Celebrating Another 'Fall Fairy' - The Birthday Girl!

It's official...I think I'm addicted to ... Autumn! I just can't seem to get enough of this season!

Case in point....

Ya-Ya B had a wonderful birthday to celebrate today as us ya-ya's do. The customary celebration is lunch at Cracker's with goodies to open.

I started knitting the ya-ya's each a scarf to celebrate the season about 2 months ago. It's made with a yummy yarn by Lion's Brand...and get this... the color name is 'Harvest' !! Of COURSE it is!!!

It waves from golds to greens to maroons to the coolest pumpkin orange and all around the autumn palette! I love this yarn!

A while back I happened to pick up some knitting ribbon called 'Autumn' (!!!)... I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I was so intrigued, I just had to have some. Well, it was the perfect addition to my scarves...a fringe of autumnal colors with the ends cut at angles to conjure up the image of falling leaves.... (sigh)

I wanted to do something creative and cost-effective for the wrapping... With the economy as it is and having to watch my pennies, my motto for living is...

"Work with what I have ...and make what I have work."

So it was brown kraft paper and my favorite fall stamps and inks!!

I have a couple of antique typeset letters... 'y' and 'a' .... YA-YA!

I'm crazy over my pumpkin stamp, too! See...I told you it is bad!

... um...

does this guy look familiar?

Yes, it's Gambit. He's SUCH a help! No matter what I start digging into around here, he always shows up from nowhere to be in the middle of all of the action. In the garden, in the garage... doesn't matter. If there's something to get into, he's ready to be a part of it!

My idea for a gift tag was to die-cut birch leaves from cardstock and write one of my favorite sayings on them...in three parts. (It's the saying with my autumn post a days back)

I wrapped the scarves up in orange tissue paper and then the oh, too cute paper! A tie around the nifty little package of the same ribbon used for the fringe along with the gift tags ... and we are all set for a birthday party!!

A few candles tucked into a lunch sack bag made with wire ribbon and of course... my stamps!!

I knowwwwwwwww... I told you it was BAD!!

My ya-ya's looked so cutie-buggie in their autumn scarves!! We had just the nicest time laughing, talking and sharing... such wonderful women they are and we ALWAYS have a great time together - especially when it involves celebrating a birthday! Happy Birthday, dear B!

You fall fairy baby!

<---Ya-Ya's are B (the birthday girl), N, R and Moi.

*Can you tell which two are sisters?!

Welcome, Home!

Welcome home, Son!

I can hardly stand the excitement! My son bought his first home! A brand-spankin' new one! He did his walk-through on Thursday and the moving in began! For the last four months he's been storing things at my house as he bought them...and we've all be looking forward to this day when he comes an official home owner.


The moving-in began Thursday afternoon and he's in!


His home is gorgeous and I adore the floor plan....I could sooo see myself living this home! He has his own ideas about what he wants to do to each room, how he wants to set it all up, etc.

I was able to sneak away from work early yesterday to give some 'Mom' help. But for some reason, and I don't know where he gets this (wink), he didn't really want me setting up his kitchen, buying loads of groceries, washing the kitchen linens, setting up the cupboards, stocking the pantry and ... you know... stuff that us Mom's are good at!



He is so excited he wants to do it all himself....and I totally understand.

I did get 'permission' to buy a few things at the store yesterday and I took the chance of sticking the two cans of soup, jars of peanut butter and jelly and loaf of bread in the cupboard without his expressed consent. I figure if he gets his shorts in too much of a wad I'll just plead 'guilty!'

I could spend hours here telling you how much my son means to me. He has always been my biggest supporter in anything I ever did. He adores his sister.... truly... and I have no doubt in my heart whatsoever that he would literally give his life for her. During the last three years, Son has been a support ... to all of us. And even though we haven't always seen eye-to-eye about everything, he has always been there for me. I truly...truly...don't know what I would do with out my son.

David... congratulations, honey...on your beautiful new home! I wish you years of happiness and blessings in it! Now, switch that channel back to 'Oprah'! ; )

It's Here!! It's Here!!

Happy Fall to All !!!

(is doing her 'happy dance' all over the place!!)

