Kitchen Floors me, no pictures please

There will be a short interlude before the next picture post. It seems as though someone has helped themselves to my camera. I will never be sure exactly what happened, but gone is gone.

The kitchen floor is getting me down. Yes, down on the floor with my ever degenerating knees, but I am having some trouble.
My cement mix, which is quite thick where I needed the floor's high point, is not the best. It turns out I should have used a different product. Currently I am replacing any tiles that sound loose. A light tap gives a dull thud on all correctly set tiles. A hollow sound means they didn't grab and they've gotta come up. This is hard not only because chipping up cement is hard, but the vibrations can loosen the adjacent tiles as well. So five becomes eight and well, I'll let you know when it's done.
Also, getting the pitch while keeping it the whole floor flat, with the spaces even and all tile lining up, oye! This is not my best trade, but since I'm all I have......

I'm considering a camera/phone. I have been firmly against this combo in the past, but some things have changed.

1. The cameras in phones are much better.
2. I'm calling more and could use a phone plan instead of constantly trying to add minutes. Hence, I may be looking at new phones since they practically give you a decent phone when you sign a plan.
3. I loved my camera, but secretly have been wanting something more advanced and may get by with the phone-0-camera until I can afford and SLR.
4. It will probably have MP3 and I can't go long without music.

More on this fascinating problem and all the developments later.
Thanks for reading,
Ciao

The Facade and cuida coches

Cleaning and painting was a hassle. The scaffolding was difficult to move on the uneven sidewalk. Many days Mono and I were not there at the same time and we had to employ the street car parker.
Cuida Coche: It's a common and unavoidable fact of life here, there are guys who take the job of 'watching' the cars parked on a given street. They hang around, more or less helping you get into a space or directing you to a spot. They expect a few pesos when you pull out, but it's not a huge deal if you have no change. Most of these guys are typical Uruguayans, very mellow.

The molding just above the first floor was a problem. It had huge chunks missing, but is positioned right behind those ugly electrical cables (another irritation). I couldn't make a form to hold the cement, so several applications smoothed over a bit would have to do. Cement won't defy gravity and the repair is mierda if you ask me.

The accent color helps the details pop, although I have had second thoughts about the colors. Well, no going back now.

The last repair was the corner of the parapet. One thing that made some repairs more difficult was previous attempts at repair. The usual symptoms are; too much cement applied and little attempt at getting the form correct. This spot didn't require much chipping, but it was not easy to reach and the wall facing that other building kept crumbling away, hard as I tried to find a place to stop. I didn't want to cement the entire wall.
In the end I was able to put a form on the corner and with several applications, get the job done.
Now somebody has to go up there and paint it.