Our health problems took their toll and are still not resolved as far as my hubby is concerned.
The shingles he got back in March left with Herpetic Neuralgia which is pain caused by the shingles that doesn't go away. He has been to many doctors and had many tests done but still he suffers.
Next week he will have a nerve block to see if that helps and if by chance it does the doctor will probably cut the nerve or insert a device like a TENS unit that can be controlled by remote control.
I can honestly say that pain does strange things to a person. My poor hubby has been suffering for almost a year now and it wears on him in so many ways. Depression and a feeling of hopelessness. Seems like when he tries to keep busy he can work through it but in the evening when he tries to relax it takes over and Mr. cranky comes out. He is so painful I literally can't touch him. He doesn't sleep well and that adds fuel to the fire so to speak.
We had a huge loss in our stocks this past year due to neglect on our agents part and this has affected our income and our financial future in a big way. We are in the process of a legal suit to recover this loss but it is a very scary feeling. I feel we will recover some of our losses but the fact of the matter is someone our age should not have to endure this sort of thing when we trusted that our money was being handled by a professional. If you have dealings with Jeff St Clair at Cetera my advise is to RUN!! Our hearing will be in February and with the help of our attorney hopefully things will go well but the bad news is, he will get 50% of the money he recovers! Guess it is better than losing it all but it NEVER should have happened.
A mistake we made 10 years ago was to take out Term Life Insurance. Never ever do that!! The affordable payments on this insurance was great for 10 years but we got notice this year that the payments went from $130.00 per month to $1500.00 per month. Needless to say, we had to drop it and now that my hubby has lymphoma and leukemia he can't get life insurance.
My health is good. No more problems with my heart since my quadruple bypass. I continue to go to Zumba for exercise three times a week and watch my weight.
I continue to alter Altoid tins and still have my Etsy shop Altered State of Tin) http://www.alteredstateoftin.etsy.com that does okay but not as well as past years. I also have a second Etsy Shop, (Elegant Whispers), http://www.elegantwhispers.etsy.com which is where I have some of my art for sale. This shop is not doing well at all and I will probably close it or maybe change the name and put some vintage things in there instead. The problem with trying to sell art is there are just to many artists out there and way to much art for sale. I also opened a Gallery (Patricia Creations) http://www.patriciacreations.com this past year and have many of my better pieces in there.
I did have one of my pieces published in Living The Photo Artist Life Volume 9. I am very proud of this and continue to take the online art class.
I enjoy my Digital Whisper Blog and the challenges we have each week. I adore my artist friends and look forward to their participation in these challenges each week.
I am looking forward to a new year and a new president in the white house. I think our country could use a change for the better. I can't wait to see what God has planned for us in the new year and I trust it will be good whatever it is.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
