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.

We are in week three of an office renovation that is consuming my days, leaving me only the evenings for working. Our entire staff is working from their homes while my older son, Greg, who is with us at the office for the summer, is with me in New York. There have been moments of complete frustration with this project coupled with some hilarious times. We both are tired of carrying furniture from room to room, and I confess that when book shipments arrive we both laugh trying to figure WHERE we can store them until the staff returns and still stay one step ahead of the construction crew. Tonight, in utter frustration, I just stashed a box in my car!

Did you finish it yet? You know exactly what we mean. Everyone around my house was racing to read HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS the weekend it came out, and they seemed to be racing to see how it ended. I confess that I am reading this book slowly, so if any of you still are reading, do know you have company! I have told them that they cannot tell me how it ends, which means there is lots of whispering going on around our house as they talk about what happens.