lacquer box d.i.y.

now that my master bathroom is all done and fly looking, seriously, you should stop by and hang out in there coz it's pretty freakin awesome, i have a little project planned for that bathroom.
it involves slices of agate and a whole lotta UPS waiting time so while i sit and wait for these agates to arrive....

we had this one blue agate coaster and it just felt lonely.
it's so pretty but it spent most of it's days in an old fish tank out in the garage. the poor little 25 cent carnival fish had long ago floated to the top of the tank and now it sort of rested in this sad graveyard with other colorful pebbles and shells.

the blue is the wrong color for my bathroom project (coming up soon, i think. damn UPS!!) but i wanted to do something with it.

i decided to use it and make a decorative box. i've been adding more and more blue to my family room and thought it would probably work best there but right now i'm floating it around to see where i like it best.

if you don't have an old box around that you can use or paint then you can hit up michael's.
michael's has a pretty large selection and i found mine for maybe $5 or $6-use a coupon and you will really be cool.

i didn't like the clasp on the box because it felt too office like. i removed it, filled in the tiny holes with putty and sanded it.

i sprayed the box with a few coats of glossy white spray paint and let dry.

once all dry, i used a few tiny dots of gorilla glue in just a few places around the very edge of the agate then placed it on the lid. i'm sure there are better, and faster, options than gorilla glue since gorilla glue needs to sit for some hours but i wasn't sure what would work best with agate. this worked really well so i will be using it on my bathroom project coming up for sure.

i absolutely love how it turned out. the pictures really don't do it any justice.
now i really can't wait to get that bathroom project done!

p.s. if you work for UPS or have any inside info can you ask where kendra's dang agate slices are? it's taking forrrrrrrrever!

check back for my master bath reveal, it's gonna be soon. i think.

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http://sandandsisal.com/2014/05/inspire-me-monday-linky-party-8.html

never do i say i'm bored.

okay i'm ready for a day off from my days off.
no but really, although my week-end was busy it was spent doing exactly what i hoped to do.

we, (and by "we" i mean "me") have been slowly revamping the girls room, making little decor changes and also finally making eye contact with all those little things around the house that have been begging for attention.

i spent early saturday morn with my cup of coffee and some dirt.
look how pretty dirt can make things.
the 1 minute pretty succulent bowl. you really can do this in 1 minute and a very small amount of dirt in your coffee. fiber.

i painted the tray a few weeks back, it use to be orange and destined for firewood but if you have gold paint you can do almost anything. almost.

there was also a little of this going on saturday. a project i have been thinking about for 2 whole years and the subject of much debate with my littlest little at my house. it's not ready to be seen just yet.

woke up on mama's day to my furry son with a lil note around his collar

smart littles, they know me well.
now spelling, well that's gotta be worked on a bit....

flowers and a car wash can make anyone smile no?

my favorite 2 lines in my mama day cards from my littles:

- "i'm so thankful you have fixed my phone 3 or 4 times." (try 5 kid)
- "thank you for doing things for me even when you don't want to." (do i make it that obvious??)

the rest of my mama's day (and i do mean the rest) was spent working on curtains. my biggest little had to work so the middle and the littlest little and i went to pick up materials. well, fabric for me, ice cream cones for them. it's hard to stay focused when ice cream is for sale.

i took a break in the evening to have dinner and then desert with my lovely mama and then back to these curtains. i didn't imagine they would take me until 9pm at night but oh were they worth it! i'll show you them all complete later once i get them all up.

just for now picture them in the room with these, another week-end project that took way longer than expected.
apparently i'm bad at guestimating how long things will take to complete and probably not the best at coming up with ideas that will be "super quick and super fun". you shouldn't listen to me when i say anything along those lines.

 
hope your week-end was beautiful and that whoever you get to mama made you feel like a queen.


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bathroom facelift

man it's been a minute. i keep meaning to sit down and write stuff, holla a little here and there but then it happens. i'm called into the other room, summoned for a snack, needed to assist in the mystery of a missing shoe, or called to jump in the car to pick up a kid, which by the way, at times i feel like i run a day care. i only have 3 of these little people but they do keep you busy no matter how old they get. 
that, and taxes are the sure things in life.

