Bad but better edition. Shares and signal boosts needed.

Well, this morning was the first in a week that I didn't wake up feeling like I was going to die. We're both still feeling like absolute crap, but that's a thousand times better than a day or two ago. Not doing much yet, though, because we cannot afford to lose another week to a relapse. I need to get back to painting the upstairs, but that's got to wait a little longer.

I also need to find a way to boost sales. They're always abysmal at this time of year, with the closure (and no doubt worse this year with the terrible ski season), but even our online sales have slowed to virtually nothing, thanks to the mess in D.C. If we could just sell his concha belt, that would take care of a chunk of materials costs for the next few weeks. That plus a couple of other big-ticket items? We'd be heading into April okay. Unfortunately, this market is not that.

Here's the cut and paste part:

• Shares of our YouCaring page via the widgets provided, especially the widget code, which has once again been moved back to the purple box at the lower right-hand side of the page, that produces the image shown just above.
• Shares of Wings's site; sales also fund the construction (indeed, they are the baseline for it). Testimonials help.
• I've added Lowe's gift cards to our Amazon wishlist. We're having to spring for lumber, lath, and plaster material locally. The rest of what makes it habitable — flooring, paint, appliances, etc. — are coming from Lowe's, which is giving us the best selection and price, and therefore best bang for our buck, but it's still a lot. A LOT. And so one of the best, most immediate ways to help at this point is with Lowe's gift cards. I have three separate denominations posted on the wishlist, but cards in any amount whatsoever are useful; they all go into the same pool. We're going to have to take care of the flooring very, very soon.

Still, before you share our links, please go share Laura's. Lin's spirit is where the water meets the light, but Laura will still need our help for a while. Please T/R/share/donate to her fund if you can. Especially that last. It's needed.

In the meantime, please also take a moment to share the links above.

Thanks, everyone.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Friday Feature: The Return of the Catkins

Photo copyright Wings, 2017; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a work that is simultaneously harbinger and promise off spring. It's one of my favorite pottery works, one that is named for flowers and checkerboards, but to me has always embodied the return of the catkins, emerging from the snow.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And, as always, sales are much needed (especially now), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Nowhere near done. I refuse to quit. Shares needed.

Today's is a good news/bad news kinda thing.

There's a lot going on here unrelated (or at least not directly related) to the house. One of those things is how sick we both are. It's bad enough that, despite the salvation in the form of last night's contributions from much-loved donors, we can't have the crew back next week after all. Why? Because now that we've begun painting upstairs, we have to finish it before we can have them kicking up wood and plaster dust everywhere. 

I was naive enough this morning to think that maybe, as the day wore on, I'd feel like getting back to it. I'll actually be lucky if I can do it by Monday. I keep forgetting how, even aside from my autoimmune disease, age exacerbates severe illness in extreme ways. For him, too. So it looks like we'll have them back on the 13th, and let them go as far as they can on what we have before stopping again.

That's the good news.

The bad news is the degree to which this electrical fuck-up (and a couple of ancillary problems that in a way all link up to the same people and problems), we are way, WAY behind where we should have been at this point and for this amount of money. We're only $2K away from this particular YouCaring goal . . . and there's no way $2K will cover more than two weeks' worth of labor. 

What's left? Oh, nothing much. Just all the interior plasterwork, the window and door casing, the flooring, the kitchen appliances, the cabinetry, the water heater, the finishing of the plumbing install, the finishing of the electrical install (assuming we can ever find someone reliable and not out to screw us to do that part of it), and that fricking septic system. Oh, and the exterior plasterwork and finish work.

Yeah, no. $2K will cover . . . pretty much none of it.

What this means, much as I hate it with every fiber of my being, is that we're going to have make up all the ground we lost with a new YouCaring effort once this one's met. It's come too far for us to abandon it at this point, all the moreso because living in the RV is truly, literally killing us. And it's going to have to be another big goal, because everything I just outlined? All that's materials. Think about the labor that will be required to get it from raw material into habitable form.

No, I'm not at all depressed, why do you ask?

