well, if you are going in with new negatives, it generally does take a bit of time to get it right. i often go in with a bottle of wine and a box of paper to emerge hours later with....one
work print. you strike me as one that knows what she is doing, so i say that coming out with some prints that are a little 'off' to you is a good thing. it doesn't mean that you don't have the process down pat, it means that you are picky as all hell when it comes to something you would label as 'final'. that is a good trait.
and, yes, notes are very helpful. they are good starting points for new negs or pretty darned solid for negs on the same roll shot in similar conditions with all else being equal (print paper, size, etc.).
if these help at all, great:
1) this is a very basic darkroom printing record. i find myself scribbling a lot of stuff in the margins
http://www.motionless-continuum.com/tpf/printing record.xls
2) after i'm done a print, i put all the information in this file, print a copy, and keep it with a work print
http://www.motionless-continuum.com/tpf/print tech.xls
3) now that you have that, when you want to make a different size print of the same negative on the same paper, this will figure out your new times for you
http://www.motionless-continuum.com/tpf/formula.xls
* fill in the yellow areas only. disregard the jibberish to the right of the sheet. it is good for 35mm only as the ratios in the formula are for 35mm.
again; when i read your post i thought to myself, 'ok, spent a lot of time in the darkroom working to perfect a print, but came away with some work prints. so what's the problem?'. it's nothing new. i can go to the darkroom and
reprint a negative from notes in no time at all. a new neg requires the entire process over again and often another glass of.....juice.
i will say, however; that if your negs are extremely difficult, then maybe tweaking your exposure/processing rituals would help, but if you are just being particular, i say pride yourself in that.