Then a trip to the local hardware store where I asked the usually very helpful clerk for a "yellow handled tile breaker chisel, like they use on TV", he gave me a blank stare and said "um, we don't have anything like that here, ma'am", as I was walking away I swear I could here them laughing. So, off we went to the big box store, where, of course, they had exactly what I wanted (you can see it in the background). Onward to taking the sink out using my fun new tool. I must say it looks much easier on TV, my poor little forearms were really aching after this relatively small job. I may have to get in shape at the gym just to keep up with the house projects.
taking the tile back splash out really messed up the drywall.
so we had to replace some patches, once again I am reminded that this is why most people hire professionals for these kind of jobs. This was a frustrating pain in the patootie, as on our first try the wall board wasn't properly braced and actually moved when I poked it. This necessitated a couple of hours of careful measuring, sawing and adding some support pieces behind the wall. The biggest pain was getting the support pieces in by myself while working in a really tight space and making sure not to mess up the electrical wiring running through these studs. Done and done!!
my home improvement reference book says to do the mudding in 3 stages;- mud and tape, let dry
- mud a little more to even everything out, let dry
- mud a final time to feather the patch out to match existing, dry and sand smooth
this is all well and good, except when your patch is grossly uneven with the wall, I did step 2 about 4 time before I felt OK about it. Also, we had to patch over all the tears where the big mirror glue tore holes in the drywall paper. 
I'm kind of nervous about the next step of using the spray for the the final "knock down" texture, after all this mudding and sanding it will be such a shame if the texture looks weird and just doesn't match the original.