Web comics and other cartoons by by Helen E. H. Madden
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Yes, I was one of those cheap people who refused to take their uniforms to the cleaners. I did everything at the laundromat down the street from Rasche Hall. And yes, over time my uniforms did shrink. At least that’s my story, and you can’t prove otherwise!
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I apologize for being late with today’s comic, and for missing Friday and Wednesday’s posts entirely. I knew it was going to happen, and there was simply no way to avoid it. We were down to the last few days of Girl Scout cookie season and yours truly was pretty much buried in paperwork and bank deposits. I have never been so sick of cookies and money at the same time in all my life.
Fortunately, cookie season is over. We got everything turned in on time, all the cookies sold, and now I don’t have to deal with this mess again for another nine months. Yes, I will be cookie mom again next year, unless some fool-hardy soul decides they really want the job instead. The fact is, cookie sales is how a troop earns money to do things like go camping, participate in community events, help with charity projects, etc. Keep all that in mind the next time you see a Girl Scout cookie! Those cookies do an awful lot, and not just for the girls but the community at large as well!
Princess’ Brownie troop will be using their cookie money for a couple of camping trips coming up, of which I am in charge of one. I’ll be taking 10 little girls out to the woods and trying to keep them fed, safe, and occupied for 3 days and 2 nights. Thankfully, I won’t be out there on my own. The entire service unit is participating in this encampment and I’ve managed to team our troop up with a troop of older girls and more experienced moms. I’ve had camping experience, but that was with the Army Reserves, which I understand is very different from camping with Girl Scouts. We’ll see which one I enjoy more!
Pixie’s troop will also be at this encampment, and I’m sure that’s going to be interesting. I don’t envy her troop leaders. Those Daisies are quite a handful.
Anyway, I’m working to get back on track with the blog and the rest of my life this week, so you should see both Rats! and Flashback Friday posts here at their usual times. As for the color in this week’s comic, let me know if you like it. I’ve developed a serious fondness for markers, and may continue to color the comics if I can work it into my schedule. It is extra work, but I like the results. Let me know what you think, and as always, enjoy!
Hey! This is just a real quick post. I finished up a bit of line artwork on Monday and I like it enough that I’m considering making it a t-shirt design. Would anybody be interested in this? I’ll probably go ahead and do it either way, but I’m interested in hearing what people think. I’m switching up the things that I do, and am focusing on a particular style of drawing and cartooning, so I’d love some feedback! Let me know if you like this 
The Tentacle Witch by Helen E. H. Madden
In case you didn’t know, today is the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts in America! So today’s cartoon is dedicated to two of my favorite Girl Scouts, Princess and Pixie. Happy Anniversary girls, and keep on rockin’!
Visit http://www.girlscouts.org/ to find out more about how you and your daughters can join Girl Scouts. Trust me, it’s work, but it’s worth it!
I recently bought “Doodling with Jim Henson” (which almost, but doesn’t quite, sound like the name of a PBS porn flick) and have been slowly scribbling away in the book. If you haven’t seen this title (the book, not the porn flick), it’s a look at Jim Henson’s scribbles and sketches and the importance he placed on doodling to create art. The bulk of the book is a series of doodling exercises and prompts, two of which I’ve done and am presenting the results of here. Both are self-portraits… sort of.
My inner dreamer is a bit freaky.
My inner dreamer also has lots more time to draw than I do, thus she embarks on far more ambitious projects.
Anyway, these were drawn with blue Micron pens. I love Microns, love, love, LOVE them. They’re perfect for cartooning. And I’m enjoying this book, though I can only get to it occasionally to do some doodling. However, as I do more “Doodling with Jim Henson” (seriously, cannot get the cheesy porn music out of my head when I say that title), I’ll post the results here.
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Yes, it’s schmaltz, but keep in mind, Ivan (and before him, Irwin) was always the under-dog. I thought it would be nice to see him have one nice evening, complete with a bit of light romance.
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This is a true story, and I was so ready to pull my hair out over this last week. Princess’ Brownie troop decided to work on the “snack badge” this past month, and this was one of the activities they wanted to do to complete the requirements. Hubster walked in the door while we were baking and asked, “What are you doing?!” When I told him what we were doing, he burst out laughing.
