TaDAAA!

It is taking longer to complete the project than we anticipated, but it’s going wonderfully well considering we’ve only had about 12 hours of actual tiling to work with. John, has never participated in the tiling efforts of past projects but you would never know it. The experience I gained on those past projects as tiling helper has, to my amazement, come back to me.  We’ve had to stop and think out a few issues but luckily those issues were spotted well ahead of time, planned for and we sailed right on through them. I think, if we did this every day (like THAT is going to happen BAHAHAHAHA) we could do this professionally and get the job done in two days rather than a week and be as good as the best tile professionals out there. Yes, our little job is looking that good. We’re very proud of it so far and I know Billiam would be too.

Just look at that perfect edge on a slightly off square wall!

The walls are off square, thankfully, not as much as Billiam guesstimated, but by adjusting the width of the grout lines ever so slightly we made the thing look perfect because the line of tile is straight and the cut tiles are all even. Tiles that had to be cut to fit at the doors and door facings matched up so perfectly it’s difficult to realize that there are even cut tiles there. They just look like the baseboards were installed over the full tiles.

In spite of the difficulties surrounding our poor little abused wet saw, I have prevailed. Tile cutting was always my job so that Billiam wouldn’t have to get up and down so often and I got pretty darned good at it.

One of the tiles I cut to fit a doorway. (In the dark, with a flashlight between my teeth)

So, yes. We’re pretty stoked about it. John’s work schedule, is, of course, ridiculous so the grout is going to take a few days. When Billiam and I did the tile in the den we had a hard time choosing between two grout colors. One was a dark brown, “Chocolate”, and the other was a few shades lighter, “Nutmeg”. We ended up choosing the lighter color and we were disappointed in how it looked once the grout had cured. It still looks great, but it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. This time around, I chose the “Chocolate”. I’m hoping it will be more like our original vision, but if it’s not, well, Chocolate in the bedroom just cannot possibly be a bad thing right?

Grout and grouting tools are ready and on standby, waiting for John to have another morning shift. Thank goodness I didn’t decide to tile the bedroom before we turned the old office into a guestroom.

It’s still hot outside 95% of the time but we are getting short breaths of Autumn once in a while. It is September in Aridzona and that means the holidays are approaching.  We will, as usual, be hosting a post-Thanksgiving Feastival for our juggling friends and who ever else would like to turn up. Hopefully, I can get William’s family out here for a nice supper on the patio when the weather is cooler and the patio won’t be an oven. Then, of course, my favorite holiday, Christmas. I’d like to be sans cobwebs so that the pretty lights don’t spotlight that sort of grunge. I don’t decorate for Halloween. I don’t have to.

Today’s task is to clean doors and door frames, see which doors need repainting and wash the walls that are only covered with art or light furniture. What I really need are a magic wand and a fire hose. What I have are rags and Scrubbing Bubbles. I learned long ago that semi-gloss or gloss is the only paint compatible with my lifestyle. Both I can spray with Scrubbing Bubbles that will cut through kitchen grease and grime and wipe right off with a damp rag with no paint damage. If I have to clean I also have to make it as easy as possible.

If I manage my Fall cleaning tasks for this week I am giving myself a new Nook. My old one doesn’t keep a charge for more than a few chapters and has recently become stubborn about releasing books I want to re-read from the “Cloud”. Then, at the end of each week of completed tasks, I will treat myself to a new book.

I will endeavor not to think about the fact that all of this will likely need to be done again in January. Ugh.

My actual working list is broken down room by room, to make me think I’ve actually accomplished something by end of day. For this blog, however, I’m just lumping it all together.  My Fall list of grunge to do something about that needs to be completed by the end of October:

Before anything else can happen, corral the mutts. Less help is a big help in that department.

Move furniture away from walls. ALL of it. Including that damned low set of drawers that weighs about eight billion pounds where the TV and video stuff sit. Ugh.  Then vacuuming, dusting, mopping and washing the walls and cleaning the baseboards behind all that furniture will be a piece of cake comparatively.

Remove and clean art, wall hangings, etc. wash walls.

Wash shower curtains and drapes. (Yes, I said wash drapes. If it needs dry cleaning, it is not welcome in my house.)

Move and Clean all appliances, large and small and clean shelves, walls and floor under and behind them.

Wash and/or repaint door facings.

Track down and murder every last dust bunny.

Clean pot shelf

Clean light fixtures and fans

Clean cabinets

Clean under sinks

Polish mirrors and counters

Thoroughly scrub and clean floors.

Clean leather and pleather furniture

Polish wood furniture and baseboards.

Take clothes I’ll never fit in again to the local charity shop.

Wash windows and screens.

Repair bull nose corners (see a previous post that describes this project) in bedroom and repaint.

Thoroughly clean patio furniture.

Yes, I realize most of these tasks should be done at least weekly. However, if I kept this house the way this house should be kept I’d never be able to do another thing. Ever. I would die smelling like scrubbing bubbles.