Not a Perfectionist, but I worry about doing things correct the first time.

Just realized a month has gone by since I started re-doing my kitchen floor.

What have I been doing? I have probably been doing everything the hard way, but I don't have a flooring background.

Sure I tiled our half bath a few years after we moved into the house, but the kitchen is six times bigger and I had help from my father in-law who is a tool person. I recall it took us a day to tile, but I don't recall how long I spent removing the flooring and preparing the surface. I do know it was easier since the laminate was glued squares that pealed without needing to have the glue scraped. J and I never used the bathroom since the toilet was broken, so it didn't get any traffic. We had 8" tiles that my father in-law laid. I did all of the cuts based on his markings. I did all of the grout after he left. Didn't have to wait for the adhesive to cure since it was mastic/grout premix. We also didn't use spacers. The tiles just butted up to one another. Didn't have a sink or toilet to work around either since those came later.

Kitchen tiles are 16" so the cuts are trickier and spacers are needed. Have large appliances and cabinets that create  slight obstacles. Hands and back ached from scraping for prolonged periods, so I couldn't work on the floor as frequently as I would have liked. The kitchen is a high traffic area, so I could only work when people weren't going to bother me.

Horrible excuses, but they add up when you consider I did all of the scraping, cutting, and tiling. It looks like I'll do all of the grouting as well.

I make it sound as though J hasn't helped, but she's been there most of the time. She help spacing the tiles as we determined where to place whole tiles. She handed me whole tiles when I was gluing them, so that I didn't have to move around so much. She also kept K and B busy so that I could focus on the job. Finally, she's helped in that she's not complained.

That last item may seem inappropriate, but in the sense that I fret over minute details, it's nice having her say it's looking good.

J is pretty good about letting me do things without being in the way. Just like when we drove to Florida, I did all of the driving but I didn't have to worry about anything aside from road, since I had her navigating and appeasing the not so pleasant K and B. J also prepped drinks, tacos, sandwiches, and Twizzlers so I could keep my eyes on the road and my hands upon the wheel.

The drive down was broken up with us staying the night in Georgia, but we didn't stop on the way home. It's not fun driving through the Carolinas at night. Not sure why the Garmin had us take I95 home when we took I75 down, but who am I to second guess a GPS with live traffic updates?

Just like the trip to Disney made for having memories to cherish, having a beautiful floor for years will be what I will enjoy soon enough. Aches and pains are dulled when you have long term happiness overshadow short term misery.