Monday stuff....

The workers are upstairs on the third floor as I type.... that big old empty space is getting to look like a real room now. The ceiling is up, as are the walls. Everything was primed and taped (or whatever they do to sheet-rock) and now they are spraying a light texture on the walls and ceiling. We went to Home Depot yesterday and I picked out a paint color..... a light ivory called 'Cafe Cream.' My husband had brought home dozens of sample cards a few weeks ago.... the top three colors that I thought would work just didn't look right in day-light..... one had a yellow tint, one had gray in it, the other had a pinkish color. (And those were supposed to be 'antique white' colors.) When we got to the store yesterday, I found the perfect shade of true ivory and we bought four gallons. My painting gloves will go on again at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

We'll have to pick out a floor..... and have it installed... most likely a wood floor. Not too dark, not too light. (This sounds like "Goldilocks.") Then the workers will have to come back and finish up the trim on the little access doors to the attic space up there, and also put the finishing touches on the window seats. Then the doors and window seats will have to painted. And then, bookcases..... if we can't find book shelves the correct size (not too high, not too low) then I guess we'll be calling the workers back to build just what we need.

And then the fun part...... let's see.... fiction on the left, non-fiction on the right? A special bookcase for biographies and classics? And what about my collection of British history? And the classics? And then there's my set of Dickens.... and the memoirs of British author Beverley Nichols....... plus travel books..... decorating books...... I could easily lock myself up in that library and not come out for days, until everything is just right. ("Goldilocks" again.)

Speaking of Goldilocks....... (not that my hair is golden).... but I've been letting my hair grow out these past few months. I don't know exactly how that began, but it may have something to do with the hair stylists here. I used to have a stylist in Clear Lake that I could call in the morning and ask her for a little-bitty trim....... I'd get there in the afternoon and she would just "kiss the ends," as she called it..... and I'd walk out of there with the slightest of trims and my hair would be perfect. Two weeks later, I'd do the same thing...... and every two weeks after that. Can't seem to do that here...... they charge $25 for each appointment, whether you're getting a full cut or a slight trim... and because there are so few salons, they're booked up for several weeks in advance. The girl in Clear Lake would charge just $10 or $12 for each little-bitty kiss-the-ends trim.

So I decided to see what would happen if I just let my hair grow out a bit..... and most mornings after I've washed and blown it dry, I'm happy with it.... my hair is still more brown than gray, and I could swear that I have less gray now than I did five years ago. Is that even possible? Seems to me that I had more 'gray highlights' years ago than I do now, and my hair even seems thicker now than it did when I was wearing it shorter. One thing about long hair-- you can put it up in a clip when the temperature gets too hot....... but that always seemed to be the easy way out. I don't like sloppy hair.... I don't like sloppy anything...... so as it gets longer, I'll have to see how neat it will look when the temperature gets over 100 here.

The cats....... Gatsby is in the house at night now, and so is Sweet Pea. Gatsby had a fight with Pumpkin Kitty one night... or rather, Pumpkin Kitty did the fighting, Gatsby just sat there in a huddled ball of gray fur. When I opened the door to see what the screeching was about, Pumpkin Kitty ran away and Gatsby ran into the house. Sweet Pea doesn't want to stay outside all the time..... Gatsby doesn't want to be out there at night.... Mickey thinks he's missing all the fun by being kept inside all the time. And me? I have just about had it with male cats. I never had such problems with the female cat I had years ago. Female cats don't have to mark their territory. They have nothing to prove, they don't have to pick fights. They're neat and tidy and quiet.

Pumpkin Kitty still doesn't want to go back to his own space in JS's yard.... she still has workmen there. Gatsby doesn't want Pumpkin Kitty here, but for some reason he has stopped chasing him away. Lady GaGa still comes around at night to eat. And I did try NOT leaving cat food on the porch at night, but Pumpkin Kitty screeched and howled his disappointment at that, and even my husband said to me "You've got to feed that poor cat."

No more cats. No more cats. No more cats. Is that too much to ask? We have three chickens, two parakeets, one cat that's always in the house (Mickey), one cat that's inside most of the time (Sweet Pea), and one cat that's outside most of the time (Gatsby). I am just getting tired of having all these feathered and furry creatures to worry about and take care of. If JS can catch Pumpkin Kitty, he'll be back at his own house. If I can ever catch Lady GaGa, she'll be taken to the shelter. And then maybe, just maybe, my own three cats will quit doing stupid things because their line of vision from the windows in the TV room and the kitchen won't include little whiskered faces looking from the outside in.