(no subject)
Things have been tough lately. We have been low on money and a whole heap of stuff came up.
I've written about it all below but figured I'd put the links up here so you didn't have to trudge through it if you don't want to.
As those of you who know us know, we both have loads of health problems. Thankfully, in Australia, a lot of health stuff is covered by Medicare. A few things of late have not been covered.
I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, Fibromyalgia, Ehler's Danlos Syndrome, chronic migraines and Orthostatic Intolerance (my blood pressure drops when I'm standing and pass out).
Ruth has Asperger's Syndrome, generalised anxiety disorder and chronic depression.
It limits what we are able to do considerably. Neither of us is well enough to get a job.
What we do do though is art and craft stuff. Ruth knits from the time she wakes to the time we go to bed. I paint, knit, embroider, take photos, draw, needle felt, and we both spin yarn.
Creating is like breathing for me. Sometimes my health gets in the way of both of them but I can't live without it.
This means we have stuff that we've made that is for sale and we take commissions.
* Please check out our blog Wallflower Arts: Adding gold to our rainbow, Our Wallflowers Arts Facebook page, and our Etsy Shop
* We have embroidered art, knitted hats and needle felted stuff up at our Etsy Store Wallflower Arts
* We take commissions for knitted goods like clothes, accessories and toys.
* We take needle felted art commissions for anything, fandom, steampunk, nature, animals etc. You can see some of my needle felted art at Flickr
* I take commissions for hand embroidered art. I can embroider anything at Urban Threads, I can design pictures or word art (baby's names, fandom quotes etc), embroider on clothing or bags or fabric in a hoop.
Email me at wallflowerarts(at)gmail(dot)com to talk about felted or embroidery commissions.
* I paint digital art for commission. Fandom or general. My current series is Australian Native Animals as adventurers. I should have prints available soon
* I understand that money is tight all over. If you can't afford to buy anything then any pimping would be fantastic. You can link to this page for people that are fine with fandom (I have NC-17 art unlocked on this journal) or you can link to Wallflower Arts on Facebook, Etsy or on Blogger.
Some info about our money troubles of late:
We both need new glasses. We finally got tested for Irlen Lenses. I have massive light sensitivity and dyslexia. Ruth has oversensitivites due to Autism My light sensitivity was causing me constant migraines so we got my tinted glasses first. I still need a normal prescription pair of glasses for driving at night when mine are too dark. Ruth needs to get her lenses fitted still. We've spent about $1000 on the testing and lenses so far and still need another $250.
I have a Neurologists appointment next week and it isn't covered by Medicare. I could get in through public health but the wait is over a year and I'd have to travel to Sydney to do it. That would cost a fortune in petrol and dog boarding so it's cheaper for me to just pay privately here.
I need a couple of hundred for that next week. I need to get tested for Chiari Malformation and Positional Cervical Cord Compression and although the MRI for Chiari is covered on Medicare, the PC3 test involves 3 MRIs with the neck in different positions and that's not covered. Then I'll need to see the Neurologist at least once more to review the tests.
I have Ehler's Danlos Syndrome which means that all my connective tissue/collagen doesn't work properly. I have massive joint pain, regular sublaxing and sometimes dislocating joints (pretty much all of them), my skin is fragile and tears really easily. I've got access to free hydrotherapy once a week which is amazing but I really need a massage at least occasionally. Pain levels have been through the roof and my neck and shoulder, hips, pelvis and lower back are really bad.
We've finally caught up with the rent but the car still needs a lot of work. We live about an hour and a half's really difficult drive from town and the only public transport is a bus once a fortnight that gives you 3 hours in town. Any time we need to get shopping, meds, or visit the doctor we need to drive to Mudgee or Bathurst. For that we need a working car. Break pads need replacing every 6 months due to the massive hills and turns on the road (With my joints I can't drive a manual so I can't use the gears to slow the car). The car is over 10 years old now and things need replacing. The list of things that need doing soon are going to cost a couple of thousand.
Then this last week we got an over $700 electricity bill. I've no idea how other than the ridiculous price of electricity out here. We don't have an air conditioner, the tumble dryer is already broken and we haven't been able to replace it, we don't use the washing machine very often due to lack of water. We have a wood fire and spend about $120 on wood each fortnight. We were sick this winter, I had pneumonia and Ruth had the flu, so we may have used the fan heater a bit more than we should.
The cat got really sick so there was a big vet bill and the dogs need vaccinating. I haven't been able to visit my family all year.
So yeah, we're a in a fair bit over our heads. We don't have access to a credit card and our disability pension doesn't give us enough money to get a loan.
