Headache/End of the World

This week the plan was to finish the dining room. It did not seem overly ambitious but I am learning that with this project even a small amount of works ends up being way more than expected. 

I began with the grout.  We had finished the middle of the floor last week but needed to cut the edge tile which had not happened yet.  So I started the grouting and Jym measured for the cut pieces.  

I feel like we are always wasting time running to Lowes over something we forgot or didn't plan on needing.  It is absurd at this point since last week I spent $500 trying to make sure we got everything we needed. This time it was Jym who went on the run.  All while I continued to grout the floor.  

But before he left some strange kids showed up in the driveway.  He was out getting ready to make the cuts and moved our cars into the street and the kids were there.  He tried to tell them to watch out but they looked confused and then he realized they only spoke Spanish so he spoke to them in Spanish and then came in to tell me about it because they just stood there staring at him and it was creeping him out.  As he went to leave for Lowes he said that he better get out there and hoped he didn't find strange kids in out garage. So he opens the door and the kids have migrated up the driveway and were standing at the open garage entrance just staring at the old broken lamp we had out there.  It was all Children of the Corn.  LOL

I HATE grouting.  I am sure I mentioned this before.  It is messy and the premixed stuff dries hard and fast which is good for the floor and bad for your skin.  I would much rather do the mortar than the grout.  It is also super sandy and gets all over.  I did try the sponge that came with the grout this time.  Actually I am not at all certain why I did not try it sooner but it looked cheap compared to the fancy "professional" grout sponge I bought.  But I think I like it better.  It seems like it has something in it like soap that foams when I put it in the bucket.  Not sure what that is but either way it seems to clean up the mess better and doesn't fall apart as I expected.  

Jym cut the pieces we needed to still lay and we numbered them and laid them up against the wall.  He was doing OK until he suggested we take a break so he could lay down a while and we would start back up after that. I said that was fine because a storm had moved in and we couldn't mix the mortar anyway (a setback I had not even considered) and knowing that as long as we got the rest of those tiles laid that night I could grout those the next day.  Well he got up from his nap and was complaining of a headache and took a Claritin and some Tylenol and it still did not go away.  He managed to mix the mortar but the minute we started laying it he was moody and snippy and said his headache was getting worse.  At one point I thought I might have to take him to the hospital it was so bad but he kept going.  You kind of have to once you mix the mortar.  

Then one of the tiles we tried to lay didn't fit and he had already laid another one and instead of stopping and assessing he tried to pry up this awesome tile and broke it...like shattered it completely in half.  Then he flipped out because he broke it and tried to cut it and re-lay it with the crack. I was worried that although it was a gorgeous tile (why he chose to cut that one I have no fucking clue in the first place) it would look like it had cracked after we laid it.  Sometimes you can get away with  cracks because the tile looks naturally cracked but I assure you that this one looked like it cracked.  So then he was double angry that I made him lift that and cut ANOTHER tile.  If he would have just left that tile set and cut the OTHER tile that wouldn't fit there would not have been a problem but his problem solving skills were in the flusher with his headache and he was not listening to me.  So in the end we got all the tiles laid but it was like pulling teeth the whole time and it was now dark outside.  I went and showered and Jym went outside and threw up on the rock bed.

He was then sick all night.  I worried about him the whole night.  He was not sleeping well and he had man pain where he moans and thrashes around like he's dying. So I didn't sleep well.