Opening for business on Monday August 3 -- finally!

The day has finally come when I can announce my opening date -- yeah! I will officially open for business on Monday, August 3. FINALLY!!!

I had an open house Saturday night, during our county fair, but it was so HOT in there that no one stayed long. The power had only been turned on the day before and we had not been able to get the combination heat/ac unit installed. It is in now and appears to work, although to be honest it has not been hot enough to really test it yet this week. I tested the heat this morning, as it was actually CHILLY in there!

The display side of things is set up using dressers borrowed from home since the totally awesome display unit my neighbor is building for me is not ready yet. It will have two towers with 16 total shelves, plus a wide area in the middle for displaying lots of art. The towers will have cabinet doors below them and the center section will have drawers. Storage! Yes! Display area! Yes!

The walls are textured and painted, but the decor is not quite what I had planned, as my budget and time constraints, along with prior damage to the caboose did not allow me to go with the original plan of sumptuous dining car design, which would have included refinishing the hardwood oak floors.

A fire under the diesel stove had burned through the floor, up the wall and into the ceiling, plus water pouring through two leaky upper windows had warped a huge chunk of floor and what was left was damaged by the 24-volt battery that leaked all its acid out onto the floor and ate it through. So, I pieced in what I could with plywood and covered it with a nice burbur carpet that is predominantly cream and tan with flecks of blue, hunter green and burgundy. It should mask the dirt well, yet is light enough to keep the room bright.

Since track lighting for that tiny 8x13 room was going to run $800, I decided to chuck the whole dining car theme and go for the ultra bright, commercial gallery look, with bright white walls, flourescent shop lights and exposed wiring -- painted white, of course. It makes the space appear very large and bright -- but cold. The addition of some plants and some touches of hunter green help to soften that appearance, as do the warm tones of the dressers I am using for display. The coming display cabinet will feature posts with hand-carved oak leaves -- made by my neighbor for a customer who decided against them after they were made -- his loss, my gain! Since I love the outdoors, they are right up my alley. So, green accents with an outdoor flair it is, in that totally white space.

On the working side, my jeweler's bench is put together, but it didn't fit behind the door as planned, and due to the setup of the wiring, only fits where the wood stove was to go. So, no woodstove. I sure hope that window unit heats well! I have commandeered a plastic folding table to use as my metalsmithing bench until the real workbench arrives (also being built by my neighbor, but strictly utilitarian).

Last night I used my Foredom drill for the first time ---OOOH! I had forgotten how much I LOVE those things! Tonight I was able to polish my wedding band myself for the first time since I got married. It looks brand new! I started a few new PMC projects that I will probably fire on Thursday, since tomorrow I am off to judge the 4-H photo show at the Lincoln County Fair, followed by a trip to the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad to take down my first one-man show.

This all follows a perfectly HORRENDOUS day which began this morning when I realized that my Passport storage device, which houses ALL of my data - including business data and all of my photos and artwork, had crashed, taking all of that info with it. I store NOTHING on my computer which has been threatening to crash for the last six years. Then this evening we found out that last's two-inch rainfall had flooded our storage unit from above AND below -- everything in it is ruined! Since we moved from a 5BR 3Bath house with a 30x40 shop and four other outbuildings and into a tiny 2BR trailer, nearly 95% of our belongings were stored in that storage unit! The worst thing is the tools and furniture I got from my grandparents' estate as well as all our hunting clothing, my extra art supplies, my Ansel Adams prints that I had no room for in this tiny house, etc... are all totally ruined! I'm so numb I haven't even been able to cry -- two totally catstrophic losses in one day is just too much to take in!

Better go, gotta get up early to drop the kids off and make the 75-mile drive to judge the show before 9:30 a.m. After the judging comes another 60-mile drive to pick up my art show, followed by a 120-mile drive home.

First, I will post some caboose photos -- the ONLY file I had on my hard drive!

Oh yes, I DID design a new ring today in addition to the PMC pieces. It is a wire-wrapped double onyx bead offset ring that I am really quite proud of -- even if the first one DID turn out to be a size 12! Anyone wear a size 12 ring?

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.

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes -- missing plumbers and electricians -- and my first one-man show

My inventory has arrived, but the plumber and electrician didn't -- so I now have all the inventory and equipment for my shop, but it is housed at my tiny trailer, because the caboose isn't even close to ready! Frustrating!

The water and sewer lines are in, the septic tank is buried and the plumber was supposed to come Friday and hook up the sink and toilet. He didn't show and didn't come over the weekend or on Monday or Tuesday. He is also supposed to help me with the missing planks in the floor. So, still a gaping hole in the floor and no bathroom. Grrrr!

