New Year, Old Health Issues and New Business Commitments

I'm not big on new years resolutions.

However,

This new year I am committing to make a strong "go" at my little business, Constance Pelkey Designs.

Over the last couple years I have had both my shoulders done. I had TWO torn rotator cuffs. My right arm needed my bicep reattached too! It was bad! It took many, many months of rehab to get them both back in shape... unfortunately that meant I could do very little in the way of creativity. I was however, able to crochet. Now, don't get me wrong, I like crocheting, but that being my only outlet was somewhat limiting!

I'm so glad that I can play with my polymer clay and precious metal clay, and bead, and sew, AND crochet again! YAY!

In the meantime.

I've had a "gut" issue for the last couple months that involved emergency surgery for a bowel blockage early in November, on voting day in fact, and the ensuing severe pain in a knot of scar tissue and nerves along my waist next to my belly button that's the ultimate result of this and a few other abdominal surgeries. Because of severe pain in this area I was hospitalized again for a couple days the week before Christmas. This issue isn't resolved yet. I have an appointment to see the original surgeon who cleared the blockage and I'm awaiting a second opinion appointment with another surgeon, hopefully that will happen next week.

I need to get THIS issue resolved - SOON - because I was scheduled for total knee replacement surgery on January 6th.

AK!!!!!!!

That's been postponed until the gut issue is resolved!

*shaking head and rolling eyes*

*sigh*

I've been out of work and in limbo, essentially since the beginning of November.

Best thoughts and wishes will be greatly appreciated during this whole process of resolving the gut issue - SOON - so I can go ahead and deal with the knee issue!

At any rate.

During the time, I continue to be laid up with all this health stuff, my "resolution" is to concentrate on my business. I have an ETSY store and I also recently opened an ARTFIRE storefront as well. I've joined a couple of "teams" on ETSY, I also joined Facebook and still belong to the Polymer Clay Central message boards. I've been taking good pictures of all my inventory (finally!). I plan on continuing to photo edit and will be listing new items on a weekly basis to both stores. I'll be trying some different marketing techniques, too. I'll also be creating new items and I hope to join my sister in law in attending one or two larger crafty type selling venues this summer and joining a couple Maine based craft and art associations.

Keep your eyes pealed here at this blog to be updated and PLEASE, pass on my URL http://ConstancePelkeyDesigns.blogspot.com to ANYONE who might be interested in my "stuff"!

Happy New Year to all and best of luck to me in sales this new year of 2009!!

Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey, then where you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Bathroom update.

Yesterday I finished up painting the walls in the bathroom. I still have to do the faux work and then paint the second coat of the wood work. After that is done all the painting in there will be finished.

Tomorrow and Saturday Nancy will work on the shower surround.

We still have to pick out fabric for the shower curtain topper, a sink "skirt" and a valence, I'll be making these.

I'll also make some pieces of art for the small walls behind and next to the toilet.

I'll also have to fabricate some kind of light fixture shades.

Colors?? Patterns??? Decisions we'll both have to make!

PHEW!!


The cutting in of the top of the walls.


The wall color before fauxing.


Wall color after fauxing.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Painting the bathroom.

Here's a few shots of my work from today. Tomorrow morning I work until 10 and then it's up to Mom's. She's been feeling poorly, the humidity is really kicking her ass this summer and she's been having bronchial troubles.

I work again Wednesday morning until 10 and then I'll work some more on the walls in here in the afternoon.


The bathroom - looking in the door, after texturing, before painting.


Standing at the toilet, looking out into the dining room.


Cutting in the sky blue ceiling.


More ceiling and some of the unfinished shower surround.


The sky is blue... and still wet.


After cutting in, rolling and then touching up the ceiling - twice! - it's acoustic tiles! - AKK!! - my arms were waaay too tired to do any detail work, so I just rolled out some of the fields on the walls. My shoulder is doing soooooo well, but working over head is VERY tiring, still!!


Looking back out to the dining room.


Close up of the texturing. Before you judge, be certain to wait on the final effect. The color looks like baby poop smeared on the walls at this point! There will be a darker color glaze wiped on and then off for an antiquing faux effect.


Here's the ugly tile surfaces (in the pictures above and below this text) that will be covered with polymer clay tiles of suns and Saguaro cactus and then 2 part epoxy resin will be poured over them to make them water proof.


