Today’s featured image is a picture of Boomer and me at my mom and dad’s during my first round of treatment in 2017.

It’s not quite 60 °F here, and there’s a gentle rain falling this morning. We avoided major storms last night, and considering how we fared during the storm seasons of 2019 and 2020, I’m very grateful. Although I know we’re just getting started this year…

Dan and I are in the middle of getting quotes to have our shutters and a little bit of trim work painted on the exterior of the house. We moved here in 2015 and have always needed to do the paint, but you know (or maybe you’ve just heard) how it goes with cancer in this country. We think medical bankruptcy is not just acceptable but ideal.

While Dan and I aren’t going to be moving any time too soon, we are 1.) prioritizing projects with resale of this house in mind, and 2.) being realistic about how long it will take us to get it ready — especially with treatment looming in the not too distant future. With treatments like chemo, you don’t know exactly what to expect. Sometimes the world just stops while we wait out the side effects.

It doesn’t bring me any pleasure to say this, but I made another GoFundMe last night. I just guesstimated what this round will cost and what further disability might look like for me as time goes on. I am on Medicare now because of disability and I anticipate chemo will put me squarely (roundly?) in the middle of the donut hole this year.

Of course, I know raising $100k from my friends and family is not likely. This is not my first medical fundraiser, and there’s a pandemic and all. But maybe people who look at the campaign will think of these costs next time they vote for someone who runs on maintaining the status quo — where people don’t deserve things like affordable cancer treatment. Maybe someone will look at that giant, scary number and think, “What if it was me?” Because it totally could be.

I was diagnosed at 36.

Anyway. On today’s agenda, I plan to do a load of laundry and then swatch some new colored pencils. My lovely Zentangle friend, Linda, gifted me an online art class that happens later this month. I used part of my Patreon funds for May and a couple of gift cards to get my first set of Prismacolor pencils. I might also hunt down another YouTube tutorial from TangledYogi333. She almost always colors her Zentangles with Prismacolors and I think it would be a nice exercise to get warmed up with.

I still haven’t done much planning for a new YouTube video on my channel, but I’m getting there. I need to organize my studio space first, which at this point will be a bit of an undertaking. I also have some ideas for Thank You card designs swirling in my head. I have a couple of those on my to-do list as well.

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