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Granville Junkaholics

Junkin' brings us happiness; Let us share this happiness with you

Is it worth it?

6/11/2019

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     "Hey do you guys want to come get that built in cupboard before we tear this house down?"   " Uh, Yeah!!"  No hesitation.  No, "Let me check with my fellow junkers..."   Just Yes!  When can we come?  I hate to take doors, windows, trim, walls, and built in cupboards before actual demolition.  It looks like we just vandalized it if the house stays standing.  But if the house is going anyway, we can tackle it!!  
We spotted this blue cupboard on a previous visit and loved everything about it.  The size (what can I get rid of in my kitchen to make room for this?), the color, the wainscot, the wood drawers, just everything.  Except that it was built into the wall.... Was it one piece or two?  Would it come out in one piece?  
​Well, we took on the job to find out!!  Even though we really didn't know where to start.

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What are we dealing with?  Is that the back of the cupboard?  Is it "set" in or nailed in?  It didn't budge so we tried to get the plaster and lathe away from the sides so we could evaluate.
Yes, you should be wearing safety goggles and protection.  Not a concealed weapon either...   We hammered, we sawed, Wanda kicked.  I laughed, she grunted.... oh, yeah, and I took photos...  that's important.  
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We were making progress but the thing still wouldn't budge.  Not. One. Inch.  (I've always wanted to type like that..)   I was on one side, Wanda on the other.  Mainly I just stood back and tried to keep away from flying debris.  We had to take the corner round and trim off the floor that was snugging it up.  
Now here's where we're talking about therapy peoples!  Grab a hammer, a crow bar, some power tools and go find a friend who's remodeling!!  (It helped here that we really didn't need to clean up though.)  
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​The cupboard was nailed to the 2X4's that encircled it but we weren't going to give up.  I should add a picture of the giant crow bar we had access to.  We had sore arms for days from lifted it up and pounding through the walls and prying off lumber...  Just saying.
Once we got it "loose"  we started to rock it and push it out front.  Nails pulled loose and we could see into the next room.  Celebration!!  Excitement that the sides were wainscoat!!  Excitement it came in one piece and we didn't have to reassemble!!
Pull out some nails, peal off the sheetrock attached to one side and "Presto!".   A new (old) cupboard!  Needs some TLC, some scrubbing, some painting, and it's ready to go! 
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What a beauty!  Was it worth it?  Most definitely!
Worth the therapy, the laughter, the hunt, the find, and the story of success!  

​Had to throw in a photo of the wallpaper!  Wished we could have salvaged some of that too!

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Just a couple of junkers and their new catch?, find?,  treasure?!  Definitely a treasure!
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Beet Bread

8/20/2018

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Harvest time. In the fields, in the garden, in the hive, on the tree. I so look forward to fresh edibles!! And yet so much work. What to do with it all? What can I make with it? Do I can or freeze? Do I make pie or jelly? And then there's beets. Pickle em, cook em, or bake em in to bread. Well here's my favorite way to eat beets.
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Don't tell grandma Angie- she pickled every beet she could find. And I loved eating a pickled beet on holidays.But when it comes to opening up a jar and eating them, after one or two, the rest of the jar gets thrown. So I bake em into bread. And it's a sweet bread. A pretty pink bread too. 

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Grandma Angie had a fruit room to envy. She had jars upon jars of just about everything. Canned meats, pickles, jellies, veggies of every color, wine, fruit sauce, and lard. I loved to go visit and have her send me down to the fruit room for a jar of my favorite sauce to put over ice cream. Juneberry sauce or cherry sauce were my favorites. Spit sauce was my least favorite. Hard to believe she would can chokecherries and make them into a sauce to put over ice cream. And then eat it and spit out all the pits. Once again, don't get me wrong, chokecherries have their place- in jellies and pancake syrup. In wine and liquors. But over ice cream? I vote no. Just goes to show how spoiled I am. Just look at all the butter slathered on that bread. Oh so good!!
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Beet Bread Recipe
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DIY Floral Crowns

6/24/2018

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Recently I did flowers for a friend's wedding and made floral crowns for her bridesmaids and flower girls.  They are so easy and can really be done any time with whatever wildflowers are blooming on any given day.  You can make them for a special occasion or just for fun.  Have a tea party and leave one on your guests plates. Make them for your grandchildren and play dress up.  Take one for a birthday gift.  So many options to try them...                                                                                                          
You will have to gather a few supplies to get started.  I use a light guage floral wire and the green florists tape.  Both can be found at local craft stores.  I gathered up a few wildflowers that were blooming and some greenery to fill in and I was ready to put it all together.    