All the trim work and cabinets will remain the lighter color with no faux-ing on them. I'll also cover the door knobs and drawer pulls in polymer clay to match the colors.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Back to work - regular hours!

This week I started back to work with my regular hours.

I had Monday off.

Tuesday was my first day doing opening procedures by myself. I did well. I fed, watered and spot check cleaned all the small animals, birds and reptiles. I dealt with the Isolation room and New Arrivals room. I dealt with all the back room fish stuff, switching out filters, medicating and such. I also did the crickets. The only things I didn't get done was pulling "sleeper" fish and feeding the fish.

All in all, a good start for my getting back. Feels good. My shoulder was sore and my arm was tired, but I didn't stress it. It's just going to take a while to toughen it up - SLOWLY! No overdoing it, or Nancy'll have my head!

After work I did very little... gave my shoulder a chance to recover. All I did was some beading and relaxing in the afternoon.

Wednesday after work I went up to Mom's to visit with her... I helped her sort through and throw away some things in preparation for her to move in with us. My shoulder was quite sore from 2 days at work, so I didn't over do it!! The missing part for the headboard came in the mail, so we finished putting it together! YAY!!

This morning I didn't work, but I did have physical therapy. When I got back home I cleaned up and organized the new media room a bit.






Looks much better, huh?

The bureau's will be moved into the dressing room and a table and chairs will come up here also. this room will be painted - last.

This afternoon I plan on starting to sand my textured walls in the bathroom this afternoon. I'll also work a bit in the studio, packing things up and sorting. I'm trying to have a pile ready and waiting at the foot of the stairs each time we go up, so it won't be so overwhelming all at once getting the entire studio moved upstairs.

I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday to finish out the week.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!

Thanks!! Connie

Bathroom redo!

We started this project last winter, right before we went to Key West.

Many things delayed the finish of this project. My shoulder pain and ensuing surgery being #1! The painting of the new bedroom and dressing room upstairs being #2!


Nancy tearing down the broken old shower surround.






The bare studs.








Texturing of the walls... After this texture has dried then I need to sand down the super rough spots and then wipe down, wipe down, wipe down all that dust that will inevitably happen!

Of course, more pics to come!

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Motorcycle ride - not for slow dial up connections!

Isn't the price of gas !!!????



Until my shoulder heals up some more I am relegated to the "b*tch seat" on Nancy's bike - Bella, an 1100 Yamaha V-Star.





I am wearing my new Skid-Lid, half helmet with a loverly purple rose on each side! Aren't you jealous!? You should be!! HA!






Here's a couple of little videos I shot while riding along RT. 196 from Topsham to Lisbon Falls. That's our freind "D" riding lead.

Link to first video.

Link to second video.

And a google map -

View Larger Map



Moxie only costs .99 at this little corner store in Lisbon Falls! *G*

We had a WONDERFUL ride!! It was warm, sunny, and there were luscious flower scents all along the way! We a GREAT ride!

Weekend

Yesterday I went to work again. I worked from noon 'til four. It was good. Good to get out of the house other than errand running or going up to Mom's. I was tired out after getting home last night!! I'm vastly overestimating how quickly my shoulder is healing. Don't misunderstand... it's healing wonderfully and my physical therapist, Dana, say that it's leaps and bounds ahead of my right shoulder, which was repaired by the same surgeon last summer. I'm being impatient. Because it's doing so well I want it to be better, completely. NOW! Dammit!! I'm tired of being in a sling, I'm tired of being severely limited as to what I can do. I'm tired of it hurting. I'm just impatient.

I'd put some turkey cutlets in the crock pot yesterday morning along with some crushed Italian tomatoes and paste and some Italian veggies and mushrooms. What makes them Italian veggies as opposed to... say French veggies I'll never understand. *G* It was delicious when I got home and we ate. I LOVE no fuss yummy meals!

While I was gone, Nancy worked some more upstairs... details. DETAILS! The old saying "The devil is in the details" makes perfect sense to me. These rooms are taking much longer than we'd anticipated. She scraped and primed the crown molding in the bedroom and touched up ceiling spots in both rooms.

This morning after leisurely cups of coffee and home made banana walnut muffins on the front porch, we went upstairs and worked a bit more. She painted out the crown molding in the trim color while I finished caulking and trimming out the two windows. She then moved into the dressing room and scraped and taped the crown molding in there. I also vacuumed up all the loose paint chips from the painted floor and we realized that it was chipping. Easily. Ak! So, that will get another coat of paint and then a final coat of satin finish polyurethane. Hopefully that will stop the chipping.

