Tackling the Kitchen Part II, Plus CSI Final

Yesterday after Brian left for Indiana, I got to work on the tiles in the second half of the kitchen. These tiles were only slightly less hideous than the ones in the first half of the kitchen.

Unfortunately, they were actually installed correctly, which means that they were actually stuck down to the floor.

It didn't take me long to empty out the chairs and table and wine cooler. I took up the threshold that used to divide the two areas of the kitchen/eating area. Then I stopped to take a picture:





Some tiles were more stubbornly stuck than others. Some cracked away when I was trying to peel them up. I was battling the Revenge of the Lung Funk, so I gave up last night with the floor looking like this:





The only good part was that there were juuuuuust enough tiles left that I could hop-scotch across the floor without having to peel my own feet off the floor with each step. Pulu and Sara's dog, Mea, found out the hard way that they should stay out of the kitchen.

This morning I saw the maintenance guy weed-whacking, and he told me where to look in the shop for the paint scrapers I used last time. I scampered up there, retrieved a few tools, and was able to make some headway on the stubbornly-stuck tiles. (yes, that is black mold you see on the floor. I washed it down with bleach before re-flooring)






And what was Pulu up to while I was wrestling with those tiles? Lounging and defending the yard from marauding bands of squirrels.





Finally I got the last of the tiles peeled up and could vacuum up the worst of the debris.






The new flooring went down fairly quickly and started to look FANTASTIC almost right away.






Time to check on the big dog. Yup, still lounging.






Rats. Ran out of tiles. Time for a break to run to town. Took Sara with me, who also needed a break. We accidentally stopped for ice cream after we hit Lowe's. Much needed girl time!






"I guarded the yard while you were gone, mom."





Re-supplied with tiles, I prepared for the final push (I hoped).





The one thing about cheapy-peel-n-stick tile is that it's easy to custom-fit edge pieces with just a pair of stout kitchen shears.






Aaaand, a short time later, I'm done (sort of!)






Pay no attention to the final edge of the room, where I'm short 5 tiles. I'll pick those up tomorrow and then be able to put the threshold back down lickety-split!





I'm pooped!

Later this evening I'll load the kitchen back in. Tomorrow I'll pick up those last five tiles and call this project a wrap!

---

While I'm all posting pictures, I thought I'd share some of the shots from the crime scene final that my kids did in Forensics. I don't want to share pictures of their faces, but here's a few highlights!

(there is real blood in these photos, but it's all dried. It was bovine blood that we got from a supply house. But, skip this if you're sensitive!)






Oh dear, it seems someone has been shot.






I actually set up two separate but identical murder scenes--one for each team. The crime scene tape divides the two scenes so they didn't accidentally cross-contaminate their scenes.






Team 1 at work:







Silly perp, left footprints in the blood.














The victim fought back. He's got defensive wounds with blood and fibers under his fingernails!






The wound, shell casing, blood flow, and a little bit of the purple-magic-marker "lividity" that the kids used for time of death:






Looks like a .22 shell.






And they finally remembered to measure the footprints!






Whoooo! Team 2 found a suspicious white powder in the victim's pocket. Wonder what it is??





Their crime scene reports are due on Monday. I can't wait to see what they came up with!