How Two Adults Lay Tile (Also Known As How Star Girl Became Mud Woman)

Discussion in 'Home Improvement' started by Allie Seay, Mar 21, 2015.

  1. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    My husband, bless his heart, is a perfectionist. Not that everything he does turns out perfectly, but that he'll drive his self bananas along with anyone else involved in any project he undertakes if he's allowed, just trying to make things perfect.

    Early on in our kitchen tiling project, which is coming along nicely even if it did start a bit slowly, he determined that he would be mud man. Meaning that he would spread the thin-set on the floor, butter the backs of the tiles with a little extra and set the tiles in place.

    I was star woman. I was to put the little spacers we call stars but actually look more like little x's between the tiles as he placed them so that they would stay that way (the tiles). I was also supposed to take a level and make sure that all the tiles he put down were perfectly so--level, that is.

    That seemed all well and good at first and should have been a cakewalk, but I quickly became disillusioned as mud man kept doubling back and redoing everything I was doing. He was making a mess of it too, lifting the tiles back out of the mud and repositioning them without ever quite getting them exactly as he wanted.

    It would appear I was useless to him as a leveler and my stars kept getting scattered.

    I told him that I didn't want to be star woman anymore, but next time we laid a few tiles there I was in star position again, listening to mud man fuss if I did nothing and watching him redo it if I did.

    The third time around I again said I wanted to be mud woman and mud man almost refused me, but I stuck out my bottom lip and let him know that if he didn't let me be mud woman I wasn't going to play the game anymore.

    Mud man relented and let me take a shot.

    By the time we'd gotten halfway across on one row the newly made star boy had declared me mud woman forever, as we were making way better time with far less mess. Star boy said he wondered why he was so bad at being mud man and I told him it was because he'd had no experience putting the icing on a cake.

    And then I told him the truth.

    I said, "Well, star boy, it's like this. Some of us are born to lead and some to follow. The proof is this, when I'm following, you're always turning circles trying to lead and do my job. When I lead, you follow along quite nicely and we get where we're going a heck of a lot faster with a whole lot less mess. Plus, and this is a big one, you end up happier because you get to make the last adjustment, which is what you really wanted in the first place."

    Star boy is still thinking about that one, but mud woman doesn't care because her floor is getting done.
     
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  2. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    I really like your story. There are people leading that really should not be leaders, they are followers but the term follow has gotten a bad rap, There are times I gladly so hey just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. I don't want to think right now just do what I am told to do and be happy. I would take part time jobs like being a server just so I could do the job and go home, I did not have to take work home I did not have people call me at the last minute that something needed to be done and I needed to come in early to get it done. Just tell me what you want and like me do it simple.
     
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  3. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    I don't think of myself as a leader or a follower, but can sometimes do either in the right situations. I have seen a lot of people try to lead, though, who could barely jump start themselves, and others who are self starters and seemingly can delegate but then won't leave their workers alone to do their jobs.

    I've always held service jobs, too. Ken has so many times said that I should have chosen something better because he thinks I'm really smart. (Boy, do I have him fooled.) I personally have always liked the service jobs, though. I've never made much money, but I've had enough and, like you said, you don't take your job home with you when the day is done.

    Outside of working on other people's farms, I think my favorite job was in my sister in law's flower shop. Mostly I drove and I liked it that way, but sometimes I'd do things in the shop while I was waiting for arrangements to be made. Almost everyone in the shop was family and all were self starters. No one ever really seemed to tell anyone else what to do, as such. Whatever your job was, if you saw something else that needed doing you just did it. Everyone pitched in to help everyone else and it worked. It probably wouldn't work so well in all places of employment, but it certainly did there.

    It was hilarious at times, too. The things you hear in a flower shop easily rival what you might if you worked in a beauty shop.

    But back to liking service jobs in general. It's just always been in me to work them. When some of my friends used to sit back, talk and play make believe, trying to imagine what it would be like to be rich and have servants I think I was the only one who was unable to imagine beyond being the servant herself. I can no more see myself rich that way than fly outside of dreams, but I have everything I've ever wanted.

    Maybe that's why. I just can't imagine any more.

    I would like it, though, if I could find some fairly profitable thing to do online.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I enjoy laying ceramic tile, and wish I could afford more of it for my house. I laid a ceramic floor for our camp, and in a couple of places in our house, but hope to be able to tile another room or two this summer.
     
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  5. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    I really like tile and laying it isn't all that hard or even unpleasant. The results are so pleasing. After we finish out the kitchen and dining area we will have to figure out something for the living room and the hallway. I wouldn't mind tiling that, too. I want to get rid of the carpet altogether and I like the look of the tile that resembles wood. Expensive, though. That kind.

    I reckon I'll be happy with whatever we decide to do. Whether it's tile, hardwood or that pergo stuff.
     
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