Behind on everything.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019;; all rights reserved.

Some spectacular cloud formations last night. Unfortunately, they settled in close, and it never got cold enough to snow. So a night of freezing rain, mercury far too high today, and in town it's all, to borrow the name of a local business (albeit spelled more typically), mud & flood. 

I know this because I did go to my doctor's appointment today, because I've had enough subluxing and attendant tearing lately to need help with pain management. It took forever, in part because some asshole walked in and demanded to be seen by a doctor right that very minute (without an appointment or previous patient history with them, and before you ask, yes, he was, because of course) and created such a scene and was so rude to the staff that the doc had to go out and get involved.  And apparently he decided to stay until he next opening, which was at three, so when I finally got sprung and walked out to pay, there he was, all grumped up on the waiting room couch with a 3-hour+ wait still ahead of him. So I may be both sore and way behind on everything (with a $106+ cash outlay, to boot), but he's still waiting.

At any rate, what all this nonsense means is that my schedule for the day is upended, again, and I am running late with all of it. I also have not had a chance to make a single sale, but I did at least post five new pieces here last night: two pairs of earrings and three new Warrior Woman pins, all three of the pins bearing some new imagery. Please share the links, because while, we have made a couple of sales over the last few days, which has taken the immediate strain off me a bit, there's no room for me to let up on the sales effort. 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. 

This year? ONE commission. And there are, effectively, only a couple of weeks left of the holiday sales season, because it takes time to make things, to say nothing of shipping them.

I don't know what we're going to do.

I'm back to using my rescue inhaler daily, along with the O2 at night, to deal with the breathing issues attending the sudden cold. My pain levels, especially after putting my body through so much these last few weeks to protect the house, are completely unmanageable now. I've decided I'm going to refuse to cancel my doctor's appointment on the fifth, because even if nothing is coming in, even if we have a winter to get through, I have to be here to do all that. For those wondering about my own health issues, see here, although now there's a new wrinkle I'm not even going to bother to try to explain (suffice to say there's no affording treatment); with regard to the work being done, some of the details are here. Folks can help in several ways, 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.