733 Days After the Last Blog Post

733 days after the last blog post, I am sitting in my parent's spare bedroom, surrounded by hundreds of model horses who are either wrapped in t shirts, sheets, and towels, or resting on makeshift shelving. 733 days after the last blog post, I am staring at a plastic tote that contains all of the art supplies from my old desk. 733 days after the last blog post, I am staring at a planner peppered with specialist and doctor appointments. 733 days after the last blog post, I am texting friends to thank them for showing up with massive fans and carloads of plastic totes to help when I needed it. 733 days after the last blog post, I am tearing up over the fact that two beautiful souls checked in in the comments of a test post I made on a blog I thought had been completely lost to time.

733 days after the last blog post, I figured it was about time for an explanation.

2024 was a heavy year. I had some crazy life stuff going on, and blogging fell behind. Spring was a whirlwind. Some not-so-great people from my past showed up in my life again. My job got more intense. A family friend got cancer. One of my health conditions started to take over. I ended up losing access to the google account that had control over the blog.

2025 was also chaotic. I lost my job in February. I also lost a very close family member. I developed some scary heart symptoms but tried to push through and got a new job. It was a disaster, and I left shortly. My health continued its decline. I saw doctor after doctor, until they finally listened. I got diagnosed with POTS in December. They think I have a rare connective tissue disorder that causes all my pain, but I can't see my rare disease specialist until summer. 

December 30th, 2025, part of my house flooded. My hobby room sat in three inches of water. It was new carpet, and insurance won't cover it. The new-new carpet won't be in until March, so my ponies and I are rooming in my parent's spare room until then. Missing my own space, but grateful to be dry and safe.

I never really left this wonderful hobby, though! I did pull back from the social side and tried to preserve my mental health by not getting as involved for a year or so. I've still been customizing, and photo showing when I can. I've still been judging. I haven't been reading blogs, but I'm starting again! I did get on Facebook (finally lol) and have been more active there this past year. (I'm AJ Richards, with Chanel as my pfp, if you want to drop a follow).

I am doing commissions again, as of this year. I'm fully booked for February but will announce when I open for March. I will also have some sales pieces up soon (if they don't sell on FB first).

A peek at my current collection, from before the flood!

I'm so glad to have such a supportive hobby, and I'm so excited to jump back in with both feet again! 💜

If you're still with me after this long absence, please drop a comment. I'd love to see who's still around after all this time. ✨