Sweat Equity and the After-Effects of Manual Labor

I've planted myself on the couch today, with no plan to move.  I didn't even do anything that exciting these past couple of days, but it left me a bit painful.

On Sunday I got a bug in my butt to finish the basement bathroom project that I started, oh, sometime last year.  (Or was it two years ago...?)  When we moved in, the floor was done in indoor-outdoor carpeting (which my cats decided would double as a litter box) and bright blueberry walls and cabinet.  So we ripped out the carpet with plans to put in vinyl tile, and re-painted it in cream and aqua with matching paisley curtains.  But the floor, it waited... and waited... and waited... until finally on Sunday I opened the box of tiles and started laying them out.  It really wasn't that hard of a project, except that (a) every wall in the room was crooked, so there was nothing to square the tiles up to, (b) the toilet was permanently affixed to a concrete slab, so I had to cut around it, (c) the rest of the floor was wood sub-flooring, which was fine except that (d) it wasn't level with the concrete slab, and (e) there was an access panel cut into to it to get at some of the plumbing.  So okay, it really wasn't that easy, but it's a tiny room so it only took me one day despite the challenges.  I still need to run a bead of caulk around the base of the toilet to cover the cut edges of the tiles, and the sink is still not functional, but it looks pretty good for what we were able to do.

I had some tiles leftover, so yesterday I decided to rip out the badly stained and fraying carpet on the landing inside the back door and re-do it with the tile.  I also went stair by stair, trimming the carpet to fit better and re-stapling it to the underside of each stair.  The carpet is still pretty worn out on the stairs, but it looks much tidier and the landing will be easier to keep clean.  I have one piece of trim left to install once B cuts it to size for me.  Not bad for a weekend amateur DIY'er like myself!

So after all this bending/kneeling/climbing/cutting/whathaveyou, I'm a little sore.  My hands are dry and cracked, and my back and legs complain every time I move.  You'd think I'd done something a little more strenuous, but I'm just that out of shape.

But the house is really starting to look sharp - just in time for us to move this summer!  But if it helps our landlords sell it, I'm all about helping.  They've been so understanding and such great people to deal with.  (And if anybody is looking to buy a house in Toledo this summer....!!)