First day in a long time I’ve had to myself. No appointments, no shows to tape, no editorial fires to extinguish. Peace and quiet and words — it really doesn’t get much better than that.

Phase 1 of the remodel is wrapping today. The main guest bath is complete, and gorgeous. Master bed and bath, living room, and kitchen are repainted. We almost have everything in place (living room rug and a side table to come for living room—and OMG, this rug! It’s hide, it’s ombré, and it’s stunning!) and a trunk needs to be repaired and painted in the master. And of course, the curtains rehung, the paintings put back up. The touches, the finishes. I’m ready for it to be done. I do have to empty the bookshelves and put them back together by color. That’s going to be a fun project!

Phase 2 is ripping out the tile in our master bath and putting down fresh. It’s ten times the job the rest of this was — removing old tile is not for the faint of heart — and won’t start for a couple of weeks.

So when the painters leave and the run-through is done, we can start putting this house back together again. The kitties will be most pleased by this—their brush and some favorite toys are under plastic, soon to be unearthed; the couch has been out of commission for several days; their beds and trees have been moved around. They’re more displaced than us, I think.

Once I can find the floor, it’s packing time again. I’m off to Chicago tomorrow for ALA — the American Library Association annual meeting —to talk about LIE TO ME. It’s my first time and I’m very excited — but I did decide to do a very business casual look this weekend. Jeans, blazer, boots. My new uniform! Part of that is comfort, the other — I can’t get to most of my clothes! Lord knows I’m not folding my unmentionables in front of the contractors…

All that said, I’ve managed to accomplish more today that most of the week combined. Lots of words. I wrote most of the day on the porch, in the rain, as TD Cindy came through. Breeze, humid, rainy—it was almost like writing at the beach. Almost.

Have a lovely weekend!