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!

We are in the final stages of an office renovation that is going to give us about two-thirds more space than we had before. I have spent the last three weeks watching walls come down and go up. I have made what seems like a zillion decisions about things I knew very little about a few weeks ago --- like faceplates for wiring, transferring data and phone lines, and what colors ducts should be painted. I also have heard my name called over and over again by the various folks on the construction crew until I seriously thought maybe I should say, "You know what? My name is really Susan, not Carol," just to see what they would say.

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.