Release the hounds....

....tooth.

See, I am unhappy with the general Gramma vibe going on in the front livingroom where my menthings have claimed said area for all things gaming and PC. I want this room to be fun with a big 'F'.

So I see some funk coming to a loveseat or sofa near me soon...

The green machine in the foreground needs a sweater.

I am thinking something along these lines.....on sale at Sears for $150. Cheaper than new furniture and washable. Have I mentioned I have sons? That they have lots of friends? That boys are sticky in general?

What say the Divas of Design on this one?

The end of summer.......

Enjoy the photo of Quinn at Fire camp.

This is always a hard time of year for me. I am not in the "oooooh, let's decorate our fall mantle" camp. I am in the "why can't we have one more month between July and August" camp. I spent the weekend camping with my boys at a local quarry. Spring-fed waters at about 80 degrees, beach bumming, jumping off the cliffsides, campfires and smores, dancing in the evening hours, snuggling in the tent....I want more of that.

First day of school today. It comes so fast. One going into Grade 6 who reminded me that he had to have this kind of that and the right whatsits. The other one going into his Junior year at highschool, whom I had to remind to shave this a.m.

Whoosh.......that's the sound of summer. At least I have some beautiful memories and pictures to last me through till next year :)

I call it Dharmaritaville!

Man have we been spending our summer in the great outdoors that is our backyard. We’ve been making improvements in and around the new swimdeck and enjoying the space so much I think my friends and family are ready to call out a search party. I refer to my backyard as Dharmaritaville. I am the “Woman to Blame”
….name that reference.
When we put in the new swimdeck, we had a strip of grass leading from the interlocking brick to grass to steps. Boys + friends + kids parties all summer meant a lot of grass in the pool. So, on my trip up north to the cottage, Greg and I *rescued* (ahem, liberated) some flat black Muskoka granite from the lake and brought it home to put down a path.

Butcher knife, a hot day of Greg sweating it out and I now have this lovely little dealio. Ahhhh….much less grass and dirt in the pool. I was in charge of beverages.

After a few weeks of growth, it’s lovely.

But that’s not NEAR as exciting as my first ever estate auction that Greg and I attended here on Saturday morning. I felt like a fish out of water, getting my own paddle, but I persevered. The sale was at an old converted school house turned into an antiques barn. Oh……you would have loved it. I poked over the offerings and even spied a few things I thought were for me. The one and only thing I truly wanted I spied immediately upon walking up to the sale. A 1920s white wicker sofa. Be still my heart. I have seen others like it in much worse condition for hundreds of dollars. On my limited budget, I was sure she would be winking at me from the back of someone else’s truck bed as she sped into the distance.
Never fear, dear reader! I pursued and won my first ever auction item! $80 was my final bid and she winked at ME as we strapped her into our pickup!!!
Meet Savannah:

She needs a little stretcher repair but she is gorgeous! Screaming out for a beautiful set of cushions but I was so excited to nap on her, I rallied and found some odds and sods and quickly passed out Saturday afternoon for a 2 hour nap.


She is even Liam-Approved!

I did make him get off her immediately after this picture was taken though. MINE!

Winner, Winner, Swedish Meatball Dinner!

Imagine my surprise when I opened my email today and saw this little alert:

Congratulations! You are a winner in IKEA Canada's 'Pin & Win' Pinterest contest. You have won a $100 IKEA gift card to spend on any of your favourite IKEA items!

I have been excitedly waiting on the new catalogue for 2013 and have even downloaded it from the IKEA Canada site (HERE) The Pin & Win contest was a fluke for me, I just followed IKEA on Pinterest for all the new eye-candy :) Of course, I started pinning straight away.

So now I have $100 to spend thanks be to IKEA. I am thinking the boys need some cool loungey chairs for the new games room/ computer den combo we created this summer out of our formal livingroom. I'm thinking these:

IKEA PS VÅGÖ = $29.99 each. Loving that you can just hose them down. I have boys, yo. For those of you who think I will stick to the $100 budget, I would like you to call my house and assure my husband that this will be the case. :) It will make him feel better when I ask for the keys to the pickup.

DO NOT tell him I am also on the hunt for nightstands. That will be our little secret...mmmmkay? Thinking of these, sprayed silver.

Soon my lovely round morsels, soooooooon.

Erotic Craigslist?

No, not what you're thinking. I didn't put up some smarmy "Couples Looking for...." ad.  HAHAHAHA

I did find a king sized bed (we are in the market these days....as in I am avidly stalking shopping for a new bed for us. Reasons to follow when I score! :)

Sorry, score might not be appropriate as the ad I found states : "King size Custom made bed, with Indian carved wood tantric tantra antique - erotic carvings $ 250. Mount to wall." I am unsure as to what or whom gets mounted to the wall. Just saying.

squinting.....you know you are :)

...we now return you to our regular programming.

I'm back. Suntanned,R & R'd, with a sore back from bad cottage mattresses, living off the nothing in my fridge until I can get to a store. Still down one kiddo (Liam gets in from his trip to Calgary this Thursday). Quinn had a great week at summer camp and even though Momma got a sore back she had a pretty good time watching Greg work his buns off at the cottage while she sipped cocktails :) ....now back to life, back to reality!

Our Cottage View

Our Cottage View, a photo by dharmainthefalls on Flickr.

In less than a week....I shall be in Chair No. 1 right where you see it :)