Girlie Fingers

Have I told you about about my fingers? For years I have used hand cream to keep my hands soft. I always thought that was a good idea until now. Turns out manicures and soft hands do not fair well when tiling. You won't believe what happens to them during the tiling. Minute pieces of sharp sand scratch tiny nicks in my finger tips. Because these nicks are tiny you can't feel them right away. Only when the thinset (cement) gets embedded in these little nicks do you begin to notice them. That is because there is lime in the thinset and it BURNS. And did I say embedded? I really meant packed into my flesh. I cannot rinse it out, soak it out or dig it out. It eats away at the tiny nick until it is a hole. Then the hole becomes infected. I was tiling the back splash and kept having to wipe off this red stuff and I am saying to myself "What is that?" and "where did that come from?" Took a few minutes to realize it was blood (must be more of that fatigue leads to stupidness.) And of course, because it's my finger tips (which are loaded with nerve endings) it hurts like hell! As the work has progressed the number of Band aids has multiplied. I walk around like Dr. Killdare with my hands in the air, fingertips throbbing and burning. My husband asked "why don't you wear gloves to protect your fingers?" All those teeny weeny tiny itsy bitsy tile spacers and wedges is why I don't wear gloves. I have a new appreciation for professional tilers. The good news is I am almost done tiling. It's a good thing - I am now down to one finger that is not sporting a Band aid. 

I have one piece of quarter round trim left to install today. The quarter round was a pain in the *** to install.  I must have used a million tile wedges trying to keep the trim from slipping and sliding around. Finally I had to use painters tape to hold them in place. It's shocking the amount of thinset you have to use to put on a piece of quarter round. This was the hardest thing I have had to do, the mosaic tile and field tile were a piece of cake compared to the quarter round.

Another lesson I have learned.... If you're new to tiling only mix small amounts of thinset and grout. I mixed 4 - 6 cups at a time and kept a wet rag over the bucket to keep the stuff from drying out. A thorough stir every now and then and the stuff will stay fresh for an hour or two. Smaller amounts also made the bucket easier to carry when climbing the ladder.