And Grill makes six
Mom & Dad came for a visit a couple of weeks ago to see the new house, and bought us a fancy grill for a housewarming present! We love the new grill, and have since developed a small rib addiction. No intervention required yet, but someone should probably be monitoring the situation.
Recommended recipie: Williams Sonoma Pineapple Hoison Baby Back ribs.
Cook ribs by your preferred method. Prior to cooking, sprinkle with Chinese five spice powder, salt and pepper.
Glaze:
1 1/2 cups hoisin sauce
16 oz. pineapple juice
1 tsp seasame oil
2 tsp brown sugar
Cook all ingredients over medium-high heat except brown sugar, without boiling, until reduced to the consistency of ketchup. Remove from heat, stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Brush on ribs while on grill several times to glaze.
Eat, drink, and have lots of napkins!
How we almost ended up with a dog named Candice, or, the sweet taste of freedom
On Saturday, Jeremy and I went out to run a few errands. On our way out the front door, Garlock made his extreme dissatisfaction with being left at home known, putting up a solid fight against staying inside. In the end, because he’s the dog, we won. Or so we thought.
Fast forward an hour and a half later, and we’re home. No Garlock meets us at the front door. No Garlock comes running in from the backyard.
Garlock?
Buddy?
Garlock!
Nothing.
Looking around the backyard, we find that a board from the fence is missing, and Garlock is no where to be found. The icing on this cake? We hadn’t put his collar on him yet that morning, so he’s out without tags. ‘Cause a Garlock with no tags isn’t going to terrify some random stranger. Nope, not at all.
As we took off in different directions down the street, calling his name, our immediate neighbor comes outside, and waves down Jeremy. Turns out, his sister had seen a black dog wandering in our front yard. He was so friendly, came right up to her, started giving her kisses (sounds like our ferocious man-killer, don’t it?). She, thinking he was lost, decided to take him to the pound. Since Garlock assumes everyone is his best friend and loves going for car rides, he jumped right in! Adventure!
We then took off for the pound and sure enough, kennel 63 – Garlock. Seems once he ended up in a cage in a row of much bigger, barking dogs, it wasn’t such an adventure anymore. While waiting for the animal shelter volunteers to open his cage (it was a busy day that day), I wandered up and down the aisle, and met Candice - who, had we a secure pool & backyard fence, would’ve come home with us that day. Seems Candice loves having her belly rubbed. She loves this so much that she walked her front legs all of the way up the door of her cage in order to give me full access, peppering me with kisses between rubbings. But, since we’re not ready for another dog just yet, I left her behind, hoping that she'll be adopted soon. I looked up her picture online:
PS – After discussing it further, we decided that the best approach for another dog was to stick with another staffy. Candice, who was one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met, is just too big for what we want. But I sure hope that she finds a good home soon. Thankfully, San Diego county shelters are all no-kill shelters.
PPS – Micro chipping your dog pays off. Within 5 minutes of being dropped off at the shelter, they’d scanned Garlock’s chip, and called Jeremy to let him know they had him.
PPPS – Shelter employees and volunteers do good work. Support your local animal shelter.
Fast forward an hour and a half later, and we’re home. No Garlock meets us at the front door. No Garlock comes running in from the backyard.
Garlock?
Buddy?
Garlock!
Nothing.
Looking around the backyard, we find that a board from the fence is missing, and Garlock is no where to be found. The icing on this cake? We hadn’t put his collar on him yet that morning, so he’s out without tags. ‘Cause a Garlock with no tags isn’t going to terrify some random stranger. Nope, not at all.
As we took off in different directions down the street, calling his name, our immediate neighbor comes outside, and waves down Jeremy. Turns out, his sister had seen a black dog wandering in our front yard. He was so friendly, came right up to her, started giving her kisses (sounds like our ferocious man-killer, don’t it?). She, thinking he was lost, decided to take him to the pound. Since Garlock assumes everyone is his best friend and loves going for car rides, he jumped right in! Adventure!
We then took off for the pound and sure enough, kennel 63 – Garlock. Seems once he ended up in a cage in a row of much bigger, barking dogs, it wasn’t such an adventure anymore. While waiting for the animal shelter volunteers to open his cage (it was a busy day that day), I wandered up and down the aisle, and met Candice - who, had we a secure pool & backyard fence, would’ve come home with us that day. Seems Candice loves having her belly rubbed. She loves this so much that she walked her front legs all of the way up the door of her cage in order to give me full access, peppering me with kisses between rubbings. But, since we’re not ready for another dog just yet, I left her behind, hoping that she'll be adopted soon. I looked up her picture online:
PS – After discussing it further, we decided that the best approach for another dog was to stick with another staffy. Candice, who was one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met, is just too big for what we want. But I sure hope that she finds a good home soon. Thankfully, San Diego county shelters are all no-kill shelters.
