Back to work!

School vacation week for the kiddos is finally over!  I loved spending time with Skylar and we did a lot together, but now it's time to get back to work.  Back to putting her on the bus and going directly to my studio until it's time to get her off the bus.  I can't wait!  Also, I have some company now for when I work.  I got my dog back from my parents and she has been glued to my side since she came on Thursday.  :)

Also, I have to be on the lookout for some new tools to add to my inventory.  I need a bowl adze (which I have been told are hard to come by), some dogleg chisels (which are proving impossible to find), a vice (easy), and maybe a grinder and mini grinder...

Hopefully I'll add some new pictures later today.

On My Way

My husband has been supportive enough to tell me that I should return to my love of woodworking and work on selling my work instead of getting a full time job.  I have had difficulty securing a job, as some of you may know jobs are scarce these days and the number of applicants for each position are astounding.  Couple that with minimal work history since I worked full time in high school but in college I was a full time student even through the summers while I was raising my daughter who was born 7 weeks before I started my degree at UMA and that left no time for work.  Apparently, no matter your skills and abilities, if you have no experience they don't want to hire you.  On top of that, my husband was just promoted to a supervisory position at his new job that he started at the beginning of the year.  Being a supervisor on the flex team means long days/nights, little to no sleep, and being gone constantly...someone needs to be home to get the children on and off the bus and care for them.  I am so thankful for my husband's support in doing what I love and also thankful that we are financially capable of doing this.

With that said, I have already harvested, stripped and sealed 22 pieces of wood for drying and harvested and stripped 12 pieces of already seasoned wood.  I have also discovered that there are several trails behind our house and that the power lines are less than a mile away.  This creates the perfect environment for accumulating material!  I have already started 3 new projects that I'm working on!

I have come to discover that although I have several useful tools in my collection, I still need to acquire some more basic and specialized tools for the projects that I'm working on.  For now I am waiting on my income tax refund so that I can acquire the tools I need.  Some of the assortment includes a vice, some clamps, splitting mauls, an adze, a spokeshave, some dogleg chisels and a few other selections.

I'm looking forward to expanding my tool inventory and being able to progress further in some of my pieces as I am at a standstill with particular ones right now.