Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tile!
The snow helped us out a bit in that it cleared off some projects and bumped us up in the queque to have our tile laid! My cousin, Jim, runs a maintenance and handyman company in Athens, had an experienced “tile guy” and traveled! So, they came up late Thursday afternoon and prepped the floor and assessed it; it was more uneven than we hoped and it would take quite a bit to really get it fully leveled out, but there was one area that he knew really needed it and they’d have to get some leveling stuff (that’s the technical term, I’m sure). When they left on Thursday night, here’s what they had slapped down:
I was told John, the tile guy, would be back before 8:00 the next morning. Due to road conditions and traffic, however, it was nearly noon when he got there. I expected Jim to be later, but was a bit miffed about sitting around waiting all morning (as I’m sure they were with having to deal with the road conditions and sitting in traffic). But, he got right to work and I *nearly* got over it. They put the leveling liquid down in the area that needed it, but now had to wait on it to dry, which would prove a longer process thanks to the cold and thickness required. You can see they worked around it as best they could – the dark gray area is clearly wet. We had a little heater and a fan going on it and I bumped up the heat in the house to try to get it warmer down there and help it dry.
moving into the closet by 6:30! (that spot is slowly turning a lighter, drier gray.)
before they left they had most of it, sans a few cut pieces in the entryway down!
Jim had to get home for the weekend, but John came back on Saturday around 10:00 to finish laying the last few pieces and then start on the grouting. We had been advised by the friendly team member at Lowe’s to get a sealant that mixes in with the grout. John had not used it before, but apparently, it made the grout dry really fast, so he was working extra hard to get it grouted and scrubbing to get it wiped off. It looked great, color-wise, while it was wet, providing a nice slightly darker contrast to the light tile, but once it dried it lightened up considerably and blends in more than I’d like. There are still some dark spots we’re waiting to see how they turn out – are they still wet or what? John came back out this evening to wrap up.
grouted. . it still has a slight haze, once it cures, we’ll have to mop.
Overall, it’s a VAST improvement and we are very happy with how it looks and turned out and are SO GLAD, we ended up not attempting it ourselves. Greg got a new cloud light fixture hung and replaced some of the receptacles today. I really like the look and it provides a good amount of light.
I can’t wait to get the baseboards up and start moving in! With a heater!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Winter Wonderland
The first I heard about the Great Snow Storm of 2011 was Friday when I picked Dellaina up from school. She was telling me about how they were going to get to wear PJs on Friday and then she asked about, “are we going to school on Monday?” and I thought she might be thinking about the upcoming holiday we have so I told her, “yes, we’ll go to school on Monday, it’s the next Monday that is a holiday” and she mentions something about “they weren’t sure we’d be able to get to school with the icy roads.” oh. hmm. So, sure enough, I look around at weather reports and start hearing all of the talk and hype. And come Sunday, the radar looks like it’s on it’s way by 4:00. I get in my run, thinking I’m going to be outrunning the first snowflakes. And then the radar shows us under the blue for snow at 6:00, but we’re still not seeing anything. I hear reports it will be 8:00, but it’s closer to 9:00 before Greg & I see the start of the snow. And it does come down pretty heavily and we walk around looking out the windows and watching the world turn white. It was pretty great. He went on to bed around 10 and around midnight I went to bed and it was still coming down. We ended up with a good 5 1/2 inches, but I hear places near Athens accumulated over 7! That’s really something! The next morning after breakfast, we got on our layers. We’re not exactly equipped for snow, so I just tried to put several layers of things on to slow the progression of wetness soaking through. Wyatt did have some long john’s and then some of his gymnastics pants, another shirt and sweater and then we had some pretty good snow coats from neighbors I’d forgotten about hanging in his closet! Dellaina had on a pair of “yoga” stretch pants under her normal pants, waffle knit shirt and sweater under her new puffy coat. We put on two pairs of socks and rain boots, gloves and then mittens on top. Each time the top layers were pretty wet, but the under layers remained dry, so it was pretty effective! It was great to have Greg home with us on Monday and we sled down the driveway on a rubber/plastic trash can lid! I was really impressed with the kids. They were very brave and had a blast. We did more on Tuesday as things were definitely icier and then today was really slick and they each took a turn, Wyatt riding up onto the actual driveway pad part and then we started putting salt out to try to melt the ice, thinking we’d have to be going to school tomorrow. However, it’s closed again! I missed my entire first week at KSU!
Three days going into four days into this great winter wonderland, my feet really hurt from wearing the rain boots everyday and walking around the neighborhood; we are all a bit stir crazy; it is wicked cold outside and windy and things are really slick now and not as much fun! Today was my birthday and I relished getting to get out to go to the gym AND the grocery store! I got milk, yogurt and fruit, but they were cleared completely out of bread.
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