A New Business

So Danny was talking about him dying tonight. What we would do if he wasn't here. How we would support ourselves, how we would bring in money. He asked what I like to do. Well, instead of giving him a long list, I narrowed it down...I loved writing, although it's been a no money maker, I wanted to become a Real Estate Agent, but in today's economy, that's not a good idea, so came my last and final idea...I loved and missed doing ceramics, like I did back in Florida. Danny told me to look on the computer for kiln prices and I ended up finding an entire business that a couple was selling. We called them, agreed on a price, and said we would send them the money and then we'd figure out when we could get up there to get the business...oh, yeah, the business was in Tennessee and we had to pick it up. There was 2 kilns, a pouring table, another large pouring table that was an L shape, tools, paints, glazes, brushes, greenware, bisqueware, shelving units, and molds, about 600, give or take a little. Danny and I talked about it and called up his friend and talked to him and decided we would leave Monday Morning early, get to Tennessee, pick up the UHaul, load everything up and be back home by Monday night. Well, Sunday I went on Google Earth and got directions for everything, wrote down phone numbers and Monday morning, we were on our way. We picked up the UHaul, and that's when things went downhill a little. We were told the driveway was steep. It was, downhill! Their ceramics shop was in the basement of their home and when we walked in it was utter amazement! We carried molds up the stairs, outside, stacked them in Danny's friend's truck, drove them up the steep driveway and then stacked them on the shelving units in the truck that we took apart and reassembled. Halfway through the truck started leaning to one side, so we turned the UHaul around and started loading the same way on the other side, along with the kilns. As it became dark, we decided to stay the night at the local Motel 8 and start the next morning again. We finished as much as we could, telling the couple that we would be back up in a month or two to get the rest. We started driving off and the kids were terrified of me in the UHaul as it kept swaying back and forth around turns, looking like it was going to flip over anytime. We had so much packed into the UHaul that it usually has a 12'10" clearance and we went under a 10'10" bridge clearance and BARELY passed under. (Amber took a video, but I can't post it for some reason!) We got home and, after checking the animals, went to the storage unit we ended up getting and unloaded it. It took 2 days to load and 4 hrs. and 10 minutes to unload. We finally came home and I called the couple to let them know we made it okay and that 1 mold was broken. We told them that we would keep in contact, but it would be a little while before we could come back. I happened to glance at the clock as I hung up with them. 12:03 AM on my birthday! What a great present! I can't wait to get into all the boxes and start painting. We ended up coming up with a name....All Fired Up Ceramics and Pottery Shop. Brian kept wanting to add Emporium to the name....NOT! I just hope this venture turns out okay!