Take a Bow Tuesday

Here we go again!! As I was telling a friend today, I am not very good at committing to scheduled blog posts. It's just not in me. Still, I won't give up!

Better late than never...!

Will the following ladies, please Take A Bow:

• Margo, who is an expert in using junk in her home and uses it in such fun, unique ways! Check out this first in a series of posts where she takes us on a tour of her home and all of the great junk residing within.
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• Check out this gorgeous tutorial for embellishing a gourd for the fall. For those inclined to get on with the business of fall!!

• Hop on over and check out this great playroom make-over. Karla shopped from around her home and created a space that any child would be thrilled to play in!!

• I have been meaning to feature this crazy-talented (not crazy and talented :) blogger's scrumptious nursery she designed for her new son. I remember seeing Holly featured in Better Homes and Gardens several years back (probably more, who keeps count?) and so admired her style and thrifty ways. You have likely seen the nursery before, on her blog, but if not -be prepared to swoon!!

• You know I love a great light make-over! Well, over at the DIY Show-Off (where there is oodles of inspiration just calling your name!), Britt from A Penny Saved shares her tutorial for a gorgeous chandelier transformation like you haven't seen before. LOVE it!!!

Appealing to my Senses

Who doesn't love a long weekend?

I know I certainly do. For me, Labour Day weekend is a time to take a quick breather after the return to school and the return to order and routine. This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have my parents make the three and a half hour trek to come visit us. After only a quick visit with them at my brother's wedding, it was so nice to get some parental loving. Being a real mama's girl, having my mum all to myself for almost three days is scrumptious. Cups of tea take on new meaning when I am chattering away  to with my mum...catching up on my familys comings and goings. She always brings a loaf of hearty bread from her local bakery and this time she even brought the most delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie (which took all of my maturity to share). We always joke that she bakes and bakes before she comes - which, if you know her, is really not her style at all. Mum believes in finding a good bakery and staying true.

Every time my parents visit, Mum and I also make sure to fit in a trip to our local thrifting/antiquing spots and play a good game of Scrabble. My dad is more worthy an opponent, with my mum not getting the whole Scrabble strategy approach at all. I like to think words games are all I need to flex the muscles in my brain, and they kindly indulge me.

Our antiquing jaunt proved very fruitful and found me gleaning some fun "smalls" from this corner of my favourite shop:

I am on the quest for a fun token of appreciation to present to Ki when I see her, and I found a few things I can rework Junk Revolution style. Hopefully I can come up with something worthy of the Junk Queen herself!

Mum found an adorable vintage child's tea set and a few other treasures and we capped off the day with a family feast of Chinese food, a favourite treat to share with our guests.

To round out a perfect weekend, we marvelled at the change in the air: we could actually feel the teasing winds of fall. With the air fresher and cleaner, we packed light sweaters in the car and enjoyed warm sun mingled with the familiar nip that makes me begin to yearn for pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and the return of Sunday dinners. In fact, a ham dinner was placed in the oven after my parents headed home. I had forgotten how much fall appeals to all of the senses and reminds me of the worthy traditions that accompany it.

What about you? Are you feeling the fall fever?

Back to Basics...

Well, it's official: the kids are back to school as of yesterday, and I need to get my act together and make some sense of the disorder running rapmant in the corners, cupbooards, cabinets, and closets of my home!

I find myself dreading opening my fridge...knowing it has a summers worth of crud waiting for me to attack (along with some outdated food items!). I need to go through the kids' (and our) closets to weed out the really summery clothing that just doesn't look good after Labour Day. My garage is a complete and utter embarassment: how it got that way is beyond me. At this point, I open the door from the mudroom, close my eyes, toss the recycables in the general direction of the bins and say a quick prayer!

 It overwhelms me like you cannot even imagine.

Then I go over here and visit our favourite GIRL. I love this blogger - she makes me laugh out loud at her posts and dry wit; but lately I just feel bad about myself when I visit, and it's entirely my own fault!! Chris is the quintessential "should have been a professional organizer". Instead, she is an ultra organized cute school teacher (same diff!) who leaves me swinging between sheer and utter envy/ admiration and the urge to pinch myself really hard for letting my home fall into such disorder over the summer. Still, because I love her, I choose to be inspired and try to learn from her orderly ways.

She's a teacher after all...!

Check out these examples of what my house should look like, and will, if I have anything to say about it!

I feel some Madonna music coming on and a large pot of coffee!!!

all images, Just a Girl

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Head on over to Julia's Hooked on Party. While I'm hooked on organization this week, she shares a really "sweet passion" herself, along with some other great links from fellow readers!