More Odds and Ends

Oops, meant to post this last night, but only saved.

Cleaning the Dining Room

Instead of leatherworking on Sunday, I spent a good chunk of the day cleaning up the dining room.

We'd discussed getting Marmaduke or Wash's help moving the sewing machine over to make it easier to use with where the metal workbench was, but it boiled down to the metal workbench being a problem. It would be good for lampworking, which Ron would like to do more of (and I enjoy too), but it doesn't fit in the room.

We took the metal workbench apart and sent it back to the basement. I moved the Workmate I've been using in front of the window where the workbench is, and Ron can either use that or the other Workmate for lampworking (which is what we bought the second Workmate for), with a piece of sheet metal on top - which is what we did before getting the equipment from Ron's sister.

That, however, meant clearing off the things that had been stored below the workbench, and all the odds and ends that had accumulated on top.

I also had to burrow into a different corner of the room to retrieve the beer gut mold.

The end result was that I cleaned up a lot of stuff. Several cardboard boxes were thrown out, and their contents moved to empty formerly-merchandise bins. I threw out some junk, and in general reduced the entropy of the room.

Not sure about my relocation of the Workmate. In some ways it's good - I face out the window, and I can reach my tool drawers without getting up and walking around the Workmate. There's also enough room that Ron can use the sewing machine while I'm at the Workmate. OTOH, the lights are now all behind me. It's not a problem during the day with the window blind open, but when the sun starts going down I don't have enough light. We either need to figure out how to re-wire the non-working track of the track lights and move a fixture or two, or set up one of the several task lamps that are currently being stored in the dining room somewhere where I can use it.

I'm also trying to reduce some of the leather stash, so I can get fabric out of an open bin and onto a shelf. Doing some sewing and reducing the fabric stash is also a viable option to help with that. We'll see which happens first.

Paperwork, Paperwork

Yesterday I caught this year's books up. We've done a lot of shopping in the last month or so, so that was a surprisingly large task. I complicated it by scanning and printing copies of all the cash-register receipts that are prone to fading, and then decided to go ahead and do the less fade-prone ones while I'm at it. It's easier to keep track of 8.5"x11" sheets of paper than odd-sized register slips.

Scheduling

Yesterday afternoon, since I wasn't up to actually cutting things with sharp knives, or making holes with sharp chisels, I went through the SCA Midrealm and Northshield calendars, and websites for conventions I could think of, and made up a spreadsheet listing possible ones to sell at. Another table in the file has the times/distances to places I know I've looked up before but can't remember. (ie: LaCrosse Wisconsin is too far away for a day-trip event).

Things to do are highlighted, and no-gos are essentially greyed out, but I've left them on the list so I know I've looked at them and notes why they're no-gos.

The Clue Fairy blessed me with the idea of adding some other important things to the list, like Robin's graduation weekend. Which turns out to be the weekend after WisCon, and is the same weekend as an SCA event I might otherwise consider, and Duckon.

The gaming group at the College of DuPage is holding their small gaming convention, CodCon, toward the end of April. I did CodCon once before, and it wasn't huge sales, but there are no conflicts and it's reasonably close/probably cheap to get into. Worth doing again, in other words, so I've asked if they'll have dealer space. If so, we'll be making some inexpensive drawstring bags from the stash of leather and fabric - which we may very well make even if we don't do CodCon.

Stone Dog Inn, an SCA event at University of Chicago in mid-April, is one I have a love-hate relationship with. Ida Noyes Hall is a visually gorgeous venue, sales are typically good, and there is handicap-accessible access now, but the thought of parking with the trailer . . . Probably not. And I don't want to re-pack to small bins, I really like the simplicity of the road cases!

There's a couple weekend-long SCA events this summer that I've done as day-trips in the past - Border Skirmish and Ragnorak Rampage in June. We just need to figure out if it's feasible to do them with the road cases, as they're outdoor events. Pieces of plywood to roll cases across/park on? Asking about pavilion/indoor space? We'll see - it was a tradeoff we did consider when we bought the road cases.