It's a work of ART, I tells ya

So yesterday I decided to get my butt off the sofa and get some work done on the condo. At one point we re-tiled the kitchen backsplash but because we didn't have the drill bit to mix the grout, that last step was never done. Since I now had all the parts, I no longer had an excuse.

As usual, my work was not without incident.

The first thing I had to do was clear off the counters, as we have been using the kitchen without problems since the tiling was done (well, even before, to be honest.) Next up, was to remove the wall plug face plates, cut the power to the kitchen, pull out the stove and to tape up the outlets. So far, so good. Next, I used my dremel with a polishing bit to clean up the tile surfaces. Yes, my wife did roll her eyes when I found another reason to use the dremel. But she returned to painting the bathroom and let me have my fun.

Next up was to mix the grout. I had purchased the smallest bag of grout I could get at Rona, so I decided to mix it all up at once. In hindsight, I could have probably quartered the amount but that's okay - there is no more grouting to do in the kitchen anyway. With extra grout mixed up, my thinking was that I wouldn't have to worry about making what I had stretch over the whole area - bad move on my part, as it turns out. While it was good that I put enough grout on to avoid having any gaps, I would have saved myself a LOT of scrubbing if I had been more diligent at removing the excess while it was still pretty soft. I was pretty tired after scrubbing it all down. So much so that my wife came out to help with the cleanup because she was worried I was going to have a heart attack. I tell ya, one visit to the cardiologist and then you can't do ANYTHING without them worrying over you. Oh well, I do appreciate your concern hon. Honest.

We decided to get something to eat before continuing with the cleanup, which turned out to be a tactical error on my part. There was still about 3/4 of the grout remaining in one bucket, and it was hardening fast. I currently have it soaking in some water in an effort to soften it up so I can get my bucket back. At this point though, the job is done. Once it cures properly I'll give it a final inspection and possibly use the dremel on any remaining rough bits, but that's about it.

PS - has anyone else noticed how slow Blogger.com is today?