Always a crapshoot.

Photo copyright Aji, 2025; all rights reserved.

Some cool clouds this morning. All gone now. They still say we should be getting snow most of the coming week, but we'll see. We could get it, or nothing at all, or more than twice what they're predicting; it's always a crapshoot.

Whatever materializes, I'm planning on staying home out of it. A while back I said I couldn't do errands in town more than one day a week, so we needed to consolidate them. Instead, I wound up in town four of the five weekdays, and spent way too much time on my feet. I also did too much on an equipment repair here at hime, and it all conspired to hit me at once last night.

The pain was absolutely feral, in every part of my body; extra meds didn't even take the edge off. And then, suddenly, it threw me into an episode [like the ones that almost killed me, very literally 7+ years ago]. I could feel my blood pressure spike out of nowhere [no stress trigger], and in a matter of seconds, my resting heart rate shot up to 120. No, it's not POTS. It's similar in some respects, but it's not that. It is, however, something with the potential to be deadly, and when it happens, I also have to wonder whether this is going to be the time I don't come back from it. I spent the whole night on oxygen, but almost no sleep, for obvious reasons. And I feel terrible today, because this drains everything out of you, and it's very clear that I have to cut back.

From now on, no more than one day a week in town. Shipping will be on Fridays [unless e have a medical or other appointment in town on another day of a given week], and I'll be holding all orders until then. I can't do this. It's very literally killing me, and I want to be around for a good while yet.

It doesn't help that the world is still on fire, they're still coming for us all, and we still have to worry about our communities, about our relatives [both of whom are disproportionately affected by this illegal "funding suspension"], . . . and about us. Last year was indescribably bad on pretty much every single front, especially sales. This year, already a month into it, and it's not appreciably better. I have GOT to make some sales, since we've had only two so far in this new year, and we're already in the second month. It takes at least one sale a week [sometimes more] just for us to break even on the year, and last year? We didn't even do half that. We're going to have to replace the well pressure pump, without question. Taxes are coming. My laptop apparently will have to wait yet another year [assuming I can keep this alive that long, which I can't assume for a moment, actually]. So now would still be a good time to buy. TONS of new and fabulous work on the site, and tons more on the way, too. But I've got to sell something, for the love of all that's holy. I won't survive another awful year like last year. Every day I wake up to pain that was worse than the day before. I also wonder what will happen to us if it gets so bad that I can't even do this much every day. Lately, that day is seeming like it's maybe not so far off now, and that scares the hell out of me. My current pain levels make me worry that it might be nearer than I know, and I don't know we'll do if that happens.

Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we urgently need to begin 2025 on a better footing before taxes take every cent, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2025; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.