Tiling with the Britton's (what the hell were we thinking?!)

Well, like most cases it started with this hair brained idea we could do something we saw on TV. Now I don't mean like the Ron Popeil and the pocket fisherman or the how to sale on ebay guy. We decided to tile a room. Over time I have learned to let my friends feel the pain first and learn from their mistakes or better yet, be there to suffer with them. Sure enough my buddy Andy tiled his bathroom and did a real good job. So we thought, why not. Another big thing we've learned to do is practice on a room or area you don't care as much about (this is why our laundry room is 3 colors at this point). So we chose the guest bathroom. I mean seriously, these people are getting a free room and board, if the tile looks like crap they can't complain. If this goes well, we plan to do our master bathroom. Please, read on....


This is the bathroom stripped of base trim, linoleum and the toilet moved to the shower. We might be from WV but I'm not putting the toilet on the back porch, I mean, it's not even May! All in all, this took about 30 mins to get this far. Wasn't bad at all. Of course we don't have any pictures of our "before" bathroom. Why would we do that?



Here I am cutting the backer board to fit the toilet ring. This also wasn't bad except carrying this stuff up and down the stairs, that part got old. It's a sheet of concrete, what do you expect.



It pretty much went to hell from here. Some how the easiest part (mud floor, lay down backer, screw to floor)didn't go to well. No idea what happened. The floor was all wavy, like big waves. Visible waves. My guess is the thinset sucked and just didn't flatten out right. I'm sure 230lbs on it was bound to help but it just didn't. I about burnt my drill up screwing these darn things down. A burnt up drill wouldn't be a bad thing, I could use some new toys but unfortunately, it lived. Like Craig's dad on the movie Friday said, "you live, you live to fight another day". Stupid drill. Please note rough 'working' beard. Sorry ladies, I'm married.

Mandy was pretty sick (long story) for some time so we lost more than a week working on this. Once she was better we jumped back on it. You'd think she could have laid some tile or something while she was sick rolling in the floor, I mean, she was already down there. Back to the issue at hand. Since the floor was so wavy I thought I'll just pull the board up. So I then removed the 60+ screws that almost burnt my drill up. I put my safety glasses on, got my only stone chisel, ball peen hammer, a deep breath and swung for a grand slam. Nothing. I tried this several times and all I got was mad. So I hit the middle of the floor very hard with the hammer and gave my best Tim Allen grunt. It made an indentation but I considered it progress and it made me a little happy. The next morning I went to home depot to talk to Mike, my new best friend at home depot. Mike said just put some leveling mud on it and I'd be fine. The guy can see me coming a mile away and I'm pretty sure I saw dollar signs in his eyes this last time, it's kinda creepy. Clearly we had to put a 'little' mud down. By little, I mean we almost covered the entire floor. After this dried we had to sand it down. It was somewhere just before this point, it wasn't fun any more. To add insult to injury I e-mailed the manufacture of the backer board asking should we pull the board or just put the level compound on top. They replied 2 days later and told me by no means should I put the level compound on top of the board and the premixed thinset should never be used under the board. Then they pointed out I should pull everything, scrape the floor clean and start over and I'm pretty sure they said something insulting about my mother and threatened to kick my dog if I owned one. They were a day late and dollar short because we said to hell with it and marched forward. FYI, the tub is level.

We did get back to doing things smart for a change. Here we are dry fitting the tiles to we didn't have to do it all on the fly. Now by smart I meant the dry fit, not the day we chose to do this on. On Saturday it was 72 degrees, no, we chose the 45 degree Sunday to use the wet saw. Ah, what fun. At the end of the day my hair was matted together with water and tile particles. I didn't think it would come unglued but with enough hot water and some shampoo it finally broke loose. On the upside if this would have happened with my hair fixed, I would never have washed it and I'd have that always ready look. Mandy really enjoyed using those tile nippers. It was kinda scary honestly.

