Blessing #2!

Ahh, spaghetti!

Okay, this isn't a blessing that everyone might agree with, but to me, spaghetti is one of life's little blessings. It's my comfort food and I make and eat it a lot. Nothing fancy, just canned sauce from the grocery store and ground turkey. Luckily my family doesn't complain -- too much. If I only had one choice of foods to eat everyday for the rest of my life (my island food) it would certainly be spaghetti. Actually, just posting this is giving me an idea. Umm..... I'll talk to you later! (Psst, pass me the parmesan, will ya please?)

Midge

Angels All Around

Positive things are happening with Refunction Junktion right now. I'll be sharing more about that with you later. Just know that it's BIG. For now I'll just say that I think there are angels all around...
Clearly, that one was designed with the upcoming baseball/softball season in mind. Most people when they think spring is around the corner start thinking about gardens. I think about baseball. I have to remind myself that it's still February.

Speaking of February, yesterday (2-21) was my adopted birthday. No, not the day I adopted as my birthday, but the day my parents adopted me many years ago at 6 weeks old. I want to say that I was lucky to have such great parents. But it wasn't luck, it was just a part of a very deliberate plan God has for my life.....



These angels are made up of many various parts of whatever. There's a molding doodad from a headboard, parts of bed posts, spindles, brackets, table leg, and some crazy thing cut in half.
Take all those pieces of "junk" and look what they turned into. (Unfortunately, I think the short chubby one is the one that most resembles me -- ouch!)




I was amazed when I realized that hinges looked like wings, and then combined with other hardware that it made angels. They're the perfect size for Christmas ornaments.

I will continue to look for angel possibilities that surround me. It shouldn't be too hard, I just have to open my eyes to what isn't always obvious. Afterall, there really ARE angels all around!

I Am Crazily Blessed!

It's true! I have been blessed like crazy, way more than I deserve. Yet we have just one day a year to publicly express our thankfulness and I let that day come and go without posting a thing. That's okay, I said to self, I'll do a belated post listing things I'm thankful for. That didn't happen either. So from now until Thanksgiving, I will be randomly sharing crazy things I am thankful for. Crazy in the sense that they aren't the standard family, friends, home, health (though I am VERY thankful for those). I'm going to dig a little deeper, look a little closer, and be a little more deliberate about appreciating all of life's gifts -- big, small, strange, wonderful -- that God has given to me. I will post every few days to reach my goal of 100 crazy blessings by Thanksgiving. Blessing #1:



Not the mailbox, not the garbage (though it shows you have plenty if you have that much to discard), but I am thankful for GARBAGE PICKUP. It's probably what inspired me to do this in the first place. Every garbage day, I would find myself in the kitchen dancing around saying "WooHoo, It's Garbage Day". Not exactly sure why, but miss one week and it makes a little more sense. Try missing two weeks in a row and it's very obvious what is great about garbage pickup. Oh, how I love the sound of that big truck every Monday morning.

Love Fridays at the Goodwill Warehouse!

I love going to our local Goodwill warehouse Friday only sales. This week was a good week for me and I thought I'd share what I found and my reasons for buying (afterall, it is just junk). I won't share individual prices just yet, but I will give you the grand total at the end of the post.




Probably my favorite finds -- a vintage suitcase and a globe. Do I have to say more? I can't get THOSE every week so I scooped them right up.

Three sets of skis and a set of ski poles. Well, I always pick those up when I see them at the GWw. They're good for a few projects I do such as bookcase, easels, and picture frames. I almost have enough now to make a headboard, too. The skates? In a winter wonderland where I live, who doesn't want them for decorating?

Not quite sure yet what these will be used for, but I like them. The black one says "Mackinac Island, MI" and I think it's pretty sweet!

Two wool sweaters (1 Ambercrombie & Finch) -- for pillows, seat covers, Christmas stockings.

One tweed sportcoat and one wool blanket -- also good for pillows and upholstering. One leather coat -- probably will be cut up into strips for a shag project. And one adorable pink pair of little girls cowboy boots -- too cute to pass up but not sure yet what they'll be.

The roaster (two for the price of one) will probably be used for a planter or other kind of display or even part of a fountain. The wine glasses are perfect for making tiered dessert stands. The creamer will probably end up as a bird feeder. And the plate will be smashed for mosaic projects.

OK. "How desperate for junk is she?" you might be thinking. But laundry baskets actually play a big part in my workshop. Upstairs in my storage loft I use them like crazy for trying to organize all my junk. More junk = more need for laundry baskets. The golf clubs might end up as a coat "hook", legs for a table, or a few other things. The figurine lamp I'm not too sure about, but it was marked made in Japan and my parents had some similar stuff so I grabbed it.

