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cmoorecole
| Teacher and Internet Entreprenaur Is a Genuine Basketcase | |
| Member Since: | February 23, 2008 |
| Location: | Oregon United States |
| Gender: | Female |
| Birthday: | April 3, 1953 |
| Looking For: | Friendship |
| AIM: | cmoorecole |
| Profile Views: | 71 |
Bio:
I'm a single mom with a 19 yr old autistic son. My son is doing well and attending college part-time. I am waiting for a disability application to go through. It's not that I'm unable to work - I work all the time. I just can't work with people on a 9-5 job, because I'm dysthymic (similar to bi-polar syndrome), obsessive compulsive and have some issues with memory and focus (as in ADD -sometimes medicated, sometimes not, depending on whether or not I can afford meds). On my own, I manage in 24 hours to put in at least a day's worth of work - just can't do it 9-5 without being branded as "weird, a waste of time and disappointingly useless". I do work part-time teaching textile arts and basketry at a program for kids with learning disabilities and make enough to cover the rent for the lot under my mobile home. The director of the program understands my situation and has been so good to me for 14 years now. She also allowed me to work for my son's tuition in her program for his first 5 years of school. The rest of the time, I sell books online and weave baskets, which I also sell online. I also knit and crochet obsessively (it's a way I cope with stress and keeps me from totally freaking out) and sell a lot of the output from my needles and hooks and I hope to sell items left over from a handwoven clothing gallery I owned in the mid 1980s. In addition, I have a shop on Cafe Press where I make a little money from photoshopping public domain images. All of this enterprise doesn't add up to enough to live on, but I am persistent and sometimes work through the night, listing items to sell and filling orders, because it takes me longer than most people would need to do the same work. I've seen my income build from nothing to almost enough, therefore, with a little more patience, I should reach "enough" and later "enough plus a bit extra", etc. At the same time, I can't pay the property tax on my trailer ($500per year) and my creditors (some from hospital bills when I broke an arm 2 yrs ago) are not as patient. I don't want to make my bills go away unpaid. I just want the creditors to stop hounding me and stay in touch until I can pay, or give me a chance to work out something fair. I really don't have hobbies, because everything I do seems like potential income. I also do beadwork, make jewelry, quilt , sew and never have enough time for all that I think I have to do with my life. I guess quilting is a hobby, because I could never sell my quilts. That's about all I have to leave for my son and he just informed me last week that he treasures them. I guess I can die now. Dogs are my passion - Border Collies in particular. I think they are the most beautiful and curious dog and love 2 of them right now. I can't resist a need to rescue when I see a BC in distress and have ended up with 2 that I can't afford to keep. I think I have the most recent one matched up with a suitable home and people who will not return him, but will give him a permanent, loving home. The other BC is my Chloe, and I can't part with her. It's too late -she is my companion now. I go without, get whatever I need from Freecycle and use my wits to get by so Chloe (& Brody, too) can eat the best food. My son's father provides his insurance, clothes, school, books, etc. but Chloe has nobody but me. Right now she's standing next to me at my desk, leaning into my hip to remind me that it is time to get away from the desk for a little while. Occasionally, she sticks her cold nose under my forearm and flips my arm off the keyboard. She must be obeyed. UPDATE 3-17-08 I'm not having much luck at raising money for my current financial disaster. I'm too busy working, to try to raise money in my little online businesses - too busy to figure out how to have something like GoN or Wish Upon a Hero, or Fundables help me reach these goals. The time I spend here on the computer has to be balanced between these communities and listing items in my little online shops and filling the few orders that come in. I'm filling orders almost daily, but it's just not enough to meet expenses, let alone pay these overwhelming expenses looming over. I need to explain that Oregon Vocational Rehab was ready to give me a grant and loan to help with my home bookselling business, but had to put me on a back burner, because I have issues with Oregon Dept. of Revenue over state taxes in 2000, when I had to take a lot of money out of a now non-existant IRA to pay a close friend's legal expenses. He won his case, but has never had money to pay me back, so the state is coming after me for taxes on the IRA withdrawal (the IRS has been kind, so far). Anyway, due to this, the state Voc Rehab office can't help me with becoming a tax payer again. Kind of a screwy rule, but so be it. I qualified as disabled enough to get the help, but they can't help me until I somehow, some other way, satisfy the state over this old issue from 2000. I don't see it happening, unless my income improves drastically. It would help tremendously if I could get more traffic in my eBay bookstore at http://www.stores.ebay.com/booksforthesetimes - Or take a look at my shops on Etsy.com: I sell my handwoven baskets in a shop called Basketry Botanica - http://www.basketrybotanica.etsy.com I sell handknits, crochet and handwoven items at : athenasbohotique.etsy.com my patterns, art and craft books are listed under : creativebrainworks.etsy.com The cafe press shop is http://www.cafepress.com/shouldvehadav8. There are really beautiful and fun items there, featuring famous to obsure classic art masterpieces in the realm of public domain. I earn small designer's fees for photoshopping these images and applying them to Cafe Press merchandise. It is not for everyone, but in the past 3 years, I have gained a tiny following of return customers and managed to earn a whopping $800.00 in 2007. I didn't even qualify to pay taxes on what I made in 2006. However, while I made almost enough last month to pay my power bill (big one for Feb.), this month I made enough to pay my Vonage phone and garbage bills(not so much). Garbage is still 2 months in arrears. One thing I've learned at these altruistic type sites - GoN and Wish Upon a Hero, is that we are all capable of being angels or heroes for each other. On WUAH, I haven't even had time to write my profile. I became immediately caught up in some of the needs that I found I could actually help to fulfill, offering what I already have and am happy to give up. I like to imagine that I am not alone in getting a rush from this activity and I feel that by being here, the Karma will come my way while I still need it and not when it's too late to save my home and my hopes and dreams for my family.
April 3
cmoorecole and RaRa are now friends4:08 AM- cmoorecole and RW are now friends4:07 AM
- cmoorecole and Lmanny are now friends4:07 AM
- cmoorecole and Marcus3 are now friends4:07 AM
- cmoorecole and can'tbelieveit are now friends4:07 AM
- cmoorecole and Dmart are now friends4:06 AM
April 1
March 30
pepsiqueen80 commented on cmoorecole's wish (Contributions for Emergency Tax Fund)4:52 PM
