Oh God.

I know. It's been months. My dad has reminded me on more than one occasion. But you wouldn't believe what I've been doing.

Did I mention I'm writing a book? 

And not because I'm delusional, but because someone else asked me to (and offered to pay me too!) I know I probably should have mentioned it earlier, so you guys didn't think I'd been hit by a car or institutionalized. (Though the latter is sounding like a yoga retreat right about now.) So I've been doing everything that I was already doing before-- renovating half of Manhattan for my paying clients-- and then spending every free moment completing renovation projects and writing witty How-To's for each one. And when I say every free moment, what I mean is that I have written half of this book on the subway and another 1/4 on a treadmill. Even as we speak, there is thinset drying in our bathroom. Quite literally, we're in the middle of installing new bathroom tile in our bathroom in Brooklyn right now (having finally pulled up the loathed tile I've tolerated for the past 11 years!) which has also required us to replace our old bathroom vanity (which was only being held together by the layers of paint I've covered it in.) But over the past two months, we've also done an unholy list of other stuff:

-Removed our bathroom ceiling and restored the original pre-war tin ceiling above it.
-Repainted our entire apartment
-Repainted our kitchen cabinets
-Salvaged a pair of street find chairs and reupholstered them
-Built an upholstered headboard for my neighbor
-Removed and reinstalled a million light fixtures
-Installed dimmer switches everywhere
-Installed a new faucet for my neighbor
-Installed new drawer pulls in my kitchen
-Installed a new sink in our bathroom

What else?

I've written How-To's on How To Install Drapery, How To Make Drapery, How To Make A Pillow (then my mother, the sewing saint, made me a pillow!) How To Hang A Gallery Wall, Why To Hang A Gallery Wall... Where To Hang Artwork, How To Make Your Apartment Look Brighter, How To Make Your Apartment Look Like You're Not In College... By gad, I've covered it all-- that's just the abbreviated list.

In the midst of all that, I've also managed to keep Julian alive (with a considerable amount of help from John, our family and our nanny), remembered to call all of my friends just frequently enough that they haven't abandoned me completely, and tried to squeeze in the occasional dinner with John so he didn't ditch me either. Oh yeah, and I made full-sized dinosaur Halloween costumes for six grown adults.

The incredible thing is the whole book is supposed to be finished by November 30th.

Oh My God. 

That's like six days from now. I'm hoping my editor will be merciful and give me an extra day or two, but I've got almost everything written. And nine-tenths of it photographed. And about two dozen illustrations to sketch in-between making a Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday and another one on Saturday. So this should be a breeze, right?

Har-de-har-har. However, I promise I'll photos once we've finished with the bathroom floor, and hopefully I'll get back in the saddle more consistently after November 30th.