in the morning a single shaft of sun comes in through the backdoor and illuminates the soon-to-be dining area. i have visions of eating a bowl of cereal in my bathrobe sitting out on the backyard deck in the middle of autumn reading the newspaper, the cool autumn air nipping at my ankles, pink bunny slippers on my feet, the natural sunlight casting a warm glow on my back. in my spare time i fantasize about living in the house, since up to now this whole moving in deal hasn't really happened yet. it's close though, it's definitely close. this morning i called the floor guys, i've got them booked for wednesday, they're coming in to put down new wooden floors in the two bedrooms, sand the floors for the rest of the house, and then coats of polyurethane. tomorrow i haven't to move everything that's currently in my house down to the basement, because the floors have to be empty. it's weird, the past two months i've slowly been accumulating stuff in the house, and now for the next few days it's going to be empty again, just like the very first day i moved in. i wonder how the place will look with new and refurbished floors? i heard the transformation is quite dramatic, like buying a brand new house, which in my case is doubly true.

rob house stopped by today, not for pleasure but for business, needed me to do him a favor by taking some digital photos of a few items he's looking to sell on ebay. i love it when people just drop by. i want my place to be the kind of place that friends and acquaintances will feel comfortable visiting for no reason other than to say hello or to check to see i haven't burned down the house in a kitchen fire. just kidding upstairs neighbor! i see my place almost like a busines establishment, like i want to attract as many people as possible, give them many reasons to come, whether it's to watch tv, or to eat, or surf the web, or to visit my library (yes, i'm going to start a little library), or to use my bathroom, or to just chat. of course i say that now, maybe i might change my mind once too many uninvited guests show up.

the backyard continues to rain acorns from the large oak tree growing in my neighbor's yard. it's the work of squirrels, who are high enough on the branches that i can't see them, but i know their handiwork because almost all the acorns that fall have teeth marks. how many acorns can a single squirrel eat in a day anyway? and how many acorns does a large acorn tree produce in one season? here was something i didn't plan on when i bought the house, the fact that an acorn bearing oak tree grows tall and strong in the backyard was never disclosed on any condo agreement. i saw the place in late march, i couldn't really tell what tree that was, just that it was a tree. here's another skill to have when you look for a house, an arborist. likewise, in front of the house grows a honey locust tree that bears these long, black, twisted pods that fall to the ground. why couldn't they have grown evergreens instead? some tree that doesn't shed or bear numerous fruits.

today's progress: finished stripping that door frame i was working on yesterday, took down the cabinet in between the two kitchen windows so i could strip the rest of the window frames (we had to drill kill one of the screws because it wouldn't come out), and started to work on the master bedroom door, which is thick in badly applied paint. my father put another coat of wood sealant on the porch door, and he finished stripping the guest bedroom door, the door that he originally started working on a few weeks ago but sort of put it on the backburner. my father was there for the beginning of the day then he had to go to work. i then cranked up the 80's internet radio station and took a shower. i figured out the surface area of the master bedroom (not including ceiling and not taking into account windows and door), 395 square feet, just big enough to use up one can of paint. i fussed around with my color selection some more, potpourri green might be too yellowy, i might go back to my original color choice of acadia green 2034-50, but that's a little bit on the dark side.