Same story with the Singer machine, it was just too good of a deal to pass up. The crockpot, okay, that's a bit of a silly purchase. I'm on a bit of a chocolate-making kick, so I thought it might be useful for serving as a double boiler for keeping chocolates warm.

The table tops will be great as -- tabletops, but of course painted, mosaiced, or decoupaged.

The legs will probably be poles for birdfeeders. And the lazy susan, well, I guess I just like things that spin!

I just love vintage phones. The metal index box is still up in the air, but I've seen a few cute projects with them. The heat lamp looked kind of interesting. I really like the "shade" so I'm hoping to come up with something good for that.

It's too bad it didn't show up in the photo, but the label reads Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits.
How cool is that?! I think that one has a great future as a top for a funky side table.

Okay, now are you ready for the grand total?..... For everything you've seen here (no more and no less) the bill came to a whopping $20.25. Not too bad in my opinion. Luckily

I had a spare quarter on me, $20 is usually my limit. It's not like I need more stuff, but sometimes you have to buy while the buying's good.

Hope you had fun looking at my haul, I sure had fun getting it.

Midge

Thank a vet today!

Today is Veteran's Day. It's one of those holidays that never held a lot of meaning for me before. But this year it seems to be on my mind more. Maybe becasue this is the first Veteran's Day that my father -- a WWII vet -- isn't here. I feel a bit of an obligation to carry on the torch. So, consider this post my "salute" to all the veterans out there. Thank you for all you've done.

Apparently, turning trash into treasure isn't a new undertaking. My dad brought this picture frame and stand home from the service to give to my mother. I'm not sure if he made it, a buddy made it, or he bought it, but it's pretty cool. It's made from some sort of bullet casings.

Like many veterans of his generation, my dad did not talk much about his experiences during the war. It wasn't until later in life (like when my kids had to do those "interview a vet" assignments) that he began to share more. I remember him telling how every time the guys on his ship would hear "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" they would all start to cry. Imagine all those big, strong, brave sailors bawling at the thought of home, family, and snow.

He also said that to pass the time, the guys would make things by whatever and from whatever means they could. My dad fashioned this bracelet for my mom from some scrap of tin. I don't remember him being particularly handy, artsy, or fond of junk. But he was very capable, practical, and caring. It's hard to detect from the photo, but the center is etched like an anchor, one end has his name and the other hers, and little x's decorate the edges.

This pocket Bible was presented to my dad from his church when he left for the service. It has a metal cover with the inscription "May this keep you safe from harm". If the Bible was in your chest pocket, over your heart, it would help protect you from harm -- metal or otherwise. My hope is that we remember to continually pray for those serving to defend the freedoms we enjoy. We need to also pray for their loved ones waiting back home. And if you see a vet today or in days to come, please remember to thank them. Thanks, Dad.

Still having fun

Well, this week I finally finished the bench I had been planning to do for some time now. It's the first "big" thing I've finished since being in my new space. It feels good after moving those bed parts here and there from place to place while I relocated. There was just so much other stuff that also moved from place to place. It made the whole moving thing much more difficult and longer than I anticipated. But I hope it was all worth it and I believe it was worth it. My new place has a bathroom and I didn't realize before how much that was needed. So it had to be done if only for that. I'm excited to hold more classes -- I couldn't have done that before.

So I'm back in the saddle again and able to go crazy in my workshop.I've got more ideas than I can keep up with. Too bad I can't say the same thing about customers. The marketing end of all this is way more challenging than I would ever have imagined. But I really believe it will catch on (hopefully sooner than later) otherwise I wouldn't keep hanging in there. Besides, who doesn't love to have fun with junk?!

Here I Go!

Hope you enjoy the picture of me, because that's probably the only one you'll ever see. That being said, I feel it's my obligation to say as every blogger does "Well, here I go. I've never really blogged
before so bear with me. I hope I can come up with plenty to talk
about."
Enough cliches. And I know I'll have plenty to talk about if I simply chronicle my adventures of transforming my junk and trying to make that into a successful enterprise. I actually did
already have a blog, but apparently I didn't quite get what a blog really is and I didn't produce it correctly. After cruising through some blogs recently, I had an "aha" moment and finally grasped the concept. So I'm trying again. And since I'm updating my website and there's a link to my blog, I'd better have a blog. So without further ado, here's my blog and ....Here I Go!