Home Improvement

My new relationship with the hardware store owner began today when I picked up a pound of masilla (like grout or putty) and a spatula for about a dollar. The masilla was such a success that I returned less than an hour later to buy two more pounds; the owner was pleasantly surprised. I happily spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon puttying up holes in our bathroom and bedroom.

Honduran workmanship leaves something to be desired. The grout around our bathroom tiles near the door was so full of holes, bugs were having a heyday. When the windows (all the windows in the house mind you) had been fitted in, a 1/8 inch gap was left to the outside, not so great for insulation or insects. Plus, whoever had painted the walls last had also coincidentally painted half the tiles as well. Do people even think about these things here? Well I did, and I needed to do something about it. I have to say I was impressed with my own skills, having never been much of a puttyer. I used up two of my three pounds of masilla then proceeded to use my spatula to scrape paint off the tiles. The results were quite good, although to the untrained eye, you probably wouldn’t be able to notice the improvements, because the result is just a regular looking bathroom. I felt like Hank the Handyman. Next weekend, I tackle the kitchen and dining room.