Apex

Beirut in the 80's? Or my living room yesterday?

Another view, equally war-torn:

This week is the worst of the worst, as far as construction chaos goes. Tom has had a hard time getting past the rubble, the omnipresent dust, and the mounting expense. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel - whee! In contrast, when we were dealing with on-again/off-again plumbling, it was me that was Freaking. The Hell. Out. Tom was all, pee in a bucket? Sure. Whereas I was scrabbling through the yellow pages frantically booking a hotel room and hollering for the girls to pack their overnight bags.

The secret to a good marriage is that both spouses are not allowed to lose it at the same time. I believe the Great Electrical Fire Panic of 1998 illustrated that neatly.

(Sidenote: If you call 911 because you smell something weird and burny in your townhouse, and ask the dispatcher if he could just please send one guy out to check the wiring because it's probably no big deal? They will send a minimum of three enormous fire trucks and an ambulance. And when it turns out that your electrical fire was a skunk that sprayed right on your front porch rendering a smell so evil and potent that it was unrecognizable as skunk? They will all laugh their asses off at you).

In other news, the cats are enormous fans of our new "wall-less" concept. Mittens, in a move straight from Ringling Brothers, enjoys jumping straight through the wall, down into the basement, completely foregoing the stairs. They remain unimpressed, however, by the many workmen in stompy boots swarming through the house and interrupting their naps.

Today the drywallers are scheduled to come. I'm heading to Starbuck's and a friend's house for the morning. When I get back, I will have WALLS.