Hey Toni, so glad to hear from you!! I totally agree with you! Nobody knocks over a bone dry, rootbound plant that doesn't leave a ton of dirt on the floor. It's always the one you describe! Yes, if I had one, my video would have to be without sound to post here too. Even the cuss words I make up are embarrassingly foul. A more sane person would just clean it up right away, no doubt. One who's gone completely over the edge into ridiculousness and complete denial about how much space there actually is in their house... well I took pics. Being as graceful as a one-legged frog doesn't help either. And I have more pics to take, there's just still plants in the way of stuff that can keep waiting to be cleaned up. The rationalization goes like this, at least on the carpet... If I try to clean up this wet dirt, it will just get ground in. I must leave this unmolested until completely dry, so it will sweep UP and not IN. I don't even have a rationalization for the one on the kitchen floor except that I'm lazy enough to want to take a pic instead of clean it up right away. And it's not like anybody else who lives here would complain before I get it done, 'cuz they know I'd say, "if you don't like the pace at which I'm doing things, you can always help." If this post helps there to be more peace in anyone's house, it's worth it. "Honey, look at this awful mess! Just be glad I'm so much neater than HER!"

Butterfly - thanks so much for your help and for your willingness to help! If it ever stops raining (we have HUGE mushrooms in our yard) I will get you a pic. Thanks so much!

For most trades it's beneficial to them as well as you to stay as close to the work area as possible to save some steps and keep the project at hand and rolling smooth. Sometimes it can be taken outdoors or in a garage area but for the most part, there are elements that require it to be done in place. This means dusts and debris. A good tradesperson will do a quick,daily clean up getting set up for the next day and at the end of the project, do a respectfully decent clean up of the area concerned. It's common courtesy for the client as well as the trades coming in behind them and shows professionalism. You have to expect a certain amount of mess and not all trades people are going to show respect by picking up after them selves. It's the nature of the beast. You should focus your efforts on working things out with your builder "friend" and not sweat the small stuff such as cleaning up after a sloppy sub. I have a friend who did the most clean finish carpentry work i've seen as far as tight joints,clean cuts, right on detailing, but was the biggest slob as far as cleaning up after himself. Finish carpenters are typically clean, organized trades people, but as in my friends case, not always. Your concern should really dial in on the workmanship of the stairs as that is what you will be living with. The dust will get cleaned up one way or another and is a miniscule concern, imho.

Vala, thanks for the encouragement. I have FF as a backup browser and I did download WOT for IE. I had it before my computer had tobe re-done and it gave me those green to red circles behind the hits. Now it just shows up every now and then, red. I have a green circle with a yellow burst on a toolbar at the top but don't know what that means. I has a dropdown that has "settings" but haven't played around with that yet.. Haven't added this add-on to FF as I don't often use it and all my favorites are on IE.