So, when I saw an adorable do-it-yourself wall ruler, I knew it was perfect! This way, if we ever move, we can take all our markings with us. I followed this tutorial (and this one was helpful too). Off to Lowe’s we went!

I have never stained wood before in my life, but it was super easy. We chose the Golden Oak color of Cabot stain. After one coat, I decided it looked great (plus, I didn’t feel like doing a second coat). Since I wanted the ruler to hang on the wall, I began the measurements at 6 inches and continued up to 6 1/2 feet. The Sharpie paint marker was just like using a regular marker. The numbers are what completes the look though. I love the way they turned out!
I colored the backs of my numbers with pencil and then traced them onto the board, leaving a graphite outline of the number behind.

(can you see the extremely faint outline of the number 6 above?) After three quick coats of Polycrylic, the ruler was done.

Stephen found these great interlocking hooks that guarantee Bitty Boy won’t be able to pull the ruler off the wall. I also used a 3m Command strip at the bottom of the ruler so it wouldn’t budge when pulled on by little hands. We hung the ruler in our entryway just off the kitchen.

Silas Clark is officially 2 ft. 7 in. We marked all of our heights using this artist pen from JoAnn’s. The plan is to mark each family member’s height when they come for a visit. That way Silas can compare his height to his aunts and uncles and grandparents. (I have a sneaky suspicion he’ll be passing up Aunt Charis first!) What a fun way to bring our family a little bit closer. Can’t wait to see how Bitty Boy grows.

Back in the Indiana Cottage, we had end tables graciously given to us by two different friends. In fact, about half of the furniture we had was given or passed down to us by friends and family. Isn’t that the way married life is supposed to start? Sitting on hand-me-down furniture? It was great! I hope one day we can help out a newly married couple with some furniture.We were/are ever so thankful!

Anyway, before moving to Phoenix, we passed along the end tables to our siblings. Once we moved into the Desert Casa, the TV trays took front stage. While not pretty, at least they worked. That is, until Silas began pulling up on furniture. I’m so glad we finally have some tables that won’t be knocked over by the slightest breeze! (Okay, they weren’t THAT bad.)

Now that you know the history of the Moodys’ end table situation, you can kick back and enjoy this Friday night. Glad you have one less thing to worry about! Happy Friday.

I’ve been waiting for weeks to type that title! Can’t believe the dresser is actually finished. I keep walking by the door of our guest room and peeking at it. Here’s the evidence.

Before:

After:Pretty cool, right? I’m loving it! It’s by no means perfect, but I’m very happy with the way it turned out.

Painting this dresser has been on my mental to-do list for years, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I would ever actually have the courage to do it. Stephen bought this dresser (back in his grad school days) at a thrift store for something like $20. It’s nothing special—the top is warped, the drawers don’t slide in and out easily, the back is cracked—but it has simple, clean lines, and it seemed like a good first “furniture make-over” project to me. I thought I’d better do it while the weather is still nice.

I borrowed an orbital sander from a friend and got to work. Turns out, sanding was the easiest part of the process. I fell in love with the sander from drawer one, and I’m thinking I’ll need to buy one of my own sometime. The first hurdle of the project was what to do about the laminate top. After being pointed in the right direction, we used Zinsser’s B-I-N primer that sticks to any surface, and it worked beautifully.

Next, I chose to spray paint the entire thing black. Looking back, spray painting is harder than I thought. I had to do three coats to get it evenly painted, and you could still see my spray marks a bit.

We moved the dresser from the back patio to the garage for the polyurethane step. The garage was a little less dusty. I used a paint brush to apply the polyurethane, so of course it left some brush marks, but I made sure to do long, even strokes. I don’t mind a little bit of the hand-painted touch.

Since the dresser is so dated, we couldn’t find any hardware at our local stores that was the correct size. Instead of custom ordering something, I spray painted the original hardware silver. I’m loving the contrast of the silver drawer handles against the black dresser!

Now our guest room is finally black & white with pops of green. Still have some other things I’d like to do in here, but we’re making progress!

1203

..02000000000.3.333333333333333…00..0

0.0.0.

