This (Tuesday) is the last day of a 4 day weekend and I had set huge goals for myself including (in order of easiest to completely ridiculous):
- Finish the tile backsplashes in both bathrooms
- Finish the tile backsplash in the kitchen
- Finish installing about 400 square feet of hardwood flooring
- Tile our entryway from the garage
- Tile the shower in our master bathroom
- In our guest bedroom, build a shower pan, tile the entire thing and install a glass shower door
Most of the time, I’m pretty good about setting achievable goals*. I’ve done this work enough times that I can estimate it pretty well. Not this time. As I type this, not one of these projects is completely done. The first 4 are just about there. However, the last 2 aren’t going to happen.
Some of the forces that conspired against me:
- Our 7 year old had a wild meltdown Saturday morning**. I decided she needed some daddy-daughter time. We went walking by the river.
- The lure of a local microbrewery proved too much temptation early Sunday evening.
I actually did put all of these down, still need to grout though. And what is that? Yes, those are my black underpants in the upper right. I’m too tired and delirious to figure out how they got there. After the microbrewery, I made a very poor decision (perhaps influenced by the beverages consumed at the brewery) to watch the Chicago Bears game. I’m a Chicago native, but the Bears are horrible. I have no idea how they won 3 games. The team is like a car accident, I know I shouldn’t look, but can’t help it***.
- Old nasty man winter showed up in force on Monday afternoon. I draw the line at working a wet saw outside in a windy snowstorm.
- Also on Monday, all of the computers broke at my real job, so I had to log in to work and jiggle some cords.
- I like doing unconventional tile designs and working with natural stone, but I underestimated the difficulty of one of the projects. It will turn out great, but it is taking a long time. More next week…
- Finally, Mr. Buttcrack Builder continues to be a roofing nail in my side. He was the poorest excuse for a carpenter ever and I should have fired him much sooner than I did. I don’t think he ever framed a straight wall in his life. Dealing with these issues is enough to fill even the kindest mind with very bad images of things you’d like to do to him.****
So that brings me to today; I’m worn out and a bit disappointed in my lack of progress. I don’t regret it though. My neighbors just paid $3,000 for horrible tile work. More on that on Thursday.
Mrs. 1500 notes:
*This is a lie. This is such a big lie I cannot believe his nose didn’t grow 10 feet. Mr. 1500 absolutely does NOT set achievable goals. He sets goals that no one could possibly achieve. The sheer amount of work, assuming perfect conditions, was too much for him to finish. And then, after he sets said unattainable goals, he feels awful for not completing all tasks he unattainably set for himself…
**I was supposed to help with the floor, but instead I dealt with the older little 1500’s horrific meltdowns. She spent quite a bit of time in the Uncooperative Chair this weekend…
***Mr. 1500 is continually surprised at the poor performance of his beloved Bears. I am not. I gave up on them, in favor of the Colts and their awesome QB Peyton Manning back in 2011. Remember that season? The one he sat out? Guess who else Mr. 1500 likes? The Cubs. Sigh.
****Seriously, the difference between doing it right and doing it wrong is about zero extra minutes. Make sure the board is plumb. If all boards are plumb, the whole wall will be, too. Not rocket science…
If it’s any consolation, we also just finished a 4 day weekend and are headed back to work this morning with the house a mess, almost no food around, and we’re entering week 3 of having no laundry facilities in the house. At this rate it’ll be the 19th or the 20th before we can do the last of that work and get the inspector out to give it his blessing before I can start doing laundry in the house again. *sigh*
Mrs PoP recently posted…PoP Balance Sheet – October 2014
Whoah, week 3 of no washing machine! That would be a full on disaster.
As for there being no food in the house, there is always Kitty PoP!
Mr 1500 – I feel your pain. I too am a Bears fan, and after this weekend… well, there are no words…
Mrs SSC recently posted…To buy, or not to buy…. Wait, what was the question?
Mrs. SSC, I can think of quite a few words to describe the Bears, their season and Marc Trestman. None of these works are fit for polite conversation though!
