Archives - Weekly Update

My suitcase once again is a topic of big discussion around our house today. We are leaving for the Outer Banks, and the usual vacation conversation has begun. My suitcase needs to go in the trunk first for everything else to fit. I somehow never understand this since we have a Yukon XL. HOW can MY bag be so mission-critical? I have learned not to ask questions like this since my husband is an engineer and clearly feels there is some method to this madness.

For the record, after last week when I wrote the newsletter standing up in the middle of the construction zone at the office, this week I AM sitting down. The project is about 95% completed. My office is getting a glass wall, which will go in last. I have been WALKING through the window area instead of the door for weeks now, thus the staff is taking bets on how many times I am going to gallop into the glass. I am not betting against them. I figure I will need to keep the Windex handy to destroy all telltale fingermarks!

Week three of construction. Memo to anyone planning a renovation: it's insane to do this if you have any possessions in the space! We have carried every piece of office furniture around the new combined office area at least three times as we stayed a step ahead of the workers at each stage of this project. On Thursday afternoon we had moved everything out of my future office after stacking it ALL in there a mere 36 hours earlier so carpet laying could be facilitated in the rest of the space.

As we are in week two of our office renovation, my days go something like this. I drive to New York. I then work amidst banging, pounding, drilling and grinding until 3:00 with interruptions for questions, phone calls and messengers. Then it becomes so stunningly quiet that I actually find myself spending a half an hour getting used to the silence. The workers and I have gotten into a rhythm where they have learned I am agile enough to make it across the floor without stepping on nails, I have come to appreciate their suggestions and changes, we all seem to like the same music and they are kind enough not to smoke when I am around. I really am tired of sheetrock dust, but the plan is evolving the way I envisioned it, and that keeps me going through the late nights and early mornings when I try to catch up on everything that does not happen for the first half of the day.