Wordless Wednesday....20 Year Class Reunion

The 1992 Graduating Class of Watertown-Mayer High School

Things My Great Grandma Left me!

My great grandma (NaNa) had the best old house.  The upstairs was completely untouched, by that I mean that no one was allowed up there and remained the same since her two children grew up.  (My Grandpa and Great Aunt).  I always had a curiosity and would bug her until she would give in and let me explore the upstairs.  I can't remember how old I was when she first let me explore the upstairs but I can remember it like it was yesterday.  She took me up the steps which were cluttered in all sorts of stuff and we made our way to the landing.  

She showed me a built in cabinet that had rocks, trinkets, vintage items, jewelry and things she had collected over the years.  My Great Grandpa (Bompsi) made this for her so she could showcase the things that were special to her that she had collected over the years.  There were two other rooms up stairs but they were not explored that day, she said that we had to save that for another day.  I guess she wanted to make each exploration special.  

My Grandpa's room was cool.  The door was hand made and was cut at a 45 angle on the top of both sides and when you walked into the room the entire room was at 45 degree angels.  My Great Aunt's room was pink and white and had cool shelfs where I spent hours looking thru book and camera's and treasures.  

I would take something down from the shelf and bring it to her white iron bed and examine it for hours.  Oh how I wish I would have been older when she passed away-I was 8 and she was 99 and lived a complete life I think in my older years I would have learned many more things from her.  

She left me a few things to remember her by.  One is a hand beaded purse with a doll in it.  The story that goes with it was that a little girl was kidnapped by some Indian's for a few weeks and when she was returned to her family she had this hand beaded purse where she had kept her doll.  She told me I looked like the little girl and that the purse and doll were meant to be for me.

The next couple of items were broken up.  She had this awesome red old little kids wicker chair with some dolls sitting in it. The chair went to my grandma with the biggest doll in it.  I got two dolls from the chair.  Both are hand made and were given to me one at a time from her on differnt visits to her house.  There was also a bear in the chair and it was my great grandpa's.  I think my cousin Charlie got the bear, if not I hope so because Charlie was named after him.


After she passed away and I would say quite a few years later my grandpa gave me a small leather bound photo album.  I saw a similar item last week on American Pickers that they scored for $125 and sold for over $250.  To me it's priceless.  It contains family members and friends.  The small bear in the picture also came from Nana.  I can't remember if he always had only one arm or it fell off and I lost it.  

The final item came when I graduated HighSchool.  My Great Aunt Jane was to give it to me as a graduation present from her.  To the left you will see a picture of the card.  With a picture of Grandma Jane Jackson wearing the necklace.  As you can see I am the 5th generation to own the necklace.  Its beautiful.   

Inside the necklace is a picture of my Great Grandpa Bompsi.  


There are many things I treasure in this world and the ones I shared with you here are among the ones that I hold near and dear to my heart.  

My Latest "BIG IDEA"...Junken, my life away!

I guess I have always been a Junker.  Been collecting treasures since I can remember.  In the summer time when I was growing up I would spend my Wednesday-Fridays with my grandparents and every Thursday my grandma would take me garage sailing where we would find many treasures.  Mostly costing between 25 cents and $1.  


Old things such as building, house, barns, old cars and trinkets always catch my eye. When I see something I like it sets my imagination into high gear and my wheels start to spin.  

Old house's make me think about past life's and what it was like to to live there when the house was new and then I imagine what the family was like and how the house was decorated and that usually sparks some new project for my house.  

Items such as barn boards, doors, milk cans ignite my crafty flair and I start to think what can I make this into?  

As I got older I started to collect more things and figure out new purpose for them.  Some of my favorite things are repurposed.  Vintage stuff is the best.  I guess you could say my style is "Country Shabby Chic Retro Vintage with a Junk Gypsy Flair!"  

This last couple of weeks have really inspired the "Junk Gypsy" in me and have given me a new outlook on things.  I'm hoping that the connections that I made will help lead me down a path that will make me happy and allow me to enjoy my life and career and take me to places I have yet to explore.  

I tend to go from one thing to another, one craft to another; never really settling on one specific thing.  Probably what makes me who I am.  I have an entire room overflowed into my husbands garage and a shed he built for me containing many found items full of ideas that are waiting for me when I find the inspiration. 

If you want to see the things I have crafted or would like to purchases my latest   repurposed item that I'm able to let go you can find it on my new website complete with shopping cart at HomeSpun & HandCrafted I have also added a calendar where you will find local occasional sales and Junk O Rama events that I may or may not attend.  

Wordless Wednesday...On a Steel Horse I Ride!

Overload...craft projects.

Yes, I have been M.I.A for awhile.  I've been busy crafting and getting ready for a craft show I will be in this weekend.  

Below are a few of the things I have been crafting and not allowing me to blog.  

If you are in the area on Saturday then stop on by the Winsted 125th anniversary  'summer blast' and take a look at all the awesome goods everyone has to offer.  

Top 5 Google Easter Eggs

Have you ever head of an Easter Egg?  Some of you maybe thinking yep, every April the Easter Bunny Brings them.  Well thats not the kind of Easter Egg that I'm taken about here.  Did you know that "Geeks" like me (ie software developers...which I a not but am a huge fan of and have many friends that are) develop these "Easter Eggs" in software all the time.  Mainly because they can and mostly because if you are lucky enough to find one you will get a fun surprise.  

I first heard about Easter Eggs back in the late 90's when I was doing Tech Support for a software company.  While I was documenting problems with a new software title.  I can't remember exactly what happened but I do remember thinking "What the heck was that" and went and got another tech who explained "Easter Eggs" to me.  So then we create quite a rucks because we were goggling how to access other easter eggs and the entire staff had gathered around my cube.  I do remember finding out how to find the hidden car game in excel.  It became quite popular.  

Here are the instructions on how to do find the car game in Excel.  You do have to have Excel 2000 in order to access it though. 

Excel 2000

A car-driving game can be found in MS Excel 2000 by following these steps:

1. Open Excel 2000.
2. Go to File, Save as Web Page.
3. Then click Publish.
4. Check the checkbox that says "Add Interactivity With".
5. Click Publish.
6. Close Excel.
7. Open IE.
8. Click File, Open, Browse.
9. Go to where you saved it and click open.
10. Now you should be looking at a spreadsheet.
11. Go to all the way to row 2000.
12. Click column A and drag all the way to column ZZ.
13. Hit Tab and it should take you back to A.
14. Hold Tab all the way to column WC. (Press shift Tab in case you move back).
15. When you get there make sure WC is a white box and all the others are blue or green..
16. Hold Ctrl+alt+shift and left click on the "four puzzle pieces" logo (The MS Excel Logo) on the upper left hand corner

If you want to have a little fun try these 7 Easter Egss found in Google.  

open up Google Search, and copy / paste the 'search words' below. Most of these work better in Firefox or Chrome. They DO NOT: Internet Explorer.

1. Google Gravity (I'm feeling lucky) | Google Gravity (click 'I'm Feeling Luck Button').
2. Do a Barrel Roll | Do a Barrel Roll
3. Zerg Rush | Zerg Rush
4. Tilt (also works for Askew) | Tilt
5. What is the Loneliest Number | What is the loneliest number?

You can find more easter eggs by Googling "Google Easter Eggs" or Wikipedia has a great page that has more eggs.  

Now go and have some fun!!!!

Wordless Wednesday.... Leinenkugel Brewery

The Hubs and I at Leinenkugel Brewery