It was at this point I learned tiling is more of an art form than an exact science. I'm good at 'unbolt, bolt back on'. Not so much at small adjustments. Never have been, no idea why. Any how in hindsight we both think the thinset was too thin. At least it wasn't the premixed crap. Also we might have got our chalk lineup triangle in the wrong spot. It made perfect since while we were dry fitting everything. Not so much when the actual tile laying started. Oh well, to late now, just keep moving and try to keep them straight.


So 2 days later we got everything ready to grout. At this point we took some utility knives and cleaned the grooves out and also wiped the thinset off the tiles.


Mandy gave me the puppy dog eyes and said she never gets to do anything.....thats a lie, she give me the 'tude and said she never gets to do anything and told me I have an intelligent rumpus. Fair enough, I don't do it on purpose but she's probably right. I just jump in and end up doing a good bit of stuff. She's more the Robin to my Batman, the Chewbacca to my Han Solo if you will. So I told her she could grout. Not that I minded. Those stinkin' tile just cut into my knees, so have at it.


She did a really awesome job grouting. The only downside is the epoxy grout we used starts to dry and the work time isn't very long. Since neither of us had done this before we didn't know exactly what to do so we got close to this stuff sitting up by the time she got to the door way. Luckily she made it and got everything done. It was close but we get to take about $20 worth of stuff back to lowes (yes, I shopped at lowes, I'm so ashamed). This is also post first clean up. Which we were warned get as much up as you can and just keep wiping, eventually it will come loose because once it hardens, it ain't movin'. That's the good and bad of epoxy. Currently at 11pm we are on the 3rd round of cleanup. Probably going to hit it one more time with water tonight to wipe the vinegar and water solution off the floor.

Once the trim is down, caulked and painted and the toilet has a home besides the shower I'll post more pictures. If you count actual work time, it hasn't been that much. Cutting the tile took the longest (and it was so cold). It must have been 100 trips up and down the steps. Then Mandy getting sick threw a wrench into everything. I think we could do it again but at this point I'm thinking we'll let somebody else do our master bath. Just have to see how the mood strikes me. I forget stuff easily. I joked with Mandy earlier the grout lines just hide the pain and suffering. It's good enough for the guests.

Richard Petty Driving Experience

November 1st we drove back down to Charlotte to Lowe's Motor Speedway to cash in on the Richard Petty Driving Experience that Mandy got me last year for my birthday. So, lets get some stuff straight first. I don't like crowds. Crowds don't freak me out, I'm not claustrophobic or anything, I just don't like people focusing on me. Never have, I don't know why, just how it is, if things were different, I might be a stand up comedian...or so I've been told. So now lets put me in front of a crowd performing a task of competition with about 29 other people and their family and friends. What could go wrong.

I was basically sick and would rather have been any where but there as you can see from the below picture and lets not forget the "man of many sunglasses" has none because I left one pair in a car that went back to WV an my other primary pair broke. I've basically been in a bad mood about that for a month.


Here is the "press" picture they took. Well, the staff is taking the picture but Mandy is standing over her shoulder snapping pictures too. Freebie! Again, clearly you can see how thrilled I am. So instead of just doing nothing in front of a crowd, now I'm completely by myself looking like I'm supposed to know what the hell I'm doing getting my picture taken. When will this day end.

Now they've divided us into 2 groups and my group so here my group is checking out all the safety features and how they work. Oh yea, I'm going to remember this. Lets see I'm to tall to see the tach, fire suppression on board, window net, I think I have to pee and that's a 5 point harness. Joy.

Happy again. Now I'm squeezed into an open face helmet, which I'll point out that NASCAR doesn't allow anymore. It puckers my face all up and these sunglasses don't fit. "If I lay down, will someone please run over me?!"


So after my years of knowing I was born to race and how smooth I'd be, my racing debut comes in none other than a toyota camry. Whoo Hoo stop the presses. This is Scott and his American muscle at it's best. I can just picture my "chevy parking only" sign crying on my garage wall. I can't recall this guys name but he asked me was I ready and I gave him the full run down what I thought I was supposed to do and he said I'd be fine.


