It is, and it isn't.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

You wouldn't know it by the temperature or the weather, but it's jay season. The flock of piñon jays has been swooping around today, looking for a communal landing spot [and also, presumably, an abundant source of food]. They show up intermittently throughout the fall, come back in flocks once or twice in the winter, and typically vanish once spring starts warming up in any real way. 

Of course, we don't actually have those seasons anymore.

It's been a day. Terrible night's sleep, ongoing migraine for days now, had to be up early to have morning stuff done because J was stopping by to collect the donations for Sylvester's care [her elderly employer's now-departed cat]. We also were waiting for another visitor, and then, of course, the real problem: the well guy for what seemed to be a deficient well pump. 

It is, and it isn't. The good news is that we got out of today's mess for $100, because it was a matter of pulling out the pipe and getting rid of some sediment, then locking. it back down properly again. The bad news is that the water should have behaved much differently when I hit the breaker, and that means we have a leak in the well's pressure pump. Apparently it was fixed once, more than two decades ago. But it's probably been an issue for a good long while this time, and there's no way to tell how much longer it has. We're hoping we can delay it until spring, but if it goes . . . and the closest ballpark figure he could give me was $3,500. Could be a little less; might be a lot more. We cannot catch a break.

I'm at the point of needing to average one sale a day to break even, and I have no idea how we do that; we are so far behind on sales this year that I don't know how we make it if people don't shift into holiday-buying gear soon. Because at this rate? We can't. Not even through the month on basic expenses, never mind the fact that I have GOT to replace my laptop before the new year when prices skyrocket thanks to that asshole's tariff announcement.

I don't know what to do. I'm doing everything I can, as fast as I can, and here we are, new week, new month, and it's never enough. I need help, but there isn't any. What I really need is to bring in sales, but I can't force people to buy. And it's looking really grim.

And yes, I know we're lucky. The housing crisis worsens daily here. On that note, also go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but they've given out so much stuff this week that they now have new priorities: hand warmers, snacks, tarps, duct tape, two-person tents [only $22 each! and they've given out all the existing tents already], the safety stuff like flashlights and pepper spray; they also need large-size men's stuff, socks, and large- and extra-large-size dog stuff, like collars and harnesses and dog coats, further down on the list.

And then there's my own actual work. WE NEED SALES. As always at this time of year, I'm already putting in 12- to 16-hour days every day, 7 days a week, because the work won't wait, and for us, being able to help anyone else starts with us making those sales, of course. But beyond that? I also am finding myself unexpectedly under the gun on another front; besides needing to bring in enough in seasonal sales to repay a big chunk on our '24 taxes, the election has made the need to replace my laptop NOW absolutely mandatory, before the end of the year, because the price, already hellish for the one I need, will skyrocket at the first of the year. So if you're contemplating buying? Now would be a really, really good time. Our laptop is our whole work, everything, and it fails me on the daily now.

Today's feature is two photos linked by one work of wearable art, an incredible Deco cuff, here. This one really belongs with the necklace featured here on Sunday, so that's going to be our one other feature here today [also because I am beat and my hands are kiling me and I have SO much more work yet to do tonight]:

• "As the Night Falls," pendant saw-cut and scalloped freehand, with equally freehand texturization, 100s of strikes of the hammer, set with a mix of red flower and purple jaspers in the focal and ringed with carnelian and hematite; beads are amethyst; hematite; old red glass; ruby; lepidolite; sunset jasper; OLD natural hematite; onyx; and old black glass, here.

There's more on the way very soon; he's got something like four more cuffs [a green turquoise one and a rainbow moonstone one that, AGAIN, I hope to get posted yet tonight, for two of them], a couple of pendants [one set with incredible genuine spectrolite], potentially several new pairs of earrings, and eventually all the new coils he'll need for holiday inventory. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make sales weekly for us to catch up on the year and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof next year AND now the well pressure pump, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priority is the liquid soaps and Amazon cards, probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one far worse than the last, we really need to end 2024 on a better footing before 2025 and taxes take every cent, 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.