Still at home. Exterior work tomorrow, plus a lot more (and a lot of ER medical expenses looming). Sales/shares badly needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Thank all that's holy that I'm still at home.

That's what the deck looks like now, post-weatherization. I'm now wondering what role that might have played in what happened to me on Friday, given that the spray was not close-up like we anticipated, but one that produced a cloud of mist that the wind blew toward us while I was outside at Wings's studio a half-hour or so before it all went to hell.

At any rate, I'm still obediently doing next to nothing, and still feeling, overall, pretty much like hell, freeze-dried and warmed over. I won't have any answers for a while yet, although the duty doc from Friday night wants me to see a specific outside doctor with a practice geared toward holistic care, not exclusive to women's health, but supposedly designed for us. So we'll see. Of course, a lot depends on cost, because this weekend is going to be astronomical as it is. But the fact of the matter is that I need new autoimmune and endocrine testing beyond just the basic blood workup and stress test, and I have to bite the bullet.

My s-i-l was over here today for wedding stuff, and between her, my online posse, and of course Wings, I couldn't get away with disobeying the doctors is I tried, so y'all can just forget about the little lecture you had lined up. The fact of the matter is that, given my family history, I am taking this more seriously than you will ever know. But even so, there are some stressors that are not just going to vanish because it's inconvenient for me right now, and beating the weather on the house is one of them. Tomorrow, allegedly, they will be ready to hopper the exterior. There are also window trim, stairs, and the completion of the base cabinets for the kitchen ("base" as in the most fundamental, what holds up the sink and dishwasher, not "base" as in the whole set of lower cabinets; those will come much later). I had said that I was trying to raise $2,500 early this week, intending to cover labor and the exterior plaster, but that's kind of out the window now, particularly with what I know will be coming down the pike for this weekend's . . . adventure. My brain is a mess.

And there's still that "winter weather" thing just around the corner. Sales are going to be crucial to finishing this, but we won't turn away donations, either. We need funds for materials, and for increasing the crew's hours (and yes, we had to add a man on the weatherization crew). I'm so relieved and happy to be alive  that I'm no longer sweating the details of the wedding very much (it's a sobering thing to have to sit, immobile, for a full 30-40 minutes knowing that you might not actually survive it). But there's that whole snow and ice and cold thing coming down the pike, and I suspect this will be the last really warm week we have. So sales matter right now, desperately. But the registries still matter, too. And as always, all of the registry items can be crowdfunded, so kicking in $10 or $20 on an item is extraordinarily useful; a few donations that size to a single item, and it's fulfilled and on its way. All of this, of course, means that we still need shares, daily. So here are all the links:

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
• Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
• Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
• Our Amazon wishlist generally.
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; what's left on it now are doormats and a few other miscellaneous items, although there are more that need to be added.
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but I've finally added a bunch of items to it, mostly now furniture items. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item. Even the backordered/out-of-stock items can be crowdfunded in advance. Right now, the most pressing items are the ones outlined above. I've just added the furnishings for the rest of the upstairs (i.e., the guest room and my writing/office space, which also includes the desk and chair further down the list, and the last three rugs on the list, two of which are back-ordered). The chaise and daybed are for the two upstairs rooms: the latter for the guest room, the former for my office, which is where I will be spending most of my time, and my AI issues require working on a laptop with my legs outstretched, so that's why it's a pricier piece; it'll probably be the primary means to my role in our living. There will also be more items that fall into the badly-needed category (lamps, particularly, right now), because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in that place).

Thank you all, once again, for everything you've done over the last 16 months to get us safe and keep me sane. We are both so thankful for each and every one of you who made it possible for us to sleep (and shower!) now, for the first time in seven years, in a safe and healthy (and warm!) place. I'm going to be mostly unavailable for very nearly anything for almost three weeks now, and it's all complicated by the cold weather and seven years of breathing toxic air. As I said the other night, I will miss everything under the sun, I will forget things, I will screw up things thought to be un-screw-up-able. That's just life with autoimmune disease anyway, and now it's severely exacerbated by all the rest of it. But we have a long way to go, and an absurd amount that needs to get done in three weeks, so please bear with me a while longer. Winter weather has been stalking the door for the better part of a week now, and even though we'll allegedly be going back to higher-than-usual highs, the lows are a reminder that we have to get this done, and fast. And now, when he introduces me as his wife? Even the government will agree, LOL.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.