Brrrrr (shiver shiver)

A couple of weeks ago I attended the free Saturday "tile-it-yourself" class at the Home Depot of Williamsville, NY.  While I left seriously re-considering the whole tiling process, nothing the demonstrator had shown or explained seemed totally above and beyond my abilities. So, I decided to just commit.  What the demonstrator Dave had failed to mention, while casually encouraging us all to purchase a wet saw rather than a NON-wet, cheaper tile cutter (that might possibly break some of our $1 ceramic tiles) to use while tiling in the middle of February, is that they spray water - EVERYWHERE - and, therefore, must be used outside.  IN BUFFALO! I only realized this after setting up shop this morning with my brand-new wet saw next to my nicely spaced tiles ready to be cut and mortared down. Switch on, water spraying - all over everything. And, so I shoveled out a place for my saw and work table in the backyard.  Dug through Adam's old sweatshirts to find something that can withstand a little spray. Gathered my tiles and got to work. Well.

While Demonstrator Dave did indicate this would be about a 7-day process, neither of us factored in a few key problems that would add time to the whole equation; for instance, having to rip up carpet and 70 years of molding vinyl flooring, my own indecisiveness with tile colors and forgetfulness/refusal to do basic math before starting - causing me to have to dump half a bucket of mortar since I'd forgotten to charge an extra drill battery as well as running out of cement screws mid-way through the job etc. etc. Also, Dave conveniently failed to mention, while giving his sales plug for the saw, that cutting tile with the non-professional grade wet saw takes a very long time.  Like, over five hours.  For me, at least.  In the freezing wind and snow of Buffalo.  And so, I now shiver here at the computer while attempting to thaw out my fingers by typing - a frozen Aborigine, covered in terra cotta ceramic tile dust, really needing to go lay my tile but unsure of how to deal with the fact that our front door can't open now.  The tile's too tall.  (Demonstrator Dave never mentioned I should factor that in either...)  Uggghhhh.