Note: In celebrating the accomplishment of amassing 3,000 followers over at Funky Junk Interiors, I’ve created this in-depth “about me” post and am linking up to Donna’s 3000 Followers Event! Be sure to visit there to meet lots of wonderful people and to be completely home-inspired!

All About Me!

I’m a homebody with a wild ‘n crazy side! Because I’m a middle child who had an ultra-rebellious older sister, I learned a few things from that environment: learn to love and appreciate “home,” know when to stop pushing other people’s buttons, and don’t be afraid to do something unexpected. I’m a wife and mom who loves quiet pursuits like decorating, gardening and genealogy, and also an individual who likes not-so-quiet pursuits like karaoke and motorcycles.

I live with my small family (hubby and one daughter) in Des Moines, Iowa in a 1950′s ranch home I like to call Courtland Ranch. We bought this home in 2008 after living for 17 years in a very small bungalow style home that was destroyed (along with most of our belongings) by flooding, once in 1993 and then again in 2008. (Surviving two floods has given me a very lovey-hatey relationship with “stuff.” I love stuff and collecting, but I HATE clutter. And I HATE stuff that’s covered in river muck!)

What I love about my (post-flood) home: I love the fact that it has plenty of storage (closets, cabinets, etc.) and is situated high enough that it will never flood. (I like to tell people, “If it floods where we’re at now, the whole city’s going to be in trouble because it’ll be Biblical.”) I love that we have plenty of space in the home and that I no longer feel like I’m the largest object in the room. I love the YARD (the upkeep is a little overwhelming sometimes).

My favorite room is actually any space that I’ve just spent time improving. (Whenever I finish purging/organizing, or redecorating a space, I LOVE to spend time in that space! This is only a problem when it’s my daughter’s room and she wants me to leave.) Overall, I really love my office/dressing room because it’s the one room in the house where I’ve indulged my romantic/shabby/vintage notions of decorating. That said, I also really like the living room – it’s comfortable, not too cluttered, and I’ve used a nice mix of post-flood new furniture and old favorites from Grandma’s.

My favorite thing to do DIY: I was going to say painting because it’s so transformative for very little investment, but then I realized that my REAL favorite thing to do is “putter” – organize things, arrange things, admire things, generally fuss with the details. I do enjoy painting and crafting; I dislike building things only because I’m inept with tools and because they NEVER come out the way I envision them.

I wish I knew how to upholster furniture so I could buy a well-made but timeworn comfy chair and turn it into a fab reading chair. I remember that I once bought a comfy chair from Goodwill and my Grandmother Verdie was going to re-upholster it for me. She even let me pick out the fabric. She even did all the work of re-covering it. At the time it was finished, I loved it but I didn’t have room for it in the apartment where I lived, so she kept it for me temporarily. Then, over time, she seemed to enjoy it so much that I felt guilty every time I thought about asking her if I could take it home with me. I used to enjoy visiting my chair at her house though.

Something you may not know about me is I am a die-hard Harley Davidson rider & “biker chick blogger.” I’ve been riding my own motorcycle since 2002, and have been blogging about my adventures since 2004 at www.bikerchicknews.com. We have ridden to the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota twice, and I have spent hundreds of enjoyable hours touring around Iowa with my “merry band” of riding friends.

I love blogging because it connects me with like-minded kindred spirits, and provides me with SO much inspiration and motivation! Also, I love computers and the tools that make them productive – so connective tools like blogs and social media always have my attention, as do fun/funky bits of software, amazing (free) online tools, and hardware like cameras and microphones. Finally, I love to write AND to talk – and since I write just like I talk (i.e., rambling, lots of parentheses), it’s a great outlet for my uncontrollable urge to communicate.

Now that you know me better, maybe some of my ramblings here will make a little more sense. Or maybe not – either way, thanks for visiting, reading, and commenting! And speaking of commenting, I’d LOVE to hear from you in the comment section – what’s your favorite room in YOUR home? And, what’s something a lot of people might not know about you?

