Winning

I have no pictures of the new bathroom. Because, I don't have one. Not a picture, a bathroom. While it may be true that Rome was not built in a day, I am confident that it would never have been finished if my husband had been in charge.

Now, when he announced his intention to "knock this project out this weekend"; I had no illusions of it happening. I knew it would take maybe two weeks. But, it has now been one month. A month of taking showers in the kampground bath house. It was only a week of hovering over a bucket in the middle of the night. I do have a place to go now, but, no window ........

I can live without the window. The tile was purchased on the way home from visiting the kids. He wasn't through with the walls, but had to get that tile up. When the grouting started I said I would go behind him and clean the tiles as It started to dry. Probably would have gone a little smoother had he started on one end and worked his way around. He started at the top in the middle, didn't go all the way to the bottom, then moved on to an end. So, when I tried to sponge the areas as they dried, I was in his way. He finished applying the grout and pretty much took my sponge away.

Since I was in the midst of sewing inspiration, I retreated to my sewing room, where the fake sun shines on me and finished the garment I was working on. I came back into the living room to find him watching TV. I assumed he had finished. You know what they say about assuming ....... making an ass of you and me.

This was Monday night. Tuesday morning, after my trip to the showers, I went into the bathroom to raid the medicine cabinet for deodorant and that is when I saw that the grout had dried to the tile. I was on my way out and thought to myself that someone was going to have a good time scrubbing that grout off.

That someone was most definitely not going to be me. No way was I going to tackle that mess. Not me, I had no intention of scrubbing that mess out of the tub either. There is also a saying about good intentions, too.

Arriving home yesterday I went into the bathroom to see what progress has been made. Very little, not really even noticeable. But I did notice that the floor around the toilet was wet. I later mentioned this to he who was trying to scrape the grout off the tile and making little progress. He said it was because he had been working in the bathroom. Later when I was getting ready for bed I noticed that the floor was wet again. The tile is on the wall in the shower area. Any water would run into the tub, wouldn't it?

This morning he went and acquired the trim. Whoa, he who has attention deficit disorder! Let's finish the grouting job first ....... not to mention the bead board on the wall ..... before we trim anything. So with a resigned look he heads to the tub to try and take over the job I was finishing. I sent him on his way to do whatever it is he was doing with the trim boards. It took a lot of elbow grease and several buckets of hot water, along with a good scrub brush. Not to mention the determination of one irritated woman. I worked for about 90 minutes and not only did I get the tile cleaned up, but the tub, too. Big globs of tile glue and grout decorated the tub. It looks like someone tried to scrape the goo off with something that scratched the finish of the tub. I was really not happy.

I decided to clean up the mess of construction attempts that littered the bathroom and the hall way. In doing this I discover that the floor around the toilet is wet again. Okay, I know I did not splash water on the floor while I was about the business of scrubbing.

When he who loves to get the mail out of the box comes in, I drag him to the water and tell him that the new floor we put in will not continue to hold up to what I think is a slow leak. He thinks the leak is the tub drain. I am not so sure it isn't the toilet ...... but I am not a plumber.

Obviously, the water has to be dealt with.The tub is not coming out ........ the wall behind the tub is shared with what used to be the kitchen and is now the dining room. The wood stove is next to that wall. That wall that is no longer there. Yes, he had to rip part of that wall out. More construction debris.

Turns out the faucets were leaking. Took most of the day to fix them. I was hoping it was the toilet. No ripping out of walls and I could have the new toilet I wanted anyway. Instead we seem to have taken one step forward and ten steps back. In the game of bathroom remodeling ....... I am not winning!