But what if the mess is where the good ideas actually come from? All that structure can just kill the fun of it.

Remember a guy watching me cut gaskets with a knife and shaking his head. He walked off, came back with an old coffee can full of those little snap-off blade knives. Showed me how to score it deep once and just snap it clean. Felt like a total idiot for all the time I wasted, but man that trick stuck with me.

Yeah, that's a scary wake-up call. I did a kitchen remodel last year and sanded a ton of mud without a mask, just a dust mask. Felt fine at the time, but I had a dry cough for weeks after. My buddy who does drywall full time told me the same thing, he said that stuff is basically super fine powder and it just hangs in the air forever. Now I won't even touch the sander without a proper respirator, it's just not worth the risk.

Yeah I used to think that was crazy but @laura940's uncle's trick actually makes sense now.

My buddy's mint patch now covers half his patio.