Sometimes You Need to Ask

      The first thing that is going to happen today is I am going to tell you how hard my job is. Not my doll job, I have a lot of practice and even the hard parts don't phase me really. Not the school job, I have a lot of practice with that stuff too and, again, even the hard parts don't really phase me. The job I am talking about is being a guardian. I was appointed Travis's permanent guardian back in 2018. You'd think that it would be an obvious choice, but it is not easy to become an adult's guardian. There is a ton of paperwork, the deepest of background checks, more paperwork, waiting, a court appearance... and even when that is done with, you have more work. Forever. Every year I have to file a report saying how I am taking care of Travis. Yes, I have to tell the state how I am taking care of my son. What he does during the day, about his finances, work, what sort of help I get him or give him, and so on. It's once a year, but still, it's weird and it takes work. 

     I have been told by multiple people since Travis turned 18 that I need to get him on social security. He should have his own income, just in case. I get that, but that is a huge pain, and might potentially mess up my taxes. But I finally started working on that. Guess what? More work. Today I had a really awful mail day. I got two letters/packets from social security for Travis and another letter/packet from Masshealth (state insurance) for Travis. One of the packets from social security said Travis didn't qualify, the other said here is a summary of your application, we're processing it, wait. OK... so that was confusing and I called and talked to a human who said the one he was denied for (which we did not apply for) was automatic because he was over 18 and don't even worry about it. OK, fine, done, not worrying about it. So the letter from Masshealth said he doesn't qualify for Masshealth. Um... how does a person who is disabled, found disabled by the state, all of a sudden not qualify and actually not show up in the system as disabled??? It's because... more paperwork! Stuff I needed to do after four or five years, that no one told me about. So they sort of dropped the disability portion of things for him. Not cool. Anyway, 4 hours on the phone, dropped calls and lots of transfers, and I still don't have answers. I have waiting and then checking back. So yeah, my job is hard. Travis is worth it. Making sure he has what he needs is worth it, but being a guardian is hard. Especially when the rules keep changing on what you have to do and what paperwork needs to be filed. 

      Anyway, after the first couple of hours on the phone, holding the phone against my ear with my shoulder (they both now hurt) and sort of working on an email while I was on hold, I decided it was time to put the terrible hold music on speaker phone and go into the studio. The first thing I did was get some photos of this purple doll (not the same one I listed the other day) and get her posted on Instagram and the studio page. She is for sale, $235 plus shipping, she has brown hair and a removable helmet. Currently she is chilling the studio. I wish I had time to chill, but I spent 4 hours on the phone with Masshealth today...

     So while I was in the studio, even though it was fairly moderate temperature outside, it was kind of hot in the studio. So I started thinking about insulation. Because what else do you do when you are a bit too warm, you are on hold (again/still) and trying to focus on anything? I was looking at the ceiling and thinking about insulation. Thinking about joists. Thinking about insulation hangers. These are things I know about and was thinking about. And then I was thinking about insulation board. Like, the foam insulation boards. And I was wondering if that might be enough. I imagine hanging foam boards on the ceiling, under the plastic, would be a lot easier than adding joists and traditional insulation. And any sort of insulation should help regulate the temperature in there. Because what you see under that plastic is the underside of the metal roof. Did I mention my studio gets HOT if it is anything but moderate temperature outside? True story. So yeah, I was contemplating insulation. Especially after I measured and found out there is no way to get traditional 16 on center joists up there. There would be like, 2 that were great and a weird half one. Awesome. So yeah, doing some thinking about insulation. 

    So the title of this post is "sometimes you need to ask". Want to know what that is about? I am not currently taking custom orders, I have said this multiple times. But there is no harm in asking if I have, or am willing to make, a particular kind of doll. Like this morning, I had a message asking if I have any dressage dolls. I do not. But I was thinking about what to make this week, and there isn't any reason I can't make a dressage doll. So that is happening. So part of what I did while I was endlessly on hold with Masshealth was to cut out and sew clothes to make a dressage rider. And I started dressing her. She is actually even further along than this because I felt I wasted so much time on the phone today that I worked a bit longer on her. I may be able to get her done tomorrow. Only tomorrow will know for sure. 

      Today was the start of the second week of the extended year/summer program at school. And the first full week, though full weeks are only 4 days and only 3 hours a day. There was a lot of stuff that ended up messy with the day, but we made it through, and it actually went pretty fast. Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things we needed, came home and got the mail, and the really trying part of the day commenced. But today is almost done. And I got a lot of work done, even though so much got in the way of my productivity. I am hoping tomorrow will go more smoothly.