I messed up again last night, trying to figure out how to custom mix some wood stain. The font on the bottle is about size 2, and I misread it. As such, I couldn’t figure out what number the base was. There was one bottle left, but since I misread the label I didn’t know that. Then I got busy with other customers, and didn’t tell the guy who wanted this custom stain that I was having trouble locating it. He got mad and left, as he thought I was ‘working on it’.

Gotta admit, the guy looked like somebody who’d go ballistic and come back to murder me because his 6.5 oz container of blue stain wasn’t made for him. So on a parallel universe, I’m definitely dead. C’est La Vie, y’all.

There were two of us working last night: me and another very nice young lady called A that recently got moved to paint from another department. She’s got three years’ experience with HD, so she’s pretty savvy and learns very quickly. I really like her. But since she’s now better at this paint gig than me, I’m again on the bottom of the pecking order. Well, maybe that’s a good thing for creating copy. Thank you Nora E’s mom for that everlasting reminder.

As I sit here, it just started raining again. I suppose that means the roof leak will be reactivated. But this time, the pot is already in place, so I won’t have to open the cabinet under the gas cooktop. Erik thinks the gas leak is fixed, so maybe it’s a moot point about the roof collapsing just before the house blows up. Might be another parallel universe thing?

Which reminds me of something else. Got an email from the roof company, offering some program called Ygrene to help pay for a new roof. Now everybody knows after 21 years, ours is pretty much used up. Occasional patch jobs til now have kept things in check, but it doesn’t appear that can go on for much longer. So Ygrene is a way to let you pay for your roof over time. It appears to be something resembling a MBS – a mortgage-backed security. The investors get a return on their principal, guaranteed by a lien on my house. It’s a way to take advantage of all the equity in the house without affecting cash flow until you get ready to sell.

I’ve read tales of people not understanding the rules of the game, thinking they were getting impact windows for free. Instead, sounds like they got a a slick salespitch, eh? The person in question is from Miami, so that may be relevant to understanding the language since so much of Miami is originally from someplace south. Anyway, that person is suing Ygrene because they didn’t understand that the expenditure of $22k became a lien on the property and thus ate into their equity. No more piggybank. Ah well. So Erik & I are trying to figure out which way would make the most sense to get a new roof and manage cash flow. The interest rate looks to vary between 4.9 to 9.6 percent, depending on terms. Obviously the longer term carries the higher rate. Or would a refinance of the entire HELOC plus small second which currently gives us an estimated > 70% equity be the right way to go? I suppose that depends on whether values will continue to increase or whether we’re in for a real estate ‘correction’ as some are predicting. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

That’s it for now – say a prayer for Ukraine and try to stay dry and intact. I’ll do the same.