This week began with backsplash work. First, my tile saw leaked all over the place. I found some plumber tape to make it seal properly and got to work. I earned a small cut on my palm because my dumb ass wasn’t wearing gloves while cutting glass tiles. The thought never occurred to me. I’ll be more careful in the future. After the basic cutting, I kind of shaved the edges some to make them more straight. That’s probably what cut me. Then, I had to let the two tiles I cut dry off.

I really don’t enjoy working with tile, especially when it’s made of glass. I love the look, but I feel like a better method would involve the saw cutting from above rather than pushing the tile towards the blade. These two tile sections will live on the right side of the sink. At least the back allowed for some I didn’t have to cut at all. It’s a really small kitchen and I’m only doing a partial backsplash, so the sink side was about six tiles. My goal is to have less grime going directly on the walls rather than have walls full of tile. The other side of my kitchen will involve more cuts.

By early Monday evening I had the backsplash in place. It needed some cleaning, but I decided to wait until it was firmly set in the adhesive. The one I use dries quickly, which reduces a lot of the issues with wall tile.

I spent a bunch of time scrubbing the wall and tiles. I didn’t bother with the parts of the wall that will be covered by cabinets. It wasn’t coming off there by the time I got to the bottom anyway.

On Tuesday, I was looking forward to grouting the tiles. I was also looking ahead to the next couple steps. Disaster. The one thing that I didn’t want to misplace. The thing that for months was sitting literally inside the sink. Was missing. What was it? The drain for the sink, of course. The piece that has to connect to the plumbing. The piece that is integral to me plumbing the sink in. Fuck!

I discovered I had other spice jars already in my house. I was using them to store buttons. I’ll put the buttons in the jars I got recently and use the others for my spices. At least I can work on this part of the project while I figure out the plumbing problem. I contacted the company to see if I can get a replacement piece and the instructions as I’ve not installed this type of faucet before and I have no idea what the heavy black thing in its box is for. The really sad thing is that after I got the backsplash up, I was so happy and thought I could enjoy the rest of the renovation. It’s all mostly things I’ve dealt with before and should be straightforward. This was a mental setback and made me feel really down. I’m so tired. I didn’t want to be doing a renovation this year. I wanted to go on a trip instead of this and it feels like I’m in hell right now.

July 23rd was World Sjogren’s Day. This is my other autoimmune condition. It has been upgraded to a systemic disease. This is something the community has fought for because it has always caused much more than dry eyes and mouth. Coincidentally, I’ve been dealing with a new symptom this week. Ten years post diagnosis and I have a couple of angry knuckles making things difficult. Sjogren’s has overlaps in a lot of areas with other conditions. Some symptoms are typical of MS (like neuropathy) and some are more typical of RA (knuckle pain). They weren’t swollen or feeling like burning, so it’s not RA at least. I think it’s possible that the only reason we’re finally getting some notice is that there has been a big push in recent years to actually study women in the medical industry. Women are more commonly afflicted with Sjogren’s.

Karate on Thursday was a bit rough. The air conditioning was busted and the humidex was in the mid 40s. We use Celsius in Canada for weather. The city brought us a fan at least and Sensei decided we would take it a bit easier, so that was helpful. I had dropped my water bottle on my big toe, so I was extra thankful. That has a bruise now.

After surviving the workday, I ended up at the field too early for softball, but at least I wasn’t alone as an opposing team member was also there too early. It was a double header night. I think I scored a run. If it counted. Sometimes I get in and it’s right when the third out happens and then it doesn’t count. Anyway, in game two I caught a foul tick at home off the batter and got them out. I’ve been wanting to catch one all season, so it was an awesome feeling! Plenty of time left to catch more too.

There’s something magical about playing ball on Friday in the one park we play at. There’s a walking path that goes through the whole park and other adults of all ages stop to watch us play. Some of the elderly folks used to play when they were younger and it’s always wonderful to see their faces light up as they watch us. I like to think that maybe seeing adults get together and have fun helps people remember that not everything in the world is a mess. There are still great things going on too. Things worth fighting for.

Grout happened on Saturday despite my protesting muscles. At least the application of it. I had to wait for it to cure somewhat before cleaning it off of the tiles. Renovations would be a lot more fun if everything didn’t require multiple steps. I suppose I could’ve used peel and stick for the backsplash, but that doesn’t always stay up in humid climates and I didn’t want to have to redo it anytime soon. When I’m older, I will probably just do that though.

All I planned for the evening was watching some live roller derby. I really hoped they had the massage students there to help my tired muscles. And they were! A free massage and Ottawa beat Roller Derby Quebec. I didn’t stick around for the house league games. Usually I do, but there was no air conditioning and it was a hot day. I also had some errands to get to before places were closed.

Sunday held game night. In Pathfinder this week, we found a lost kobold and convinced him that he should play to his strengths and help the map maker out instead of trying a life of thievery. He would’ve died really quick otherwise. Rat swarms are really hard when you’re level 2 and don’t have anything cool to kill them with yet. We’re almost to level, so hopefully I can find something cool to get. I also have some money to spend on gear.

I also prettied up a tunnel in Minecraft this week.

There’s a huge underground area under my base that is an abandoned mineshaft. There are also crystal caves and a crypt full of bad things. I’m slowly tackling the mess down there and my little tunnel will connect to shared areas and a rail system in the future. We have our work cut out for us!

As an AuDHDer, I find Minecraft helpful to get organized in real life. Something about fixing things up in the game helps me figure out things in life. Perhaps it’s just the added dopamine though.