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.

Part 3: Karma Kickback

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

Part 2: Lily Putters

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. 

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.

Old MacDonald

One morning I was casually quizzing the kids on what noises different animals made.  Then we tried some more difficult ones.  Giraffes, platypuses, earth worms.  The last one stumped them exceedingly until I started screaming and yelling as though I was being eaten.

The kids laughed and laughed and insisted that I make it a comic.

Now it's not gruesome since the kids requested it...right?

Masters of Fashion

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

Don't Quote the Quote of the Quote Board

Almost as soon as I joined Pinterest (however many years ago it was...two?...thirty?...are there such a thing as years in Pinterest based on the number of pins pinned?  Because I have 12,656 at the moment of writing this post, so I'd make a pretty Methuselah right now), I began to see an increase in low morale amongst the female of my kind.  No, not just the Mom-breeders, but the crafters, the non-crafters, and us over-sharers of memes.  Blogs like Pintrosity gave us some hope that others were also failing as miserably as we at making everyone's first pin: the impossible cookie ice cream bowl, but after a while I began to see despair memes.

These memes displayed depressing expressions that I recall from my college days when people would see that I was an art major and then basically hate-compliment me.  You know, the kind like, "I'm so jealous that you can draw."  "Ugh, I can't draw a stick figure, I hate that you can paint realistically!  Haha, just kidding, you're so talented.  I hate people like you."

Okay...thanks?

Image from despair.com

I know that I won't survive a zombie apocalypse by running or hitting things (except by accident or at very very close range if the zombie has my Dove Chocolate), but I don't hate you because you are a graceful gazelle of a human, who could wield a battleaxe to chop off a zombie's head while leaping over the rest of us meerkats.

But back to those memes.

New ones appeared that were about how we were pinning but not doing, looking but not baking, planning but not marrying (you should see the amount of wedding boards!), and then ones about how angry we were that others were doing things better than we ever could.

So I leave you with this thought, plan, look, pin, then DO or do not.  But don't compare yourself based on the myriad of ideas that you're not doing right now.  It will only steal your joy.

And to husbands, don't quote the quote board if your wife only wants affirmation that her store-bought playdough and pixelated images are just as good as Becky's.  Please.

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.

Do not try this at home

Snow News is Bad News

Coffee Horror Story

This has happened to me far too many times for me to deny.

Whisper of Love

Can I please get a raise of hands as to how many people will message one another and be in the same room?

Because seriously...all.the.time.