Days 15 and 16 are now posted to the Renovations .Mac photo-journal.

I talked about Saturday's progress in the previous post.

Yesterday, I grouted all of the tile. Going in we thought it might take an hour or two. It took five. And it was not easy like I thought it would be. And it was nowhere near as fun as I imagined it would be. Cheryl's brother Chuck helped out for the first 3.5 hours, wiping the excess grout off the tiles with a sponge. At 3:30 he had to go to work, so I called my friend Justin for some emergency grout-sponging help. I pulled him out of work (working on Sunday afternoon, wtf?) to help me. I owe Chuck and J one now for sure. ;-) I told Chuck that once the renovations are done I would help him with his place... it needs a major de-cluttering.

Last night I was as sore as I have felt since I went paintballing for the first time after being sick for the previous 3 weeks. Couldn't move. I thought I would be so sore today that I couldn't move, and figured I'd be calling in sick, but I woke up feeling just slightly sore, nothing like last night.

My fingers, however, are another story. They ache from pushing and pulling that trowel around for 5 hours. Typing is helping though, because it's keeping them moving. They burn, but it's a good burn.

And my fingertips feel like sand. I have always had beautiful skin on my hands and fingers, baby-soft since I am a desk-boy and hate having dirty hands, but I fear that may have ended yesterday. I used my fingers for some of the grouting around the edges (cracks between tile and cabinet, or tile and wall), and I think all that gritty sandy stuff wore out the skin on my fingertips. Hopefully it's just temporary damage because my fingers feel gross like this. ;-)

Take a look at Day 16's photo album, I think the tile looks great and it was worth all the work, but it was a LOT of work. Don't forget, the subfloor had to be installed and screwed every 4" before the tile and mortar could go down.