Basement Refinish Day!

8 am
    Time for MP’s today because it is my lovely day home from work. Which does not mean I do not have gobbers of work to do. I do. I have to write up notes for lab, that is the most important, because I need to be ready to teach lab tomorrow. I also really need to go over the stats in excel so that I do not look like a complete moron when I go over it with the students. Yesterday was very frustrating, I spent hours, pretty much all afternoon, getting the equipment calibrated. And it was not the calibrating that was the issue, it was saving the calibration in the computer so that it would be there when the computer is restarted today. And it was a matter of clicking on this one tiny thing, but not clicking on this other tiny thing. The prof knew it, I did not, and after trying to figure it out for an hour I finally asked him. He showed me, very easy. Then I went to set up the second computer and damn damn damn I could not. He showed me again, this time I wrote it down (duh) and could do the other 2. Very very frustrating. Still, it was somewhat satisfying to finally get it to work. I also need to write a reference, and set up grade sheets for my lab groups. And I should read the text reading that was assigned, at least skim over it. Enough about work.
    The basement guys are coming today, they should be here in half an hour or so. In fact, maybe I’d better get dressed so I am not in my pajamas (such as they are) when they arrive….. done. But I’d also better get down there soon and finish bringing all the darkroom stuff up. I should be excited about all this, I’m hoping it will look great when they are all done. But I hate spending so much money. It’s close to $10,000 and that is a whole honking lot. Well, it is happening, and so it will be great. Then there is the insulation stuff upstairs to happen, and the windows being replaced, lots going on house-wise. And I really really really need to call the chimney sweep guy. But I never got the new cap put on the chimney and I’m afraid he’s going to yell at me. Oh brother. I pay the guy, he is not going to yell at me. He might well reiterate what he said last year, which is that I need a new cap.
    Fiber stuff – much more fun! I am all ready to start carding a bunch of white Romney wool, to blend with some nice gray angora to dye. I left some of the other batts dyeing in the solar set up over the weekend, but I don’t think it really got hot enough. I tried rinsing them out and the color was not very dark. So I left them again, and I will see how hot it gets over the next few days. Solar dyeing days may be over, or I may need to get a nice big box that I can line with foil to make a more official oven that I can fit the batts in. I do have a small oven, and I did a jar of angora in it over the weekend, maybe I’ll see if the batts could fit there. It does get hotter than just the black, glass covered bin. I
    I finished the hat I was making (remaking) for the woman from Wellesley. I’ll contact her. I think it came out real nice this time. Now I have started another headband, lined this time. And I am going to just knit it, not use a rib, see how that works.
    I have been somewhat obsessively looking at other blogs lately. It seems that one way to get blog attention is to read and comment on other people’s blogs. And maybe even become an official follower of some. It can be discouraging because of the whole comparison thing, but I will try to avoid that.  You know what is funny – I generally aim for writing a page for my Morning Page(s), and it has gotten to the point where I feel somehow done, then I check and in fact am exactly at one page. Well, not today because of this little end ramble…
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