productivity and big, life-changing news
2022 january 14 11:41
Okay, so January kinda flew by! I'm happy to say that I've actually managed to get my February designs done by the 11th! The postcards even arrived a whole week early so I'm slowly packing your sub packs as I go. I'm missing a few stickers and the sticker sheets for the stationery sets, but I'm waiting for Tom to bring home a new cutting machine from the US cuz mine is pretty much on its last legs. I thought it was completely dead but i managed some simple cuts with the stationery sets and it worked out for the most part. But yeah! Super happy with the Astral Fox theme!
Anyway. I was happy to be finished so early cuz I kinda wanted to just bask in all the free time I would have for the rest of the month, not stressing about working or shop things. Maybe read a book. Or play some video game. Work on some ongoing commission work that don't really have deadlines. Do some art for myself. Or so I thought.
So... life changing things: Basically Tom had to go back to the US for work. Canada still has requirements to get back into the country, one of which is still a negative test result even if you're fully vaccinated. So he still can't come home everyday. We talked about it over the holidays and thought... well, coming home every weekend would still be better than being stuck apart for months on end. But we weren't fully faced with the realization of what he was gonna do during the week days. His couch-surfing options fell through so we have been paying for hotel stays and will have to keep doing so until the end of the month. All that to say that we've finally realized that I need to move down to the US with him. We can not fathom having to pay for two places again. Two sets of groceries. Two sets of utilities. It's exhausting being apart and it's financially damaging in an already precarious situation.
On the upside, I have managed to find 3 bedroom houses for way less than what we're paying for an 800 square-foot apartment. I'm low-key excited to actually have a dedicated studio space to work in. I don't know, maybe it'll be helpful to be in a new environment. Hopefully it'll relieve a good amount of the stress we've been dealing with over the last 2 years. I definitely think it's a step in a better direction.
But yeah... I will basically be packing up the apartment for the rest of the month to get into storage for now. I am hopeful that I already found someone interested in taking over the apartment so that's a huge load off my shoulders. The other hurdle we need to get over is just finding a decent place to live for February. I kinda hope everything can get squared away before the end of January so I can just focus on mindless stuff like packing and changing addresses for things.
I will DEFINITELY have to take a shop break after I move since I will have to set the shop up for USD instead and figure out ALL the pricing for that shit cuz I still don't fully understand the US shipping rates for smaller mail. I probably just need an overall break to unpack and settle in, whichever month that happens. So my life will be in limbo for some time. I'm HOPING I can still get some time to work on stuff for March rewards. I just hate that Feb is the shortest month >_<
So, I guess I'll catch you up on everything at the beginning of February! Hopefully most of the major stuff is dealt with and I actually have time for other stuff aside from moving prep!