Birthdays, sump pumps, and solar dyeing

Not much on my needles at the moment. While I think about what I'd like to knit, I've been spinning some pink and peach merino (or it may be Corriedale). It's a gift from my friend Jamie. Can't wait to see what this looks like after I ply it. I have another bobbin to spin before that will happen.

Hubby hit a milestone birthday this week---the big 5-0. His birthday did not start well. We were awakened at 4 am to the sound of our sump pump running in the basement. Not a good sound. Hubby went downstairs and was met with a strong smell of something burning. Oh-oh! The sump pump hadn't turned off and was overheating. He unplugged it. It had triggered because our water softener was cycling. We were both horrified to find that the water softener was only halfway through its cycle. There was no way to stop it once it starts to cycle. Yikes! We would have a flooded basement if we didn't act quickly. Hubby grabbed a couple of buckets and began bailing water as it drained into the pump hole. He passed the filled buckets to me and I ran them upstairs to dump into the bathroom sink. That's how we spent the next hour. No fun, especially at that time of the morning! By 5:30 am, the water softener had finished. Hubby went back to bed. I was wide awake, sweaty, and stinky from the water I had sloshed on myself. Yuck! I headed for the shower. At 6 am with the sun rising, there was no going back to bed. I let the kitties outside for an early romp and made pancakes. Then I spun for awhile until it was time to meet some friends. I took hubby out for a spaghetti dinner (his favorite!) in the evening. He got a birthday card and gifts before he went to work. Not a stellar birthday for him by any means. His belated birthday gift was the plumber coming the following day to replace the sump pump. :)

Our weather has finally warmed up. We've been in the 80's for the last two days. I decided today was a good day to do some solar dyeing with Easter Egg dye. I pulled out 4 undyed skeins of wool yarn and one pale one that I didn't like the color. Here's what the wet skeins look like dripping in the bathroom. The colors won't be quite as intense when they're dry. I'm happy with the way they all turned out. The one on the far left is the skein I overdyed.

Our bathroom project is still not 100% finished. Here's a picture down the hall. See all the light coming from the doorway on the right? And look at the bathroom ceiling---that is a tubular skylight. There is no light on in the bathroom; it is all light coming in through the skylight. This used to be the darkest room in the house. Now you don't even have to turn a light on in their during the daytime. Here's a peek at the new sink, cabinet, and light fixtures too.

I hate the gold tile in this bathroom. The previous owners of this house chose it. Yuck! I'd be much happier with a neutral color. Hubby hasn't wanted to spend the money to replace the tile. Since there is nothing wrong with the tile except for the color, I understand his not wanting to spend the money. Though trying to find a paint color that goes with it can be hard. This caramel color doesn't look too bad. I wanted a darker color now that the room has so much light. If I had painted it white or cream, between the skylight, the light flooring, and the white fixtures, you would probably have needed sunglasses to enter the room during the day. LOL!

I'm considering putting a shelf over the toilet to hold a couple of plants. With all the light and humidity in the bathroom, they should do well. I'm still looking for something to hold the hand towel and some kind of storage for shampoo and other items.