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

Do You See It?

.... oh, it's there, alright.

Autumn's graceful entrance into the world. Change is in the air, but it is subtle. Have you noticed? The early morning sunlight slanted through the tree branches like golden rods of promise? The train whistle slowly drifts a little more loudly these days on the cooler morning air.....and lingers just a little bit longer as it rythmically chugs through town... Mornings are a gift if you rise up early enough...cool breeze, frisky kitties, happy hummingbirds. Plants seem to look at each other in the garden and say..'Wow. We made it. We made it through another Arizona summer!' Airplanes rumble on ascent overhead....slow, methodical...and just a little bit longer...as they disappear into the blue. Gentle breezes drift by of promises in the days ahead... Night beckons for opened windows....to push the stiffling machine-cooled air out ... and let the pure coolness of the night air be inhaled in. The sun seems to be aquiencing to the fact that its angry hold on daytime is coming to an end...and it, too, submissively sinks in the western horizon...almost seeming to be a bit grateful that the hot fire of summer is finally dying down and on its way out. Wind chimes softly herald the coming of shorter days....and longer nights. Earth lets out a collective sigh at the passage of intensity and heat.... eager for the shift. Relaxing....peaceful....preparing.....

I made this video last year from the ya-ya's annual trek up to the woods. In honor of Autumn at our doorstep, I offer it again....and hope that it brings you autumnal blessings for your day.
*Note.... scroll down to the red music player on the left and pause Ms. Krall for a moment before beginning the video so that you may hear another golden voice serenade. Enjoy.

We Have A Winner!!

Oh, many 'thank you's' to all of you who left a sweet comment about what you are thankful for! I give all of you a big hug for sharing a bit of your heart with me!

I wrote your names out in orange, of course!, and snipped them into little strips to be folded up - twice!

Then I tossed them into one of my favorite coffee mugs - these little guys run all around my mug in different versions and let the kid in me enjoy Halloween in a bit more 'grown-up' way.

Toss, shake, stir, toss again, shake again, stir again.....

Okay...time to pick the lucky winner...

JILL !!!!

Congrats, lucky girl!!

Email me your address and the Fall Fairy and I shall send your glittery greeting on it's way ! Yeah !!

Thank you, dear blogging friends, for visiting me and leaving a comment. I appreciate your comments at all times and hope that the Fall Fairy visits all of you soon!

The Gift of Giving - For You!!!

Oh, guess who visited me last weekend??

Yep.... that sweet little pixie who I look forward to every year... the Fall Fairy!

I told her she was early, as it was still, technically, August. But she just smiled a bit coyly and said, "Not for you, dear girl, it isn't!" So in she came and decorate she did! I was thrilled beyond to see splashes of orange, gold, maroon, pine and pumpkins and leaves all around! The home is happy, happy and I am ever grateful for her early visit! Autumn is my favorite season of all, and woefully for us desert dwellers, it passes in the blink of an eye. So, one must stretch out the season as best one can in order to remember autumns from years gone by back in the midwest.

Fall Fairy bedecked the fireplace with something new this year...and it is pur-ty! A glittery message in the pumpkin-iest of orange...hanging by matching grossgrain ribbon! Don't you love it? Its simplicity is part of its charm, but ooohhh...the possibilities of what one could add with embellishments is endless! I'm refraining, for the time being, from adding anything...but oh my, the ideas are swirling like falling leaves!

And guess what!! ?

Fall Fairy left an extra one! She did, she did! Apparently she has visited not only my home, but my blog, as well ... and she thought it was time to have a little 'give' away! Perfect!! There's a lot of 'giving' going on around here! So in honor of Fall Fairy and all that I have to give thanks for, I'm going to pick a lucky winner and send this sweet little garland on its way! Too fun! To have a chance for this to be yours, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post of something that you give thanks for... appropo, don't you think? Leave your comment before Wednesday evening at 9:00 pm (mountain time) and I'll pick a lucky winner from the comments. How wonderful is that?

There is so much to give thanks for in my world....health, family, great friends, my job.... so many. I hope that there are many blessings in your life, as well.

Good luck to all of you!