Peoria - Wine , Woman and JUNK

A couple weekends ago , I took a little girls trip with a few of my besties .

Our friend Kristin  had moved to Peoria and we hadn't been to to see her new home .

Plus we were going celebrate Rhonda and Kristin's birthday's .

She had had a hard time with her builder  and we were anxious to see how it came out.

Kristin KNOWS what she wants ( this is her 3rd build ) and no builder was going to tell her that was not how they did it in Peoria . Really , who was paying this bill ! Needless to say they won't be best friends ...  EVER

Her home was beautiful , as we expected .

 She has excellent taste .

Custom painted cabinets , hickory floors , granite counter tops .

What I love most is the mix of trendy , personal , vintage and art .

She loves antiques , pastels ,comfort.

 So did we .

 She ( and her husband ) spoiled us all weekend !

 Kristin wanted to give us the Peoria tour.

First she took us to this great old Sunbeam bread factory that had been turned into a center for antique shops and artists.

It had a glass blower , jewelry makers , fiber artists and more.

L*O*V*E*D  IT ! 

I love it when a city has the fore thought to save and repurpose old buildings like this . 

Can you tell I was more interested in the antique shops than the art ....

We had lunch at a fun, quirky place down the street .

Then more shopping .

She took us to an antique store that she really liked , but all of his antiques ( or most of them anyway ) were stacked in an over flow building ...

Why ?

Because he had the whole store filled ( and I mean FILLED ) with Christmas trees !

He had taken many down ( it was, after all , mid January ) . But there we SO MANY LEFT . Even the ceilings were covered with garland and lights . Julie and Rhonda had to leave , they said all the lights made them sick ....

Of course , I had to snap a picture of his wine bottle tree ! 

I had never seen one that held more bottles than mine before ! 

IT*WAS*AWESOME !

Kristin had made dinner reservations for us at a local winery .

 All I really wanted to do, was take a nap !

We got all fancied up and out we went .

I would love to see this place in the summertime !

The wine was good , the food was OK , and the music was AWESOME !

Even though we were celebrating Rhonda and Kristin , for some reason ( I am blessed ) I got a gift too ! Lucky me !

Kristin's husband travels frequently to Japan for work . She rarely goes with him,  but last summer she decided to go with him . 

Personally, I think she needed to get away from her contractor ... STAT !

Anyway.....

Lucky us ! 

We were given these adorable Kokeshi dolls . 

I just love her . She makes me smile whenever I look at her .

I have long admired Kristin's collection of Kokeshi. Even though I had never heard of them until I saw hers :) 

Sweet . Yes ? 

Kokeshi are Japanese dolls hand crafted from wood. They don't have arms or legs and they are beautifully hand painted .

Kokeshi have been made since the early 19th century to sell to tourists visiting the hot springs in the northern region of  Japan .

There is another story ( unsubstantiated ) that the Kokeshi were given to a wife by her husband when a female child died .

We all decided to go with the story that they are chotskies made for tourists .

We had a fabulous and much needed girl's weekend away . 

I don't know what I would do without these chicas in my life .

P.S. Kristin made that beautiful quilt behind us !

Yes...

I am blessed .

We are Blessed

Hey Y'All

Last week was a tough one .

My Country Boy's Dad passed away .

2 weeks before his 90th Birthday.

We knew he was declining . His memory wasn't what it used to be . But we were still shocked . It's been pretty hard on my Country Boy.

When life gives you blows , you also realize your blessings . We both agree our two biggest blessings are our family and our friends . It's tough times like these when you find out just how much .

The grandchildren ( our nieces and nephews and children ) all came home ( we were missing one ) and it was really a special time for them . Watching them all interact as adults is amazing to me . Wasn't it just last week Dan and cousin Ryan were playing lawn darts ( REAL lawn darts ) at Grandma and Grandpas ? Or yesterday that Raychel , Dan, and cousin Scott  formed a band and were putting on a show for us . Or my crazy Brown girls were pulling in the yard with their Mom , cat in tow , for the weekend ?

The stories , some we had never heard before , (like the lawn darts ) and the memories had us laughing through the tears .

My niece Tisha ( our jazz singer ) , sang a beautiful song for her grandfather's service called "The Field Behind the Plow " . Music has always been a huge part of Garbes life . It was fitting tribute to a man that spent his whole life farming. This is my favorite verse .

For the good times come and go, but at least there's rain
So this won't be barren ground when September rolls around
So watch the field behind the plow turn to straight dark rows
Put another season's promise in the ground
Watch the field behind the plow turn to straight dark rows
Put another season's promise in the ground

As special as the song was , so was the poem her sister Lara read .

Pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the room . 

Close the Gate

For this one farmer the worries are over, lie down and rest your head,
Your time has been and struggles enough, put the tractor in the shed.

Years were not easy, many downright hard, but your faith in God transcended,
Put away your tools and sleep in peace. The fences have all been mended.

You raised a fine family, worked the land well and always followed the Son,
Hang up your shovel inside of the barn; your work here on earth is done.

A faith few possess led your journey through life, often a jagged and stony way,
The sun is setting, the cattle are all bedded, and here now is the end of your day.

Your love of God’s soil has passed on to your kin; the stories flow like fine wine,
Wash off your work boots in the puddle left by blessed rain one final time.

You always believed that the good Lord would provide and He always had somehow,
Take off your gloves and put them down, no more sweat and worry for you now.

Your labor is done, your home now is heaven; no more must you wait,
Your legacy lives on, your love of the land, and we will close the gate.

Nancy Kraayenhof

We are blessed ....

