Storms and bitter cold. Last day to save Cherie's home. We badly need sales, too, to make it through this month.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

Yesterday's storm clouds that bypassed us to the south. All we got out of it was a low around 13 degrees, 16 when I got up around dawn. It's bitterly cold out there right now, and supposed to get worse, with single digits predicted for lows the first of the week.

Just as I said yesterday, I am disheartened today. We are facing our own financial crunch right now, but the bigger issue is the lack of support for Cherie, who has one day part of today left to raise nearly $3,500. Go share her GoFundMe page here, and kick in if you can. She's raised just over $2K, and they need $6K THIS WEEK to retain the lawyer. The election is over; that's no excuse now (it never was, but I repeat myself). Donating five or ten bucks to a family to keep them from becoming homeless? That's multiple actual, real lives changed for the better, and that matters. this has been a known situation for going on three weeks, and yet the lack of traction is . . . I'll be polite and simply call it "terrible." We squeezed out $100 more than two weeks ago, privately; then added another $50 last week to try to gin up some support. No, we could not afford it. But there's a difference between bills overdue and LOSING ONE'S HOME. We have direct and terrible experience with the latter, and neither of us was 74 with two disabled sons. Some of you have kicked in, and we're grateful for that. I'm really disappointed, though; I know this community can do far better. 

I have to raise $1,500 over the next week to pay some unusual bills (on top of all the medical stuff outstanding and upcoming). We've got about half that covered, but need sales to cover the rest. About half of that amount is for one-off kinds of things; the other half will be part of our new normal for a while, a year or more. So we can't afford to kick in any more; believe me, we would if we could. But a lot of folks in these online communities can match our $150 easily. If 25 people gave that amount, she'd be covered. I realize that a lot of folks can't, but 10 people giving $15 each is $150. If 250 people gave $15, she'd be covered, too. We can do this; we've done far more in far less time.

As to us, as always, today is going to be yet another heavy work day for us, and we have to be at it here shortly, so the rest is cut-and-paste. One change to the links in the list: I've moved the gift cards for Lowe's and Amazon back up to the top of our Amazon wishlist, because we're at the point where more things that need finishing on the house require purchases we can't afford. These days are bad for me health-wise; the cold and wind are bringing these terrifying episodes back with a vengeance. I also have more medical stuff upcoming, the kind that involves a referral elsewhere and cash on the barrelhead [lots of it]. We also have to make some steady sales. Winter is coming for us, too, and while we're heading into the season that normally keeps us going for months out of the year, we know we can't rely on it this year. Spirit knows we need sales now, and desperately. Repairs on both vehicles are paid, as well as a bunch of other stuff that needed to be paid now, and we squeezed out a little to help his clan brother out with heat. But the tax bill is going to haunt us for a very long time to come (plus the extra 3-figure charge we have to pay up front for the privilege of paying in installments, as though penalties and interest weren't already enough), to say nothing of the five figures' worth of medical bills remaining, and I have to send in something substantial on the latter, and soon. 

I've been saying that I don't see a way to claw us out of this hole. I still don't. And it's hard to think when illness fogs your brain as badly as it does mine. There's nothing I can do right now except what I've done my whole life, which it just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I have to make some sales, I have to find a way to bring in major amounts right now, and I don't know how, but I've got to get work trying. Wings has new work out, six brand-new pairs of earrings, and they're fabulous, plus a new 7-piece collection of coils that dropped yesterday (six remain available for purchase). It would be a small start. [He's got his next collection of coils under way, and also has some major collector's items in the works, but the latter won't drop for at least a week or two yet, probably. And if you want to commission something for the holidays? Now is the time to do that, because time is short and the creative process is not.] 

We need sales, badly. Never moreso, frankly. What follows are links that are a means of helping a little bit. I am sick, body, mind, heart, and spirit, and there's no room for anything else:

• My new Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds);
• Wings's site, for sales, with new items posted;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of animal and household stuff;
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).

Please share the links. We're now officially into holiday order season, because commissions take time, so if you're planning on holiday gifts, please keep Wings's work in mind. And given what we're up against, we won't turn away donations, either, because we simply can't afford it.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.