we saved our bath!

what started as a minor water leak turned into a major bathroom improvement project. we initially planned to fix the leak but, blame it on watching too much HGTV, we ended up with a long list of things that needed to be fixed and replaced in the bathroom: wall paint, lighting, exhaust fan, vanity countertop, sink, cabinet and mirror, bathtub, tub walls and floor tiles.

even the most enthusiastic do-it-yourself-ers like us couldn't handle such tough job. it was just too much for Fil's basic carpentry and painting know-how and my own handy(wo)man skills limited only to fixing cabinet hinges and loose toilet bowl water tanks, replacing bulbs and door knobs, sealing pipe threads with teflon tape and putting together furniture that requires a little bit of assembly and more of trying to understand the assembly guide. oh yeah, i can do these things. but remodeling an entire bathroom? nah. we need to put in somebody with a license.

we were lucky to find a contractor who worked within our budget and didn't charge us an arm and a leg for labor. we purchased the materials ourselves so weeks before the project started, Fil, racrac and i frequented the home depot, lowes, orchard supply hardware, Unitile in Hayward and also IKEA in east palo alto for some color and design inspiration.

we finally said goodbye to our old bathroom last august 18 and went home to a new one yesterday! yehey, i now have my green bathroom! hahaha...i chose BEHR water sprout color paint for the walls and it blended perfectly with the brown, white and satin nickel fixtures. here's the before-and-after shots:the best thing i love about it aside from the jacuzzi tub, marble tub walls, granite vanity top, and the calming green wall paint is the open spout faucet installed without the deck plate for a clean and built-in look. it keeps me entertained each time i use it.


but i'm not done yet. i still need to accessorize and get rid of the old stuff like the blue towels and rugs 'coz they now do not go well with the new color scheme.

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new ride for baby

6 months after having a baby, we decided it's time to get a bigger car. we have been kicking around the idea since the day we took racrac home from the hospital in our honda civic, but never got serious about it until recently. as baby grows older, bigger and more active, his gears and toys and must-carry stuff could no longer fit in a small car. if we put his stroller in the trunk and we go to Costco where merchandises are exaggeratedly packed, we can only buy a box of diapers and wipes and a few other small things. we don't have extra room for 30 rolls of toilet paper or a dozen rolls of kitchen towel. now that racrac has started crawling, "standing up" and eating solid food, we have to bring his portable ultrasaucer and rocking chair to keep him entertained while we spend Sundays at grandmas' plus two big diaper bags, milk and food bag, teethers and lots of small toys. it's amazing how somebody so small could have so much stuff! add to that the fact that i get OC whenever we leave the house even for just a short run to the grocery store so i always make sure we bring everything he needs or might need.

Fil wanted a bigger car as in an accord or camry and i was thinking SUV as in honda pilot. a lot of our friends suggested a mini-van but we have deliberately excluded it from our list. Fil doesn't like it 'coz, according to him, a mini-van screams "tatay ka!" on the road (asus!) while i dislike it simply because it reminds me of the improvised vans i used to ride in the Philippines on my way to work. Imagine a 7-seater van converted into a 10-seater...minsan kalahating pwet mo lang ang nakaupo.

definitely we can't use the land rover for practical reasons (translation: mahal ang gas!) and it also doesn't have baby safety features. it is better left sitting in the parking lot as a reminder of Fil's daring off-roading adventures years ago although sometimes, to relive his past glory, he drives it to go to Safeway and buy me frozen pizza hehehe.

so after much talking and looking at all our options given our budget and purpose for getting a new vehicle, we got baby a new ride yesterday for his 6-month birthday. we finally settled for...tan-ta-ra-ran....the Toyota Sienna minivan! hahaha. i have to admit: it's very convenient, comfortable and spacious. Now i don't have to stoop and break my back to pull racrac out of his carseat and we can now change his diaper in the van when we're out and about. And the best thing is that we can go anywhere and bring everything to satisfy my OC-ness and still have room for extra passengers, shopping bags and bulky grocery items.

now our friends are teasing us with Fil's popular declaration: "i will never drive a minivan!" hihihi. oh well, never say never! :-)

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