Derailed by circumstances.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019 all rights reserved.

One mostly down; another to go. I finished that last night and began outlining the matching one. If I keep them as earrings, as originally planned, I think once they're backed I'm going to change the stems. That may be what a real aspen stem looks like, but it's not proportional for this purpose, so I might just hang them from an alternating stream of larger bronze and tortoiseshell Tohos. Always assuming I get that far. [Yeah, I see all the mistakes; you don't need to remind me. One of these days, I'll be able to get the reinforced good-quality felt and a decent collection of beads across sizes, but for now, this is all from my old stash, and yes, the felt is cheap and the beads are all different types and sizes. This is for me, so I'm not going to worry about it now.] That's my main method of unwinding now, and I've discovered that it's helping my fingers stay flexible; they're not nearly as claw-like most mornings anymore.

Tons to do today, and a couple of setbacks (time-wise, I mean) have me scrambling hard. Not sure how far everything will get today, but I have to get on it; yesterday was awful on all fronts, and I'm still working on things I should have had done then but couldn't.

I had also said that if all went well, I'd have Wings's newest to show you. That was . . . what? Three days ago? And nope, because he keeps getting derailed by circumstances just like I am. Winter's already early and hard, and we've got about 7 months of it left. The rest is all cut-and-paste, but please read it anyway. It matters, because while sales are literally all that matters at the moment, what else the wind leaves behind is all the rest of the work, and ALL of the bills. But really, it's SALES.

SALES SALES SALES. That's all it's about now. A lot of y'all don't realize this, but the Pueblo closes for much of the winter, starting usually a month to six weeks after the new year. Even before Christmas, the whole month of December locks vehicles out of the village, and that reduces tourist traffic a lot. Even though we're not physically there anymore, the drop in tourism affects us, too — and the numbers are down all over town and seemingly getting worse every single year.

What folks also don't realize is that this means that holiday sales are what keep us alive, through not just the end of the year but essentially the first six months of the year to come. If we could sell the belt featured below, it would keep us going well into the new year. This is it; this is what the whole year leads up to, and even in off years, Wings would still be filling commissions beginning around the first of October. 

Pain levels are terrible this week; nearly debilitating completely. As miserable as my chronic pain is, it's nice finally to have a name to put on this thing that has caused me incessant pain literally my whole life, the thing everyone else dismissed. It happens to me virtually daily, at least in some small way (and very often in very large and debilitating ways), and at least now I have labels and language for what's happening to me and causing me so much constant pain. For those wondering about those and my other health issues, see here, although now there's a new wrinkle I'm not even going to bother to try to explain (triggered by this year's flu shot and confirmed by my doctor, and suffice to say there's no affording treatment); with regard to the work done and not done on the house, some of the details are here. Folks can help in several ways (I've added some new practical items to the wishlist, including organizers for electrical cords and replacement Thermos mugs; after . . . I don't even know how many years we've had them, the seals on our old ones have quit working), and we really need it now:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

Please share everything, because I'm suddenly back behind the eight-ball on a whole additional front, and yeah, I'm scared about covering everything and surviving, too. Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.