Gains and Losses

So I took a Staycation the first week of this month and used it to buy a new car and work on some projects.

I did gain some weight back but I'm already down again and heading toward the next goal: 140 lbs or less. (As of today I'm 144!)

Loss of Weight

When I started the weight loss program I was 157 lbs and creeping ever closer to an unhealthy 160. My first goal was to get down to 150 lbs. It took about 6 weeks of dieting and hardly any exercise to do that. Once I reached that I wanted to go for another 5 lbs. It took another 5 - 6 weeks but I did get down to 145 for a total loss of 12 lbs in about 12 weeks. Which is what I wanted. Losing about 1 lb a week. 

At one point I did start doing some arm toning exercises, but I fell off the bandwagon because my weights were too heavy and I hurt myself. One of these days I'll go get 3 lb weights and ease back into the 5 lbs. 

The weight loss was a personal goal but also prompted by a desire to get back into cosplay and not feel too uncomfortable in some of the tight outfits I have planned. 

Loss/Gain of Car

This was a struggle. It was my first time buying from a dealership instead of a relative. I also had to trade in the car I'd been driving for the past 8 years. It came with me from Michigan. I traded in the Toyota Avalon for a 2016 Toyota Corolla...a much smaller, less powerful car. But it's new. And red!

I call her Epona

Gain of a Pony

I put the head on! Well I re-did the head completely first (save for the ears and horn). And then hand-sewed all the parts to the body! Now all it needs is a mane and tail and my FIRST pony plushie will be done. The head is still not my favorite looking, but that's kind of what you get when you mix and match patterns. But Loyal Defender doesn't look too bad. And I totally cheated and printed his cutie mark on some quilt batting. I'll definitely be doing that for a few cutie marks for other ponies...except on felt. 

Visual Novel Progress/Gain of Off-brand Cintiq

So, I have had a 13" Cintiq for 6 - 7 years now. I've been spoiled and can't go back to an intuos or pen tablet. Now the brightness and color don't nearly match my current monitor plus I have to turn down the resolution a lot. After some research I found one of the many off brand pen monitors and found one that was 1) much larger and 2) equivalent in specs to mine. I just got the new one today and haven't set it up. But it's big...and beautiful. I got some art gloves too so I don't sweat all over this one. 

But should this pan out, I'll have a Cintiq for sale...for an equivalent price for which I bought the competitor brand. (I spent nearly $1000 on my tiny cintiq and spent more than half of that for a larger one.) 

Also in that time I made huge progress in my visual novel project Brewing Trouble which I've been working on for about a year. I got all the main crew's first draft sprites done. 

 

For now I'm just plugging away at writing the thing. I've finished the prologue and pre-choice portions. (By finished I mean drafted and programmed. Still plenty of editing to do.)
I'm half-way through the common route (which occurs automatically if a certain parameter is not met.)
I'm also putting together a wiki for it.