Windows paid; interior plaster deposit paid. Real snow on the way. $500 match on offer, & shares needed.

No new photos. Paid the balance on the windows yesterday, and the deposit to Ice (yes, the guy who's doing the interior plasterwork shares a name with my horse). Toney and José accomplished a lot of smaller but necessary tasks, including more wiring, but most of Christmas week with no Internet has destroyed my ability to get things done like photos of the small stuff. They got their Xmas Xtra today, too.

One thing they did do a couple of days ago, which we both dearly love, involved drywalling the front of the area next to the stairs, the outer wall of the coat closet. They built what a lot of folks around here call a bulto or a retablo into the front, so it will be the first thing we see when we walk in the front door. Which means that something very special will go there. Technically, a bulto is a carved image, while a retablo is a votive scene, but both are traditionally placed into recessed spaces in a wall, like a small shelf with an arched top, and the spaces themselves have come to be known colloquially by those names, too. They're also creating a built-in woodbox beneath the stairs. No space will go to waste, which is great, because however large the house appears in photos, it's actually very small.

I've pushed somewhere beyond beat to some DMZ of consciousness where I'm functioning to all outward appearances, but in terms of accomplishing anything? Notsomuch. These rapid-fire weather changes (below zero yesterday morning; 48 today; big snowstorm on the way right now) have my pain levels jacked way beyond the norm (and my norm's not so hot), and I've been off my one tiny smidgen of medication for going on three weeks now. Forget thinking straight; I can barely think, period.

With one exception, it's just cut-and-paste again for what we need. That exception: Drewid has posted a beautiful diary for us at the GOS, announcing an anonymous $500 match. Please go T&R and share. And Drewid, dude, you have to stop making me cry. 

Now, the other stuff:

• Shares of our YouCaring page via the widgets provided, especially the widget code, which has once again been moved back to the purple box at the lower right-hand side of the page, that produces the image shown above.
• Shares of Wings's site; sales are way, way down this holiday season, and this is the time of year that usually gets us (mostly) through the long harsh winters. This year, it's also funding construction. Testimonials help.
• If you're considering commissioning holiday gifts by Wings, now's the time to contact me so I can get your order into his workbench queue. We're about out of time for this one, at least those that involve shipping across the country. 
• One last thing: I mentioned above that the plumbers are coming, and bathroom-fixture purchases are in the offing. To that end, I've added Lowes gift cards to our Amazon wishlist. No, there's no Lowes here in Taos, but there's one an hour-plus away in Española. Less obnoxious (and less expensive, and less far away) than Home Depot, and an actual selection and discount pricing that are not available here in town. It's by far the most cost-efficient way for us to buy the bathroom fixtures, which we're going to have to do very soon so that they can complete the plumbing rough-in and our crew can get to those rooms.

Thanks to everyone for your help thus far. Special thanks to one dear friend who is keeping me from losing what remains of my sanity; I can't believe you did this. Still, we are going to need to push through this, hard, fast, and and consistently. Winter is here: Snow, ice, bitter cold, and a septic system that freezes nightly because it was misinstalled all those years ago. Blowing snow, brutal winds, and lots of ice yesterday; supposed to be seven below tonight. Please give us a hand with consistent daily shares to a wide audience.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.