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!

99.9% Sure I'm A Business Owner!

I was informed yesterday that my final loan call will be held at 9 a.m. Monday, but that it is basically a formality -- the decision has already been made, essentially -- that I will get the loan. So, as early as next Wednesday or Thursday, I could have a check in hand and be on my way to being a business owner.

So, time to find a plumber and an electrician (and possibly a painter) to do all the necessary work on the caboose.

It is also time to begin cleaning! The place is filthy -- but it will be hard to clean without running water! I wonder if there is a hydrant nearby with a bunch of hose available.

To keep my mind from racing, I have been doing some wire wrapping and I made my daughter a pendant and wrapped a cabochon that was given to me because it was damaged. I was really happy with the way both of them turned out -- which is not generally the case with my wire wrapping.

The first piece was a black onyx briolette teardrop and it turned out okay. I was working with a tutorial from Lisa Barth, and it was awesome. I actually came away with something wearable.

The second piece was a tumbled pink stone my daughter brought home from a field trip -- quite a challenge shape-wise, and I made it rather fancy, because my daughter loves "fancy" things. It also turned out to be reversible, which is cool.

The third was a petrified bog teardrop cabochon with a small crack in the center, given to me by a very nice man named Robert who has a shop called SilverLeaf on Artfire. I wrapped it to hide the flaw and showcase the colorations. He will cut me two more to match for earrings. It will make a pretty set.

Better get to bed -- it is LATE or early, but my restless legs wouldn't let me sleep.

Sales, Smiles, Sunburn and Sighs

Smiles all around as we had a GREAT week at the gallery with lots of visitors and a large number of sales.

In the past two months I have sold four stone necklaces out of the gallery, as well as a 16x20 framed photo. I also sold out of notecards in the gallery as well as the motel that sells my cards in the lobby. Several other members had large sales too -- so everyone is extremely happy.

My latest sale was a one-of-a-kind Owyhee picture jasper necklace that looks like the Nebraska Sandhills where I live. The focal stone looked like rolling hills, with a soapweed growing in the foreground. It was strung with gold-filled corrugated beads along with desert jasper, cream fossil and black onyx beads with a handmade gold-filled chain and clasp and matching earrings. It was called "Soapweed and Sandhills."

I also sold a pearl bracelet and a pair of earrings through my Etsy shop, so the last two months have been good to me. :)

The caboose has been moved and I realized, while on my way home from serving as an EMT at the 50th Annual High School Rodeo out at the Thomas County Fairgrounds this weekend, that it is almost invisible to people coming from the east and west. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a solution to this problem -- but no luck so far. I think it means the caboose needs to be painted red and yellow, but since the lettering does not show up well on the red, I'll have to change it up a bit.

I think I'll paint the ends of the caboose red but trim it out with yellow on the railings, soffit and landing, as well as on the stairs. The sides will be yellow, with red trim and red lettering outlined heavily in black.

I will also put up HUGE signs -- especially to the east and west, angled so they can be viewed from the overpass as well. I see a big investment in plywood and stencils coming up! I'll use the same paint I use on the caboose to tie it all together.

I need to do another mockup of the caboose with the new paint scheme to see how it looks.

We had a good weekend, with a family fishing trip on Sunday. We didn't catch any fish, but we did catch a lot of sunshine and the sunburns that go along with that -- despite copious amounts of sunscreen. The kids had fun playing in the water in the livewell while hubby and I tried many fishing applications to entice the walleye to bite. We ended up catching three short fish we had to throw back. It was a day of family fun despite the fact that we didn't have fresh fish for supper.

The sighs come in from the waiting portion of this whole process. I am by nature, an impatient person, so this several month long loan process has me tied up in knots. I am still so positive that I can make a go of this business, but the past few days the waiting has gotten to me and despite surprisingly good P/L projections, the doubt has had time to creep in -- not doubt that I can manage the business -- but doubt that the loan will be approved. I can't see why it wouldn't be -- the numbers are good -- but I just want this so badly that it scares me!

My husband was even surprised by the numbers that came from a very conservative P/L projection and is now fully on board with the idea -- after realizing I could actually contribute to the family coffers instead of possibly just putting us into debt with the loan.

I think he was simply humoring me before -- although he was supportive -- and now he is excited about the prospect as well.

The board hopefully will convene this week to consider my loan application further. If they agree the business is viable, we will proceed on. If they don't, I am dead in the water -- which would be SO disappointing -- for me as well as for the owner of the caboose who is really excited about the possibilities with this business as I am.

I guess I will just keep praying, as I have a number of area residents who are also waiting with high hopes and a number of repair jobs for me to do.

I guess for now I will just prepare the 4-cheese lasagna I am taking to the community dinner at noon and try to keep my mind off this whole process for a little while. I will also work on a new picture jasper necklace to replace the one that sold.

So, I'm off to cook and create!

Waterlogged, but back from vacation

I'm back from a week-long vacation with family and friends at Merritt Reservoir near Valentine, NE.

We had fun, but returned totally waterlogged, as it rained nearly every day. We caught lots of fish, enjoyed fresh air and enjoyed camaraderie with friends, but I am glad to be home where there is no sand in my bed, no spiders on the walls, and no threat of ticks in my hair.

