Pearls of Wisdom and Foolish Mutterings

Our Extreme Home Makeover

Today was another day of manual labor. Charles finished priming the overhang on the back patio and wiring the lights out there. And he finished caulking the woodwork around the patio door and all the trim on the porch. I caulked the trim in the master bedroom and cleaned and resealed the tile in both bathrooms. Then I made the mistake of trying the cleaner/resealer on a few squares of tile in the master bedroom and it looked so much better that I decided I need to do all the tile in the bedroom. Which of course led to my decision that I need to clean and reseal all of the tile in the whole house. I don't know what kind of clown lived there before or how he managed to get so much crap on the tile, but I've spent the last two days on my hands and knees with a scraper and a bottle of tile cleaner and a scrub brush erasing all of his "mistakes."

Fortunately, the tile that I've finished looks fabulous. I'd hate to do all that work and have it look anything less than fabulous. So, I have my work cut out for me for the next several days. It will take a while to finish all the tile. The whole house is tiled, except for the new den, which will be carpeted.

The really weird thing is that I'm starting to find out that I really like doing all of this. It's that immediate gratification thing. I love being able to see the results of my hard work immediately. So, maybe this manual labor thing isn't too bad after all. And it's a lot less boring than exercising.

For those of you who have asked to see before and after pictures (and the rest of you, too, of course!) I've uploaded them to Picasa. You can view it as a slideshow. Here's the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kayspage/LaPorteHouseBeforeAndAfter?feat=directlink

Oh, I almost forgot. We ordered the appliances today and they will be delivered on Wednesday. I can't wait to see how the kitchen looks with the appliances in it. I'll take pics of that and post those too. And my mad shopping skills paid off big-time - you wouldn't believe the awesome price I paid for the whole package of kitchen appliances. I am so good!