Index

Home

Email

Archives

eBay

There were some big changes this year. Chuck had bypass surgery in October of 2002, and by January 2003 he was in rehab and well on the way to recovery. Fortunately that turned out well. It's amazing what a bypass can do for you.

Last January I also taught my first class in making metal book clasps. That has been particularly significant for me. Although I was still teaching metals skills, it meant that I had made a real change from the jewelry arts to metalwork as specifically applied to the book arts. I had to do a lot of research into the history of book clasps, apply that research and plan how to best teach these skills to people with limited or no metal experience.

My class was well received, which felt very good to me, and I created a web site about the process. As things have a tendency to build on themselves, I also taught another class in the Fall of 2003, and I have been invited to teach at a pretty significant workshop next June. Because no one else is really doing much in this area, I can make this exploration into something more if I want.

But, still my "career" change is a jumbled up mess. I work on the book clasps and I try to find the time to work on book repair, conservation and restoration and to learn more about that. I still have a number of places which order jewelry so I have to stop and do that. I want to make some mixed media works which are primarily related to book arts or which require book art skills. And I can very easily get sidetracked by little fun craft type projects, too, like making paste paper or even making bath bombs. And I also have a part time free lance job for a non-profit book organization. So, it's really been very hard for me to just to concentrate on one area. I lack focus, and if nothing else this next year, I want to try to find that focus and do some serious work again.

In the meantime there is also the need to help with all of the eBay business. It's not bad, but can be tedious. I'm not complaining because that's the income source for now, and we must generate as much as we can.

Then in August we were thrown back into the pit for another go round with health issues. Chuck was admitted to the hospital unexpectedly with impending kidney failure. It was a very scary and very bad time for a while. After a week in the hospital he was released and required to follow a very strict diet and take meds in the hopes of dissolving the many, many kidney stones which were blocking his kidneys. Fortunately, after weeks of care the treatment worked, but it is still a constant cause for concern. Not to mention that all that down time wreaked havoc with our finances, and to top it off, our health insurance premiums skyrocketed through the roof, going up 66%. So now we feel like we are always in a state of panic trying to be sure to have enough for the premium each month on top of everything else.

We are still too young for Medicare, so we still have to self insure, and because of his many pre-existing conditions we are unable to switch insurers. As a reward for being self employed and working hard for years, we just get totally screwed by our government's failure/refusal to take care of the health care needs of its people, and its failure to keep health care costs and drug prices in check. I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe this administration.

Aside from business issues, personal issues are on a relatively even keel with the usual ups and downs. I'm pretty happy with the family relationships now. All the weddings are over, and this year I didn't have to host two holidays! So I am a happy mom. All my kids have turned out to be pretty great human beings, and I get along with them all well, I think. And I adore my grand daughters.

I've turned a corner with regard to my relationship with my father. He had some serious health issues in the last year or two and I suddenly realized that I did not want to continue to concern myself with past injustices or sleights. It's too late for some things to change and I don't want to still be having major issues with him should he die. I found out when my mother died that grieving was so much more complex when all sorts of unresolved stuff continued to confuse the issues. As a result of letting go, I am feeling much happier when I am around him. And since I don't have to carry around all that extra baggage, that translates to feeling better about life in general.

For the new year, I predict more of the same.

Only I'd like fewer health care crises. Hopefully we can bypass that chaos by making some real attempts at serious life style changes.

As I said earlier, I want to get focused and accomplish something!

And, I hope for continued goodwill in family relationships.

And, last but not least, I hope the heck we can vote the Bozo out of the White House.

<< home >>