Complications, Part 2

So the de-construction crew came Thursday morning and set about putting up plastic tents--double-walled with hazmat dressing areas between partitions--cutting holes, dehumidifying, and bleaching. They worked here for two solid days, during which time I spoiled our two dogs with super long walks and cuddle times in the bedroom in order to keep them out of foot and bark-free. Six grown men rotated through, each asking permission for their turn in the restroom and, since I didn't want them peeing in the bushes, I gladly gave my consent. They finished Friday afternoon but dehumidifiers have been running non-stop since they started Thursday. I was told these would be turned off once the mold specialist arrived to take his measurements. We expected him today but apparently he will come tomorrow at 10am. Meanwhile, we've gotten used to the constant whir of the machines and are sleeping relatively well. The mold specialist will take his measurements tomorrow morning, our landlord will get the results Thursday and, at that time and assuming the measurements are "good," will schedule a different construction crew to begin the restoration project, which is expected to take another two days. Craig and I are headed to Tahoe on Thursday to celebrate his 30th birthday; we hope the construction will be done by the time we return Sunday evening. Assuming that the construction is finished by then, we can start the process of putting refrigerators, appliances, china, and cutlery back in their rightful places in the kitchen--after we unpack from the trip, anyway. Ugh. I'll just be glad when I no longer have to fill our Brita water pitcher from the bathtub.

In the meantime, my laptop decided it was time to end its life Friday. We managed to salvage the hard drive and save it to an external drive but the laptop itself is no more. Try to imagine me in a construction-zoned house, unable to clean, cook, or really even move, with no computer access for freelancing, blogging, news-gathering, or chit-chatting. And we don't have cable or a newspaper subscription. Craig comes home talking about health bills and who Sandra Bullock's husband has been sleeping with and I'm lost. But not for much longer! Craig is in the process of hooking me up with an old and discarded computer from his office to get me through until we have enough money saved up to buy my dream computer: an iMac. Since Best Buy is just a block away, I've been walking there frequently just to stand at the floor model and hold her magic mouse in hand.

When I'm not at Best Buy oogling computers, I've kept busy throwing out old files and reorganizing our file cabinet. It's amazing the stuff I've kept: high school transcripts, ACT scores, wallet-sized photos of middle school classmates. Wow. Have I really carted all these things through three states? Well, no longer! Apparently all I needed was complete isolation from the rest of the world to motivate me. That and needing to make room for baby, of course.