This was one of the Christmas presents for my sis-in-law, Nikki! It’s heavily referenced from an AC screenshot we took early during the pandemic when she, my husband and I would play together. It’s also been our group chat image since then. Tikki is her cat’s name, and her island was named after her, hence the flag. 😁
🍄 You may NOT copy, color, reference, repost or use this artwork in any way or claim it as your own. Copyright is © 2023 by Marina Neira.
Today I went on a li’l spree! ^-^ I got some little carry cases for my earbuds, a super-soft Animal Crossing blanket, some bandanas for my toy pals and a yard of sparkly rainbow star fabric to make a bandana for myself.
But most importantly I made two new dino friends! They are BIG, and poseable!
These are officially licensed Jurassic World dinos which, in spite of LOVING Jurassic Park, I kind of avoid. I prefer simply dino toys with no sounds or fancy features and no branding. These two fit the bill so amazingly well that I couldn’t pick just one, and got both the raptor and the T. rex. 😁
I also bought some more little cases to organize my necklaces in the bathroom cabinet, a few more toys for the cats, and the main thing I’d gone shopping for: a bunch of oversized cheap t-shirts to use as nightshirts. I wanted enough for all the days of the upcoming trip without needing to do laundry.
For dinner we had beef tacos that Christopher made. They were great!
Overall I’m having some good days. I’m very busy and tired as we get closer to the trip but I’m trying my best to have everything ready, from the animals to packing to my artwork, to my mom’s immigration paperwork, while still taking care of myself in between. I’m really grateful to everyone who is being so patient with me as I get all the work done.
…and then some! I’m sorry for the lack of activity… I’ve got many posts and news to catch up on.
Where to begin. This past weekend I went grocery shopping and finally took down all the Christmas decorations –a heck of a job, took a whole day. I also set a bunch of things aside for donation, and scheduled the VVA pick-up. I’ve been drawing SO MUCH. To date, I’ve inked 19 commissions in less than ten days, as well as worked on personal art. Some of the commissions are highly detailed, stuff I pushed myself extra hard on. This is very unusual; normally, this much work would take me 2-3 months to do, and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING.
I’m absolutely NOT complaining though. My work has been an utter joy to me these past couple of weeks, and I do hope it sets a trend for the rest of this year.
I also took care of the snails over the weekend, and moved all of my adult snails that aren’t super tiny (such as Bulimulus guadalupensis) to one large tank. I still keep two small containers, one with random eggs and one with baby Roman snails. Anyway, that took a lot of work too.
Today we had to take Tomoyo to the vet. The short story is she has asthma. I’ll leave further details for another post.
Tonight I made salmon croquettes for dinner. It was my first time making croquettes of any sort. Christopher helped me get them to the right temp at the end but I didn’t have help beyond that. They turned out really good:
In other news, I was able to get the stain off my new Animal Crossing Switch game card case!
Due to this and some other small issues, the seller refunded me, so I ended up using the refund to get a Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron all-over patterned shirt that had been on my Etsy favorites for AGES.
I have one more thing to share. This is kind of… a blast from the past for me, the LONG AGO past, the “when I was 7-8” past. So, you see, troll dolls were one of my earliest special interests… maybe the second or third I ever had. I liked troll dolls to such an intense degree, that they were the seed that began my Meganeea stories, though eventually all the little troll characters I had became simply elves (and then, animal-elf hybrids.)
I had some Russ trolls, and many Applause trolls, and for a while I had a single, giant, unwieldly Thomas Dam troll that I ended up giving away. But I always wanted a smaller, happier looking Dam troll of my own. And now I have one. Meet Celeste:
Celeste, by the way, was Soraya’s original name. And she was originally a troll (yes, really!) with blue hair. Her blue hair was lighter back then (Celeste means “light blue” in Spanish) but this particular troll doll has Soraya’s exact, current shade of blue hair, which is my favorite.
If you look at other characters of mine, such as Zádatann and Gideon, you can see that their facial structure is very troll-like still. ^_^ So that’s an odd bit of trivia for ya.
I have to go now and get ready for bed, though I still feel like I have a lot to write. But at least I wanted to make a post, because it’s been a few days. Hope everyone is doing well, the current state of the country considered.
My long-awaited Etsy package is finally here, after many delays! It had a cover for my Switch Pro controller, a little case for the games I play most often, and a small Stitches plushie.
Here is the case, which was the main reason for my order and I absolutely LOVE:
It’s a really good fit:
And here is Stitches:
Stitches is one of my favorite Animal Crossing characters. In fact he may really be my most favorite. 🐻💕🧵🌈
The game case is really wonderful, but I’m not posting a photo yet because it came with a small stain, and I’m hoping I can get a replacement.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been playing a little more Animal Crossing, on and off. I really want to get more into it now that my family is all playing together, but I’m kinda burned out. My villagers are all a little upset at being ignored:
Alfonso ended up on my island by accident. He was my sister’s villager and I believe she didn’t mean for him to leave. For that reason, even though he wasn’t a favorite, I just can’t seem to let him go. I may let Lily go eventually though, despite the fact that I do like her.
Snow finally stuck to the ground. Bamboo island looked especially cold:
Since I had an empty house plot I started to go to islands hoping to find The Holy Grail Raymond, of course with no luck. I found some pretty cute villagers that I ended up not grabbing since it’s so easy to get them with an Amiibo:
This one gave me heart a little leap for a split second, but no dice…
Eventually though, I met Rod. He was irresistible. I’d never seen him before, and with that color scheme, those eyes, and being a mouse, he had to come to my island, no question about it. So I ended my search with him.