PPS – Micro chipping your dog pays off. Within 5 minutes of being dropped off at the shelter, they’d scanned Garlock’s chip, and called Jeremy to let him know they had him.
PPPS – Shelter employees and volunteers do good work. Support your local animal shelter.
This is Brooklyn. She has nothing to do with this story, just happened to walk by when I was trying to take Garlock's picture.
Another after – Kali’s Room
Kali’s room is nearly finished. We’ve still got to put in the new baseboards, but you get a good idea of what it looks like, 1000% better than it did. Small issue with the closet doors, after I spent 4 hours painting them white, I realized that they no longer fit into her room with the carpet down.
Whoops.
Jeremy will be fixing that once we’re able to get a table saw.
Whoops.
Jeremy will be fixing that once we’re able to get a table saw.
As a reminder, here is the before:
And the after:
In Repose
I got a new macro lens for my camera, one that I've wanted for several years now. Last night, Garlock helped me test it out.
"Garlock, sit"
"Sit"
"Now, stay"
"Garlock, stay"
"Stay"
"Garlock, sit. No, sit. Stay"
In the time known as Before
Looking back over my blog entries, I realized that I’d mentioned posting a bunch of before pictures… and then never did. To rectify that error, I’m including in this post a selection of before pictures for your enjoyment. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a few more afters, as we’ve had carpet laid in two rooms, and have finally finished painting all of the walls. So until then, enjoy!
This is the living room. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the walls are a really dirty brown color, and the ceiling and the baseboards are too. This is a recurring theme throughout the house.
This is the living room. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the walls are a really dirty brown color, and the ceiling and the baseboards are too. This is a recurring theme throughout the house.
The kitchen... Really happy with the size, and the cabinets are in good shape. The purple laminate and pink sink are definately the highlights of the house. Haven't you always longed for purple laminate and a pink sink?
This is the bonus room (bonus being code for unpermitted addition). The real bonus is that the walls and floor are a bit uneven, so it's kind of like having our very own funhouse.
The lovely master bedroom. Dark blue walls, ceiling, and baseboards.
Kali's room. This picture does not do justice to the intensity of green on these walls. At least they didn't paint the ceiling in this room.
The purple princess guest room... Can't you hear that princess border calling out for a good dose of Wallpaper Chomp?
And, the backyard, complete with pool, built-in bar, and weed jungle. The previous owners left the bar chairs and the umbrellas. None of the umbrellas work and the chairs are a safety hazard... but it's really the thought that counts, right?
Another view. The weed jungle hadn't yet taken root when this picture was taken. Imagine waist-high weeds everywhere you see dead grass here, and you'll have a good idea of what last Saturday morning's project was.
I just realized I don't have any pictures of the front of the house. I'll remedy that soon!
A Tribute to Awesomeness
This is the story of the kitchen miracle of August 2009.
(At one point, Garlock was shoulder-deep under the kitchen counter, trying to lend a hand, but moved away before I could get the picture. He's afraid that if we have proof he's handy, he'll have to start earning his keep around here.)
Way back in May we had the house inspected, the inspector ran the dishwasher and the garbage disposal. Both worked, although running the dishwasher did cause some interesting water spurtage out of the little overflow thingy (yes, that is a technical term) on the kitchen sink.
Fast-forward 8 weeks - the garbage disposal breaks the day after we move in. And suddenly, the hot water in the kitchen sink is running at about a 1/4 of normal sink pressure, and the dishwasher is a little sketchy. The refrigerator has been delivered, and the installers tell us that they can't hook up the ice machine and water because the line is broken.
After 5 days of no garbage disposal, no dishwasher, and minimal hot water in the kitchen sink - enough is enough. A quick trip to Home Depot, and we've got a new garbage disposal, and the parts to fix the water line to the refrigerator. And by we, I mean Jeremy - because there's no way I'm touching any of this with a 10-foot pole. A girl's gotta know her strengths, right?
Two hours later, while priming the formerly purple-princess room, I hear a laugh from the kitchen. Turns out, all of the troubles in the kitchen - the broken garbage disposal, the sketchy dishwasher, the lack of hot water - were caused by the previous owners not removing a plastic plug when they installed the dishwasher. One plug caused all of that trouble, AND a warped kitchen counter from overflow water damage.
