Mellow Monday after holiday

Rainy days and Mondays sometimes get me down. Not today, though! This was a good day, considering it was back to work after (almost) having four days off. (I did have to work a bit, but not too stressful.) Had breakfast with CP sales exec John M this morning, good talk and company. Then back to the big bath by the bay, which had at one time seemed interminable. The job has shaped up beautifully, saying so myself.

Today I attacked the last and separate part of the contract: tear out the flower tiles! That's what the contract says, "tear out the flower tiles..." So I did, and attack was the right verb. The only way to remove individual ceramic tiles from within a field of tile is to use brute force. Seriously. I used a large mechanic's screwdriver and my trusty Estwing hammer. The trick is to destroy the bad tile without causing any collateral damage. Not so simple, since the job requires a jack-hammer style approach. Worse yet, four of the designated tiles were directly against a large, glue-in bathroom mirror. Talk about potential for disaster! I even told Mr. Palmer at first that I was unwilling to hammer out the mirror-area tiles. Then I got some practice on the other ones, and that made me bolder. Made a lot of noise, and a pretty fair mess, but without hurting any innocent nearby tiles or mirrors. The customer is happy to see those flower tiles gone (with plain ones in their place), and the job is all but complete. (Special-order doors still to come, a ten-minute job.)

Got done a bit early, met with Tom M (the plumber) and stopped in at a couple of the stores to say good-bye to some good people. The stores were in blow-out sale at Christmastime madness mode. I said my "hope to see you again"s and avoided the crowds otherwise. Home before dark today. How can you beat that?