Oooh! I cringed when I saw that large-format tile in your shower picture. Wanted to use the same in our recent bath renovation; luckily my contractor was smart/kind enough to tell me no. Everything needs to be really, really, plumb and flat for that to work – not the case in our 50s mid-century modern…
Yep, exactly. Our our carpenter framed out those walls and they are not plumb. I am not happy and utter many naughty when putting these tiles up.
Wow. I’m a complete novice, so I have no context. But that seems like an incredibly ambitious plan! Even the amount of work you accomplished seems like quite a bit of work.
Jenna @PFTwins recently posted…Brooke’s October Numbers
I am sooooooooo tired.
Hey!
Good job recognizing that the little one needed some Daddy time. There will always be something to tile, but limited time left with your kids. Hang in there!
PS – We had our first dusting of snow this morning. It’s coming….
Big Guy Money recently posted…Our Bathroom Remodel: A Roller Coaster Of Emotion
Yep, one cannot skimp on time with the kids. They do not react well.
It snowed like crazy here today. Uggh. Actually, I like the snow, just not the bitter cold.
Wow talk about ambitious!!!! I’m also putting some lofty goals before Thanksgiving since we have family coming in. Finish kitchen renovation, reorganize and decorate guest bedrooms, and try to start guest bathroom renovations. I don’t know how much I’ll get done.
SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted…Why Completing Your FNP Degree Online Can Be a Smart Financial Move
Hi SVL, I sincerely hope that your renovations go better than mine. Today, I managed to get my thumb with the mitre say. Ouch.
It’s been a slow go on our bathroom remodel as well. I’m installing the backer board today for the “tile over tub” though. Slow progress is better than no progress, but it can be painful. This morning I started questioning if I would get the chance to tile this weekend…..time will tell. Today I’m most grateful we have a second (and functional) bathroom. If not, the Mrs. would have killed me by now :/
-Bryan
Income Surfer recently posted…Retirement Double Dippers and a FREE Buffett e-Book
Ha yes, second bathrooms are critical. For a while, we only had one. And in that one, the toilet stopped working last year. That was NOT fun.
Hah! Seems like many in the PF-sphere took on home improvement stuff over the long weekend.
Right now my kitchen is full of drywall dust, but there is a wall nearly ready for paint where friday there was a 3’x7′ hole exposing a chimney that turned out to be a poor candidate for presentation.
Did I mention this hole has been in our kitchen since May? In my defense, there were outdoor projects to work on while the weather was decent. 🙂
And man oh man I dislike mudding and taping. I’d hire the job out if it were any bigger. Couldn’t bring myself to pay someone to do a small wall though.
Mr. Frugalwoods recently posted…Frugal Hound Sniffs: Indebted Mom
Lots of work but it’ll all be worth it when its done. Im interested in seeing how that shower tile ends up turning out. Btw cheese head here, so I loved every minute of that game 🙂
Go Packers!
Ha ha, sounds extremely manic! I look forward to having some similar stories to tell when I attempt to do our bathroom in January.
theFIREstarter recently posted…5 reasons why your commute is toxic
Bears and Cubs? Ouch. My pet theory for the root cause of the Bears problems is Brandon Marshall. He is a great talent but a malcontent. When he threw Cutler under the bus earlier in the season, I made up my mind: that guy has to go. Denver let him walk for a reason.
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You two crack me up! I think the bathroom is going to look amazing when it’s done!
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Sometimes, that’s how it goes….we live right by Ferguson and haven’t actually been home in 2 days, and we’re supposed to hosted thankgiving….talk about unachievable goals! There’s always tomorrow……
Gretchen recently posted…I live 2.5 Miles Away From #Ferguson & I’m and Accountant. Here’s What Ferguson Means for STL in the Years to Come
We are remodeling our second bathroom at the moment and it is really slow. Almost 2 months and it is not still finished =(
Thank you for posting this – I was inspired to replace my flooring. Not fancy tile like you – my skills aren’t there yet. Instead we used Allure (which is awesome) and saved $1600. Woot!
Hey Patrick, I’ve seen Allure flooring in action (my neighbors installed it) and it’s a wonderful solution; super easy and ultra-durable and easy to install. Keep killing it!