Just wanted to give you guys an update on the tile project.  We started looking at tile and realized it was going to be a bit pricier that we thought.  We were going to wait and see if they went down or to see if we could take advantage of a contractors discount, but we decided to bite the bullet now and pick a nice tile and go for it.  After looking long and hard, we found a tile that we liked and it was a good price so we got it.  It took two cars to get it home and nearly broke our backs getting it in the house.  We did not realize that would be the easy part.

The first day was demolition of the carpet, padding, tack strips, and molding.  That was done by noon so we decided to go ahead and start on the tile.  Before I could do that I needed to clean up the floor which required the use of the shop vac that I did not own.  Off to Home Depot for another toy!  Clean up was done by 1:30 and it was on to the tile.  My lovely wife was off to work during this part (how do you think I snuck in the new toy?) so I started and sent pictures as I went to make sure it looked the way she wanted it to.  Luckily I was following her instructions correctly and even got the inserts in the way she wanted. 

I continued on until she got home and together we got about half way done.  I do not know if any of you have ever laid tile before, but it is not fun and at the half way point I was beat.  We both were thankful to call it a night and vowed to finish up the next day.

The next day was another work day for my lovely wife and I did not get back on the tile until 9:30.  Progress started a little slow, but I was making progress and it was nice to see that we did make a good choice in the tile and fact that she wanted it on a diagonal made it look that much better.  Plus as you can see from the pics she wanted this little insert and asked if I could do it.  I was not sure that I could, but I tried and boy did it look good.  Being so poud of my work made it easier to keep going.  By the time my wife got home I was 80% done.  She got changed and we finished up what was left and got the last of the tricky angles knocked out.  Here are some more pictures.

Now its on to the grouting which I am sure will be another adventure.  Here is one tip for those of you who have never done this, but are think about it and want to use the pre-mix tile mortar.  The area coverage estimates that are listed on the bucket are way off.  According to the manufactured two buckets should have been enough to finish our project of 350 square feet.  We went through 5 buckets and this was using the mortar exactly as the directions indicated.  So if you are planning to use this stuff, which I must admit is alot easier than mixing your own, you should at least double the amount they say you will need.  Also,  this was not the easiest thing I have ever done and I was really sore, tired and in need of pain medication after, so take you time and make sure you have time and are physically committed to get something like this done.

I will be sure to let you know how the grouting goes and will post pictures of the finished product.  Wish me luck!

I know its been a long time since I have been on here and I am sorry about that.  Not to much to report this time, but I will do my best to fill you in on what has been going on and even give you a tip on where to get a custom entertainment center of you very own.

My wife and I have still been pretty diligent about going to the gym except for a week off around Thanksgiving and this past week of trying to get ready for Christmas.  I have not done another check in on the scale yet, but I will do one after the holidays and I will let you know where I am at.

One thing that did happen over the holidays was a little electrical spike.  This little devil took out the mother board on my desktop computer.  My first thought was to get another mother board that was an upgrade to the fried one and just install it myself.  Then we went to BJ’s and wouldn’t you know they had a great deal on a really nice laptop.  I had planned on getting a laptop, but I had no Idea I would enjoy it as much as I am enjoying this thing.  My wife had set up a wireless network in our home and with the laptop I can use it where ever I want.  For instance, right now I am laying on the sofa typing this stuff.  We were so impressed with my laptop, we went back to BJ’s and got another on for her.  Of course I had to load all of my music on here and that took a little while.  I am a music freak and I have over 500 cd’s.  But now I have it all on my laptop and its all organized and labeled with the all the album art too.  I have also had to get the hang of this new Vista thing and it is actually pretty neat.  I know there have been some bugs and Microsoft is continually sending out fixes, but I am getting used to it and it looks alot better than the old XP.

I guess I should mention that we are going to embark on a flooring project over the Christmas holiday.  I will have before and after pictures and a full report on the process.  We plan to do the living room floor and tackle the kitchen some time after that.  All we have to do is pick out the tile and we will be good to go.  Stay tuned to see how it goes.

Now about the custom entertainment center.  I do not know if you are like me, but I have alot of home entertainment components which includes, two 400 disc cd changers, a receiver, dvd player, cd recorder, turn table, and the dreaded cable box (so want to get rid of comcast, but stuck for now).  I needed an entertainment center that would house all of this stuff and hold a 50″ tv.  A friend of mine from work actually built one that actually had the room for all my stuff and a drawer for the turntable.  All I had to do was give him the measurements that I needed for each compartment and he build an absolutely beautiful piece of furniture.  I am going to try an post some pictures of it on here.  He also built a subwoofer stand for me that actually matches the entertainment center.  Let me know what you think and if you want I can hook you up with the builder.  I think I got the pictures in and you should be able to click here….