I was really happy to come across him later in Squelfland, he’s really perfect:
I made a Snowboy finally… it was a tad underwhelming.
And of course now that I bought acquired a RIDICULOUS amount of bells, I finally hit Tarantula Island for the first time. This particular moment was funny:
I leave you with some of my holiday/cold weather outfits:
That’s all for this post!
Dinner wasn’t healthy exactly but I had like three different types of cereal so at least it was… colorful? 🥣🌈✨
Played a little Animal Crossing while having dinner too:
Playing on one of my monitors while using the ElGato is sooo cool. I’m so grateful to Christopher for setting this up for me. 😊
Let’s end the day with one last relaxing snail soak:
Goodnight, everyone!
Yesterday I came to a realization: 245 hours (or just over TEN. FREAKING. WHOLE. DAYS!!) is just about as long as I can play Animal Crossing before being bored by the grind. Namely, the grind to rearrange my town. I’m not a quick money maker in AC. The idea of demolishing the bridges I paid so much to create, and then to pay for them again, is something I find deeply demoralizing. I want to have fun in my town again, and honestly, I’m done grinding for it. I’m done.
So I said f*ck it, and resorted to questionable means. I will say the devil provides amazing, on-the-dot service. Everyone else says the same thing, too. I have no idea when the Animal Crossing devil sleeps, but he seems to reply to everyone with the same immediate promptness regardless of location.
Now that I’m a millionaire in AC, I need to figure out how to best put it to use. I may remake my town completely, but this time I need to think it through properly. After all, this cheating I did is a one time thing. I cannot replicate it at will. As much as I’ve gotten a ridiculous amount of bells, it is, regardless, finite.
Anyway, I’m already Christmasy there too:
It’s really nice to be enjoying the game again… perhaps with this level of freedom I can truly be as creative as I want with my town. ^-^
With Code: Realize ~Guardian Of Rebirth~ sadly behind me, it’s time to play Giraffe And Annika, hopefully to completion, before I can get my hands on Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~. Today I played for barely a few minutes, but it looks like a delightful time.
It was a treat to finally get to open this gorgeous box:
As you can see, it comes with an artbook, three tiny patches, and a music CD. The music in the game already sounds wonderful so I’m happy about that. It’s a gorgeous collector’s edition.
Annika is an adorable character. Sometimes she appears drawn, sometimes in 3D. She’s always very cute and a joy to play.
Oh, oh, guess what!! Drumroll please…
I GOT MY PRO CONTROLLER!! 🥳🥳🥳
Mwako bought it for me in exchange for two Telegram stickers, and since drawing him is hardly work, it’s so much fun, it was certainly worth the trade.
Just look how nicely it matches my case! 😭💕✨💕✨💕
For playing games like Giraffe and Anikka, this controller is a delight. I’m very, very happy!
And that’s it for this post. I’ll have more to share tomorrow!
Last week before leaving for Sebastian I got a new Switch case:
I got it for a couple of reasons: for one, it was on sale. But most importantly, I wanted a case with a stand, to play on my desk. This has turned out to work amazingly well:
So much so, that I added a pro controller to my Christmas wish list to use with this little setup. It’s not the same one as we got my sis in law for Christmas but it’s AC themed too and matches my case much better. So if I don’t get it for Christmas I’ll definitely buy it eventually (next year):
I mean, if it’s still around. I know that with Christmas, it may sell out completely, but I’m not going to be stupid and buy it now.
Even though I spent so much today, and my January and February allowances will all go to cover it… I am so relieved, I was able to buy nice things for everyone. I hope everything arrives in time. I feel less stressed, I think that this, more than my bills, was a heavy weight on my heart. Now that it’s done, I can give my all to working towards the bills. ✊
Also… for all my sadness and grumbling about… stuff, I am so sorry that the Thanksgiving visit ended so fast. I miss my family, no matter what. I want us all to be together. At least my mom and sis in law are coming once in December.
Before we left last Saturday, we played Jack Five, and then Trivia Murder Party on the TV.
Pan was so tired from all the activity around her:
I won one of the games (but just barely).
What I really need is to make a little spare time, for all of us to play Animal Crossing as a family. But on a regular basis, Christopher’s jobs barely leave him enough time for us to have dinner together.
I can’t wait until we can have afternoons together again… laying on the couch together, having a snack and not just dinner, calmly discussing our day, watching him relax afterwards while I do the evening housework. Well… maybe someday.
Now that my mom in law and her very nice roommate have Animal Crossing too (in addition to my husband and sister in law) I may make an effort to get my town back in shape… it really needs it. And pay off my last loan.
This is the outfit I prepared for our first hangout, it is really nice to play with a bunch of people who are all with you in the same room:
I got a monarch butterfly. I thought the joke for this one was pretty funny.
At times I tried to take cute photos with Christopher but my sister in law inevitable came to play the axe murderer.
When she wasn’t photobombing anything I tried to do:
But hey, that’s what sisters are for, right? I did get some cute photos of us together, though:
As well as some silly ones with the entire family:
I don’t think I’ll be able to jump back into AC properly until I beat Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ but I’m getting there. So far I’ve done Impey, Van Helsing and Saint-Germain’s good endings, as well as one bad ending for Lupin and two for Saint-Germain. Saint-Germain has LOTS of bad ends… =_= Four total, I think? It’s one messed up route.
I’m sure I’ll be blogging more about Animal Crossing through the month of December.