The lesson here? Read the instructions. There's magic in there.
And Jeremy - you're awesome. Here's my tribute to you:
Fast-forward 8 weeks - the garbage disposal breaks the day after we move in. And suddenly, the hot water in the kitchen sink is running at about a 1/4 of normal sink pressure, and the dishwasher is a little sketchy. The refrigerator has been delivered, and the installers tell us that they can't hook up the ice machine and water because the line is broken.
After 5 days of no garbage disposal, no dishwasher, and minimal hot water in the kitchen sink - enough is enough. A quick trip to Home Depot, and we've got a new garbage disposal, and the parts to fix the water line to the refrigerator. And by we, I mean Jeremy - because there's no way I'm touching any of this with a 10-foot pole. A girl's gotta know her strengths, right?
Two hours later, while priming the formerly purple-princess room, I hear a laugh from the kitchen. Turns out, all of the troubles in the kitchen - the broken garbage disposal, the sketchy dishwasher, the lack of hot water - were caused by the previous owners not removing a plastic plug when they installed the dishwasher. One plug caused all of that trouble, AND a warped kitchen counter from overflow water damage.
The lesson here? Read the instructions. There's magic in there.
And Jeremy - you're awesome. Here's my tribute to you:
(At one point, Garlock was shoulder-deep under the kitchen counter, trying to lend a hand, but moved away before I could get the picture. He's afraid that if we have proof he's handy, he'll have to start earning his keep around here.)
How to Paint a Perfect Stripe on a Textured Wall
On Saturday, Kali and I set about painting a single brown stripe and a single white stripe on two of her newly-pink, textured walls. Fears of running paint and ragged edges caused me to remember a tip I'd seen on "While You Were Out," on TLC years ago. And lo and behold, nearly perfect stripes were had and enjoyed by all.
The secret? It's easy!
First, mark the boundaries of your stripes with blue tape. Then, on the inside of the tape, where you will be painting the colored stripe, paint a thick layer of paint in the current wall color. This will seal the edges, and prevent the new color from running underneath the tape and ruining your straight line.
Once the current color has dried, paint the stripe color over the top. After that's dried, use a straight-edge or razor blade to help remove the tape from the wall. I found it was easiest to hold the razor flat against the paint right at the edge of the tape, and then pull the tape off. This prevents the tape from taking pieces of paint off with it. Then, step back and enjoy your handiwork!
Clean edges as tape is removed!
The secret? It's easy!
First, mark the boundaries of your stripes with blue tape. Then, on the inside of the tape, where you will be painting the colored stripe, paint a thick layer of paint in the current wall color. This will seal the edges, and prevent the new color from running underneath the tape and ruining your straight line.
Once the current color has dried, paint the stripe color over the top. After that's dried, use a straight-edge or razor blade to help remove the tape from the wall. I found it was easiest to hold the razor flat against the paint right at the edge of the tape, and then pull the tape off. This prevents the tape from taking pieces of paint off with it. Then, step back and enjoy your handiwork!
Stripes, before blue tape is removed.
Clean edges as tape is removed!
Random Product Endorsement
Wallpaper Chomp. Amazingness in a bottle.
The former purple princess room had a wallpaper border of princesses, on three of the four walls. Jeremy tried scrapping it off, and it took 3 days and 6 layers of paint to get it all off of ONE wall. On our weekly trip to Home Depot, we asked a lady in the paint department about wallpaper removers. She pointed us in the direction of Wallpaper Chomp, a $6 bottle of wallpaper adhesive undoing magic. One hour later, and the rest of the wallpaper border was off of the walls, with no paint damage at all. Lesson here? Take a chance on the people at Home Depot. Every once in awhile you'll get someone who really does know what they're talking about, and they'll bring a little magic into your life.
The former purple princess room had a wallpaper border of princesses, on three of the four walls. Jeremy tried scrapping it off, and it took 3 days and 6 layers of paint to get it all off of ONE wall. On our weekly trip to Home Depot, we asked a lady in the paint department about wallpaper removers. She pointed us in the direction of Wallpaper Chomp, a $6 bottle of wallpaper adhesive undoing magic. One hour later, and the rest of the wallpaper border was off of the walls, with no paint damage at all. Lesson here? Take a chance on the people at Home Depot. Every once in awhile you'll get someone who really does know what they're talking about, and they'll bring a little magic into your life.
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