So the full story they told us basically to tailgate the lead driver. He'd wave you off when you get close enough, about 2 car lengths. So I just kept following and kept pushing. Eventually he waved me off about 3 times meaning I was right on. I was never at full throttle, the car had a lot more but I'm pretty sure they frowned on bump drafting during the "rookie experience". The warm up lap was over 100 and I picked up 3-6mph each lap. I peak at 139.15mph before I rolled out of the throttle coming into turn 3. Now I didn't stick around to compare time or speed with the rest of the class but I heard several 132 and 135. So I'm going with the theory I was fastest. Who's going to challenge me you know?





So they hollered, "give us a victory cheer". So I did it before I realized what I was doing. It was pretty awesome I'll have to say. Worthy of me looking like a complete dork in front of a crowd. Notice how the driver suit pulls way up from my ankles. If I would have ate breakfast that morning, the suit wouldn't have fit.


While waiting for times and pictures etc we went back and got some pictures. Here's Mandy in her getting caught looking at the car. She just wouldn't pose. I asked.


So, all in all, I had a blast. It cost a little bit but dag gone it, it was pretty fun. It would be more interesting to get out and talk with the drivers and see how/what I did and give it another try. Until next time...

Pumpkin Carving 08'

This is the pumpkin I carved this year. Not exactly a work of art but it only took about 20 minutes, so give me a break. The picture was taken with my phone and I wrote all this while standing sitting on my tailgate....man I love technology.

Family and friends

Mandy's mom and dad and some family friends came to visit us this weekend. Just to show how cool I think I am now I took the picture and posted it while they were looking at the blog. 30 seconds later a quick refresh and they were amazed.

first pass at the halloween decorations...more to follow!

First shot at mobile blogging. Yes, I'm that big of a nerd.

me and mandy outside waiting for Leno

Live from Disney Land!

So, after 5 days of being here I discovered we have free internet at the condo, go figure. Any how we are here in California. The time change is killing us. Let me give a quick wrap up of whats happened:
Arrived in Cali on Saturday, got the rental car, punched in the address on boB's GPS (thanks boB) and away we went. Checked in, dropped our stuff and went to the bus stop to get a quick preview of Disney Land. First impression, how cute, it's like a mini-magic kingdom. Oh wait, the prices are still 100%. Everybody out here walks around with there chest stuck out and chin high like, "yea, disneyland is where it all started!" Where as anybody that has been to WDW has figured out Walt went to FL and got it right. It's just odd, every thing is small, rides are shoved into odd places, just plain weird. We also found out most of California goes to the park on saturday nights. We bailed around 9 I think. We only rode 3 things in 4 hours.











Sunday was a little better, for about an hour. We went to Hollywood. Wow, the glitz, the glamor, the homeless bum sleeping in the nicely trimmed hedges. Yea, hollywood can stay out here. This place is creepy. Wallet in the front pocket, carry less than $20 and separate your credit cards between people so when (not if) you get mugged you might still stand a chance of making it home. We walked a fair amount of the walk of fame, this things are apparently not as pristine as you think, everybody has one. It didn't see Jesco's name, I was disappointed. It seems the crime fighting business doesn't pay, as you can see below. My spidy sense detects unemployment...









Monday we went to Burbank to see a live taping of Jay Leno. We were all fired up, sure we'd be first in line, get the floor seats, shakes hands, talk cars, etc, but none of that happened. We took the back lot tour, cash only, separate register within NBC....guess NBC can't afford one register with full credit for both tours and merchandise. Anyhow, we got out of that and rounded the building to find we were about 100 people behind. Also found out on the tour about half the 350+ seats are reserved. However, Mandy did get to sit beside "the best seats" because there were picked specifically for Maris, Jay's wife, and they fill them if she doesn't show....she didn't show. Went to the Santa Monica pier and watched the sunset. Pretty nice all in all, cold as hell too. Smog made it hazy but still yet, I can say I've done it.









