Very compelling story about conflict gold from the Congo that aired on November 29th on 60 Minutes. Read the story, watch the video.How Gold Pays For Congo’s Deadly War.

The sterling silver, Argentium silver and copper pages are back up. The gold filled and rose gold filled pages were ready to go but I found errors so I need to still work on them.

I’ve changed the pages a bit to move the inch sizes to each of  the corresponding gauge sizes. What this means is that those of you who order inch sizes will have an easier time finding the sizes you want for ordering. I’ve also included their millimeter equivalency so that you can order just the right size you are looking for if you are used to ordering millimeter sizes. I carry more varieties of sizes of rings than anyone else on the web so you’re sure to find exactly the size you’re looking for.

So, about my doc visit. The doc agreed to see me, checked me out and explained that I have a lot more going on with my foot than what I had thought. He explained the reasons for the pain and also told me that the previous doc who performed surgery on my foot years ago has since been sued and ran off out of state to Florida. He has decided to perform my corrective surgeries (which has now extended to both feet now due to going so long with the deformities from previous surgery) but won’t be able to do it until next year.

My plans to get the pages back up in October were quashed when I ended up getting the H1N1 flu (aka Swine flu). I was knocked down for several weeks on that.  Still dealing with a bit of the crud from that. I think it’s going to stick around for a while.

There are going to be some changes here. As all of you are aware I’m a one person business. More often than not I have let my personal home life and my own jewelry and art creations go by the wayside to keep on top of getting everyone’s orders out the door quickly. This often meant that I’ve been working all hours of the day and late into the early morning hours the next day to get them completed quickly. I simply cannot keep up this pace anymore. It has burned me out. I do not have the finances to hire an employee nor do I have a machine running 24 hours a day making my rings for me. I do my utmost best to keep all of my customers happy but I’ve let a lot of things go around here and cannot do that anymore.

This doesn’t mean I’m kicking everyone to the curb it just means that I’m no longer going to work all hours of the night, give up my weekends, and not take some time off now and then to recharge my creative batteries.

The shopping pages for the various rings, components and tools have been removed temporarily while they are being updated.

When it rains it pours? Well that’s what the story has been here. After the internet cable fiasco I tripped and fell on our stairs. I was off my feet for a bit but I’m back now. No broken bones or anything. However, I already have a bum foot from a botched surgery so that probably added to the outcome of the fall. My apologies for not making a post to the News sooner.

Paul took over processing orders for me temporarily but you have to understand he has a day job so he hasn’t been as fast at taking care of things as I normally am. Bless his heart for helping out though. He didn’t know how to work my finicky Word Press News page so unfortunately that meant some of you have been left wondering what the heck has been happening.

Anyhow, I’m back up and around but when I fell, as I said earlier, I hurt my already messed up foot. So, next month I will be heading to a different surgeon to see if he can fix my previous doctor’s handy work.

So what does all of this mean? Bear with me here, I am getting to the point.

It means that my shopping pages will likely have to be shut down for a while. I can’t rely on Paul to do his day job and then come home and do my job too. I know all of this comes up at the worst possible time when it comes to preparing for holidays, etc., and that it’s going to hurt me business wise and probably cause me to lose customers but it cannot be helped.

This doc is supposed to be one of the top docs in our area who is nearing retirement. He’s at the point in his career where he picks and chooses who he wants to see. Luckily he agreed to see me so I need to jump at the chance to see if he can help me out and fix my foot once and for all.

Of course when I know more I’ll post info on the situation.