all finished except for the....

I'm all finished with the bathroom except for the....baseboard. Daaaaah! Bloody baseboard. It wouldn't be a problem except I broke some on the removal. I bought replacement baseboard and tried to color match it to the trim on and around the door and it's not working well. Luckily I've got another project lined up for the baseboard so I don't feel too much guilt in going back to HD and searching for pre-stained baseboard.

Oh, and I'm waiting on the sewing department to sew me up a new curtain. Waiting....waiting...waiting. Once those two hanging chad tasks are done, then the bathroom will really, really be complete.

And by the way, it looks awesome! The tile turned out great, the soft pink walls are soothing, the drawer pulls and towel rods all match and a fresh batch of caulk has been caulked into place.

So stop by and see it!

TSA and weightlifting

Did you hear that the TSA has a new method of screening for terrorists and other lawbreakers?
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20081118/1a_offlede18_dom.art.htm

I had read about this last week, but the article that I read didn't go into detail about what the new screening methods consist of. This morning while returning home from a work trip to Boston I think I may have experienced those new methods....

After receiving my ticket and proceeding to the line for the X-ray machines into the terminal at Boston Logan I got into line and waited to be screened. Up ahead next to the TSA agent who looks at your ticket and ID was another TSA agent that was chatting with nearly everyone in line. I make my way through the line and I try and avoid talking to the woman (I hate talking to strangers at airports) but she asks me in a friendly-getting-to-know-you way where I'm headed, how often I travel, if I'm from the area, if I'm looking forward to the holiday...blah blah.

I joked with my coworker that this was there new terrorist screening method. Which seemed funny at the time because she looked like she should be taking her grandkids to the zoo instead of screening for terrorists. Maybe this is their new method...deploy extra agents to chit chat with those in line and see who acts out of character. Or, was she just a bored TSA emploee. I wonder.....

I finally joined the 1000 pound club this afternoon. It's no official club, but it is when the sum of your squat, bench press and deadlift are equal to or greater than 1000 pounds. I had a squat of 385, bench press of 290 and a deadlift of 365 --totaling 1040 pounds.

The squat and deadlift are new personal bests for me. Just 5 more pounds on squats and that's all the weight I have to use! 390 is all I have!

Happy Thanksgiving!

bathroom update

My helper and I spent this past saturday working on installing a toilet, new towel rings, a toilet paper holder and new blinds. It took all day to do them as well...unfortunately my helper wanted to be in the thick of the action. Too bad for him he isn't allowed to touch the hammer, screwdriver, the spot light, the caulk gun, the wax ring for the toilet, the new blinds, etc.



Bathroom projects proceed most efficiently with a lightsaber at the ready.

Master bathroom update

I grouted for the first time last night. I think the floor looks pretty darn good. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it.


On to painting this weekend!

tiling is...

...really darn hard. I'm not going to sugar coat it for you, this is a tedious, knee-hamstring-lower back killing, difficult project. Although Amanda's impressed reaction of delight was worth it.

It took me a little over 5 hours to get all the tiles laid out just the way I wanted, cut and dry fit. The hard part of it was the bathroom is upstairs and the wet saw is in the garage. One of my mistakes was just leaving the saw on the floor. So I'm up in the bathroom hunkered down on my knees making measurements, then into the garage on my knees cutting tile. Not good.

First piece of advice, mount the wet saw on a table top to save your knees.

Second piece of advice, buy the expensive knee pads. I went through saturday without any. This morning after church I went to Home Depot and bought a (relatively expensive) 15 dollar pair. They were worth every freaking penny. Every single one. Each one.

So here are all of the tiles laid out and dry fit.


Not much of a difference here in this next picture, but this after putting down the mortar and laying the tiles. What really boggles my mind is that I bought a gallon of pre-mixed mortar which says will cover 50-60 sq ft. Our bathroom is just a smidge over 30 sq ft. Somehow, I ran out of mortar. I don't really know how thick to put it on, but I thought it was going on rather thinly. I don't know, it must be because it's pre-mixed.

So this is now my biggest worry. I didn't get the gushy mortar effect that I was expecting to have, based on what I learned from my co-workers who have tiled. I'm just hoping it's this pre-mixed stuff that is causing this.

Anyway, I'll buy more tomorrow and see what happens.

Master Bathroom Project Phase 2 part 1

My helper and I started on the tiling project for the master bathroom. Here is a before picture:


I first convinced my helper that he should sit in the pack and play for a little bit while I was moving all of our stuff to the other bathroom. He was content with that for a while, but wasn't having it when the fun started happening. The fun was the removal of the light fixture, toilet paper holder, towel racks, door, shower doors, wood trim and the toilet. I've never taken a toilet all of the way off. Tank yes, tank and bowl, no. Today's experience taught me that used wax rings are gross. Now our gross wax ring is in a plastic zip lock bag waiting to be taken to Home Depot to match up with a new one to replace it.

Now that my helper was free to roam around our bedroom, he decided now as a good time to try and fit between the headboard of our bed and the wall. Nope, he still doesn't fit. But it was a good photo opportunity. I took the picture too late, he squeezed out already.


I then managed to install the wonderboard while my helper played peek a boo with my tarp. It was a good use of his time. Wonderboard is concrete that is sandwiched between to two pieces of meshed screen like material. It is supposed to go down on top of the subfloor before you install tile to keep the floor from flexing over time and preventing the grout, mortar or tiles from cracking.


Ta da! Wonderboard installed. My helper can take as much credit as he would like. To be honest, Xander was pretty darn good all day long and let me get quite a bit of work done. I can't complain that he made me take too many breaks because I would have been breaking to eat any way, he just made it convenient for us both.


I just laid out the tile tonight before stopping and it looks pretty good. It is an almond color and should look good.