Before and After(10/21/99)
Just when things seemed to be moving along at a snails pace, I stubbled across these photos. I'll have to remember to come see for myself when it feels like nothing is getting done around here. Just click the for a closer look.

Remember when the front yard looked like this?
Now there is plenty of room to park the truck.

Before we got to work, there was no room for a picnic.
My brother and I built this picnic table for the 4th of July. Now just look at the place.

And how about the back yard, then and now.

Before there was barely room for the cabin.
Now we even have a shed.

Floor Fiasco(10/24/99)
At the risk of appearing completely incompetent, I am putting my first major construction blunder up here for the world to see. Here are some before and after pictures of the Mexican Saltillo tile floor I am laying in the kitchen/laundry room. You might notice that it looks like more floor is completed in the "before" pictures than in the "after" pictures. That is because the "after" pics are of me pulling up the tiles. "Why would I do such a thing?" you might ask. Well, as it turns out, I didn't read all of the instructions on the mastic I was using before I laid over 60 sq. ft. worth of tiles. We had to go to Home Depot to pick up more mastic, and while we were there, my husband read the back. Under "uses" the mastic clearly stated "Not for use with Saltillo tile". "Oh well," I figured, "I'll just do the rest with the mortar mix that says it IS for use with Saltillo tile." Although I was a bit worried if there would be any problems with the tiles I had already laid. I did not have to worry long because the next I felt a tile move under my feet. My husband bent down and pulled the tile right up with no trouble. It turns out that the mastic did not bond to the tiles at all. Each tile could be popped right up with a nail bar and little effort. Luckily, none of the tiles broke. Unluckily, however, the mastic did bond to the backerboard, and as the tile floor is my project, I had the honors of scraping up gallons of dried mastic off the backerboard.

So here I am laying tiles with the mortar mix that IS for use with Saltillo tile.
My foreman, Max, oversees that I do the job correctly this time.

And here I am a day later, pulling up the tiles that were laid with mastic that IS NOT for use with Saltillo tile. I am not actually in this picture because I have a strict "No Tears" policy on my website.
What a mess!
I still have a small portion to go before I can start over.