Progress?

As I write this, I am waiting for Matt to arrive to put our tile in.  Yes, this is the Matt that gave us his word that he would complete this tile job for us on Friday.  His boss, Mike, also gave us his word that Matt would finish the tile last Friday.  We waited all day for Matt to arrive, and he never did.  I don't have much respect for Mike as far as business is concerned.  Apparently one cannot believe his word, and he did not even have the decency to call us to let us know that Matt would not be coming to our house that day.

Rick texted Mike this morning with a simple question: Would Matt be coming today?  Mike texted back that Matt was grouting someone else's tile this morning, but that he would try to get to our house this afternoon.  He also said, "Don't be mad."  Don't be mad?  Seriously?  There is not a superlative in the English language that can describe my level of anger right now.  I passed "mad" way back in December.

We went out this morning to talk to the people at Largo Glass about our shower door.  They are excellent.  We ordered the glass in November, expecting to have the entire job finished before Thanksgiving.  We paid a deposit on the glass, and they have been holding it for us ever since that time. Maria, the woman at Largo Glass, assured us that our glass was in storage and that it was not causing them any inconvenience.  Even if Matt finishes the tile today AND can come back early tomorrow morning to grout the whole job, we will not be able to have Largo Glass come in to install the doors until after we return from our trip North.  We don't return until late March.  Lord forgive me for the feelings I have about Mike's tiling company.  My emotions are not good and not worth writing about at this time.

Today is February 23.  If my mother-in-law were still alive, this would have been her 90th birthday. Ironically, Rick saw a truck this morning that said, "Colwill Engineering."  Colwill was his mother's maiden name, and it has an unusual spelling rather than the more common Colwell.  Rick said that he almost asked the driver of the truck if he had English ancestry.  Who knows?  Maybe Rick and Steve have distant cousins right here in Florida.

When I think of living to 90, I realize we have such a minuscule amount of time on this earth that we all should spend our days helping one another rather than frustrating one another.  Terrorists threaten every developed nation on this earth, killing innocent people... and to what end?  If they could use the energy of their hate into something positive, the world would be a better place for all of us.  Such a waste of energy and time.

On a positive note, we are looking forward to Stephanie's arrival tomorrow.  We plan to do some sight seeing as we get to know the state better.  We also need to get away from Gladys for a while.  The back yard needs more soil and some grass seed, but that will have to wait until we can come back and water the grass.  The trees need to come down in the front yard, but that will have to wait until the budget is a bit better.  And the shower?  Who knows in what state that will be by the end of the day.

Monday, 4:10 p.m.
Matt arrived at about 2:30 today, and he has made great progress with the shower.  He has the wall in and is currently working on the floor.  We both pray that he can come back early tomorrow morning to grout and finish the job.

Monday, 6:00 p.m.
Matt finished putting in the floor tile about half an hour ago.  He worked long and hard this afternoon; I am very grateful that this whole ordeal is almost complete.  We are pleased with almost everything that was done.  The floor tile look much better with the square drain, and Matt did a great job of cutting the tile uniformly around the walls and the drain.  The threshold was out a bit on one side, and because of that, one front tile on the curb sticks out about an eighth of an inch more than it should.  I sincerely hope that grout will help it blend in a bit more.  In reality, we will be hanging towels on the wall next to the shower there, so the eye will probably be distracted to the towels and away from the one errant tile.

Matt had fit the tiles in around the drain and was cutting the
final wall and drain tiles when I took this picture. Black
tape holds up the wall tile while it dries.

The tile is in place and the marble curb finishes the
top of the threshold. 

Matt promised that he would be back early tomorrow morning to finish the job by grouting the tile.  Stephanie is coming in tomorrow right after lunch, so we are cutting this tile job right to the edge as far as our guests are concerned.  I am just glad that we will have two showers back before Bonnie comes in April.

How wonderful life will be once we have
our shower back.

Hopefully tomorrow will be the last time I write about the shower until we get the doors installed.  Perhaps we can actually do that before April;  if not, we will get them installed as soon as we return from frigid Wisconsin.