Swimsuit Season

The struggle was real.  Now I'm just happy to fit into my clothes that are B.C.
Before Children.

3:45 PM Liquid Layoff

Part 5: The Shrew's Shower

For those not in the know: 
Mr. Collins is a character from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," a clergyman, and as  Deirdre Le Faye wrote, "What does make Mr Collins a figure of fun and rightful mockery is his lack of sense, of taste, and of generosity of spirit contrasted to his own supreme unawareness of his shortcomings in these respects."

For anyone who missed English Lit, Miss Havisham is from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectation."

She is a wealthy spinster who lives in her ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place."

Although she has often been portrayed in film versions as very elderly, Dickens's own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-fifties. However, it is also indicated that her long life away from the sunlight has in itself aged her, and she is said to look like a cross between a waxwork and a skeleton, with moving eyes.

Crazed Collage

Crazed expressions of horror, anger, joy, and shock. Can you count how many faces are on here?
Also, there's a sneak peek of tomorrow's comic.
#tbt #tbl #throwbacklucy

Won't You Be My Neighbor

Won't you be my neighbor?  Today's TGILucy was inspired by the recent Open House across the street from us.  It was like I couldn't tear myself away from the window, wondering WHO might be our new neighbor.

Baby Decoy

When I was a youth, I didn't know that people that I perceived as being self assured could be insecure, that those who appeared to be stuck-up were just shy, and that if you're at a loss for words, all you had to do was present a decoy.  This method works on people that you do and do NOT know how to talk to. 

Bow Club

Easter Sunday and we have all of the kids dressed to the eights (not the nines, because...well, sneakers).  Our pastor comes over to compliment the littlest on her pretty bow and my husband's response was automatic and the one that I used for this comic.

It bears repeating, though: if you want the toddler to keep the bow on her head and not attack you, do NOT talk about the bow.  Ever.

Thankfully, our little one has yet to attack anyone who mentions the bow, but it's only a matter of time.

But as for baby Hannah in the comic, I think that her temper and tolerance of both bows and Wickham is about equal to her Auntie Irmgard's.

Tongue Tied

Ever been on hold so long that you get tongue tied when they finally pick up?

Ever do the dishes while on hold?

Make a cake?

Take out the trash?

Start dinner?

Eat dinner?

Eat the cake?

Go to sleep?

Fry-Day

I relish these punny jokes.

Masters of Fashion

We are all masters of fashion...after the fact.

Origin Story--Throwback Thursday

The cartoon that started it all.  <3

But when did Lucy really start?  

In 2009 I considered writing a written blog, one based on my life but with pseudonyms to protect myself in my workplace.  It was going to be called "Lucy and the Lion's Den" and would showcase Lucy, Leo her husband, and their baby son Luke.  But I didn't get beyond naming the characters, because I found that writing a fictionalized rant about my own life was too draining.  If I wanted it to be real rants, then I wasn't going to post about it publicly (also, I didn't want to lose my job and many of my rants were work related).

I came home to mom around full-time when another baby was born.  That year I did more art than I have in ages when I illustrated an eBook version of "Little Women."

But once the book was published, the art waned.

Fastforward to 2014 and I was bitten by the Bitstrips bug.  I put off buying the app because I thought that I could do better.  But I didn't.  I mean I just didn't do any art at all to tell my story.  Like most people, I scoffed at the badly conceived Bitstrips scenes and sneered at some of the captions they provide. The ability to change my characters movements and the captions on the computer made me warm up to the Facebook version. Then, after a while, I was back to feeling rather frustrated with their whole setup and its limitations. The artist in me was gnashing her teeth.

So I began to write down ideas.

In the dentist's waiting room I started to character sketch.  (This guy really needs to make it into the comic sometime.)

Over the course of a few short weeks, I doodled some more--more ideas, more expressions.

Then I put the question out to my friends.  Should I go with my gut and start rolling out a weekly web comic? I was asking like I pretended that I had time outside of momming around all day.)

And after 13 likes and these replies...

• Yes!

  2 June 2014 at 19:41 · Unlike · 2
• Oh, wah wah! Nice!

  2 June 2014 at 19:43 · Unlike · 1
• Mommying comic please!

  2 June 2014 at 20:50 · Like
•  Heehee! Momming around, eh?

 I started Lucy & the Lion's Den.

Something Wickham This Way Comes

This comic took quite a while to do and it's worth noting because, if you rush art (like Irmgard will here), you end up with disastrous results.

Remember, if you can't read the comic, click on the image.

HOT HOT HOT!

There's two ways to politely deal with hot food. Wait patiently until it is cool or, if you tried it too soon, discreetly use a napkin to remove it from your mouth. 

Then there's the option to yell, "HOT!" repeatedly around the mouthful, hoping that it helps. 

I've done this.  Around a mouthful of coffee, home fries, or bacon.  Been there, shouted that, got the tee shirt.

Snow News is Bad News

Honey-Do List

It's usually in the shower that I remember everything that needs doing and, as soon as I exit through the Magical Portal of Forgetfulness, it's gone like a puff of shower steam.

I guess I'll be saying this till I'm blue in the face, but these characters only look like my husband and me!  We're not nearly this rude to one another.  As a friend puts it, we are are quite "shmoopy."

Mr. Coffee

Four in the morning is an awful time of day.  I used to stay up that late back in my wild and stupid days (mostly watching the six hour "Pride and Prejudice" and eating Cheetos with my sister).  Now I dread the very sight of the clock when I'm forced out of my bed by the screeching crowbar voices of my children.
After coffee, they sound more like angels, but till then, I don't want to hear a peep or make toast for anybody.

Coating of Snowy Reality

This comic may be a bit meta, but it makes me laugh.

And where we live we are getting pummeled by snow, we live in polyester down-filled coats the size of Rhode Island, and have a fear of running low on bread and milk (remind me again why we don't have our own chickens and cows?), I thought that this would be quite an appropriate way of ushering in the first blizzard of 2015.

For those of you just joining us, Irmgard is Lucy's cynical and fashion-savvy sister, Leo (Lucy's husband) loves coffee almost as much as Lucy, and Krystall, the blonde, is their cousin as well as Irmgard's roommate with the terrible singing voice.

Remember, if you can't read the text, open the image by either clicking on it or opening it in a new window.

Showering

Note: the caption says FEELS like.  If you choose to actually wear clothes while showering, that's your own business.  Her dress is merely for illustrative (and of course family-friendly) purposes.
Although with the speed at which I need to hop out of the shower, remaining fully dressed is sometimes an option.

Cursed Auto-Correct

EVERY TIME I write "love" you it ALWAYS changes it to "live you."

Why?!

How does this make ANY sense???

And yet we soldier on...

Temperamental