Double Grout Fail

Tonight I raced home, ripped open my new bag of grout and started mixing so I could finish up my mosaics before this weekend's craft fair (set up is tomorrow). Though I could have sworn I used "biscuit" color previously, it was obviously too brown to match my previous lot, and wouldn't give me the effect I needed with most of the ones I had left. I tried it out on a large mirror I did in shades of green - it turned out cool, but definitely not white (sort of a taupe instead). So that wasn't going to work. I clearly needed to make a grout run.

Problem: My dog has been QUITE upset with all of the recent chaos (hubby being gone around the clock, random relatives in and out) and he takes this out by shredding paper, plastic, and other easily shred-able things he finds around the house. I had just covered a buch of surfaces in plastic to do my grouting, so he had a lot of "fuel" to work with. This is quite annoying.

Another problem: my car is FULL of craft stuff for tomorrow - stuff I'd be quite annoyed were he to shred. Quandry.

Dog goes into car (quite happily, "CAR RIDE" is one of his favorite phrases). I hoped I could just stop at the little mom & pop hardware store, but they didn't have what I needed. And while I was in there, Norm dis-assembled a fast food bag full of wrappers he dug out from under the seat. Drat.

Off we go through rush hour traffic to Menards. Park - race - grab - run. Norm shredded nothing else while I was inside. Score.

Arrive home. Turn on lights. Realize that me, Norm, and the car are all covered in white powder. Bag has a hole. Drat.

Come in, mix grout, realize something is not right. Right color...wrong texture. There are multiple textures of this same brand and color? Drat.

Figure I'll try it anyways. Continue mixing. Slap it on. Very gooey. Read the label. "Avoid contact with skin." Drat.

So I probably took a few years off my life, but so far the two I did with the "nonsanded grout with polymer" (which should have been "sanded grout without polymer") look okay. The two I needed to patch won't end up getting done, since I'm not heading back out AGAIN and set up is tomorrow immediately after work. Oh well. Hopefully I'll do another show in the spring and finish them up before that. SIGH.