Un-Valentine's Day and Other News

My husband is not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. He thinks he should be expected to do nice things for me at random times throughout the year. We usually skip the presents but at least try to have a date night. This year it was test week for him so we just kinda skipped it all together. This week he found this lovely thing on Craig's List and decided to buy it for me as an Un-Valentine's Day gift.
I took lessons for eleven years (that's right isn't it, mom?) but haven't really had a chance to play much for the last five or six years. It's kinda hard to practice when you don't have a piano. Thanks to everyone that helped get it picked up and into our house. I love it! The lady that we bought it from took such good care of it and was so happy to see it go to someone who would play it a lot. We LOVE Craig's List.
I played it all night.

Yes, I'm using my laptop for music because I don't have any yet. I'm so glad this is a picture and not a video because I really need some practice - I'm so rusty!

Also, please try to pretend that the huge pile of boxes isn't there, that my hair looks like I care about it, and that the piano isn't the sole piece of furniture in the room.
In other news, I got a second job about a month ago. I work about fifteen hours a week at Nordstrom now in addition to my full-time job at the hospital.

Some days it makes me feel crazy, but for the most part I think it is a really good thing. It gives us a little extra money (who couldn't use that?), it keeps me out of Scooter's hair so he can study more, and it forces me to wear clothes other than scrubs a few days a week. Scooter is still warming to the idea of two jobs, but my first paycheck helped him a bit.

The other news of the week is that I already turned in my vacation request for Christmas/New Years. A little early, but I was determined to be home for Christmas this year!

We also lived the American dream yesterday and fired up our grill (another Craig's List purchase) and had a little BBQ in our backyard. We felt like it was a life milestone of some kind. I hope we have seen the end of winter for good. May it never come back!

Tiling Phase Two: Floor

Today we did Tiling Phase Two: Floor. It was a lot of fun. The weather almost stopped our plans though. This scene is starting to look really familiar. Doesn't it seem a little late in the year for weather like this though? We probably got six inches!Here's the "before" picture.We felt really comfortable and able to do it without any help since we had done the shower last Saturday. I was the designated tile saw operator and did every cut by myself. Scooter did everything else. I couldn't get any photos of him because I would have been tiled into the bathroom...
(and yes, he was wearing my Wicked sweatshirt...)

See it fits!


I was laughing at how cold I was and how the saw was spraying water all over me and running down my shirt, but after a few minutes it stopped being funny and started getting really cold.

I finally got smart and started covering myself with a towel to try and stay dry. I soaked through three towels before we were done. I had to keep my lips closed to prevent little tile chips and dirty water from flying into my mouth - learned that the hard way. Turns out I was the perfect height to have the saw flipping water into my face. I was the picture of loveliness - goggles, earplugs, towel, rubber gloves, etc.

Lest you think I only did straight cuts. I was proud of this one.
The finished product. Next is Tiling Phase Three: Paint and Grout
(no, we're not keeping the lovely lavender - I know you are disappointed!)

Tiling Phase One: Shower

We finished Phase One: Shower today. We learned a TON but are really happy with the results. Let me show you. Here is the bathroom pre-destruction. It is hard to get pictures of it because of its size, but you get the idea. Plain white tile in the shower with gross grout. Half carpet and half laminate. I am personally opposed to carpet in the bathroom and would rather use rugs to stand on for warmth. Also, lest you think we chose the lovely lavender color - we didn't. Just wanted to clear that up.
Here goes the destruction! I was so nervous about this because there was no going back after we ripped it out. Look at the nasty semi-rotting carpet pad underneath!
Here is the original flooring that was under two other layers. Wow.
Our poor shower. We actually ended up removing the drywall as well, but when we started the destruction phase we thought we needed to preserve it - you don't. Actually you shouldn't have regular drywall behind tile in a shower, it should be cement board. What can we say? We learned A TON on this project!
Now you can see the cement board starting to be put up. Scooter and his friend are doing a bit of plumbing work. They decided to raise the shower head a couple feet. And fix a small leak.
Our poor counter was probably so confused by the non-bathroomy items covering it.
Scooter laying the first tile.
An hour later he started working in the mosaic border.

We had help from three really great friends. We absolutely never could have done it without their support and help. Literally they spent hours and hours at our house this past week. We were really nervous to take on this project because it was our first big project that involved something that wasn't basically just painting. They helped us feel confident enough to do it.
This is Matt.
Vohn.
and Kade.
We even had Matt's wife, Reagan contributing.
Kade and his wonderful table tile saw.
We were so so lucky for some reason we had to make very very few cuts. We only had to cut about an inch off the bottom row and some notches for the plumbing. Amazing!

The last row and some difficult cuts.
Even the mud worked out perfectly. We used every last bit, but didn't have a ton extra.
Laying the last tile.
Phase One: Shower - Completed!

Next up? Phase Two: Floor

Are We Crazy?

It is strange what I find fascinating lately. We have decided to take the plunge and remodel one of our bathrooms... by ourselves.... Maybe we're crazy, but we figure if we totally ruin it we can have someone come fix it for us. Hopefully this will be one of those times when our perfectionist personalities will actually be a benefit instead of a hindrance. I'll keep you updated.

Today we were halfway though watching this movie before I started laughing at how seriously we were hanging onto every word and even repeating things he said aloud.