Hi y'all... If you come here as a regular, you'll notice a couple of new things that you haven't seen before. As everyone has been affected by today's economy no matter where you live in the world, it's hard to make ends meet no matter what you do. I don't generally share much of my personal life, but maybe doing just that might be good for the soul. For almost a year now (will be a year in March), I have been suffering from a very debilitating illness, poly-cystic ovarian syndrome (or disease). It has completely taken over my life, and I've been struggling with it nearly every day since it started and had a name put to it. Hubby and I are a one-inclome family: He is the one that works outside the home. He works in outside sales and doesn't bring in a commission unless a sale goes through to the very end. Even if it falls through after contract negotiations, he doesn't get the pay for it, only the base draw that must be paid back if he doesn't sell anything for the week. I've been on disability for a year and a half now because of my bipolar and other MH issues. It hasn't been until the last few months that I've become eligible for health benefits under Medicare, though that still takes a good portion of my check every month. Sad to say, but my disability is almost as much as what he's been able to make the last couple of months, especially for November and December. We're considered too rich by assistance standards, but are barely able to make the basics last for the entire month without some help from family. I am hoping that I can get good enough in my scrap designing that I can be invited to join a store. At least that's what I'm hoping for. It wouldn't be much money, but every dollar helps when you don't have many coming in to begin with. If it helps to pay for one gallon of milk a month, or a few dollars for gas, it's well worth it imho. Where am I going with all of this, you might be wondering? You'll find the small additions to the right of this text, in the right column: a donation button and several Google AdSense buttons. My AdSense account was just set up, so right now the ads showing up deal with my posts about having pneumonia, nothing about scrapping. *hehehe* Hopefully that will change soon! I'm not asking for money from anyone. I am not sure how much we're going to be looking at in order for me to have surgery to help correct my current medical condition. If I continue to have the excessively heavy bleeding like I've had the past year, I will prolly end up having to have major surgery, to the point of having an emergency hysterectomy. The docs don't want to do that, but I'm tired of feeling the way I do to the point of being in extreme pain nearly all the time, and being completely bed ridden when "that time" is occurring. I'm hoping that once my new cards come in the mail, we can get down to hot-n-heavy business with this surgery. I think my blood levels are high enough to where they will perform surgery on me without serious blood loss, but am not sure. I know that the last few freebies have been popular, especially the alphas. The comments have been wonderful, and I've used those to help design more towards what you, my audience, would like to have in your collections of goodies. If it's not too much to ask, if you don't wish to leave a comment, would you consider clicking on one of my AdSence boxes instead? If you feel the desire within your heart, and wish to donate, that would be more than I could ever ask for. Any money received will go towards two things: money for my surgery and tools to create more yummy goodiness for you to create with for your own designs. Again, I am not wanting to come across as begging. We're all hurting with today's economy, some much more than others. Hubby and I are so very blessed to be one of the few that don't have outstanding credit debt. We both own our own cars (though they both need some major work on them for oil leaks and new tires). We own our own house. We pay for everything in cash. The downside is that we have no health insurance for our William, and we've got to get finalized testing for him in order for him to receive special programs once he starts school this coming fall. But, we can only tackle this elephant one bite at a time, and right now that first bite comes with getting me better. Because if I can't get better, then I won't be of any good or use to anyone around me. Anyway... enough of that. Time to get down to business of creating again, and seeing if I can get the final touches on Gothique for ya in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading my gobbly goop, and let your fingers do some clicking if you so desire. ;-)