Tuesday was the San Diago zoo. Been to Animal Kingdom at Disney, then save your money. Not much to tell. Did get to see a black jaguar, a lynx and those crazy little mear cats. Took the Pacific coast highway back and that was kinda cool. Stopped at a wienerschnitzel and got a milk shake.









Wednesday was back at Disneyland. We followed our unofficial guide touring plan and jumped ran to space mountain, broke/closed. So we ran over to Nemo. That took 45 mins in line. It was so so. One of those nice to say I road it type things. Nothing to particular to tell. Lost of stuff closed due to halloween but that is to be expected.





Went to California Adventure on Thursday. It was nice, minus the fact every other thing was closed or broke and working on it. We did get to ride Toy Story Mania, very cool. Well worth the wait in line. As you can see here the photopass photographers are a little more laid back here. They put me in the ears. We did leave the park and went and "freshened up". Then we went to Steakhouse 55 and had a good meal. Not stellar service but a good meal. We were glad we got a discount with our Disney credit card, I'll say that. Then we went and got some more points at downtown disney. Vacation is so hard.





It's now 12:30 local and 3:30 eastern time so I'm off to bed. The morning will suck as usual and it will be our last day in the park. Got to see the fireworks, might convince Mandy to take the tripod tomorrow but I doubt it. Reporting back soon, Scott and Mandy.

ZZ Top

We went to the ZZ Top and Brooks and Dunn show tonight. It was awesome. So first let me explain the tickets. We had good ticket, section 6, row O, seat 1 and 2. But I checked, by chance, ticketmonster on tuesday morning (tuesday same week) and found section 2, row B, seats 28 and 29. Cha Ching, those were bought instantly. Some poor schuck behind me paid $1000 for 4. I sold the other ones at a loss at $80 but thats OK, we had 2nd row. So we figured with the selling at a loss and the good ones we had $200 for 2 tickets. Now the awesome part is toward the end of Brooks and Dunn they let us stand right at the stage. Same for ZZ Top except it was about halfway threw their set.

Now during the Brooks and Dunn segment, which was first, there was a ton of girls rushing the the stage. One well endowed and proud girl kept showing off her good DNA she was blessed with. After that we tended to get a lot more attention from the band on that side of the stage. As a matter of fact Kix Brooks pretty well parked himself on our side of the stage about 4 feet away for the rest of the show. After B&D were over you could see the entire section talking about the situation and cracking up about it. She got a guitar pick. If I would have known it would got me a guitar pick, I would have lifted my shirt too. Who knew.








I'll post more when it's not 1am after the show.

First Coat of Paint

So we wimped out the last 2 days but finally got off our rear ends and put the first coat of paint up tonight. It came out really nice but will need a 2nd coat for sure. So to update our colors and progress we took what we like to call "Fuquay Gothic". Of course when I sat down to edit this at 2am it occured to me Mandy's eye's are backward compared to the picture and I'm to lazy/don't know, how to fix it. None the less I still think we pulled off a cool picture and really nice color. It looks awsome with the new bed frame. Wait until we paint the "custom" entertainment center we made.

A very gray day

We finally got around to painting today. Just as we were coming up into the room we looked outside and saw these nasty looking clouds. Since the last time a storm like this rolled threw we ran outside to take pictures.....for the insurance. It was bad last time, real bad so we figured we'd see what we could see before it started. The wind was clicking at recorded gusts over 50mph it rained pretty good. It was crazy to see this storm with such a sharp cut off and it cruised over the neighborhood. You can see my neighbor out recording video since he works for the local TV station.




We did eventually get around to painting some. This was only primer but it not like its any easier. My walls sucked up 1.75 gallons of paint in one bedroom. It was crazy. It took all night but we did eventually get done....at 2am. We got lazy tonight plus another storm rolled through around the time we were going to start and it was flickering the lights on and off so we figured we shouldn't start then it get dark on us. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have it painted and by sunday we'll be moved back in.

