Saturday, September 21, 2024

No such thing as normal here anymore.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

The colors are changing fast now. I just wish, if the foliage is going to turn this early, we could get a hard freeze to shut down the ragwort. But nope, not possible, apparently.

We've had sun and clouds and rain and wind and thunder and hail so far today. At the moment, it's stormy, but not actually raining. This is incredibly strange weather for fall here; stranger still when you consider that it's technically still summer, at least by the colonial calendar, and our weather should be behaving accordingly. No such thing as normal here anymore.

Not for me, either. I raised my chemo dose by the smallest possible increment yesterday to try to shut down the inflammatory response that's been plaguing me in recent weeks. All it did was make me sick, with no attendant change in immune response that I could measure. I guess the previous dose is my magic number, and also my illnesses are progressing, apparently. It makes focusing on chasing sales harder than ever, never mind everything else I have to get done.

And I'm down on the month already; not a single sale last week or this, and no income in all that time. We are down to our last few dollars for the next eleven days, unless I manage to bring in some sales in the interim. I managed to get the insurance paid, and I think we've got enough grace period left on the propane to wait until something comes in. But we'll have autopays coming out on the first that need to be covered, and more medical for us both, plus vet bills for the dogs at the end of October in addition to all the rest. The truck repair and everything else really screwed us for this month; there won't be any roof replacement, because there's no money for it.
 
Late the other night, I posted the four new pairs of sterling silver tab earrings, all with Deco-infused stampwork and at a lower price point than most of his earrings: hereherehere, and here. That new necklace I've been talking about [it's phenomenal] became Wednesday's feature, and its gallery entry is here. In addition, his new naja pendant is up, here, and his new cuff, here. The former features both an interior pendant and amber cabs at the ends; the latter is extraordinary, two strands of Deco butterflies set with something that's not a stone, but is phenomenal all the same. In the photo are the four pairs of sterling silver tab earrings with amazing stampwork that I promised, and eventually, the Picasso jasper earrings will be done, as well as other styles. He also has a miniature collector's bowl in the works [less miniature than his past works in this style]. If I could sell them all, I'd feel a lot more confident about the next several weeks.

The rest of the month [hell, the rest of the year] is going to be geared around making sales, because I don't have a choice about that. I'm so tired after all the nonsense of this year to date, but I can't let up, because so far, we're not even breaking even on the year, and I will have to worry about next year's tax bill soon enough. Also, all indications are for extreme weather this winter [and potentially this afternoon, too], and our generator needs a solar panel set-up; it's now at the top of the wishlist, because at ~$500, there's no way we can afford it. But there's tons of new work on the site, in addition to all that's coming up shortly, so go look:

  • Completed just last weekend, two absolutely phenomenal new cuffs, here and here;
  • Completed the previous weekend, an all-new wristband, here;
  • One extraordinary new belt buckle set with an incredible Skystone, here;
  • Another new vintage-style cuff with a mysterious Skystone, here;
  • Three new pairs of earrings in his gemstone-bead series, herehere, and here;
  • Three new cuffs from last week, two set with incredible turquoise focals, one solid silver; go herehere, and here.
  • Six pairs of new concha floral earrings in the Earrings Gallery here [larger are garnet, golden rutilated quartz, and malachite; smaller are amber, carnelian, and iolite];
  • Art Deco Labradorite cuff here 
  • Triangle wire youth bangle here
  • Art Nouveau vine pattern-wire youth bangle here
  • Small Art Nouveau pattern-wire bangle pair here
  • Malachite butterfly/leaf-wing earrings here
  • A big solid silver classic cuff here
  • Ten new pairs of the gemstone-bead earrings are also up in the Earrings Gallery;
  • And another new cuff is also here

There's more on the way very soon. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make multiple sales daily for us to catch up on the year [and that's just breaking even] and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [roof, more medical, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE! Links are here:

  • Sales here
  • Testimonials here
  • Amazon wishlist here (Priority is that solar panel set for the generator at the top of the list; part of prepping for a hard winter. Next to that, Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
  • Patreon here;
  • Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one already far worse than the last, we really need to get what's left of 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.                                  

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