I am now at the stage in my family’s SNAP benefit cycle to where I am filing daily complaints with the state ombudsman about how it’s taken more than a month and a half for the state to process a simple, uncomplicated benefit renewal. I don’t know why you have to file daily complaints with the state ombudsman and threaten to litigate (through Legal Aid, as it would be in my case) to get them to do their jobs, and how they can manage to “respond” to you sending you a copied and pasted blurb not addressing any of your concerns in the time that could be spent actually processing these applications and renewals.

Every six months I have to do this so that my family retains SNAP benefits we are entitled to.

Every year I have to do this for my Medicaid, and I remind the state that they can not pursue child support.

So I got my engagement and wedding ring back from the vendor that recast the alloy in hopes that I could wear it for at least longer periods without my skin clearly exhibiting an allergic reaction that wasn’t mild.

When I got married to my oldest son’s father, we had already decided that we wouldn’t exchange rings, as not only would it not be fair to me since the severity of my allergy to metal alloy makes wearing jewelry… difficult, but he would far more easily be able to wear any of it than I would, and it just wasn’t something that he wanted to put me through. I had an engagement ring that was purchased before we had any idea of any of this, and it was just kept around in spite of the fact that it got to the point where I couldn’t wear it at all without my skin attempting to “reject” it, and the clear nail polish that the inside of it constantly had to be coated with to try and prevent that allergy was being done so much that it was starting to damage the inside of the ring itself. I wish I could find pictures of my old ring, or the damage that was eventually done to the inside of it, but I have none on hand, so… that’s life. I will be posting more pictures of my recast ring as I have the time and desire to, though, as well as pictures of the ring of mine that I’m getting with my late husband’s ashes once it crosses back over the pond and I have it made, as well as any residual ashes I’m being sent back because they weren’t required to make the ring! I sent over a bit more than the business might have needed, but I felt like it was a “better safe than sorry” situation because it takes two international stamps each time I want to send something like that overseas and my wallet is only so big.