It's a hard world out there.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Again this year we have a young pair of flickers in residence. They are barely mature themselves, small, slender, but hard at work every day. As far as that last descriptor, the same is true of the sparrows and the bluebirds and the hawks. This is their busy season, raising their young to the point where they can survive, and it's a hard world out there.

We know that truth all too well. Right now, I'm exhausted. So much to get done, so few hours in each day, and I'm perpetually behind as it is.  This level of constant pain is making it even worse. And nothing changes if I can't bring in sales, and I am doing spectacularly badly at that. And I need to be selling what he's already created; he's so backlogged right now, he can't take on any more commissions, and particularly not the more esoteric ones.

I don't know what I'm going to do. We have truck insurance due this week, chimney cleaning next week, ridiculously expensive medical testing for both of us at the end of next week, and the Tax Man is, of course, hounding us now. I need to make a big payment and get some of this off my chest, where it's sitting like a dead weight. But I can't do that without some major sales, and so far, no luck. 

So. On top of the taxes, the chimney cleaning, the change in our Web hosting [a year already paid in advance, unless we wind up having to upgrade to more space, in which case it goes up by another $400], the need to replace my dying laptop, and all the other nonsense? Four figures' worth of medical bills coming up fast. The stress of all this is what's killing me now [and the insomnia, and the pain, and the fear of what this other thing might be]. I keep saying that I refuse to entertain the notion of the new pain and other symptoms being anything other than autoimmune complications, but that's getting harder to do know that I know that suppressing my immune system isn't stopping them. It's already abundantly clear that reverting to the proper chemo dose has accomplished exactly nothing on that front, and that's worrying in the extreme. It's clearly not muscle or bone. Yes, it could still be all lymph, but given the location, that in itself isn't exactly without worry, either. And the persistence of the pain and other issues . . . well. Meanwhile, the expenses won't wait.

So we've GOT to make sales now.  Desperately.  I need help; I can't do this alone.

I've put up a bunch of new work lately, including four new pairs of earrings posted on Twitter and Bsky the other night; I got them up on the NDN Silver site last night [for the second time; the Web migration glitchiness wiped out all four days ago]. There's more to come, including possibly a new cuff soon [he's not satisfied with it currently] and several additional new pairs of simple bezel-set gemstone earrings, in addition to the pairs from the other day. And as always, all the regular links are listed below. I've added some new items to the wish list; we're almost out of masks, and we both have to wear them in every interaction with anyone else [I have no immune system anymore, remember]; I've also found a hand soap that doesn't make my hands bleed, and while it's pricey, one bottle each in bathroom and kitchen lasts over a month apiece, even with how frequently we have to wash our hands given the work we do around here. But as always, sales are by far the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (apparently the FlexTape is also the priority now, so I'm told; otherwise, Amazon cards and the filters for the air purifiers); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim 2023, and with this year starting off MUCH worse (and given that we're already approaching the half-way mark), we really need to get 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.