The electrician was supposed to come Monday. He never showed. He didn't show yesterday either. Grrrr!

What DID show up, was the inventory -- so our tiny 2br trailer is now packed full of boxes. We can barely eat in the kitchen or sit in the living room. Exciting, but frustrating -- I want so badly to begin creating, but I have nowhere to set all this wonderful stuff up so that I can! GRRRR!

On the other hand, I got the green paint around the window covered up, and I started painting the railings on the ends red -- it adds a nice pop of color against the yellow. I'm also going to paint the door frames red. I noticed that coming from the east, you can barely see the caboose, so I have to do EVERYTHING I can to make it catch the eye from that direction.

I DID have some fun yesterday, as I got to hang my first one-man show! Yeah!

I was invited (my first invite as a solo artist) to show at the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad, NE, so I have jewelry displayed in one room and art and photography in another. Fun!

Better go, TONS of stuff to get done today!

Dawn

Trim paint, summer creations and waiting on electricians

The painting continues, as does the waiting for an electrician so I can prepare the interior of the caboose. I climbed up on the roof and painted the east and west ends of the cupola this weekend. After much debate I decided to paint the aluminum window frames and the old caboose numbers yellow. Good choice! Wow, what a difference that made! The yellow really pops those windows and numbers out and ups the visibility factor 150%!

I am now in the process of trim painting the remainder of the caboose -- all the spots the roller can't reach (which are numerous) and I plan to paint the windows on the ends of the caboose red, since the ends are yellow. Hopefully that will make them pop as well. I may do the doors red as well, but I am undecided on that one. The hand rails on the side of the caboose may go yellow too, and the railings on the ends may go red. Still up in the air about that.

All of my supplies for the interior of the shop will begin arriving Monday, and I have nowhere to put them. The caboose does not lock yet, so I can't store them there, and there really isn't room in our tiny two-bedroom trailer with the leaky roof. Fun!

I am still in dire need of an electrician that will WORK with me -- meaning break down the total bill into parts, so I know what my costs were for what. I have only found one electrician with the time, and he is unwilling to do that one small thing for me, which makes me unable to use him without a bookkeeping nightmare. Also, if he is so unwilling to bend on that one thing, how impossible will he be to work with on other things? He also did not want to do just the interior of the caboose, and the landowner has dug the trench for the electrical himself to save us both money. So, the hunt for the elusive electrician goes on. I am waiting on a bid from a gentleman who seemed both very knowledgeable and very easygoing, but time drags on with no word from him. HELP!

On the other hand, a friend offered me some combination AC/Heat units he has in his barn that came from a hospital remodel many years ago. They worked when they were put in there, and I am welcome to them. So, the heat/AC problem is solved, once the wiring is done so I can plug them in, that is.

I was up until the wee hours last night as PMC design ideas kept pouring through my brain. I scribbled down three pages, front and back, so I have plenty of fodder to work with when the stuff arrives. Fun! I am so excited!

I did manage to make four pieces for the "Summer" Expressions theme event at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ and that was fun too. Two were pieces that fit into my "Prairie Skies" collection and one belongs in my "Sandhills Scenes" collection.

I am trying to get enough jewelry made to put some in my first one-man art show at the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad, NE as well as in my shop, the Thedford Art Gallery and the Wild Rose Gallery in Broken Bow, NE, as they have requested I bring more pieces over. Yikes!

Laundry and dishes are calling, so I had better get them taken care of, then I had better get to work on my entries for our annual open art and photography show, my show in Cozad and to take to my folks. Happy creating!

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!

State Art Conference, tornadoes, electricians and paint

I took our art guild's entries to Kearney for the state show. I got the show hung just before judging began and I never even got a chance to see the show itself. I also don't know how the judging went and if anyone from our guild received any prizes. Bummer!

I raced tornadoes and large hail from all directions on my way home with my 2-year-old son sleeping in his car seat. He was such an angel and even helped me hang the show! I am so proud of him! My daughter and hubby were enjoying a night at the rodeo together -- my little cowgirl at heart. She got to ride a horse all by herself the other day and she is SO proud!

I bought the paint for the caboose this past week and today I began the rather daunting task of painting it refreshing new colors today. With the help of my daughter I chose John Deere Yellow (much brighter than I expected -- but in a good way) and Massey-Ferguson Red (classic stop sign red) in the outdoors implement enamel they sell at ranch supply stores -- it inhibits rust, which is awesome. Actually, the colors look much like those of my Carmex tube! I got the west end of the caboose painted with the yellow this afternoon. I still need to go in with the paintbrush to get the spots the roller can't get into, but wow, what a difference! I'll take more photos tomorrow as I go along. At least I feel like I am DOING something right now. I can't decide though, if I should paint the cupola yellow like the ends or if I should just paint it red. Hmm, perhaps I could paint that portion like a flag!