I've written about it all below but figured I'd put the links up here so you didn't have to trudge through it if you don't want to.
As those of you who know us know, we both have loads of health problems. Thankfully, in Australia, a lot of health stuff is covered by Medicare. A few things of late have not been covered.
I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, Fibromyalgia, Ehler's Danlos Syndrome, chronic migraines and Orthostatic Intolerance (my blood pressure drops when I'm standing and pass out).
Ruth has Asperger's Syndrome, generalised anxiety disorder and chronic depression.
It limits what we are able to do considerably. Neither of us is well enough to get a job.
What we do do though is art and craft stuff. Ruth knits from the time she wakes to the time we go to bed. I paint, knit, embroider, take photos, draw, needle felt, and we both spin yarn.
Creating is like breathing for me. Sometimes my health gets in the way of both of them but I can't live without it.
This means we have stuff that we've made that is for sale and we take commissions.
* Please check out our blog Wallflower Arts: Adding gold to our rainbow, Our Wallflowers Arts Facebook page, and our Etsy Shop
* We have embroidered art, knitted hats and needle felted stuff up at our Etsy Store Wallflower Arts
* We take commissions for knitted goods like clothes, accessories and toys.
* We take needle felted art commissions for anything, fandom, steampunk, nature, animals etc. You can see some of my needle felted art at Flickr
* I take commissions for hand embroidered art. I can embroider anything at Urban Threads, I can design pictures or word art (baby's names, fandom quotes etc), embroider on clothing or bags or fabric in a hoop.
Email me at wallflowerarts(at)gmail(dot)com to talk about felted or embroidery commissions.
* I paint digital art for commission. Fandom or general. My current series is Australian Native Animals as adventurers. I should have prints available soon
* I understand that money is tight all over. If you can't afford to buy anything then any pimping would be fantastic. You can link to this page for people that are fine with fandom (I have NC-17 art unlocked on this journal) or you can link to Wallflower Arts on Facebook, Etsy or on Blogger.
Some info about our money troubles of late:
We both need new glasses. We finally got tested for Irlen Lenses. I have massive light sensitivity and dyslexia. Ruth has oversensitivites due to Autism My light sensitivity was causing me constant migraines so we got my tinted glasses first. I still need a normal prescription pair of glasses for driving at night when mine are too dark. Ruth needs to get her lenses fitted still. We've spent about $1000 on the testing and lenses so far and still need another $250.
I have a Neurologists appointment next week and it isn't covered by Medicare. I could get in through public health but the wait is over a year and I'd have to travel to Sydney to do it. That would cost a fortune in petrol and dog boarding so it's cheaper for me to just pay privately here.
I need a couple of hundred for that next week. I need to get tested for Chiari Malformation and Positional Cervical Cord Compression and although the MRI for Chiari is covered on Medicare, the PC3 test involves 3 MRIs with the neck in different positions and that's not covered. Then I'll need to see the Neurologist at least once more to review the tests.
I have Ehler's Danlos Syndrome which means that all my connective tissue/collagen doesn't work properly. I have massive joint pain, regular sublaxing and sometimes dislocating joints (pretty much all of them), my skin is fragile and tears really easily. I've got access to free hydrotherapy once a week which is amazing but I really need a massage at least occasionally. Pain levels have been through the roof and my neck and shoulder, hips, pelvis and lower back are really bad.
We've finally caught up with the rent but the car still needs a lot of work. We live about an hour and a half's really difficult drive from town and the only public transport is a bus once a fortnight that gives you 3 hours in town. Any time we need to get shopping, meds, or visit the doctor we need to drive to Mudgee or Bathurst. For that we need a working car. Break pads need replacing every 6 months due to the massive hills and turns on the road (With my joints I can't drive a manual so I can't use the gears to slow the car). The car is over 10 years old now and things need replacing. The list of things that need doing soon are going to cost a couple of thousand.
Then this last week we got an over $700 electricity bill. I've no idea how other than the ridiculous price of electricity out here. We don't have an air conditioner, the tumble dryer is already broken and we haven't been able to replace it, we don't use the washing machine very often due to lack of water. We have a wood fire and spend about $120 on wood each fortnight. We were sick this winter, I had pneumonia and Ruth had the flu, so we may have used the fan heater a bit more than we should.
The cat got really sick so there was a big vet bill and the dogs need vaccinating. I haven't been able to visit my family all year.
So yeah, we're a in a fair bit over our heads. We don't have access to a credit card and our disability pension doesn't give us enough money to get a loan.