I have paint and last night I picked out the tile for the entryway of the house. I only bought the intention piece though. That's the single piece I buy and bring home to give my husband fair warning of my intentions before I actually go spend the money on enough to do the whole job. It's a beautiful, embossed piece with a touch of the color that will be in the rooms on either side of it. We're going to be coordinated. I'm excited about that. I even took before pictures.

Leirin and I were taking pictures and examining the ceiling in the kitchen when I said that I hope they leave some of the old phones there in the house. The house has the old 4 prong type jacks and there are a lot of them throughout the house. We don't have that many phones and the way the house is built we won't be able to hear the phone ring all the way through.

Leirin said, "Why? They don't work."

"They will work once the phone service is connected," I told her.

"Not those phones," she said pointing at the one on the counter and motioning to the one in the bedroom, " The buttons are missing."

It took me a second before I understood what she was talking about.

"OH! They'll work. This is a ROTARY phone."

Blank look from Leirin.

"But how do you dial if you can't press the buttons?" She was completely thrown by the dial on the face of the phone. Talk about making me feel old. She's 13 years old and has never seen a rotary phone. I had to laugh. I wonder what she'd do if she saw a record?

Yesterday our new neighbors moved in next door. We didn't meet them until their dogs and our dogs met at the fence and barked like they were all insane. Actually, it was mostly my dogs that appeared insane. Luna, our little hellion, has taught every one of our dogs that the answer to everything is to bark. A lot. Stupid dog. So I stood at the fence after shaking hands with our new neighbor and missing his name because of all the barking and told him to feel free to tell her to come back inside if he gets out there before I am able to. She'll most likely go as long as he calls her by name. Then again she is stupid so who knows. The people we met are very nice. They are both grad students here at the university and I think they are going to be renting a few of the other rooms in the house to people they know. It's just how Doug started out here when he was in college and how we got stuck here in this house in a neighborhood full of students. I wonder if they will find themselves still here several years from now, with kids that can't play outside because of the way people drive, and unable to afford to move to a better place.

I colored my hair again Friday night. Doug chose a dark reddish brown. Not the right color for this time of year. As he contemplated each of the boxes I held, I secretly wished he would pick the honeyed blonde, but noooo. He chose the winter shade of dark brown. It's really pretty and I'd be excited about it if it was September, but I was kind of excited about the near to blonde shade. I guess it will end up as highlights in a couple of weeks. My hair has more colors than a box of crayons.

And now it's almost time to throw on the old overalls and workboots and prepare to paint and tear out carpet. Oh joy.
No, I mean it. Oh, Joy!