Man it's been an absolute crazy year!
As most are aware, I've been MIA a lot the last few months and during the spring following the sudden need to move (againnnn) and being notified in mid December 2025. To put it simply, my partner and I have been absolutely scrambling to find a new place, especially the difficulty in today's political sphere and economic downturn. Back in May 2025, we spent months, and every penny we had, to get the rental home we were in. Our landlord was super nice, and we were assured we would be there for 2-3 years. We spent a ton to get this home, and for 7 months, everything was cool! But December rolled around, and we were informed the property owners were suddenly selling the home (It's still for sale today, many months later lol) and we had 4 months to figure it out and leave. Keep in mind, the amount we spent to move in and pay 3 MONTHS OF RENT in advance, plus deposits, left us with zero cushion or room to find anything else. And this was right before Yule! Like what????
But we worked really hard, had a ton of support from family and some close friends (you know who you are) and we've finally crunched in a stable, secure, permanent home. My partner and I worked so, so hard constantly for the whole year to make this happen, and now we own our own home! I cannot express the amount of constant work, money, scheduling this-n-that, running back and forth again and again, working with lenders, having a good realtor, and working on renovations we've experienced in the last few months, especially March to now, beginning of May.
To preface this, we had to work the hardest we've ever. Our home was a foreclosed and abandoned home built decades ago on the far side of town, and even though we put in an offer within hours of it listed, someone else was already ahead of us. It was the only home within our very narrow budget even with tons of help, and we almost lost it just because a house flipper put in an offer before us, having access to things before the public. But thankfully, it was rejected, and we were next in line. To complete the sale, we had to not only work with a very complicated and uncooperative seller, but a suddenly difficult lender as well. Everything was one step away from falling apart for 2 months during Feb and March, and at the very end of the sale over 2 months later, our lender decided to play some malicious compliance bull with us. At the last second, we had to make even more preparations and almost got legal to continue the sale. I cannot express the rage and frustration we both went through with this lender we were locked in with, and it was nothing but a constant struggle of communication, poor effort on their part, and nonstop correcting their mistakes. Even at the very end, signing everything, the lender messed up our info THREE TIMES and we almost lost the home, due to tight scheduling and our lender's mishandling.
Even at the very end, it was nonstop struggle to get this home sale finalized. Down to the very last day, it was just constant struggle. Once that was done, I had to immediately jump in and do renovations at the beginning of April so the home would be habitable. There was no running water and the back door, the hot water heater, washer, dryer, and the entire bathroom had to be renovated and replaced, on top of a ton of little things. So I had to get all of that done within 2 weeks, on top of a ton of other misc things so we could get ready to move in. Mind you, we had until end of April to leave our rental, so time was ticking. The entire month or March and April was just nonstop for us. Zero breaks and nothing let up. Once the renovations were done, we had to immediately move an entire house of things over. When I say this was stressful, I mean it about broke us because we had to do things so quickly and were so tired already from everything else. But with help, lots of hard work, we got moved into our new home. We are still renovating things LOL I just laid new power wire, coaxle cable, and CAT6 cable through the attic, and put together the office area. Everything is properly organized (90% :B ) and relocated into the office, including the network, servers, computers, etc.
Now I can finally focus on my work and not have to worry about moving again. Malcolm and I are so relieved, happy, and thankful to have this place, even if its a work in progress, and we could not have done it without the amazing support from our closest friends and family. I know yall, my base, have been so patient with me, and have seen me go through a lot the last 3 years, but I think I can finally realize my full potential at my work, and realize my dreams through my story and art. I cannot wait to show you guys my comic/manga project I'm working on, and I will have huge updates soon. I've been working on lore, scripts, rough drafts, and more for months and months between things, and I cannot wait to share it all with you.
Long story short, we purchased a house! But it took MONTHS to accomplish, and I'll be updating a lot of things with my art and story. Thank you all for your support <3 This has been 11 years in the making, and we've finally accomplished something big. The goal has been met, but the work isn't done. Don't forget to join my Discord to keep up with more frequent updates and posted artwork @ iraph-studios.com/discord !
See you in my next stream <3
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