Category: Holidays

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ACW 238 – Sometimes the tooth hurts.

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Cynical Woman!

Click on the thumbnail above to see the full-sized image and ignore the fact this is late!

Yeah, I know I’m late, and Bitchcraft hasn’t gone up yet this week, but I did warn you guys.

So far this month I have broken a tooth (on an M&M), tested for 4th degree black belt (4 hours after I broke the tooth), had the tooth repaired, took care of Hubster when he got sick, took care of Hubster when his back went out, took care of Pixie when she got sick, got sick myself and then MY back went out, attended two school holiday concerts, pulled an all-nighter on Christmas Eve to finish presents for the girls, and then sort of collapsed and kept myself good and drugged through the rest of the holidays so far.

Today is the first day that my back doesn’t bother me at all. I’m slowly catching up on stuff that I was going to do while I was sick, and I’m trying to make plans for the next couple of months. Resolutions? I’m pondering them. What I’m pondering more though is where my motivation has gone. I want to do NOTHING. I hate when I feel like that. It just sort of seems like everything I do is pointless. Logically, I know my work is not pointless, but I’ve been able to accomplish so little the last year due to the torn ACL and now the issues I seem to be having with arthritis.

What to do, what to do. I have contemplated dedicating this year to finishing up all my unfinished projects. I have enough to fill a year and then some, so I may go with that. We’ll see. Maybe if I can get some of these unfinished projects off my plate/conscience, then I’ll feel less pointless.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll say to hell with all of it and go curl up in bed with my heating pad, a hot buttered rum, and a good book. At least for the rest of tonight 🙂

Happy New Year, folks! I promise I’ll be in a better mood tomorrow.

And Bitchcraft will return on Friday. Promise.

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ACW 236 – Oh yeah, it’s Christmas

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Webcomic!

Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized holiday webcomic.

Oy vey, have we been having fun here. Hubster was away on a business trip for a week. Those things are brutal for both of us. Him, because he’s away from home, in a dry, life-sucking hotel room. Me, because I’m home doing double-parenting duties. Anyway, Hubster came home from his trip in time for me to get the house ready for our monthly Girl Scout troop meeting. The day of the meeting, my back started to spasm. All I could think about was how I was going to take a pill once the meeting was over and just collapse in bed. But the Hubster’s back went out before that could happen and I had to limp along to take care of him.

Then Pixie came down sick, so I had to take care of her and Hubster. Hubster finally made it back to work, just in time for me to get sick. So now I’m on the couch, struggling to finish off a simple one-panel cartoon with accompanying blog post.

As for Princess, that poor kid spent the last couple weeks working on a book report that involved writing a synopsis and opinion of the book, writing a letter from the POV of the main character, and completing a poster that showed a picture of the main character, a time-line of his life, include pictures of 10 items that appear in the book, etc. Then while we were in the middle of that, she got an assignment to write a report on Hurricane Isabel, which had to be turned in the same week. So she was kind of fried by the time she was done with all that.

So now I’m sick in bed. I’m missing out on all sorts of things I was supposed to do this week, but it was all volunteer work so I don’t care. I am allowed to take sick days when I need them, and boy howdy do I need them this week.

Hopefully, we’re all better by next week. We’ll see. In the meantime, enjoy the webcomic!

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ACW Episode 230 – It’s in the blood

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Webcomic!

Click on the gorgeous comic to see it full sized!

This is an actual conversation I had with the kids this weekend as we worked on Halloween decorations. We bought a bunch of Dollar Store dolls and are converting them into zombies, in case it’s not clear what Pixie and I are working on.

By the way, have I mentioned how much I love Manga Studio 5? Between the pen tools, the ease of coloring my artwork, and the effects I can use, Manga Studio has made drawing webcomics so much more fun!

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ACW Episode 205 – A particular shade of pink

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Soooooooo… There are a few new things going on here at La Casa de Madden. For starters, I changed my hair color again. I expect I'll be adding some streaks of dark purple, but right now my fluffy locks are the exact same shade as Easter grass. The reactions I got at Hubster's church were fun.

You may also notice that this week's comic is drawn a little differently. That's because I got a new Surface Pro computer. I love being able to draw right on the screen, and I'm getting used to Windows 8. Ever since I tore my ACL, I've been drawing the webcomic on the iPad, using Sketchclub, Adobe Ideas, InkPad and iDraw to get the job done. Needless to say, I've had to do a lot of experimentation. And I'll have to do some more. Today's comic was drawn using Manga Studio EX. I like the look, but I have to admit that Manga Studio is far more complex than it needs to be. So I may try next week to draw the comic using SketchBook Pro. Essentially, I'm looking for a way to sketch, ink, color and letter the comic all in the same program or app. I can do that in Manga Studio, but again, I find the program to be far too complex for my needs.

By the way, Girl Scout cookie season is finally over. I've spent most of the past week asleep. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my life back together now. We'll see.

Have a good week!

 

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ACW Episode 191 – All I Want for Christmas

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I don't want much, do I?

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Bodhi Day, and so on. I am slowly getting back on my feet and hope to resume the normal blogging schedule after New Year's. But for right now, I'm spending time with my family and madly crocheting Christmas presents. I know, it's Christmas Eve. I should be done already. But what can I say? I've spent most of the last month on Percoset. Great for pain relief, not so great for productivity.

Anyway, best wishes to you all.

 

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ACW Episode 74 – Fireworks

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Our version of fireworks this summer. We’ve got a lot more fireflies this year than we did last year, and we’ve been counting them for the Museum of Science firefly count. The girls are fascinated by the fireflies, and if I could quit finding caterpillars long enough, I’d let them catch a few to put in a jar for a bit. However, we’ve got so many caterpillars, every available jar is currently in use as a habitat. Oh well.

Yes, this cartoon is in full color. No, I do not plan to make the switch to full color on a regular basis. It took me hours to color this one, and I only did it because I wanted to recreate the effect of so many fireflies in our backyard. And because this is sort of a belated 4th of July cartoon. I’m finishing this up very late and am going to bed now. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but tomorrow I’ve got to be up at 5AM for water aerobics. So good night for now and I hope you enjoy the cartoon.

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Sunday Contentments – 4th of July

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Contentment is a backyard barbeque/pool party with your best friends and their kids. When I arrived at the party this afternoon, I realized, Pixie has never celebrated 4th of July anywhere else but at this particular party in this particular backyard. She was only a month old the first time we went, and Princess was 3 1/2. Every year, the hostess (the mother-in-law of one of my best friends) says the same thing. “My goodness! Look how big they’re getting!” It was a lazy afternoon, full of splashing in the pool and chatting in lounge chairs while we ate burgers and dogs. Fireworks will come later tonight, in the form of some sparklers that we picked up at a roadside stand. Kids have never had sparklers before. Running around in the twilight, chasing fireflies and waving these brilliant wands of shimmering light – that’s one of the strongest, most colorful memories I have of summer, when I was Princess’ age. There is no better way to spend the 4th, in my opinion. Hope you guys all enjoyed yours.