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First I wrapped the floral tape around the wire.  You have to pull on the tape to get the tape to stick.  You also don't want it to be bulky so the the tighter you pull it the finer it will be.  I wired 2 10-12 inch wires and then wrapped them together to form a circle, or crown.  You can measure the heads and adjust for adult verses child size or you can wait till you are done and bend it to fit any size.

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Next I cut a bunch of the flowers and greens to have 1 inch stems.  You want them to be long enough to get wrapped in the tape but not too long.  Grab a piece of each and place them on the wire crown and wrap with the floral tape. Once again, the tighter you wrap the tape, the tighter the crown will stay. You also want to make sure the ends of the flower stems are wrapped in the tape.

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  This holds the moisture in the flowers and they will last longer.  Keep grabbing flowers and continue to wrap until the circle is complete.  Bend the crown to fit the head.  Bigger is better if you're not sure of size, you can make it smaller but you can't make it bigger. If you are making them ahead of time, spray them with water and put in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.                                                     

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Be ready to makes someone's day a little brighter-  throw those extra flowers in a vase or pint jar and give them away as well.                                                                                                                                                 


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**Helpful hints**
Pick your garden or wildflowers early in the morning and place in water so they are refreshed.
Practice taping the wire before you actually build the floral crown.
Add a ribbon to the back for length.
If you are making them for an event, make one ahead and see how they last in the fridge and how long they last as a crown so you know how much life they have.  Each flower is different.
Practice makes perfect, if your first one doesn't turn out the best, try it again.  And again...
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Sellers Remorse

6/6/2018

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                   Have you ever had that thought, "Wow, I shouldn't have sold that..."  or "Jee Whiz, I wish I had that back?" after selling something?  Or even just parting with it?  Or giving it away, throwing it away, or selling it?  Sometimes I just wish I hadn't have been so quick to get rid of some things.  This happened to me last week.  We raise cattle and sheep on our ranch and last week we sold our wool.  So every April we shear our sheep.  That leaves us with bags of wool.  We store them until the wool truck stops by.  Then we load them into the truck and off they go.  So, in our shop there is a apothacary cabinet that has been around for years.  Reed stores his nuts and bolts and odds and ends in it.  His grandfather picked it up somewhere.  And, Luke, the guy who came to pick up the wool notices it.  Reed sends him to the house to question me about it.  Ever had one of those "I'm sure she won't sell it- I'm sure he won't sell it"  conversations?  Kinda like the "Go ask your Dad- Go ask your Mom?"  conversations?  One of us was supposed to say, "No".  Well neither one of us did.  And I sold the apothacary cabinet.  They loaded it on the wool truck and off it went.  To Illinois.  Probably where it came from.  About 120 years ago.  And now it's trip back east is faster and less bumpy. 
Funny- the first thing I ask when someone wants to buy something is, "What are you planning on doing with this?"  Mainly the question is, "Will you take care of it and will it have a good home?"  Luke promised me it would have a good home and he would take care of it and preserve it.  That pretty much clinched the deal.  If we would have left it in Reed's shop it would have eventually been worn down and used up, hauled out to cold storage- also known as the dump. 
So I'm a little remorseful.  The junker in me is anyway.  Impulsive decisions aren't always the best.  But it's gone.  That's what I get for reading a book about how to downsize, to simplify.  The "less clutter" me is okay with cleaning it out- my Dad gave me his bolt bin from his shop and I was trying to figure out where to put that.  Now we have room.  And that's what I tell the rest of the junkers when I talk them into getting rid of something.  There's always more- we just have to find it.  

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Junkin' Adventure

6/14/2016

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Life is an adventure and there's hardly anything better than a junkin' adventure. (Okay, the visit from the new grandbaby later in the day did beat the junkin' adventure but all you grandmas will understand that....) A gorgeous day, a large empty red van, some water, diet coke, and assorted snacks, and we were off! Came home with a full red van and re-energized to face the rest of the week! Hope you all find an adventure to go on and rejuvenate your life! When you think your life sucks, just get together with friends and remember that they think their life sucks sometimes too. We just need to reboot, to find joy, to cry on someone's shoulder, to vent, and to laugh for no reason at all. There's more than one reason we like to get together.....

