Tapped out.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Rainy skies this morning. It's sunny now, but there's another bank of dark clouds to the northwest. 

For this place, at the end of September? It's weird weather, by any standard.

We have the truck back. The mechanic had to have jumped us over several existing jobs to get it in late Thursday and have it back to us at the end of yesterday. It appears that it was the battery after all, although I've never seen a failing battery have that much power for all the bells and whistles — A/C, fan, radio, door alarms, lights — and yet not enough juice to get even a click out of the engine. At any rate, we have to hope that's all it was, because we can't afford any more repairs.

Between the costly new battery, the labor, and the tow, were out well over $700 cash, and we're tapped out. We still have to get through the second without shit bouncing everywhere, because there are autopays that come out at 12:01 AM on the first of every month, and our income from this week is gone and then some. I have GOT to make a sale this weekend, preferably one tonight and one tomorrow, because I am at my wits' end trying to cover everything. And people wonder why I don't sleep? Between the relentless pain, the equally relentless other autoimmune dysfunctions, and the constant stress over covering everything, this is why.

And on top of it all, October's going to be expensive anyway. The first truck repair last month and all the rest really screwed us for everything else; there won't be any roof replacement, because there's no money for it. I also need to find a way to get that solar panel system for our generator that's on the wishlist, but I can't even think about that before everything else is handled. Every winter, we have days of lost power, and we need to be ahead of it this time. But right now, I need to worry about how we get to the post office and the grocery store and the pharmacy, and how much it's going to cost us to be able to do that.

I have got to bring in sales. NOW. Our traffic is down to almost nothing, and I can't conjure the money everyone's demanding from us out of thin air.

 

Earlier this week, 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: here, here, here, 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. The first links are the four pairs of sterling silver tab earrings with amazing stampwork that I promised, and he currently has three pairs of the Picasso jasper earrings, plus one very costly pair of ultra-high-grade red-web Kingman turquoise earrings, already in the works. 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, here, here, and here;
• Three new cuffs from last week, two set with incredible turquoise focals, one solid silver; go here, here, 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.