Let’s start with the pretty stuff. I finally finished spinning my green/blue/purple gradient batts. They are a laceweight singles, and they are gorgeous!

I ended up with 1425 yards, which is a surprisingly large amount, and I am so pleased with it! It’s also very sparkly, even though that doesn’t show up very well in this picture.

In other news, the bathroom reno started last night. I had intended to start after lunch, but Mr. Ink wanted to go car shopping. So, we did that instead. I ended up starting at 5:30, and it was 8:40 when I quit, I had no clue what time it was, and just how hungry I was! So, hyperfocus was certainly achieved.

I started with the one cracked tile on the back wall. I’d read over and over that you might have to break a tile to start, but once you got that one out you could probably pull down the remainder saving most. Well, I removed all the grout from around the cracked tile and it certainly popped right out. As did the rest around it.

The thinset on the tiles was like cake batter, it was so wet. And I could have poked a hole into the drywall behind it. It’s also full of mold, and every tile had our noses  assaulted with more of a terrible stench from that mold.

Miss Butterfly was so helpful! She started by just running errands for me. Then when all the hardware needed to come out, she got out screwdrivers and removed as much hardware as she could. Pretty soon, after watching me scrape the backs of the tiles and set them in water, she sat down next to me and asked to do the scraping. I was surprised at how eager she was to help, and how helpful she actually was. She said “Mom, I always assumed I’d work on big projects like this with my dad. But I never have! Instead, I get to work on big projects with my mom!” Parenting win!

I am now a little farther along than this, but ran out of juice last night. I am also getting myself into tile that’s not quite as water damaged now, and so it doesn’t want to pop out with ease. My hope for today is to get the rest of the tile out and get cement board up. I will need Mr. Ink’s help with that. Then, I can use tomorrow, which I have taken off, to seal the seams and the cement board with hydrobarrier, and use the rest of the time to continue cleaning tiles.

In my relationship with Mr. Ink, I believe firmly in telling him what I need. Last night I said “I need you to come in the bathroom and look at the progress and say nice things.” He came into the bathroom, looked at my progress and said “You’re insane!” Then we talked about the project a bit and what I’d expect from him the next day. Then he said “I’d like to revise my earlier statement. You’re brave!”

I don’t really feel brave at the moment. Or ever. I do know that I can be extremely obsessive, and any price I pay to make this bathroom better means every time I walk in the bathroom I no longer have to obsessively worry about the wall falling in. To me, it’s entirely worth it. And the cost of home ownership. So far, so fun!