doubt it. When my junk sisters and I went to Minnesota a couple weekends ago, I found this white/rusty umbrella stand. I could picture it filled with tree branches cozy-ing up a corner in my house. Recently while rearranging my furniture though, I needed to fill a bare spot at one end of the couch. So, I dug out the reciprocating saw and cut off the top piece...(luv that dang saw)...

...cleaned, then sprayed a heavy coat of poly all over...added a piece of glass to the top and...ta-da!...a new side table!My youngest son asked what color I was going to paint it! Yikes. What is it with me and rust...and chippy white paint? If there's a "cure" for it, please give me a call!

Sentimental Junk

Meet my grandpa…known to all as Grandpa B. (Short for Bergstrom). He’s my dad’s dad. Many people say they have the best grandpa, but seriously, I really did! He was the kind of guy who made every grandchild feel like they were his favorite. He was a thoughtful, fun and hard working man and a caring husband and father. I loved it when he talked about his youth and farm life in Kansas. As a twenty-eight year old man he made his way from Kansas to North Dakota with a thrashing crew harvesting crops along the way. In a field by Ray, ND in August 1926 he eyed a tall, skinny nineteen year old girl working in the cook car making meals for the thrashers. It was love at first sight for both of them. Grandpa never returned to Kansas. He married the tall skinny girl in January, 1927.

Grandpa passed away the day after my 20th birthday at age eighty-four. A year later I talked my parents and Grandma B. into taking me to Kansas so I could see where Grandpa was born and raised. Relatives helped us find his childhood farm. The two story house was bigger than I had imagined. But, in retrospect, he had eleven brothers and sisters, so they obviously needed the space! Grandpa was #10 child and his twin sister #11. The farm, although abandoned, was very pretty with rolling hills and stone fences. I wasn’t into the junk scene all those years ago, but my mother was smart enough to take an old light fixture from the house. I’ve ALWAYS regretted not taking a keepsake from that house!

Fast forward to Junk Fest 2009. Two of my aunts from Ray decided to attend for the first time ever! As my aunt Connie looked at our merchandise, something jogged her memory. She remembered the old staircase banister post she had taken out of Grandpa B.'s childhood home about thirty years ago... Last weekend while in Ray celebrating my dad’s 80th birthday, aunt Connie pulled out the old post and gave it to me! She had never done anything with it after she and my uncle returned from their trip to Kansas and it had sat in a Quonset at their farm all these years. How lucky am I to have a wonderful part of my Grandpa’s childhood home?! I am just thrilled!

I can easily imagine all the Bergstrom relatives who grabbed that post for support when climbing the stairs all those years ago...especially, my wonderful Grandpa!