Yeah, I lied just now. Between the health issues and everything else, I'm ready to throw in the towel, but I can't. Among other things, I have to be strong enough to push through this, regardless of what I know certain folks are saying about us, because I need to have Wings in a safe space. My only concern has to be him, and his well-being (and to a lesser extent, my own). So. This is your warning. None of this stops. I don't care how many nasty things are said, how many rumors spread, how many lies told, how much resentful bullshit spouted by people with no clue what they're talking about. I don't care how sick I am, how many medical issues I have to battle, how much I have to face down to get this done. Maybe it takes us another year. Maybe two. I don't care. I will have him in this house if it kills me.

So just be prepared for these posts to continue. Yes, I want your help. I need your help. I need you to share them as far and wide as possible so that we can finally push all the way through all the tens of thousands of costs that remain and get this done. But I'll do it one way or another either way.

Now, I'm still too sick to be original about much of anything. I've had to scale all my activities way back, mostly because I can barely stand yet. It's been decades since I was this ill; him, too. So the rest is rote.

Here's the cut and paste part:

• Shares of our YouCaring page via the widgets provided, especially the widget code, which has once again been moved back to the purple box at the lower right-hand side of the page, that produces the image shown just above.
• Shares of Wings's site; sales also fund the construction (indeed, they are the baseline for it). Testimonials help.
• I've added Lowe's gift cards to our Amazon wishlist. We're having to spring for lumber, lath, and plaster material locally. The rest of what makes it habitable — flooring, paint, appliances, etc. — are coming from Lowe's, which is giving us the best selection and price, and therefore best bang for our buck, but it's still a lot. A LOT. And so one of the best, most immediate ways to help at this point is with Lowe's gift cards. I have three separate denominations posted on the wishlist, but cards in any amount whatsoever are useful; they all go into the same pool. We're going to have to take care of the flooring very, very soon.

Still, before you share our links, please go share Laura's. Lin's spirit is where the water meets the light, but Laura will still need our help for a while. Please T/R/share/donate to her fund if you can. Especially that last. It's needed.

In the meantime, please also take a moment to share the links above.

Thanks, everyone.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

#TBT: Down to Earth, Lit With the Spirits of the Sky

Photo copyright Wings, 2017; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a spectacularly different work by Wings from about a dozen years ago. It's a piece that is entirely down to earth, but beautifully lit with the spirits of the sky.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. He created this necklace in 2005 or 2006, and it sold in 2008; it was made with a trio of truly unique cabochons, and so obviously could never be duplicated (and he never makes exact replicas of any of his works anyway). But if the style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; he can always create a version uniquely your own. And as always, sales are much needed, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Tales of the toxic tin can edition. Shares needed.

This place is killing us. I wasn't kidding.

Cut and paste only:

• Shares of our YouCaring page via the widgets provided, especially the widget code, which has once again been moved back to the purple box at the lower right-hand side of the page, that produces the image shown just above.
• Shares of Wings's site; sales also fund the construction (indeed, they are the baseline for it). Testimonials help.
• I've added Lowe's gift cards to our Amazon wishlist. We're having to spring for lumber, lath, and plaster material locally. The rest of what makes it habitable — flooring, paint, appliances, etc. — are coming from Lowe's, which is giving us the best selection and price, and therefore best bang for our buck, but it's still a lot. A LOT. And so one of the best, most immediate ways to help at this point is with Lowe's gift cards. I have three separate denominations posted on the wishlist, but cards in any amount whatsoever are useful; they all go into the same pool. We're going to have to take care of the flooring very, very soon.

Still, before you share our links, please go share Laura's. Lin's spirit is where the water meets the light, but Laura will still need our help for a while. Please T/R/share/donate to her fund if you can. Especially that last. It's needed.

In the meantime, please also take a moment to share the links above.

Thanks, everyone.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Thunderbird Out

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Thunderbird

                 out.




All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Ghost Tracks

Photo copyright Aji, 2017;
all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a work to keep us grounded in these dark and dangerous days. It's one of timeless roads, ancient spirits, and the ghost tracks that remain for us to follow.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. As always, sales are much needed, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.