One afternoon we took off for South Mountain Park and Preserve for a little hiking. Since we weren’t feeling very ambitious, and the Buick’s low fuel light had just come on, we picked a short hike near the park entrance. Although it didn’t seem like we had climbed much in elevation, after just a bit of hiking, we had a nice view of the valley and downtown Phoenix.

Silas and Jon took advantage of a lot of nephew/uncle time together. Jon gave him piano and drum lessons. We even had a cookout (in January!) Jon’s last night here.

I’ve been surprised at how many animals I’ve seen from my window. Hawks soar high in the sky, and doves walk the roof of my neighbor’s house. Lizards scamper along the walls in the spring. Cats, domestic and feral, walk the concrete walls. I love to see the moon make his nightly ascent.

Recently I’ve concluded something. Airplanes make me happy. With the Goodyear Airport just five minutes from us, and the Sky Harbor Airport downtown, I can almost always see a commercial airliner or private cessna out my kitchen window. And it makes me happy. I guess I just like to know that there are people up there, and I’m happy that there’s something to see. Seeing an airplane so far above me gives me kind of a wistful feeling. Weird, huh? I think too much sometimes.

Fall tiptoed into the Valley Monday night and made a dramatic appearance this week. Temperatures on Tuesday were still in the high 90s, but we had a furious thunderstorm and downpour. The neighborhood kids were running back and forth across the street through the rushing water near the curbs.

Yesterday and today, the sun is hot, but the air is cool with temps in the 60s and 70s. Autumn is here! AND we have cold water flowing from our faucets! Silas and I took a walk yesterday morning and met our neighbors across the street who come down from Winnipeg, Manitoba for a few weeks/months out of the year.

Hopefully we’ll get to know more of our neighbors now that the weather is so beautiful. It’s weather like this that draws so many people to retire here.

»Now I am officially certified to have a son named Silas Clark since I’ve recently finished reading Silas Marner and tasted a Clark bar for the first time. (It’s basically a Butterfinger.)

»Stephen and I had a very happy anniversary date thanks to our friend Becky who graciously spent her evening playing with Silas. Stephen took me to Pappadeaux’s a restaurant well-known for their fresh seafood. Our meal began with an alligator appetizer. Yes, you read that right—alligator! Of course with all that yummy batter, it tasted like chicken, but with a hint of “wild” to it. After gumbo, lobster, and filet mignon for dinner, we ended our date with carrot cake cheesecake. I’d never heard of such a thing before, but it was a hit!

»Last Saturday some Indiana friends were in town and met us for dinner at Garcia’s. During dinner Jamie had the unique privilege of giving Silas his first lemon slice. Silas looked worried, gave a delayed shudder, and then promptly decided he liked lemon and wanted more.»I’m constantly amazed at how far Baby can reach and how tall he can be when he’s grabbing at something. The other day he figured out how to play the piano on his own. He’s now starting to stand without holding onto anything, but only for a few seconds at a time. He now crawls on all fours (usually one knee, one foot and both hands). We’ve discovered that the little punkin’ belly boy LOVES cheese (yet again, taking after his father). The first time he tried it, he immediately began stuffing more cheese in his mouth than he could hold. Once we rescued the cheese cubes left on his tray, we realized he had cheese held tightly in both fists.

»Our piano is tuned! We had a missionary speak at church last Sunday, and he is also a piano tuner. He graciously spent hours and hours on two different days working on our piano. It took two tunings and a lot of adjustments to get the piano where it should be.»Friday night we attended a Diamondbacks game with a group from church. It was the second baseball game I’d ever been to. Silas was sporting his D-backs gear.»One of Bitty Boy’s new favorite toys is an orange baseball bat. Since the bat is so rounded, it looks like Silas is carrying around a caveman’s club ready to beat someone over the head!

So there you have it—little bits of life.

I’m thankful for our old couch, given to us by a  friend from Indiana. It has served us well for almost five years. We’ve now moved it to our front room that’s largely empty. But, let me tell you, I am so over slipcovers! Hello new sectional!

Now for some paint, curtains, end tables, an ottoman, new lamps, pictures hung on the wall…..all in due time. For now, the sectional is more than enough happiness.