I spent the weekend wiping and vacuuming and mopping plaster dust off everything on the ground floor, where the sitting room furniture was once again veiled in grey and the cats were picking pussy paw-loads sufficient to mark every surface in every other part of the house. Then I did the same in our enormous bedroom, which contains five chests of drawers and a row of three floor-to-ceiling bookcases as well as a queen-sized bed. Upholstery got vacuumed and cushion covers laundered. The dryer whooshed and thumped for two days straight. My feet are a pair of hurtin' units now.

Only the study (seven floor-to-ceiling bookcases), Himself's office (two floor-to-ceiling bookcases), the guest room and the basement (eight floor-to-ceiling bookcases and five sections of storage shelving) to go. Not to speak of the furnace room and the laundry hole, where sawdust abounds ...

Cabinet installation begins today, hooray hooray hooray hooray! The cabinet-maker and his guys were loading their trailer when I called at 0850 hr to find out the order of march. I look forward to a week of visible progress!