With Friends 

With family 

With tears

With laughter

With memories

With tomorrow

Winter Decorating

Hey Y'all

Well...

Here we are in January .

My least favorite month of the year .

The excitement of Christmas gatherings is over .

Show / Market season hasn't begun .

We decided to even keep the store closed for January and February except by appointment . It's too cold and sometimes snowy to expect junkers to come to the frozen tundra where the Trailerhood is.

The trees are down and the wreaths packed away for another year.

I don't know about you , 

but the house always seems a little sad to me .

After being dressed in her vintage finery for a month ( or more ) , 

she looks a little naked and boring .

Less cluttered , yes.

But it makes me sad ...

But you can't leave a tree up all winter .

Well... some people do ...

And some people  ( friend Kathy ) , take them down the day after .

I am neither of those people.

However , this year I just wasn't ready to let go ...

This is what I did :)

Remember my ladder tree ?

With my little "putz" houses ?

HISTORY LESSON TIME :

What is a PUTZ house ? Weird name huh ?

Here you go :)

A Christmas village (or putz) is a decorative, miniature-scale village often set up during the Christmas season. These villages are rooted in the elaborate Christmas traditions of the Moravian church, a Protestant denomination. Mass-produced cardboard Christmas villages became popular in the United States during the early and mid-20th century, while porcelain versions became popular in the later part of the century.

( Thank you Wikipedia , my explanation would have been longer  )

close-ups :)

Mine are all repros , but I love them .

I almost bought some vintage ones when we were up north . 

Still kicking myself that I didn't !

I though I would leave the ladder up . Take the garland down . Add some grapevine garland and smaller lights and it would be the perfect to leave up for winter  ( or till I'm tired of it , if that is possible ) . 

However , when I start changing , I don't know when to stop...

I start moving furniture around and the next thing I knew , there was no room for the ladder

Did that stop me ???

( Well , long enough for a cup of tea and some FB cruising  )

I also had a gorgeous table that no longer fit in its old spot .

Thought it might have to go to the guest room but I came up with a better idea.

Out to the shoppe I went .

I knew I had a small step ladder out there that would be perfect on the table.

( Notice Country Boy's elk shed that also makes an appearance in my displays )

I always make a huge mess before it becomes beautiful...

The biggest mess came from the grapevine .

Now , you can go to your favorite floral or home decor store and find grapevine garland that is ready to go , easy to use , and much less messy .

But much more expensive ($25-$30 )

Is that how we do it in the Trailerhood ??/

Nope ...

* CHEAP TRICK *

You can go to your favorite craft supply store or discount store and buy a large grapevine wreath for under $10 ( half price with a coupon or app ) and just cut the heavy piece of vine ( this is the one holding it together ) and start to unwind .

It wont be straight , but I like to work with the curves anyway.

Did I mention it was messy ?

I strung some of those little bitty lights that are on brown wire around the grapevine , I did wire some of the grapevine and lights to keep them where I wanted them .

Added my Putz houses , bottle brush tress and vintage plastic deer .

I had enough grapevine that I continued it to the top of the china cabinet.

This is what it looked like at Christmas -

Normally I have some of my favorite McCoy vases and planters up there .

And I wanted to put them back .

Some pheasant feathers , more bottle brush trees and Putz houses ... 

Some "icicley like", sticks and garland 

And I think the the 'Hood is set for winter :)

So what do you think ?

Decorate for winter or wait for spring ?

Valentines Day ?

( not me ...too many years as a florist for that )

Easter?

I think I'll just enjoy my little houses for a bit longer :)

Cheers to a New Year

I told my kids 2015 is going to be the best year ever !

And I think it will be .

Even though the weather has been terribly cold and snowy .

We  have been busy setting up our calendar .

Some pretty exciting things are going to happen in 2015.

First ...

in April ,

Baby Girl gets married !!!

Can't tell you how happy that makes us .

We've been planning for a year ,

and it's almost here !

We also have shows booked for every month , starting in April .

We start with Junk Jubilee in Des Moines April 24-26

May is going to be kinds crazy .

2 big shows in ONE month !

May 2 &3 you can find us at Maynes Grove for our FOURTH  Geneva Market !

Memorial Weekend you will find us hanging out with our best Junkin Friends , selling junk in Webster City at the 2nd Annual JunqueFest .

Word has it , it's going to be bigger and better than last year .

And let me tell you , last year was AWESOME ! 

We will be traveling a little further south in June for Junkin in June .

We will be just north of Ames on Hwy. 69,

With our dear friends Paul and Jane of the Funky Roost .

They open their home and yard to a few other vendors

 and we are lucky and blessed enough to be one of them .

Paul and Jane had a run of bad luck in late 2014 ,

but they are back better than ever in 2015 !

They will soon have the grand opening of their expanded shoppe !

July ... July ... July 

No shows booked yet .

Could just be a" have fun and play month ",

but I kind of doubt it ...

We shall see .

  

Then AUGUST !

Can you tell I am excited for August ???

On August 7th 2015 ,

I will turn *50* !

And if you know me at all , 

you know there will a party !

And what better way for a junker to celebrate than with her junkin friends at show !

And that's just what we are going to do !

On August 7 & 8th , we are having a Vintage Junk Market in the Trailerhood !

We have invited our very best friends ( and some of the best junkers out there ),

to join us for a great time !

Who knows , there may even be cake !

Well.... that

that's almost guaranteed .

I will be sharing the line up with you in a few weeks 

and trust me ....

 this will be fantastic !

I will fill you in on the rest of our shows at a later date .

I may have already overwhelmed you !

Until next time friends ....

P.S. Friends please click on the highlighted links for more information .