One Ruler to Rule them all...

Oh man! I am letting my nerdy husband get to me in the form of lame title puns.  I'm so sorry for that, but it had to be done.

Anyway...I have seen these giant growth charts that look like rulers all over pinterest.  I usually try not to do projects that are EVERYWHERE but I really thought it was super cute and just a great way to commemorate my kids growth even after they have left the house.  In about 1.5 hours of super easy work I set to making one for myself.  Started out with a $5 piece of 6 foot pine.

Beat it up with a hammer, nails and a fork.  Stained it my favourite colour, minwax special walnut.  Let it dry overnight.

Taped off lines every 6 inches and then painted every other one an acrylic whitewash I made.

 Pulled tape off and nice clean lines, ahhhh.  I love a nice clean line.

Sanded the crap out of it to let the grain show through.

Added lines in sharpie with the help of a ruler. Then printed numbers which I traced using chalk on the back and pen on the front.

 DONE! I super love it and I also love the $5 price tag.

 Of course, I had to take photos of my kids since I had my camera out.  Emery in typical shy fashion...shielding her eyes so no one including the camera can see her.

 Brighton, my happy little guy, chubby belly and all.  He just started crawling and screams and gets furiously mad if I make him wear pants.

 My my crazy get so old Sterling!

 

 

Commitment Issues

My kitchen got featured on Better After!  Just click the link and see.  I am just happy to see that other people have liked what I have done with the place so when it comes times to sell in a few years I know that I am on the right track.

I've started the rest of my main floor.  It feels so good to be so close to finishing the large projects on one level of my house. (There always seem to be a never-ending array of small projects).  I've painted the rest of the main floor in the same gray that I used in the kitchen.  My house is so open and I wanted it to stay cohesive and pretty neutral.  Plus, that gray is so warm and just adds such a nice depth that is hard to relay in photos.

I am now starting on the artwork in the rest of the main level.  This is a project that I have started:

I am doing 2 gallery frame walls and after I taped all the frame papers up in order to find a design I like, I realized that it is a whole lot of work and artwork.  Lucky me, I seem to have a great selection of photographs that I have taken myself, some paintings that I did in college and finished the selection with some great free printables from the internet.  This is the final arrangement on one wall, but not the final artwork or frame colours.  Can't wait to finish this project.  I have all the artwork selected and it is getting printed.  I promise it will look better once everything is up and the colours mesh a little better.

Sterling has his last sit-ski lesson this next Saturday.  He is pretty upset about that fact because he loves skiiing more than anything else including tv (and that is saying a ton. I only let him watch an hour a day tops and then he spends 99% of the day trying to argue, scam and generally sneak more tv into his day).  The exciting part is that the next lesson is a costume and scavenger hunt all over Sunshine Village Ski Resort and there are sweet prizes at the end.  I even made him a sweet viking costume with a viking hat (that goes over his helmet), vest and beard in order to participate in the costume portion.  We had to watch How to Train Your Dragon yesterday in order to get him into the viking mood, lol.

On a personal level, I finally committed. To what you might ask? Well, I have been lucky and have served as a member at large on the board of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephlaus Association of Souther Alberta for the last 4.5 years.  Yes, that is a complete mouthful.  Basically, I did little things and helped where I could with whatever needed to be done without having to fully commit to a specific job.  I feel like I have added such a great contribution already as I proposed to the board and then help to get a run called The Hope Classic started in Calgary, alongside some of the medical staff in Alberta Children's Hospital.  This coming year is its 4th year and it has become successful and just such a fun event for families.  Last year, the person that took over the preparations from us even got Catriona Le May Doan (an Olympic Speed Skater) to come to the event.  This is leading somewhere....I committed to being the new Treasurer for the Spina Bifida Association.  Wish me luck that I don't mess up too much and that I just hope that I can continue to contribute and help provide my son with a future association that he can be proud to help and be apart of.

For anyone new to my blog- My oldest son Sterling who is 4 years old was born with Spina Bifida and also Hydrocephalus.  Basically, he is paralyzed from the waist down and has been in a wheelchair since he was 16-months-old.  I can't be more proud of him and he is just such an inspiring little guy (don't tell him I called him little).  He is so intelligent and just such a little charmer that you can't help but smile when you are around him.  He takes care of his two younger sibling Emery and Brighton and just loves to snuggle, although I am sure when he starts Kindergarten that will change :(  

 

A tale of small proportions

I never knew that one tiny brush bristle could cause such a ruckus!

