I Suck At Grouting

Today has been quite the productive day.

While taking care of Briana, I finally finished a book that my friend (Marc) had lent me. (By taking care of Briana, I mean while she was sleeping I finished reading the book.) The book is titled "What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History" by David Hofstede.

It was an interesting book, especially for those who love television. I got a chuckle out of it because my favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and its spinoff show Angel) actually made the list. Coming in at #98: "Brats in the Buffyverse". Basically, the writer points out how Dawn and Connor ruined their respective shows... which is so true.

I won't ruin the book by revealing what came in at #1. Needless to say, it was enjoyable to read about some of the television events that I remembered watching while growing up. Plus, it was definitely good to finally put a dent in my stack of borrowed books. So one down... three to go...

Anyway, since today was Tuesday, that meant it was a Wipeout night. Karen and I (and Briana) met up with Marc and our friends (Kelley and Andrea). Nothing makes a day more enjoyable than seeing crazy people... wiping out on an obstacle course.

We decided to order dinner from the Schoolhouse Pizza located in Quincy. I must say, the "Dough-Knots" as they are called... are very delicious... as is the pornographically named "Mailman Dan's Special Delivery" pizza.

Picture it: a young blond woman is alone in her home. The door bell rings. She answers the door only to find a young strapping bare chested postal worker holding a pizza box. He mugs for the camera and says "Special Delivery"... the cheesy music begins to play...

Regardless, it was a great time at Marc and Kelley's. I was so stuffed following dinner that I could not even put a dent in Andrea's signature dessert: trifle. Trifle is her thing. It's so yummy. I think I first discovered Andrea's dessert at my friend's (Hot Amy) cookout many years back. It's so good, I can't hype it enough.

When Karen, Briana, and I got home, I figured I'd be productive and work on the house. Of course, it could have been all the sugar in my blood from all the food I devoured. I simply was not tired. So, thinking that I would continue with renovating the first floor bathroom, I started to grout.

Unfortunately, I suck at grouting. The day before, I had finished installing the porcelain tile on the floor. Obviously, the next step then was to grout the floor. And by grout, I mean fill in the lines between the tiles with... grout.

Like tiling, grouting... is not fun. It is also a dirty job that I do not really care for. I'll do it, but I won't like it. There is just something about all those home improvement projects that involve mixing powder with water and spreading it over things and whatnot. The reason why I dislike those projects so much is because the powder mix with the water generally tends to dry out my skin.

As I type this right now, I can feel the skin in the palm of my hands tighten. They just feel so dry and stiff. I just am not a big fan of that feeling. I suppose the bright side is that unlike yesterday, I did not have an allergic reaction to the powder (in this case... the mortar mix). Apparently, grout mix... no reactions.

Thankfully, the grouting of the first floor bathroom is now complete. Of course, I'll still have to clean up the tiles a bit, but for the most part it's done. Now, I can move on to the more dirtier aspect of the project: plumbing in a crawlspace. Fun...