This afternoon we are being deck dogs again. It rained yesterday and today it's a mix of clouds and sun, but nice and warm... so here we sit, me putzing on the laptop and her doing her Sudoko and reading her book. The dogs are lazing in the sun too!

Tomorrow is back to reality. Nancy goes back to work and I have a big day with Mom. It's our monthly go-to-lunch-with-the-the-low-vision-group and then I'll do her groceries.

On Tuesday I'll get back to trimming out the dressing room.

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~

Recently on Drew Street.

It's been a busy past few days...

Nancy took this week off so we can work on fixing this place up.

The master plan is to move our bedroom into the room Patty used as her bedroom (she moved back to Portland last fall to be closer to family again) we'll keep the middle room as our "dressing room" - there's no closets to speak of in this house so we have had to use one of the rooms upstairs as a closet, it houses our dressers and my vanity.

My studio will be moved back upstairs, into the small front room (that I had it in when we first moved into this house) and the big electrical things - my kiln and buffer and tumbler - will go down in the cellar. We had the electrical updated on the first floor and cellar, so those "big things" will be down where the electricity can handle them.

Our old bedroom will become a new living room with a small area to the side that'll have a table and such set up for when we have poker and cribbage night.

Then, the living room downstairs and my "old" studio will be open for Mom's stuff. Yep, you read that right. My mother's stuff. It's time. I'm very concerned about her living alone. She is legally blind and she has fallen a couple of times. Also she just can't see well enough to do little things that, to a fully sighted person, is nothing, like plugging a lamp in that has become unplugged for whatever reason, changing the batteries in her remote, and any other of the 100's of reasons I have to drive up to her place (a 2o minute ride!) to rescue her from one thing or another!

We'll set up her living room in the front room and her bedroom in my old studio. We'll still eat in the dining room and I'll do the cooking, as always. She goes to bed pretty early so we'll have the upstairs living room for ourselves.

So, the painting involves our new bedroom, the dressing room, the new upstairs living room and we'll also paint the downstairs living room. I'm still working on the downstairs bathroom and at some point we'll do something with the kitchen too. This "master plan" is in preparation for the market to turn... fixing the house up while waiting for the pendulum to swing back. *g* Because, after the economy gets "righted" we will sell this place and move to the Southwest! YAY!

So, Friday Nancy took as a vacation day too. We did some errands and grocery shopped, that evening "D" came over and played cribbage.

Saturday Nancy worked on the new bedroom, taping, cutting in, rolling the walls etc...

In the afternoon I went back to work for the first time since my surgery! YAY! I worked from 10AM to 2PM. It was fine, I just straightened aisles and did customer service. I go again next Saturday from 12 to 4PM.

Sunday morning I organized, weeded out and emptied the dressing room.

Nancy mowed the back yard.

Then in the afternoon we went for a motorcycle ride - 73 miles round trip! It was GORGEOUS!! The lilacs are in bloom everywhere and we sniffed deeply every time we went past a bunch!! YUM!!

Monday morning was spent doing some more yard work. These two bushes were transplanted (by Nancy) from the front to the driveway side of the house.


And these, the Bleeding Heart and -- I can't remember what it's called! AK!! -- Nancy moved into the bed across the front.


In the meantime, I finished planting my tomatoes in the bed right off the deck. Not an easy task with one arm! LOL!!


In the afternoon we got back to painting.


And today, Tuesday we finished up in the bedroom. Well, almost. I still have to go back and do the details of the crown molding and the windows, but I have a couple appointments as well as Mom's year and a half out check up at the cancer center and believe me, I NEED a rest! My shoulder hurts and needs a rest.

Here's Nancy's beautiful floor!


And a shot of the 3 colors... mocha walls, latte for the the trim, and dark chocolate pudding on the floor! See? The crown molding and details on the windows still needs finishing.. I'll get to that.

The dressing room will have these same colors except there's creamy gray carpeting on that floor as well as in the new living room.

To top today off, the roofers came! They worked all day and almost got everything done! It started raining right at the end of the day and they had to knock off early. This new roof will stop those nasty leaks we had last winter! Shewt!

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~