OR, february comes around and you are ready to remodel your kids bathroom!
yes, my life is very very exciting.
my kids bath is a pretty small bathroom and i've always disliked it for all kinds of reasons so i chose to ignore it. 
for years. 
the day finally came to strip it down and get it all prepped for surgery! 
come, take an ugly bathroom tour with me. hope you're up to date on all your shots....

oh look! ugly everything. 

ugly paint...

 ugly flooring...

ugly square tile...

i could keep going but i feel like by now you must be catching on 
because i really only know smart people. 

i couldn't even muster up the will to clean the spilled body wash off the tile (or the unknown off the floor for that matter) for the before pics. 
i do wish i had taken a picture before we took down the shower curtain and removed the linen cabinet that was on the right wall to show you how crowded this small space really was.

there actually was a pretty oval mirror here from pottery barn that was taken down before this pic-it might have been the only nice thing about this bathroom but otherwise, more of the same. ugly.

yes, all 3 littles shared that tiny sink. 

we never really knew the purpose of that odd 

little tiled box there on the right of the tub.

on the day of surgery i was up early and literally peeking out the front window waiting 

for the crew to show up. i really wanted to be the one to take a sledge hammer to the wall! 

we were remodeling the 2 downstairs bathrooms and decided to do this one first because it would take the least amount of time and was the smaller of the 2.

this photo is kind of fuzzy. i was doing the "demolition dance" in the hallway plus, i didn't want to be all up in his kool-aid as he was breaking the ugly. 

i'm sure he thinks i'm weird, dancing and smiling and taking creeper photos from around the corner. whatever. i kinda am.

i had to leave for work but when i got home that evening it was pure beauty! 

i love construction. love. love. love.

pahukoa family 2014. always gotta leave your mark.

after about 3 weeks, a few missed days from rain and tons of crazy creeper/dancing pictures....

the bathroom!

 i'm in love with the floor. i bought 16"x16" slate squares and had my contractor 

cut them in 4"x16" pieces and had him create this herringbone layout. 

he hated me after this but it's fabulous so it was worth every hateful glance.

we wanted to stay dark with the floor so you wouldn't see every little piece of kid dirt 

and keep everything else light to help make this tiny bathroom appear larger.

 

 what a difference huh? 

we used glossy white subway tile that is beveled on all 4 sides 

and kept it as simple and classic as possible.

 

 for this bathroom we just picked up a simple vanity from home depot- i didn't want to go custom or too high end here because kids are rough on things and i've learned that the hard way many, many, many times. i liked that the sink was on the far left which left space for the girls to put their arsenal of hair products and tools, make up and whatever else they use without everything falling into the sink.

 i'm really into over-sized mirrors and i spent a long time looking for the perfect mirror 

for this spot and then one night we decided to try this silver leafed mirror we had in our 

master bedroom. it ended up being perfect!

i love the sconce and it's also slightly over-sized which works great with the mirror.

the shelf came from target and instead of adding too many holes in the wall i had the 

hawaiian attach the towel bar to the bottom of the wall shelf and put the q-tips and cotton balls

up there since there really isn't a lot of surfaces- 

you may remember the glass jars from an earlier d.i.y. project.

the walls are a very pale gray but at times they can look powder blue. 

remember that tiled box to the right of the tub in the before pictures? i decided to create a tile wall that went up to the ceiling and use slate pieces from the floor to create nook shelving for them to store their shampoo, body wash, razors, etc. it's nice because now that there is glass on the tub/shower (i will never go back to shower curtains again, they are kind of like wire hangers, a big big no no) the tile wall helps to hide all that stuff.

we placed a slate shelf above the window to store the towels. 

this looks nice and neat and it's easy for them to grab a towel and dry off inside the shower rather than step out and get water everywhere.

i wish the photos were lighter, brighter, not blurry, better quality, blah-blah, but these are the kind of photos you get from a girl who only uses her iphone to take pics. yeah, i have a good camera somewhere..... 
maybe i will update them and replace them later but... probably not.

next up is the master bathroom that we are just finishing and that 'before photo tour' will be an all new kind of ugly straight outta the 90's! 