More soon!

I spent some time at our area’s largest craft show this weekend; I hadn’t attended for a few years and it’s nice to know folks are still going strong with their crafting. It was interesting to me that I saw a lot of the “primitive” style of decorative painting, but absolutely nothing that I would put into the romantic/shabby style. I don’t know if that means there’s room at the show for this type of stuff, or if it’s a case of “been there, crafted that, didn’t make any money from it.”

What eventually caught my eye, though, were the items made by a lady from Bayard, Iowa who repurposes stray pieces of silver flatware. I purchased a dinner knife in the Queen Bess pattern that had been honed down to become a letter opener, but she also had used the decorative ends of some pieces to make key fobs, rings and other small treasures. (“Spoon rings,” of course, have been around for decades – but, I’d never seen these other ideas before.) I couldn’t get a very good picture, but here’s a bad picture of a really pretty letter opener:

On another note, I’m curious if anyone besides me buys garments at the thrift store just because they like the fabric and intend to use it in a craft project?

I recently bought a sweet little lavender skirt with a violet pattern…

and then this week purchased a blouse that’s way too small for me because of the red toile pattern of the fabric.

And, although it’s not a garment, I also bought a single curtain panel because of the soft, buttery yellow corduroy it was made of.

For some reason I’m envisioning pillows from each of these – it will be a matter of putting them each with the right coordinating fabric.

More soon!

I’m probably over-reacting just a tad, but I was practically beside myself to find this nifty vintage electric clock at one of my favorite (super-cheap) thrift stores. It is almost all plastic, and I’m thinking it is probably from the late 60′s or early 70′s because it resembles some of the stuff we had in our home when I was growing up during that period. I am thrilled to report that I paid all of 49 cents for it – and that it works!

I love the scrolly detail of the frame…

I especially love the fancy numerals and hands. Even the sweep-second had has a sweet little finial on the tip.

Besides a quick color change to shabby off-white, I also added my own embellishments: a simple bow made of filmy green wired ribbon, and a little rhinestone  brooch from Grandma Verdie’s costume jewelry collection.

I’m excited to link this li’l gal to Vintage Thingie Thursday over at ColoradoLady’s blog – be sure to visit there to see lots more goodies!

More soon!

As a follow-up to Sunday evening’s post about the wall-hook rack that I painted, I thought I would just share a few pictures of the sweet little christening dresses that now hang from the hooks. (I’m delighted to be linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday over at ColoradoLady’s blog – be sure to check it out!)

I will need to look for some photographic evidence to confirm, but I believe that this would have been my own christening gown. (My older sister was born premature and it would have been way too big for her.) I think that the little piece on the right may actually be a slip, worn under the piece on the left, because it is sleeveless.

A few photos showing some of the details…

I purchased these darling little hangers just for these dresses  – hand-made embellishments on baby-sized plastic hangers. Very sweet!

More soon!

It’s been an interesting week so far, and it’s only Wednesday! LOL For starters, a stressful situation that’s been dogging me for awhile was finally resolved in my favor, and I truly feel like a bit of a weight has been lifted.

Then, I attended a college-prep planning session Tuesday night with my daughter, who is a high school junior. Her school has a really good program that will walk her through every step of the process, from selecting schools to filling out financial aid forms. It is going to be an invaluable process, but it left me a bit weepy, thinking about how quickly the next two years are going to pass by.

And finally, it took me two years and three months but I finally got the last of the items removed from our rented storage unit. These included two antique cabinets with marble tops that were refinished by my grandfather, two rocking chairs that he also refinished (and for which his wife, my Grandma Verdie, re-crafted the caned seats), and a bit of memorabilia from the 1979 Des Moines visit of Pope John Paul II. It’s a relief to finally have everything out of there, and it will save us almost $100 a month! I should have done it long ago, but – well, you can imagine how time gets away from us!

Hope you are having a lovely week!

More soon,