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Finished!!! Light fixtures....? Not anymore! 

6/7/2016

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Bare with me in these photos.... I'm cleaning, sorting, actually JuNking in my OWN house! (And that's no lie!😬.)
Anyway, I got these 1970's light fixtures from my friends parents, we have been friends since like we were 3 years old in Sunday School. I spent many, many sleep overs at their home from kindergarten through 12th grade. PS I look more like my friends Mom than she does so it was always kind of a joke that I was the brunette daughter she never had! Of course I'm the long winded story teller- back to my photos, and no I'm not drinking the yummy Bumble Bee Red North Dakota wine, (it's a gift for my Mom). Thinking where can I put these lights or what can I do with them as they have great memories of my childhood. It came to me, lets turn them into bowl stands! And no, I'm not the first person that has had this idea, thanks to magazines and Pinterest we have seen them some 1,001 times. I'm going to quick refurbish these and show you how very SIMPLE it is. Actually took less time to make than it takes to read my story about them! I kinda have that "Oh! Look a squirrel " mind! I get side tracked way to easy...😜 most of you know this by reading when it's my turn to post. Not only sidetracked when writing, but really bad when I'm, say, cleaning! The steps are explained below

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1st- Remove the globe and lightbulb if one is still intact.

2nd- Remove the socket. Hold the socket and unscrew the nut on bottom side. I was able to do this without using a pliers, if it's to tight you will need to use one on the nut.
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3rd- Once little screw is removed from inside the socket the bolt thing will slip off.
4th- Use the bolt thing and the nut you moved in step 2 to reattach the decorative piece to the base. Tighten.

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Next see the little screw inside the socket? Unscrew it. Please use a screwdriver, not a pairing knife like I did! Remember I was sorting and cleaning, not planning to re-purpose anything today so no tools on the table (well not the right kind anyway) just a knife!
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And boom, you have a bowl stand!
See the tea light in the bottom? This would look really cool for a wedding, but I recommend using the battery operated ones!

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What is a "JunkAholic"?

5/30/2016

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Hello-  My name is Kolette.  And I've got a problem.  It started out as a sort of therapy for raising a family.  I needed to get out.  To release some emotions.  To find my creative side.  To actually use some of my creative side.  I used to have one before children.  Before diapers.  Before ranching.  Before being a housewife and mother became my sole purpose.  And then I found an outlet.  An auction sale here or there.  A rummage sale.  A thrift store.  And then I found myself boulevarding.  And a few things gathered led to happiness.  A few more led to clutter.  A few more led to too much already to justify going again.  So my outlet was now a problem.  And I needed help. 

Fortunately, I found friends and family along the way who had the same problem as I had.  One day Wanda called me up and asked if I wanted to join a group of gals hosting a "tag" sale.  A chance to clean out a bit of my clutter.   I remember my husband helping me load our stock trailer and telling me he wouldn't give me a plug nickel for the whole load.  I also remember coming home at the end of the sale and throwing my wad of money on the table and shocking him.  People actually paid for all your junk? 

​My JUNK?  All my lovingly gathered, collected, used, & hoarded oddities.  My pictures, my furniture, my yard fixings.  Alright, I do remember throwing in the lid to an old washing machine and a bottomless teapot.  But it was a cute teapot!  And the lid could become a great sign!  Apparently my husband and I don't have the same vision.

This new outlet of getting rid of some of my stash, my hoard, my treasures, gave me empty spots to fill again.  I could once again justify going to an auction sale or "junkin'" as we call it now.  Our first tag sale blossomed into our 2 sales a year.  We can buy to use, to repurpose, or to sell to someone who loves junk as much as we do.  
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It is a problem.  When one can't seem to throw anything away because you might be able to use it for.....something!  And if you do throw it away you wish you had kept it later when a certain project you are working on needs just that piece!  The one you no longer have.  So you save everything.  Just in case.  And then you realize you do have a problem.  
Getting together with my junkin' gang is just the therapy I needed.  And so we meet.  We junk.  We laugh.  We cry.  We admit we have a problem.  Actually we have many.   We are having a great time doing it.  And it's the best therapy ever!  


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