Tuesday Tiles and Trees

It is now Tuesday and the temperatures have dropped, which means the flooded areas nearby have now frozen over. The people along the bay have had to evacuate their homes and many of them cannot move back in again until power is restored, as well as heating and un-freezing their pipes.

Our back ponds (really the flooded backyard) froze over, but we were fortunate to never lose power or have water entering the house during the storm.

Yesterday we ran up to Marinette to pick up an order at Menards and admired all of the beautiful winter scenery along the way...

Things everywhere look like a Winter Wonderland! 

We had ordered a special caulking tube of premixed unsanded grout in a particular color that will coordinate with the flooring in the tile the entryway of the she shed. Because it wasn't in stock, we had to order it and it was not even able to be shipped to the house!  So that meant we had to go 20 miles one way after a week's wait to pick it up.

When we got there, we went to the special order department with our little piece of paper. Of course, they could not find our order. GRRRRRRR  The first guy behind the desk said it's not in the proper bin on the wall. He got a second guy to come and look, who then walked up and down the entire special order area, checking every bin.

They got a third guy involved who let us walk with him up and down every aisle of the special order looking and look in every bin---- in case it had been put in a box???  So we checked every label of every special order in the entire area of every box that look like it could container tube of grout caulk.

Nope we couldn't find it.

Two different guys went through the computer double-checking and, yes, it showed it arrived at the store the day before. It was not in any unpacked area. And since the computer showed that it had been checked into the store, I suggested another idea.  Could I walk over to the tile department across the store where there were other colors of this particular grout caulk tubes and see if perhaps somebody just happened to maybe put it on a shelf instead of keeping it in the special order area? That makes sense to me.

Nope, they said that wouldn't have happened. It's not a regularly stocked item.  They kept looking through the computer trying to figure out where our order was.

Finally I said I WAS going to walk across the store to the tile area just to double-check. The manager walked with me. Lo and behold, there in the tile department in the grout section of tubes was our tube of Dove gray grout caulk!!!  It was stuffed into the first row of brilliant white caulk. So whoever happened to find our tube in the special order area decided to bring it out to the floor and stock it. But they didn't even put it in a correct spot because there was none because it's not a regularly carried color.

The manager apologized profusely. When he saw I wasn't very upset and kinda laughing it off, he then grumbled about how many new temporary seasonal workers there are, and many of them never listen anyhow! He said you tell them three times and they still don't listen.

I said it really wasn't a big deal because we could have just ordered another tube and waited another week. But I'm glad that we were able to locate it because we drove 20 miles to get it!!!

When we got home, I snapped this pic of our house in the sunshine:

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This morning Steve put a layer of the caulk grout in all of the cracks of the tiles in the entryway to the she shed. Because we used a very narrow tile spacing, he used unsanded grout based in a silicone caulk. 

Now we can finish the trim around the french windows

and the baseboard along the wall. 

Steve left today to go up and assist his brother and help out his dad today in Door County. That meant I had a day to myself. I fiddled around with putting the lights on the Christmas tree.

I got all the lights on fine... but then I got stumped. 

I couldn't decide what ornaments to put on yet. 

I have ornaments that can be all in gold like last year 

or 

I have ornaments in deep rich rust colors from the year before 

or 

I could put everything crazy of every single ornament 

from many years accumulation??

But I just might go with snowflakes this year. I have these white frosty snowflakes that I used to put along the foyer and along the front porch windows in the last house in Chilton.  I would also add little tiny blow glass Venetian candy ornaments I have collected over the years. I hung a few on the tree and I will see what Steve thinks when he gets home later this evening. So for now it's undecorated.

We did put up the small "Family Tree" down in the She Shed. It has little handmade ornaments with every member of the family written on each little heart. It includes grandparents, grandkids, aunts, uncles and cousins too.   It is a fiberoptic tree with multicolors changing and morphing from one to the other as the little fan motor runs in the base.

I also put up this cute little metal tree we fondly call the Dr. Suess Grinch Tree....  The grandkids love it because the ornaments cling on with magnets, and they can arrange it any way they want.  We strung up a couple strands of tiny wire LED battery operated lights.  It makes a great night light in the Grandtots Bedroom for sleepovers!

It was strange having a day to myself. I've gotten so used to having Steve around now that he's fully retired. I've been busy working on some Christmas projects that I can't put pictures on here .... and then I am cranking some socks and getting some orders done for customers.  I love having space in the she shed to leave my stuff set up and not have to tear it down and put it away in between projects.  Now I have room to leave it all out and I can go back and forth to it when I want.

Soooooo 

I am going to get back to cranking socks, 

and watch The Grinch on tv. 

Finney is waiting for Steve to get home....

So am I.