Where do I start with this without sounding whiney? No, I don’t commission a lot of work. I Very little in fact. It’s been about a year since I last ordered a commission and I’m still patiently waiting for results on that one. I won’t state who and if anyone does in the replies, I’ll delete said reply if I can. It’s not fair to the artist. I understand their situation.

I hear a lot of that throughout the fandom. You should support artists more. I’d love to support the artists I watch more, whether or not they see this. Having no reference sheet for my “boring”, normal feral squirrel fursona is a convenient excuse. I’ve been a feral gray squirrel so long (more than 2 decades), that I can’t see myself changing to anything else or even making him more toony/anthro, which would make it easier to have a reference sheet created and, thereby, make him easier/more enjoyable for others to create art of. There have been “discussions” with Aldin on this in a recent dream and “he” wants nothing to do with being anything other than what he is, a “normal” eastern gray squirrel. Yeah, my fursona talking to me in a dream. Maybe I'm losing it. (chuckle) Then again, that's how I was able to write most of the tales I wrote on the old alt.devilbunnies group. The characters told their own stories in my dreams and I remembered enough to jot them down and flesh'em out back then.

I’ve appreciated the little bit of art I have gotten over the years and hope to have more in the future. And I’m more fortunate than some I see on the various furry social network sites. I have a roof over my head with a mortgage payment lower than the average slum rental in my city. I currently make enough to pay the bills. The problem is there is very little “play money” after those bills as we’re currently a one income household. My wife has a good two years to go in her seminary studies, which has stretched out longer than she planned due to circumstances beyond her control. I grew up poor and know how to stretch a penny into a dime. Thanks to that, we can afford to enjoy two or three inexpensive meals out (say, $25 or so a pop with tip) each month and help support the local economy (we rarely eat at chain places). Having an evening with my wife where neither of us needs to deal with cooking or doing dishes is worth spending our little extra “mad” money on.

Not sure what to do next. Just rambling. Maybe it’s the stress of work getting to me. Thanks for reading this far.