Tile wishes and patio contractor dreams...

I'm finally done laying that stupid flippin' tile. At least for now. Aaron and I haven't been planning ahead very well, so we don't have the cabinets or staircase parts that will go in the room with the tile yet. So, we kind of marked out where they will go, and we'll lay all the tile that abuts (is that a word?) those regions once the elements that we're waiting for are in place. Tonight we'll return some of our tremendous overabundance of tile so that we can move on to even more fun activities, like grout. Grout is such a weird word? Does anyone know how the stuff between the tiles got that name? I'd love to hear about it. Sorry, no pictures yet. I was too exhausted and covered in thinset to look for the camera last night. (I have managed to avoid thinset burns this time, though. Versabond is less irritating to my skin than Laticrete. I looked some stuff up, and the acrylic modifier can actually end up being the problem, not the cement. If you've got sensitive skin and you're planning a tile project, keep that in mind.) I promise to get them tonight if it's not too late when we get back from Lowes.

Aaron and I got into a small fight about the patio last night. I say, just write down all the stuff we need clarified on the estimate for Contractor 5 and fax it back to him. Aaron isn't in to that at all. So, we're now going to try out Contractor 7. Contractor 7 has laid two patios on our street, and they're a family of Mennonites. Everyone who has worked with Contractor 7 has nothing but nice things to say. The father handles the business part of the company, and the sons provide all of the actual labor. Supposedly they are very polite and professional. If they will lay slate, and they aren't insanely expensive, then maybe we'll finally have someone to go with. I am worried that they won't lay slate because their sign mentions pavers, and the brochure that they left on our porch had the same effing paver brochure that I've gotten 5 times in it. I'm so sick of paver brochures. I know what I want, and it's slate. Aaarrgghhh! But, I'm hopeful that we can finally get this project off of the ground.