Finishing the great room

Well my attempt at washing the clothes and rags with grout on them followed by a rinse cycle did not work and this morning there was an ocean of sand grit in the drum.  I used Lysol wipes to clean it out but I need a better plan for the future. 

Then there are the shop wipes I bought.  They are red.  That is the only color they come in.  WHY??  Who the hell thinks it’s a fabulous idea to DYE rags red?? If you wash them the color bleeds all over everything.  Luckily the stuff I washed in that load are just rags or work clothes so it doesn’t really matter that they are now ALL …PINK.  Good thing Jym looks hot in pink. 

I also decided that today I would be grouting naked since that is the one sure fire way to avoid getting it on your clothes but then Jym insisted I wear something (I know... what??) because he said it would get all over me.  I humored him.  

Last night we laid one of my absolute favorite tiles…my sunshine tile.  The pattern on it looks like a sun and I strategically put it right at the exit from my bedroom so I can always wake up and start my day with the sunshine.  I know.  Lame.  But it felt right to put it there. 

I began my morning admiring the tile while Jym scraped some of the excess mortar from around the tiles we laid yesterday.  He was really going to town on them until I realized he had started to remove the GROUT that I had put in yesterday!  OOPS. Luckily I caught him pretty early on and pointed out his error.

I was actually looking at one of the tiles when I was moving it today and I noticed I could see the sun shining through it.  A lot of these tiles have deep pockets in the stone that create amazing patterns but also make the stone easily breakable which is why I am making sure to “butter” the backs really well to fill in the holes.  But honestly the ones with the deep tracks and pockets are usually the most stunning tiles.   

It is blazing balls hot outside today.  I mean you walk out the door and the heat just slaps your face.  I don’t know how Jym was outside doing all the tile cutting yesterday.  He is truly my hero.  Luckily the AC is holding out indoors since it is so miserable outside. 

We had to move the saw today (which is how I got outside in the heat).  Jym has been cutting on the back patio and wanted to leave the saw there under the roof section wrapped in a tarp. Sadly I do not trust anyone and leaving it outside even padlocked to the pillar is not happening.  There are far too many unknowns around here and a lot of contractors etc in the neighborhood and all it takes is for someone to see it and steal it and I will lose my mind.  So we decided to carry the saw and the stand (which was my work bench where I was sealing tiles but now its gone because we need it for the saw) the entire way around the house to the garage.  It will stay there for now.  We won’t use it again until next week anyway.  Leaving it outside overnight last night was hard for me but it was so late and I was exhausted so I wanted to deal with it today.  So glad it is safe now. Unfortunately we learned that when you think you have emptied the bin of water you will be wrong.  As we tilted the saw back toward me muddy water ran out all over me.  This was AFTER my shower right before I was heading out to the grocery store.  Fantastic. The saw and stand are also covered in Travertine dust.  It is such a fine white powder and Jym probably should have thoroughly cleaned it but did not so he was blowing it off all over me.  He said he might take his leaf blower and blow it off next time.  I need a photo of that.  I am sure the neighbors will wonder what we are doing. 

The dust in the house is so bad that JYM noticed it.  Let me just say that if Jym thinks something needs cleaned it DOES because his dirt threshold is WAY higher than mine.  Today Jym mentioned maybe we will want to start cleaning some stuff because the dust is really piling up.  The laughable part is that I have been trying to keep up with some of it but anything in the main area that doesn’t involve food prep areas has been just pushed aside since it just gets coated again. But my plan is that later this week when the floor cures we will start moving furniture back into the great room and I am going to clean it all and leave it covered in sheets so that the sheets will protect it all from the dust. 

Jym seems to be tracking clumps of mud into the house. I think it is from using the faucet on the side of the house.  I know he can’t help it but I am sweeping the tiles constantly.  I hope when this is all over I won’t be sweeping like a maniac 10 times a day. 

We decided to share the final grouting on the side tiles.  I thought we would only use a small part of the second gallon.  Yesterday I used the whole gallon but I did the whole floor really with that and now we only had to do the sides.  Well we have this rather large expansion gap due to our baseboard issue and a few bad cuts so we ended up using the entire 2^nd gallon.  It was kind of crazy.  I am not certain if the grout will harden in the container once we open it or if we can close it and it will hold.  I was ready to test that but no need since we literally used all of it.  But we needed to go get another one so we have at least 2 left.  They said we should only need 3 for the whole 600 square feet but obviously we were not getting through the entire rest of the floor with one left. 

Since we finished the grouting so early I thought maybe we should go get some more grout and have a nice meal.  We have been eating turkey sandwiches and it’s wearing on me a bit.  I wanted some time to just be with him and have a decent meal outside of this house.  I went to the grocery store and left him with the proposition to ponder.  When I returned with 3 12 packs of beer he seemed in love enough to agree to go. He has been really good through all of this so far and in that aspect it is going so much better than I expected.  I really wondered if we would be able to handle a job this large just him and I...both with temper issues and perfection issues and his manic bipolar mess and me with my...bitchiness.  But I guess our many past efforts at doing things for ourselves have taught us a lot about how to relate to each other and to the project. Do not get me wrong there have been small squibbles and once he even walked out to "cool down" but overall we have been pushing through 

We originally went for grout but then wanted to get a piece or two of the stacked stone for the next project (our built in with fireplace which we plan to build in the winter when its cooler).  We then took a peak at the travertine crate.  We like to hand pick some pieces that are extra special and let me just say that the crate they got was amazing.  We found 5 large and 5 small rectangles that were amazing and I cannot wait to pick where they will go!!!

Now tomorrow after work I will attempt to purchase baseboard at Lowes on my own.  Jym didn't feel like going today and I didn't push.  He is as exhausted as I am.

On the way to the grocery store I thanked Jym for being so awesome through all of this.  He said "Well I just asked myself what Outlander would do." (we had a previous discussion about how he thinks Outlander is the most romantic story ever) .  I came back from the store with 3 - 12 packs of beer and he was staring at them.  I asked "What?  Are you thinking I bought too much beer?"  he replied "Um no.  I was thinking what an awesome wife you are!!"  I said "Well I just asked myself what would Outlander do..."