Today was {Destination: Finished} for a few projects I’ve been working on.
Primarily, the Height Chart:
Last weekend, while Scott was cleaning out the garage (I’ll give you a peek at that progress at the end), I was trying to push along with these awesome ideas that had been laying around in there. While Ben was down for a nap, we did some work. I also threw together some ridiculously easy ribs! Here is the recipe, found on my Allrecipes Dinner Spinner App:
Sweet and Savory Ribs:
(that’s how they looked when they just started cooking, they filled the house with a mouthwatering smell, too)
Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings (skipped that)
2 1/2lbs boneless (these were bone-in, didn’t seem to matter) country style pork ribs
1 (18oz) bottle honey BBQ sauce (didn’t have honey so I squeezed some in later)
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
If you cut up the onion, lay it on the bottom. Combine the rest in a small bowl and then pour it over the ribs in the crock pot. Piece of cake! Let cook on low for, they say 8-9 hours. We went 6 and couldn’t stand waiting any longer and it was delicious. I let the rest cook another hour (not sure it was really necessary).
I was dressed in my finest:
My most exciting project is my ruler growth chart. I found the idea on Pinterest, but took my own direction with it. If you go to Pinterest and search “ruler growth chart” you will see some of these images, or some like it:
image from: 517Creations.blogspot.com
You get the idea, I just went with more of a loose ruler “look” and stained my wood dark. You can still see the grain, it’s pretty nice. I started with a piece of wood I picked up from Home Depot, about this size and shape.
Then last weekend, the husband stained it for me:
Then, later on, I printed out some enlarged Times New Roman numbers off the computer, and thanks to a tip (that I also found on Pinterest) I traced over the numbers with a ball point pen, impressing their outlines into the wood:
Ben was thrilled, and thought I had set up a gymnastics course for him:
Then today I finally pulled my paints and brushes down from the attic and started working on it.
Materials:
White acrylic paint
Small paintbrush
Cup for tiny bit of water
Disposable tupperware that I use for spreading paint around
Paper towel to soak up excess water on brush
The painting was going beautifully. Getting Ben to sit and color with me was hit and miss. Sometimes he was really into it but mostly he just wanted to get up and down and have me draw letters for him. Which I did, in little spurts. It got done, and was kind of nice and relaxing. Music on, Ben playing around me, painting away in a kind of meditative zone. Pret-ty nice.
Before long, things were shaping up. I had to go over each area twice or so, to get it thick enough. I really loved painting on wood, think I might try it again soon.
And the finished product!
And here it is after we entered some heights and traced Ben’s sweet little hand. Adorable. We even added my height and Scott’s height, for when the kids get older and start catching up to us!
So meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had these other fun projects going on.
1) Scott was cleaning out the garage. Here are the before and afters:
Before (during escrow, outside looking in):
Now:
Before (turned just slightly to the right, where the previous owner had built a room inside):
Didn’t get an after shot at that particular angle, but here is a dramatic “during”. You can see the door to the house hidden back there in the corner, just to orient yourself:
Before (standing by the water heater):
Now (same direction):
Still have some junk to expel, but definitely getting there.
2) Last but not least, the first nursery project for baby Alina was a $20 changing table we bought off of Craigslist, that came to us white, is now a very “sunny yellow” thanks to some Rustoleum glossy spray paint (about 3 cans, holy cow):
No sanding or fancy stuff, just sprayed it. We have zero other decorating going on in there so far, so you will have to imagine fun colored bins, a floral changing pad cover and a yellow patterned rug to accompany this after photo (this is for you, Rachel!):