We’re down to the last two weeks of cookie season, which means my posts on the blog may be spotty this week and next. I’ve got a ton of paperwork to fill out, inventory to clear out, one more booth sale to do, etc. It’s that last frantic rush to sell Thin Mints before I can finally collapse in a boneless heap and swear I will never eat another cookie again. I plan to take a couple days off after I turn in all my final receipts. I’m hoping to take one day to go shopping with Mich and one day to just sit on my cookie-bloated butt and play video games. The third day will be devoted to recovering my office and possibly the rest of the house.
So if posts here and at www.veryscaryart.com aren’t on schedule this week and next, you know why. Hopefully, I’ll survive this.
Take care!
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Sorry for posting this late today. I am swamped right now with Girl Scout cookie stuff. Princess’ troop has done very well, selling over 2000 boxes. I told them if they reached that goal, they could pick my next hair color. They voted for all purple, and on Sunday they got it!
I know I look like hell in this photo. I’m at a Girl Scout leader’s meeting. I’ve had at least one Girl Scout event a week, many times two or more, since the first week of January. I’m a little tired by this point…
As for today’s cartoon, I don’t even know if Shultz Dining Hall exists anymore, but that was were a lot of freshman found dates when I was a cadet. It was the closest dining hall to our dorms, and the only one we were authorized to use without getting special permission. I had to get permission to eat at another dining hall my senior year because I had a late evening class on the other side of the campus, so the only way I could get to eat was if I went to another hall. I think I ate at Dietrick that year, but I can’t really recall. It was weird being the only cadet in the dining hall, I do remember that.
Anyway, I’ve got to rush back to work now. I’ve got client commissions waiting to be done and more cookie stuff to handle. Busy day! See you all later 
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I turned 43 last Thursday, and unfortunately I am too overwhelmed with Girl Scout cookie business right now to take time off to properly celebrate. I did spend Friday night on the couch playing video games, but that wasn’t exactly the celebration I had in mind for my birthday. That was more time to veg out and de-stress my cookie-obsessed brain.
Anyway, an explanation of the image above… Screw it, I can’t really explain it, except to say that at Farpoint I told my good friend Dwight I wanted a flying pink pony. Only that wasn’t cool enough, so I decided said pony had to poop marshmallow cream. I kept thinking about that damn pony, because it amused me so, and when I got home I told the girls about it. They thought it was a hysterical idea, and I thought it was hysterical that they thought it was hysterical, and the Hubster just generally thought all the women in the family were completely nuts. And so on the morning of my birthday last week, I woke up the kids by decreeing that from now on, I would only travel by flying pink pony that pooped marshmallow cream. Oh, and I decreed that every time I walked into a room, the girls had to curtsey and say, “Yes, your Majesty!” And they actually did do that all morning long. But by the time they’d left for school, the toaster had spit my toast out onto the floor, and so I knew the birthday celebrations were officially over.
Anyway, I wanted to do something about the flying pink pony that pooped marshmallow cream. And I wanted to play with my markers that I’ve recently started collecting. And so this was the result. Happy Birthday, people! You will never be able to erase this image from your minds. Nyah!
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Military Ball. No two words rouse more ire or stress than Military Ball. My freshman year, it was optional to attend. If you could find a date (and some how miraculously I did), you put on your best dress (or dress uniform if you were a guy), and you showed up to have fun. If you didn’t, you stayed home and watched “Star Trek: Next Generation” reruns in the dorm lounge.
A year or two after that, however, Military Ball became mandatory, and boy did that piss people off. Honestly, I can only recall going to Mil Ball twice – my freshman year and my senior year. Each of those times I had a date (and I married the guy who I took my senior year to the Ball). I don’t recall pulling on the uniform during those two dateless years. Did I somehow manage to get out of it? If so, I wonder what miracle occurred that exempted me from sweating for hours in an ugly uniform? (The dress uniform never looked good on women, believe me.)
Oh well, whatever happened those two years must not have been important to me. I only remember the angst so many freshman suffered over trying to find a date the year the Ball became mandatory to attend.