It all started two weeks ago: I was getting my hair coloured at my sisters house and while washing the colour out I grabbed the brush without looking. One if the bristles went under the middle nail in my left hand. I pulled it out and it barely hurt and only bled for a few seconds. I went about my merry little way not thinking about it again.

Two days later my when I woke up my finger was swollen and hot to the touch. Odd but I still ignored my finger. By the next day it was extremely painful (I couldn't let it touch my other fingers at all), swollen, red and it was all I could think about. By 1 week post brush bristle accident my finger was twice the size, red and blue up to the knuckle and I couldn't sleep I was in so much pain. I had a high fever and was extremely sick as the infection spread so fast. I finally went to the doctor...yep, took me suffering unbearable pain for four days before I decided it wasn't going to magically fix in its own.

It has now been two weeks since the incident (tons of antibiotics later) and I am only now starting to feel somewhat normal again. Moral of the story: Just because you have three extremely insane children that you have to take to one of the many medical appointments in your life and extremely dislike doing does not mean you should put the trip off hoping for a magical fix. Now my poor finger looks pretty terrible as half the skin died around the end, thank goodness for antibiotics. Minus this: What kind of medicine makes it so you can't eat for two hours before or after you take it and you have to do this four times a day! It is pretty much physically impossible to do this....

But at least we kept busy while stuck inside with a sick Mama!

Tv Time

I have been really trying to get my ambition up to design a bunch of graphic invitations and artwork in order to get my store up but I keep getting distracted by projects, oops!  I guess when I have the motivation to get something done I need to get it done that exact second...My husband loves this about me (sarcastic). We are in the middle of a movie night and this is my thought process 30 minutes into the movie:

"That tv stand is really ugly....I CAN'T HANDLE IT ANYMORE...How did I live with it like that for 2 years when I intended to paint it all along....I HAVE TO DO IT NOW, like this instant, NOW!"  

Turn to Trevor...."Please help me move the tv stuff onto the console for now".  I can see him visibly roll his eyes, but it must be done now and he knows it or I am pretty sure that my head will explode.

This is my secret to getting things done:  I am super obsessive compulsive and I have to do things as soon as it bothers me or it will eat at me for days that I didn't do it.  I can't wait till the next day when it is more convenient or even an hour.  It has to be done instantly.  Which means sometimes (who am I kidding) ALL THE TIME, I drive my husband crazy with my insanity.  This weekend was especially bad....I painted the living room a new colour, re-arranged all the furniture, took apart our sectional and turned it into a couch, took apart our console table, cut it down and reassembled it and then re-finished the tv stand.  I have a problem....I KNOW THIS.  At least I get results and have a really clean house...

Finally, here is the before:

Painted drawers, the one on the left has been sanded and distressed the one on the right has:

Tv stand after it has been sanded and distressed:

Finished tv stand after I applied a homemade glaze from water and leftover stain:

I am so in love with this tv stand now (it even looks more stellar in person) and can't wait for the clear coat to dry so that I can put everything back on it!  I also love the clean modern lines as my house is now starting to look pretty modern but I was still able to add some character by distressing it.  It always amazes me what a good coat of paint can accomplish.

P.S. Please don't tell Trevor that I just admitted to having a non-stop working on projects disease.

Anyone can let me know if they have a project that they need help with so I can keep my restless body and mind busy...SERIOUSLY...I'd love to help anyone!

 

The New Wheels

It has been a few days since we got back Sterling's new set of wheels and he is in love with them!

  Sterling moved up a size in wheelchairs because he has physically outgrown his old chair.  He still fit his old chair in size but they just felt that he was so physical and athletic that the small wheels were limiting his abilities to become a better athlete.  So hence the new chair with bigger side rails and larger wheels.

Trevor is an auto body painter and we are super fortunate to have the opportunity to have Trevor paint Sterling's wheelchair professionally.  Which means unlimited colours for Sterling to choose from and a unique wheelchair as the insurance companies only allow a couple colours so they can interchange parts when they get the chair back.  For everyone that knows Sterling, he has to go bold.  So he choose: Audi red with gold metallic (You can only see it in the sunlight, which it has not been lately).

The first picture is his first wheelchair as it came, the second is after Trevor painted it and the Third is Sterling's new larger chair!

Isn't he so big these days!  I can't believe he has outgrown his first chair after 3.5 years and at 4-years-old. And yes, I know that my kid needs a haircut, lol!

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