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hell hath no fury like a cat scorned.

so my cats pissed today.
what's new.
i'm fairly sure he is always plotting to kill us. actually, i think he would save me and maybe the hawaiian guy coz the hawaiian guy does interesting stuff outside in the man cave and that is like, 5% appealing to oatmeal most days.
oh, yes, his name is oatmeal. pissed off reason #1.
sawry bro, a 3 year old named you.

anyway, he deals with me because i understand and fully abide by his 4 basic rules.

rule #1- don't touch his butt area. ever. (never a problem)
rule #2- don't pick him up, but if you must, never place him on his back and never facing you -always face him out and over the shoulder, basically the farthest away his face can be from your face. there is a 7 second time limit on this "holding" thing anyway so ya gotta do this all pretty quickly. (intimacy issues)
rule #3- there is no placing cell phones anywhere near him. it's just important. i don't know why.
rule #4- understand that he expects you to know his wants and needs at all times. if you fail to understand this be prepared for an hour (sometimes longer) of disapproving looks, silent treatment, back turns and the "you are so damn dumb" face which will promptly ensue. (this makes you feel damn dumb. trust me)

today is a new level of pissy.
i woke up to a paw print in the small bathroom where we are doing a little makeover.

i know, cute right?!
cute until the moment of dread washes over you as you quickly realize your cat is somewhere pissed off at this. 
now, if there was a trail and many prints i would know that he was cool with wet cement toes and explored a little.
there is only one print. one. 
gulp.
he stepped in and stepped out. he's pissed.
you gotta quickly check to see if he is behind you because cats are quiet and sneaky and they think.  they aren't like dogs.
he very well could be waiting around the corner to murder you because someone has to pay.
coast was clear as i live to write the story. whew!

eventually i cleaned off oatmeal's toes which by the way, is now rule #5. 
no toe touching. noted.

my contractor arrived today and while scratching his head (no joke- it was like a cartoon) he said to me, "but i put orange tape up".

i gave him my best "you are damn dumb" oatmeal face and explained that the cat doesn't really know what orange or even what tape means. clearly he does not own a cat.

luckily today wasn't as bad as this day. that was rough.

 or the day i made him weigh in

which resulted in a standoff (that green thing you see is the corner of his treat bag which he is standing on and refusing to let me put it away). i might point out he is showing his fangs.

or the time i accidentally had my cell phone too close to him

which, you guessed it, was followed by the silent treatment.

i quit filming because truthfully, i got scared.
text i sent my son the night of the cell phone issue.

i don't mean to make my cat sound like an a-hole. he really isn't. most of the time.
i do feel badly for my contractor. he is working alone today in my house. well, kinda alone. 
good luck man!


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bad blog mom saying hey!

if my blog was a child it would be taken away.
i would be required to complete some sort of bad blog mom classes before i was handed my blogs password and log-in info again.

i won't even pretend and lie and swear that i'll be good. that i'll change. that i won't neglect this blog again.
because i will be neglectful. i, uh, actually have plans to ignore this blog tomorrow as well.

but for today i wanted to say hi and report that there isn't much to report. oh, other than my littlest little threw up at the soccer field the other morning. how not awesome is a sick kid on a week-end?
actually she spewed her dinner from the night before and her breakfast all in the parking lot while cars were parking and an opponent was walking past right at the exact moment.
that's how my kid rolls.
she'll puke as you walk by. it's a scare tactic really. lets her opponent know that she's germy so when she has the ball, take note that she will puke on you.
i'd let you score on me all day long if you puked in front of me.
unfortunately, we had to take her home and she didn't get to play in her first all star tournament of the season.

my middle little has been as cool as he always is. gingers evoke a kind of quiet smoothness.
i'm not talking MAD magazine gingers, they tend to be more "hey, look at me i'm the funny guy", but a deep red, gray eyed ginger like mine is smooth ya know, like a ginja-ninja. smooth. that's the only way i can explain.

my biggest little is in college. i know this because i just paid for it.
kids, get scholarships please. it's a nice way of thanking your parents for paying for everything else in your life up to that college point. i can pretty much assure you they will love you more IF you get scholarships. don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

so, all in all you haven't missed much.
puke, ginja smoothness and college.
don't be envious of me now.
unless of course your son happens to find a chip that he reports is the exact shape of your face...

if you want to be sure not to miss my (ahem) somewhat sporadic posts of late than please follow.
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wrapped and ready

i've been a bit quiet lately, december seems to do that to a person. 
tons to do. 
cookies to make (and eat), cards to send (kids wouldn't sit on santas lap so a plan b is in the works which make my cards new years cards), sons of anarchy episodes to catch up on (oh, hey jax), and ya know, the gifts, the wrapping and all that other glitter dusted december business.


i thought i would share some of my favorite gifts i wrapped for the littles from last year. so ya know, if you are in the thick of paper and bows, feathers and curling ribbon here are a few ideas for ya. 
you have exactly 17 hours left. 
ready? go!

i hope you all have a fabulous christmas eve and christmas day or whatever it is you celebrate!!