Yup, Tyler went nuts with the cuts. But, the tile looks AWESOME!!! He paid so much attention to detail. The rectangular tiles on the tub surround walls, platform and floor all line up. Even the diamonds on the wall line up with those on the floor. Although this one didn't need a snazzy diagram like the last one, it still took quite a bit of planning for Tyler to pull this off.

I tried a new type of rapid coat joint compound... rapid coat my butt! It took longer for the rapid coat to try than the regular joint compound I use. For the third coat, I finally ended up getting a different type of rapid joint compound that actually did dry in 4 hours or less. A couple days later, I was priming the walls.

Just earlier... first thing in the morning earlier. This is how I look in the morning after rolling out of bed to do another layer of mud on the wall. Don't I look enthused? I got up before Tyler so I could get the layer of mud on before breakfast. Since I needed to allow 4 hours for the mud to dry, that meant I could do the third layer by lunch time and start the final sanding before going to bed.

With the tile down on the floor, what's next for Tyler? Gooping it, of course. Tyler grouted the shower floor. We now have a bathroom that sounds more like a dessert. The tile... walnut, the grout... chocolate truffle. Yup, that's gonna be one high-cal combination when its done.

After grouting the shower floor, Tyler also finished laying the tile on the tub platform.

What do you do when a wall goes up and you decide you don't like it? Take it down, of course!! Tyler and I had planned on having a wall between the foyer and great room. However, once it went up and we saw how much it closed off the room, we decided to take it down. The following photos show the before and after of the entrance into the great room.  This was another of my projects while Tyler worked on the master bathroom tile.

Before	After

Our bad, the original light fixture boxes (the one on the right) we put up while doing the siding were too small for the exterior lights. Hmm, if memory serves, I do believe someone mentioned something about that to Tyler when we picked up the mounting plates. Oh well. It was a nice enough day today that Tyler snuck out and put up the new, larger mounting blocks (one on the left) for the exterior lights. He needed them up before he did the wiring on the first floor.

Tyler started working on laying out the tile floor for the master bathroom. He started off insisting that the tiles were going down in a regular square grid. No fancy cuts or nag rugs. After a few, "but wouldn't this look cool" suggestions from his loving wife, Tyler was soon going crazy with the layout.

While I made suggestions, Tyler came up with this layout all on his own and it looks pretty darn awesome!

With Christmas behind us and Evan back at home, I decided it was time to start focusing on the house again. Tyler had become the tiler. So, I decided to tackle the stairs. First, I worked on squaring up the rough edges of the floor joists that we had cut when opening up the foyer.

Before	After

Well, its been a long time coming... but Evan and I finally had our first ride together!!!

I've been waiting for this day since Evan was born in October 2003. When he was finally 3 years old, a riding accident that shattered my shoulder delayed our plans for another year. Then, on the eve of my return to riding, an asshole in a Suburban ran me over in the street and shattered my wrist. Another surgery and round of PT delayed our plans for another year. And, the possibility of a trial and all the complications that go along with it, Evan and I didn't get to start working on our goal till the beginning of 2008. But, all good things really are worth waiting for...

Sarah and I had been planning on just when I'd take my first ride on Evan. We decided on a Friday after work about a week before the end of his second phase of training. Unfortunately, life got in the way and Sarah had to call and cancel at the last minute. She knew how much I had been longing to ride Evan and I could tell over the phone that the last thing she wanted to do was cancel our appointment. Even though I wasn't upset with Sarah, I was really depressed that I just couldn't get back in the saddle.

My depression was so bad that I couldn't focus on work and decided to leave a little early for the barn. If I couldn't ride Evan, I was at least going to spend time with him. After parking my truck at the barn, I turned around and looked at my Dressage saddle and riding gear. All week I had been waiting for the moment when we'd all come together (me, Evan, the new tack) for our first ride. The logical part of me said, "You've waited this long. Another day or two isn't a big deal." Then, the other side of me took over and said, "SCREW THAT!!! With your luck, you'll get hit by a semi tonight and tomorrow will never come and you'll never get your ride." The right side one - with a few concessions to the left side.

As I walked into the barn, I told myself that I would ride Evan if a) Evan behaved himself and was listening well on the lounge line, and b) the arena was quite, and c) my legs weren't too shakey, and d) if I had my cell phone ready in case of emergency. Plus, Tyler and I had plans to go to Vegas in a couple weeks. And, my experience has taught me that I needed about a week to recover from surgery before I could start moving about. So, I should probably get on Evan sooner rather than later if I didn't want to jeopardize our first vacation in 6 years.

Evan seemed to know something was up. He was a perfect angel and the arena was exceptionally quite. There was only one other horse and rider in the arena and they were just sitting down on the one end visiting with some friends sitting on the edge of the arena. So, I took a deep breath and decided today was the day that we stopped waiting.

I lead Evan over to the mounting block - not only was this going to be our first ride, it was going to be the first time someone got on him without someone else holding onto him. Well, if you're going to tempt fate, tempt fate. Evan stood next to the mounting block like a seasoned pro. I flopped myself over his back to see if he'd mind the fact that I was heavier than the trainer - by about double her body weight. He flicked an ear towards me and then went back to his happy half asleep slumber. So, I swung a leg over and prepared for the fireworks. Nada.

Quickly slipping my feet into the stirrups, I asked Evan to step off into a walk. The next thing I knew, we were riding!!! After that, I took every opportunity to ride Evan before bringing him back home for the Winter. Tyler was kind enough to stop by the barn and snap these photos of Evan and I. Since the lighting is really bad, he couldn't get much more than a close up of us standing in the middle of the ring.

...Its just not on the wall yet. But, at least we finally picked up some tile for the master bathroom! We got another great deal... originally the tile was $14/sq ft. We picked it up for $6/sq ft. Now, we just need to figure out what pattern we're going to use to lay it. That should only take another month or two to figure out.