Floored

 This week was kind of hectic. On Monday, our floor was torn up, which meant I was often called upon to help move furniture. I was happy to head to campus to be away from all the noise. Monday afternoon, I also had my "first" class of my research seminar about gender, but it was the second class session, since I didn't initially sign up for the class. We met outside because of COVID, which I didn't mind. 

On Tuesday, the flooring guy started putting the floor in our living room, and most of his work was while I was away. It was hard to concentrate when he was noisily working.

And on Wednesday, he finished. 

Here's Jimmy on the new floor. He didn't like how much his life was disrupted, especially since we had to move his food.

But everything is not done. My parents bought new couches, which haven't arrived yet, so we still haven't moved all the furniture back into place. We're also getting new carpet on the stairs, and we have to wait before the flooring company can do that. 

Now only the stairs, my bedroom, and the guest bedroom will have carpet. I'm excited for the easy-to-clean hard floors (especially with a cat). But hard floors are noisier than carpet: the rooms echo now, and I can hear footsteps now. It always reminds me of the opening footsteps in Taylor Swift's "Cardigan."

Last Sunday, I submitted my article on Pioneer Day to an academic article. On Tuesday, I got an email rejecting my article. It was the nicest possible rejection letter, and even though I'm not offended, I couldn't stop thinking about it. They told me it didn't have enough primary sources, even though I mostly used primary sources. Oh well, I have some other journals in mind to submit it to. 

Yesterday, I decided to run farther on the new Bonneville Shoreline Trail than I have been yet. I followed it from the Woodbriar Trail until it was blocked off for construction, where it intersects with a really steep trail in Bountiful. I don't see myself coming on this trail that often. It's a little hard to access, but it's also pretty boring, and it's not super well shaded. 

I'm so excited it's September now! It's my favorite month, even though the beginning of the month is kind of boring. But I'm anxiously looking at the trees for signs of change (I think they're later this year so far), and I have started adding new songs to my Halloween playlist. 

I really enjoy reading histories of various holidays, and earlier this summer I bought an encyclopedia of American holidays. This week I've been reading the history of Labor Day. It was very boring.