The scenery was beautiful and I took a bunch of photographs.

It continues to rain here, so even though we have solid walls and a solid ceiling, the world is still drenched and full of puddles. At least we now have dry clothes.

Today I work at the gallery and continue work on my business plan, which needs refining.

I also plan to do a prismacolor painting from one of the photos I took of the lake.

Off to work I go! :)

Working on the business plan, planning repair prices and choosing paint colors

I've been working on the business plan I have to submit as the next step in the process of getting a loan to open up a jewelry repair/design business.

When my eyes began to cross, I started calling area jewelry stores to find out what they charge for various repairs. Crikeys! Prices have more than doubled in the last 10 years! If I charge prices like that I will be run out of town for sure!

So, now, I have to figure out my costs for repairs and figure out a price that is fair to both my customers and myself. I sure hope I can offer lower prices than my competitors -- wow are they high!

I know for sure that I don't need to charge $10 to change a watch battery -- unless it is a specialty battery. Holy moly! I'm thinking more in the $3-5 range.

I've got more figuring to do on the other things. I'm hoping to be able to do half the price of the most expensive place and at least slightly under the others.

My son loves the caboose I am planning to put the shop in, but my daughter thinks it is "creepy." So, I got her involved with the process by letting her help me choose the paint colors.

We ended up deciding on hunter green for the majority of the caboose and a soft yellow called Colonial Cream for the trim.

I did have to remind her that pink, lavendar and purple (as well as fuschia and magenta) were not necessarily good choices for the outside of a business and that the owner of the caboose doesn't want colors like that either.

Inside I will use the same green on the floor, and the walls will be a light cream color (with warm tones).

Perhaps all a bit country, but I am not too keen on what is currently in style. I watch HGTV and just shake my head that they want to take us back to the ugly colors from the 60s and 70s. Ick!

I have to be able to look around myself as I work and be happy with what I see and I like greens and yellows and "woodsy" tones. I also want my customers to feel serene, not all hyper.

Thinking Colored Pencil today

I have been thinking about the colored pencil portrait I did of my son,"Boy With A Rock," and how most of it came out pretty good, but the water in the background didn't turn out as well and detracts from the overall portrait. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a way to make it better and I haven't figured it out. I did another one of my daughter that came out really well, but I left the background out of it.

I know my colored pencil guru, Ann Kullberg, would know what to do. I have been anxiously awaiting her new book that has a colored pencil drawing of mine in it -- "Tomatoes and Old Colander". The book is a critique of various colored pencil paintings, and I know she will have lots of excellent constructive criticism in it. It is slated to come out sometime this month and is titled "Colored Pencil Secrets to Success."

She has a sale going on right now and I wish I had the money to order a bunch of things. She has this sale only twice a year. Bummer! I haven't even been able to order a copy of the book with my own artwork in it! Check out the book and the sale at http://www.annkullberg.com/. She has awesome colored pencil kits that really teach you how to layer the color to get depth and fullness to your drawings.

I really owe Ann a lot, because she is almost solely responsible for any skill I have with colored pencils. I wouldn't be able to do my colored pencil shrink art jewelry if it wasn't for Ann!

I had better eat lunch and head out to do my newspaper story this afternoon.

Happy Designing!

The Waiting Game

I turned in my information to the loan board, and now I get to wait, which is very hard for an impatient person like me. Of course, the fact that I have never wanted anything so badly in my life makes this whole process exceptionally hard for me.

I've been mulling this idea since last July and have been actively pursuing a loan for three months now, so I guess I have already been pretty patient. OOOhhh, ulcers are growing!

Sigh, I guess all I can do is continue waiting -- no news is good news, I guess. At least it isn't a phone call saying I was turned down (yet). :)

In the meantime, I did some Prismacolor paintings on shrink plastic today while I worked at the art gallery, so tonight I will shrink those and get them ready to use in jewelry. I did one of a stormy sky with a lone tree silhouetted against it, another of a soapweed at sunrise and a third one of a sunset at the lake. Hopefully they will come out okay -- sometimes the shrink plastic comes out a bit cockeyed after it shrinks.

Time to make supper!

I photographed, wrote and posted two jewelry tutorials to http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ today. Hopefully they will be approved and published within a week or two, depending on how backed up they are. They are great for beginners to wire wrapping, but even those with more experience might enjoy them. One is for a double spiral ring and the other is for a wire wrapped bead bangle bracelet. I am stoked about getting those done!

Not so stoked about other things in my life.

Still no word on the shop. The owner of the caboose is having trouble finding someone to move it, and it may end up becoming scrap iron if he has to sell it to the state simply to avoid fines because they need it moved to make way for the overpass.

If only Burlington Northern Railroad would move it for us -- what good PR that would be! To move the caboose and see it get painted up all shiny and pretty and be put to good use again instead of rotting in a field! Anyone from Burlington Northern reading this? If you can get this thing moved for us, please contact me ASAP! Thanks!

I am watching my dreams of a jewelry repair/design shop fade away as each day goes by and we can't get this caboose moved. Such a perfect location, such a perfect shop size, what cute factor and what a draw! Not to mention the service I would be offering my tiny community way out in the country and so far away from any jewelry repair shops.

I am getting so bummed!