My ceiling is on the floor

Well, its not a grammatical error. My ceiling is on the floor. The workman came and knocked all the plaster off as the ceiling was threatening to fall on our heads sometime in the future. That bad was my ceiling!!!!.

So my living room and soon my dinning area will look like the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile. Now if I look up I can see the ribs of the top floor foundation, ie: the steel bars, or rather what used to be steel bars. Now they look like chocolate fingers criss-crossing my ceiling.

Oh the dust! Oh the dust !. Talk about dessert storms, well I dont need to visit Dubai to know the feeling. All I need is to park a camel or two and I can charge entrance fee for a mini Sahara dessert tour....hmmm. I have two sets of plastic curtains on my stairs just to stop the fine dust from invading our bedrooms....of course to no avail, but at least it keeps out about 80% of the dust.

How long this is going to be , only the contractor knows. I think, in my humblest opinion it will last for about 6 months, if we are lucky. About 3 weeks of knocking, as upstairs too need some attention, painting the steel bars with anti-rust ( too late, dont you think?) .Cementing the whole ceiling etc would take another 2 weeks, as the cement keeps dropping off when you try to stick it upside down, ( based on past observation). Then have to wait for the cement that has been plastered back to dry. Now that takes about 6 months, yeh, 6 whole months. This is because it is inside, in the house and the sun and its much need drying heat is outside, duh!

You just cant paint it if the cement isnt dry enough. This is the painful experience we learnt from our last attempt. Hopeful with the help on El Nino, the heat will dry the cement faster then we hope. I dont mean to be happy about the effects of El Nino but if we are going to suffer the consequences of this weather phenomenon, I might as well make use of it to dry my cement, right?

I am praying hard that this time we , the contractor and us, will get it right and we will never have to do this again till the next ice age. I must say that my maids have been heaven sent, as usual, doing so much without grumbling, and more importantly knowing what to do and when. Thank you God.

After this 3rd experience at renovation, I am going to start a new business as a Renovation Consultant. I know where to buy the cheapest plastic sheets so you can cover everything in your house. You can also cover your whole house itself when your neighbours are renovating theirs...hahaha.

What a nightmare! Its worst when the nightmare occurs in broad daylight and you have your eyes open.....aahhhhh. Its a dusty world right now.

Ok. some good news....I am going to learn belly dancing...dont laugh, the real belly dancers from Turkey are mostly not so young and not too thin...hahaha...so we, my few friends and I qualify. Well, we will give it a try till either we give up or Cindy gives up!. Wish me luck! Throw in a prayer or two while you are at it.