I met with another electrician today -- he seemed very knowledgeable and was very nice -- I hope he has a nice low bid and an empty calendar (good luck finding both -ha!). I was supposed to meet with another, but he never showed.

The insurance man inspected the caboose today and all is well -- my first quarter of insurance is paid. I would have paid it all, but everything is coming out OVER budget, so I figured I had better just pay the minimum and go from there.

Better get to bed -- another long day of painting awaits me tomorrow!

Happy creating!

Pleasant surprises, and some not so pleasant

I signed the loan papers Friday evening and will deposit the money in the morning. I am now (gulp) a business owner, along with the joys and the tribulations that come along with that.

On the joy side of things, it turns out I did all my profit and loss projections using numbers from the larger loan amount I went after (purposeful on the part of the REAP people who gave me the loan), so my loan payment turned out to be nearly $240 less than I had projected. THAT kind of suprise I will take any day! :)

Another joy was discovering the hardwood oak floors under all the grime in the caboose. Pretty! I want to sand them down and stain them, but my hubby thinks I am biting off more than I can chew. He thinks I should just paint them. He did, however, work really hard to get all the dirt, grime and old paint off them with the pressure washer this weekend. The look much better, and once they are dry, I'll take some new photos.

I will pick up red/orange/whatever implement paint at the ranch supply store tomorrow, as it is cheaper than regular paint and covers rust well. It is also impervious to the elements, so it is the perfect choice for the exterior of the caboose. Whatever version of red it turns out to be, it will be coupled with John Deere yellow or a similar color of exterior paint on the ends and on the cupola. I had thought I would spray on the paint, but my father-in-law thinks it would be easier to roll it on. I think I will spray the ends (extruded metal on the decks won't take a roller well), then roll the red on the sides (covering any overspray from the yellow).

On the tribulation side of things, when we removed the "boiler" from the corner, it turned out not to be empty, and not to have held water -- it was a diesel tank and it was full of red diesel. So, the owners of the building drained it into 5-gallon buckets, but it leaked all over the floor inside. We got most of it up with the power washer and some degreaser.

Another tribulation was that when we took the old diesel stove out and removed the plywood plank it was sitting on, we found that the plank covered a very large burn hole in the floor. I made sure the caboose owners knew about that one! I sure wouldn't want them to think I did it with the wood stove!

The plumber came to put in the toilet, but the used (hardly used and very clean) one we planned on putting in was too big, and of course, the newer smaller ones, cost approximately $60 more than the older larger style does. So, my $350 bathroom plumbing bill just went through the roof -- because a lot more man hours will now be involved, and I have to buy a brand new toilet.

The local electrician is too busy to take on another job, and there isn't another "local" guy, so I am now going to make the round robin of calls to electricians from neighboring communities to find someone with time on their hands, who can drop everything to help me get this thing wired. I'm already looking at mid July before I can be up and running, and that is IF we can find someone to run the electrical and wire the caboose, and IF we can find someone to run the water line and put in a septic tank (and do it all cheaply -- as the estimates for both are $8000 but I was only awarded $2500 towards that).

Then, to make matters worse, I sit down to make out my orders and I find gold has QUADRUPLED in price since I applied for the loan, so my "gold stock" line item is woefully inadequate.

But, the extranneous items are now out of the caboose -- no more desks, stools, diesel stoves or tanks, and no more iron whatevers soldered to the walls. The floors and walls are clean and we covered over two of the leaking windows with plastic, which should prevent further floor damage due to water.

Next weekend I will paint the exterior while the family goes camping.

This week I have to take the pressure washer back to the rental agency (65 miles away) and buy paint and Father's Day gifts on Monday and hurry back for my daughter's t-ball game in the afternoon; work at the gallery on Tuesday and get my state pieces ready to go; drive the state pieces to the state show in Kearney (120 miles away) on Wednesday and get back in time to take my daughter to the rodeo 65 miles from home (in the other direction) that evening. Thursday will be a momentary chance to breathe. Whew!

Saturday I would like to take a landscape pastel course at the state conference, but it is probably full already, and pick up the state entries (hopefully leaving one or both of mine behind for the traveling show because I received Awards of Excellence). Lofty dreams, since I have never won an award at the state show.

I HAVE, however, been hard at work creating pieces for the upcoming "Summer" challenge at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/.

I have two seraphinite pieces and two lapis lazuli/sodalite pieces so far.

Now I had better work some more on my orders so I can keep my budget in line.

Happy creating!