custom orders, cold, carts and computers

I have been busy this week, making custom order rings, which is a nice problem to have. Less than two weeks ago, I made a brushed bronze ring from a scrap of fired bronze. The idea came to me in one of those rare "lightbulb" moments and I came away with a winner.

A friend overseas saw the ring and decided she had to have one. Another friend locally saw it today and also thought she needed one. So, I will make the first one "just like the one in the picture," and the second one will have a synthetic blue topaz.

It is a nice simple ring with clean lines and a great big shiny stone. Classic.

I also have a custom ring order that I am working on -- in silver, which is so much more user friendly than the copper or the bronze. The ring carries on my "In the Garden" series with the leaves and vine motif. This is a fun one to make!

I am continuing to work on my website, and the shopping cart especially. I have added a number of items to the store and I will be adding more each day. It will be several weeks before the search engines pick me up though.

Speaking of things you do with a computer -- mine is on its last legs and I need to find a good used (or refurbished) printer to replace my 8-year-old version of a darned good printer -- the Epson Stylus photo 2200. I hope to find another of the same model. After getting stung twice trying to buy a used one, let's hope the third time is a charm!

It is so cold here! I have the heat set on high, the woodstove burning and a space heater for my feet and it is STILL cold in the caboose! BRRR!

Well, time for bed, I have to run to town for errands tomorrow, and that will probably take all day. Good night and happy creating.

Texture, paint and insulation plus working plumbing and electricians on board

Following a vacation to see my family -- whom I rarely see as we are scattered from Minnesota to Texas, I came back to complete work on the caboose so I can get my business open.

I have another electrician lined up (this is number 6 -- the one who wouldn't break down his quote for me, but I'm desperate at this point). Hopefully, this one will actually show up instead of letting me wait several weeks before deciding he is too busy to take on such a small job.

I went in search of track lighting and deck lights yesterday, only to come home with no lights and no ceiling fan. The track lights were of highly dubious quality and the ceiling fans only came with those tiny candle flame shaped lights -- which put out NO light at all. I couldn't see spending the money for lights that wouldn't last more than a week, or for a ceiling fan with lights I couldn't see to read by. I'll check out an actual electrical supply outlet later this week, and hopefully I will have better luck.

I did pick up some bright white paint (in a slightly warm version of white) and some drywall mud, which my hubby and I proceeded to mix together and splatter on the walls with a texture gun today. I added some citrus scent additive to help combat the lingering odor of that nasty bathroom, and it smells nice and fresh in the east end of the caboose now.

The paint is blindingly white, but a darn sight better than the previous 1950s institutional green. Tomorrow I plan to texture/paint the west end, and put the floor boards back down.

The floor remains an unknown. If the floor boards go back in well, I will continue with the plan to sand and varnish them. If not, I will patch the holes with plywood and paint the floor with that lovely gray they make floor paint in. Then I will add throw rugs for color and dimension.

Tuesday the gas station is hosting a huge lottery event, so I will paint my sign for the business tomorrow as well. I want everyone who stops in to the station Tuesday to know there will be a jewelry design/repair business nearby soon. I HAD planned to be open by that day, but we all know how the best laid plans of mice and men work out. Bummer!

I DO now have a working bathroom -- with a flushing toilet and running water in the sink (cold only). Hallelujah! My daughter is much happier with that setup, and my son, who is potty training, even used the "new" big boy toilet. :)

I have been "playing" with my new kiln and PMC too. I have made two pendant/earring sets and one set of hoop earrings. Fun! Now I am off to investigate belt buckle designs.

Quite the weekend -- lots of paint and pleasant surprises -- answered prayer -- elusive electricians

The bills have been mounting so fast that I fear by the time the caboose is ready to go, it will remain empty, because all of the loan money will have been used up getting it ready and nothing will be left for equipment and supplies.

Electricians with time and reasonable bills continue to be elusive and I have yet to find one. The two local electricians are both booked solid, unfortunately, as I prefer to give my business to the local people whenever possible. One from an hour north had time, but came in $700 over the local guy (who bid before he got socked in) and he wouldn't break down what cost what for me (a deal breaker) and one electrician from an hour south has come up to look, but I don't have his bid or his schedule yet.

My family went camping this weekend, leaving me home alone (without children underfoot) to paint the exterior. I had the west end and most of the south side painted after three solid days of painting.

In church Sunday morning, I was feeling totally overwhelmed with the whole thing and was wondering if I ahd bitten off more than I could chew. God must have heard me, because I went home to change and mow the yard before heading off to paint and after I got 25 feet with the mower, it quit on me! "To heck with it -- I'm going to go paint," I thought and off I went.

I hadn't been at the caboose for 5 minutes when a friend of mine dropped by and told me she had run into a youth group from Oakley, Kansas while she was a the post office. "They are on a mission trip and they are stopping in small towns to do work for people who need it -- I thought you needed it, so I told them about you," she said.

I told her there had to be people who needed help worse than me (such as the elderly) and I called my pastor. He arranged for the kids to sleep at the church, then called around to find someone they could work for. In the meantime, they showed up at the caboose, and insisted on working there until I found someone else with a bigger need. Pastor found no one with a need -- so those kids painted the entire backside of the caboose in two hours! Talk about a blessing!

Now, if an electrician would just show up and wire the interior, I would be in business -- I just need to texture/paint the walls, sand/stain the floor and put everything in and I'll be up and running!

Here electrician, here electrician, where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

The sad thing is -- I am perfectly capable of wiring the crazy thing myself -- but because it is not my primary residence, I am not allowed to. By the time I'm done with this whole thing my hubby may be so sick of it and me that the caboose WILL be my primary residence!

On a down note, I decided to look behind the walls above where the floor got burned under the stove and I found that the wall was totally burned, as well as the ceiling above it. So, quite a bit of repair work to do there -- but one of the sponsors with the kids runs a flooring business, so he quite kindly cut the burned part out for me in the floor and the wall -- leaving just the ceiling portion for my hubby to do. Another blessing!

Got to get the kids dressed and and head out to the caboose to do more work.

Happy creating!