Going on 2 years now here in NC.

We closed on this stone house just about 2 years ago. Really just 2 years? WOW! All of the things that we have done in 2 years.
Central AC. New Plumbing. New Electric. New Kitchen. Redid the floors. Reseed the backyard. New Laundry closet. Removed all of the wallpaper upstairs. New drywall upstairs. complete gut of the master bathroom and lots of tile in it's place. 3 new closets in dead attic space.....and 1 healthy baby boy. Busy bees.

Now what I miss
Snowboarding being just an hour away in my truck.
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Clean and clear whitewater

The water here in NC is nice....warm....but not clean.



Our Friends-





Safeco Field-


Hood River-



The views-

Tile is done! Legs Hurt!

Finally! The tile for the master bath is up and down! With the help of my favorite father-in-law we were able to get the rest of the tile in the bathroom layed. While we have not moved to grout, we are super excited to get to the point that we can. I estimate that we layed almost 200 square feet of tile in 4 days. Don't leave replies if you are some master tilesman and say that is nothing! Nothing is what you got payed to do our bathroom, cause we did it ourselves!

So we have the flat white hex tiles on the floor. Subway tile with squares for the shower walls, and flat white squares for the shower floor. Now we are getting ready to grout, get Adam in to hook up the exhaust, and get the glass folks in to measure for our gigantic shower enclosure. Will this be the largest shower on the block? 7 ft by 4 ft...probably.



I have posted the pictures over on flickr since Blogger isn't digging my mac tonight!

Country Roads Take Her Home-

Found in a hollow in wv...adopted by two young kids....and loved as a family member for 7.5 years. Rest in Peace girl. You had a great life, a full life, many friends and many many miles on those paws.

Cheney predicts the future. If you have not seen this...WATCH IT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

Wrap it up...bring em home. If this doesn't get that W sticker off your car then there is a serious problem.

What made the tile job easier?

while we are by NO MEANS tile pros....I would say that we are some serious DIY'ers and that we do know when a project has kicked our ass. I am not going to go step by step on how to tile, but I will describe some of the things that made it easiers.

1. The 4 beam laser level. Plumb? Square? Level? YEP! This thing ( see the red line in the picture) allowed us to see if the tile were sliding, or not on the level.

2. Wet Tile Saw. - What a dream this machine is. This puppy plundge cuts, bevel cuts, and slides like ichiro stealing 2nd base. Knowing the Kerf of the diamond blade and getting use to how thick it cuts will allow you to make a tighter set.

3. The thin-set paddle mixer bit. Whatever you want to call it. I didn't spring for the$$$$ one but this thing made mixing the thin set a breeze. Be sure to clean it off after every mix or else you will hate yourself at the end of the day. It does take a drill with some guts so don't expect to hook this thing up to anything labeled Ryobi or Skil. Well you can if you want to go out and buy a new unit.
4. Help. A couple of helpers go a long way. Sandy's dad came up from SC and Sandy really threw down on some tile. I hope to get the shower floor layed this week. Anything to get me inside and out of the 100 degree heat with 200% humidity. THanks Bill!

Make sure it's level. Measure 5 times...cut twice ( cut long, then trim it up!)....rubber hammer those things in that nasty mud! Keep your eye on the entire thing. Step back...look....and don't be afraid to adjust.

Master bathroom shower gets tile!

Too tired to write much.

We got both walls of the shower tiled. No grout, but tile is up. Grout, floor, get the glass up....enjoy.