In some ways I feel like a dog: "The porch! My favorite place!" "The kitchen! My favorite place!" "The dining room! My favorite place!" But seeing my ideas turn into reality is such a thrill that I can stand and gaze at the (newly widened) back hall with rapture.

This used to be the master bedroom and is on its way to becoming the kitchen. The sink will be where that doorway is at the end of the room, and I will leave the window above as wide as it is now. This faces east -- I can see the bay -- and they've already built me a nice wide shelf for plants. You can see the framing of the pantry in the corner. When they cleared this room out enough for me to walk in it, I got out the blueprint and the sidewalk chalk and drew my counters out lifesize on the carpet. I am so glad I did that, because I ended up taking some room out of the breakfast area and putting it into the business end of the kitchen.

The Professor and I are squeezed into a couple of rooms. They tried hanging plastic to keep some of the dust out, but the plastic sheets would blow into the rooms, as my air conditioner air intake really sucks -- literally. So now we have zipper doors. At first the cats were afraid of them, but now they jump right through with no hesitation.