If you are a loyal follower of my blog, and I know you are, you will undoubtedly realize that I’m a bit behind this week. Why? Because I, your humble holistic life coach and Reiki practitioner was trying my hand at something new. Tiling. Never fear, I’m not changing professions (though it was suggested during this process) but it did keep me busy the entire weekend.
In the 60’s my parents bought a modest starter house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They moved in with 2 kids and thought about the home they would someday move into. Life didn’t work out the way they planned. They are still in that same house, but now it is the beloved home in which they raised 4 kids and where they have lived for over 40 years. Recently, my dad’s wheelchair requirements made a bathroom remodel necessary. My mom is a smart woman, she decided to take advantage of this situation and use it as an opportunity to make the bathroom into the bathroom she has always wanted.
That’s sort of where it got interesting. It became a family project. My brother Steve and two of my sons, Bill and Mike were very enthusiastic about the destruction process. And they were very good it! They beat the living daylights out of that old cast-iron tub, smashing it to bits and then pulled off the old tiling with the sort of enthusiasm that might make you think there was pepperoni pizza hidden behind the walls. For the record, there was no pizza or any other treasure behind the old tile. They did it with an awful lot of laughing but it turns out that it didn’t damage the quality of work at all. Thank goodness for my lovely daughter-in-law Felicia and my mom who were right behind them cleaning up the dust and bits of garbage. Steve and the boys then carefully installed the shower pan. They did an amazing job even though I’m not sure any of them had the slightest idea what they were doing until they began.
Along came Saturday. Mike and I went over, thought we’d take Grandma to the store, pick up the tile and have it all installed by dinner time. After all, we are completely equipped for this work. Mike is a machinist and as a holistic life coach and Reiki practitioner, who could possibly be more qualified to tile the walls of a shower? Turns out we were slightly off in our calculations. It took 3 hours to select the tile, a couple more hours to run around town and get everything. Did you know that some stores, who shall remain nameless actually think it makes sense to keep a maximum of twenty pieces of trim tile? Naturally, that’s the trim Grandma liked, so off we went 20 miles to get the remaining 2 pieces. Never fear, we thought ahead and purchased extra to cover any oops events that may happen. We actually began the work by 3 pm. You guessed it; it took Saturday and Sunday to get the tile up on the walls. It was actually an awful lot of fun! Mike was great to work with. He made all the cuts on the tiles, with very few errors. Laughed at me as the tiles would slip and used that eagle eye along with a level to be sure the lines stayed straight.
This evening I will grout and will seal it all up in a couple of days. I still have to repaint the room, but Grandma and Grandpa will be able to finally use their shower by this weekend.
Is there a lesson here somewhere? I think there might be. Once again my parents have reminded us that it’s important to look for a positive resolution to a problem. I applaud the efforts of my family, they didn’t hesitate to jump in and make it all come together. None of us came into this project with any of the skills to pull this off. Think of the professions involved, holistic life coach and Reiki practitioner, two machinists, and a security guard. Even in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this doesn’t add up to professional tile talent. But it worked out. Because of a can-do attitude, the necessary changes were made on a very limited budget, even better, it looks amazing.
Now, how do I break it to my husband that our kitchen and bathroom floors are going to be tiled as well as our shower walls and all he has to do it move the very heavy items?
This week I hope you have the opportunity to find out that you can do something you never imagined you were capable of doing. I know it will make you feel fabulous.
Namaste,
Sandy