July 4th Weekend

For some reason instead of hanging out and doing nothing we chose to work our rear's off again and paint the master bedroom. Now we knew this wouldn't be an easy task since it's not as simply as slap the paint down. First the originals contractors painted everything white to hide all the flaws. We have a torchiere light that burns an a nice 300 watts and it stays beside the bed. By chance while laying there one night with it on I looked up at the walls. It was then I knew when we went to paint this it would be quite the undertaking. So now that you know that you can look at the pictures. After 3 days of mudding, sanding, taping, cleaning and more cleaning we are ready to put down primer tomorrow. We are also planning on trimming out the windows so hopefully I can take some good pictures of that too. My neighbor has a miter saw and a small air gun so it should go pretty quick.

The spots you are seeing is not wet spots. This is mud spots. Thats how bad it is.

Paintball

Mandy and her co-workers played paintball a few week back as a "team building" exercise and had such a good time some decided to go back and play again and invite friends, family and neighbors.

Below is what we all joked as the "before" picture. Note the smiles, lack of sweat and general ora of good paintballing every one has.




This is the about 3 games in. To be honest I really suck at paintball. It's a little odd with my up bringing to point a gun at someone. Now if you were a cute fuzzy animal I'd drop you like a bad habit but people were a little different. The first 2 games I was out in 30 seconds. In game 3 I finally figured this whole deal out and stayed in a little longer. Sure I still went out but I stayed in longer and when I finally walked out I was completely exhausted. As you can see there was a bit of sweating going on.



This is what we all joked as the "after" picture. Notice the lack of smiles and for that matter people. We like to say, "there is no smiling in paintball". Some gave up and went home others decided to give their ammo to the remaining group.


We played until we ran out of ammo. We went through 8000 paint balls between 15 of us. My team finally won by waiting out the compitition. We were all so low on ammo we just waited until we didn't hear the splat after the shot from the other team. When we walked the flag in (we were playing capture the flag) I had 3 rounds and one other guy only had 7 or so if I'm remembering right. We played 7 games total and a week later my legs still hurt...not from the paintball but from the running. So all in all, I recommend it but be prepared to be exhausted.

This is how we Roll

Well, it's a been a few weeks since all this took place but we painted the guest bedroom, got a new matress and bed set for the master, moved the queen to the guest and then this past weekend went out and ordered a small armoir, night stand and head board for the guest bedroom. So now our down stairs bathroom, guest bathroom and guest bedrooms are painted. I' 'm thinking we move into there and paint our room, Mandy's not seeing it quite that way. It's really a scorcher hear these last few days so we'll probably hang out and do....nothing.

Memorial Day weekend

This weekend we worked our rear ends off by installing stone from the side walk to the back of the house. That's 226 stone, we also planted 15 different flowers or shrubs and put down 2 cubic feet of mulch. I was looking for some before and after but couldn't find a before. Maybe I'll dig some up later and post them just as a comparison. I'm sure we have some somewhere. If you look to the left at the tall bush that's where the mulch used to end. My neighbor helped me dig all the grass out and we tried to salvage what we could then replanted it in his yard. That also took a while but he did help me a lot.


This was the last day. This was actually during the last 'phase', the mulch spreading. I got a nice sunburn the day before because I didn't put the sun screen on until late so I had a scarf under a hat today. Mandy and the neighbors were making fun of me but it helped to keep the heat off of my neck.


This is what 2 whipped pups looked like after 3 long days of working. There's Mandy drinking a 'Land Shark Lager' - Jimmy Buffett's beer and myself a Blue Hawaiian. I suggest trying both. When your tired and you have one of each, if you close your eyes you can hear the waves crashing. I also haven't shaved since Wednesday.

Hail Storm

We had a nasty storm system blow through last week. It was pretty rough and kicked up some verified tornadoes. Mandy was home and I was at work. It was a little scary for both of us, primarily because we didn't want our vehicles getting beat to death. Luckily I didn't ride the Harley to work that day.

We had approximately $0.36 worth of hail.