Communication Failure

 

Apparently there have been some communication mix-ups with our daughter's name. I think everyone has it straight now, so I hope this comic doesn't further any confusion. As for the movie Luca, I wrote a review about it on my other blog - I liked it! A cute movie, not too scary for kiddos since it is aimed at them. And now the next time someone asks if we shortened Lucy's name, I'm gonna try to say her full name is Luchador but I'm not sure if I'll follow through with that (see the mouse-over). Or I could say Lucy is short for Luighseach (that's the Irish spelling of Lucy). But for real, her name is Lucy. 

Text:
L: So then Lily -
J: You mean Lacey?
A: I like LUCA!
B: My name's Lucy!

Sound Mixers

 

I thought this up in our church's sound booth. Sound mixers and kitchen mixers are vastly different tools. Now I'm wondering what a kitchen tool that mixed sounds would look like - how to give it input, get the mixer mixing, and get the output. I feel that could be a cool picture but I'm not up for drawing it - maybe someone else will be inspired to do so. 

Text:
A: Where are your sound mixers? Do you carry analog ones?
W: Sir, this is a KitchenAidⓇ store. 

Non Flying Colors

 

Now I really want to know what this phrase means. Apparently it is a nautical term, referencing ships returning to harbor with their flag (colors) either raised (success) or lowered (failure). So, Mr. Sarcastic Stick Figure, the colors referencing your your test were lowered rather than sitting on the ground. And I'm not sure if that totally works but we're gonna say it does. And yes, per the dedication in the lower right corner, my husband came up with this one. We were sitting at his parents house and I don't recall the conversation but he made this comment and we all took a moment to get it.

Text:
T: You did not pass with flying colors.
S: Were they sitting on the ground?

Sleep and Cry

Sometimes it is cathartic to cry along, but really sometimes you just need to put the baby in her crib and walk away for a bit when she is inconsolable or, as one of my relatives would say, insoluble. It is nice when I can take a nap when the baby is taking a nap, but most of the time I would like to use that little window to work on projects around the house, like cleaning or drawing or any number of things that weigh on my mind as they don't get done. It is nice that she is sleeping well during the night - that makes us so much more well rested. But I am getting accustomed to segmented sleep, it seems, and I did not realize that is a divisive topic (loads of articles asking if it's good or bad). Well, I hope it's good because it's what all the new parents are doing. Can't really get around that when your kid needs food every few hours. 

Text:
W: Just remember - sleep when the baby sleeps.
M: Yep, and cry when the baby cries.

Signs to Wonder

 

My group at church is reading through the New Testament (using a plan on YouVersion) and we had this discussion over Acts 8. I highly recommend the YouVersion app - it has a wide selection of devotionals which greatly vary on their excellence so choose carefully. It also has many versions, so you can see how different translators handled a given section. It has bookmarks, highlights, and comments so you can make remarks or log your sermon notes. It is a great tool to use as you make your journey through the Bible.

Text:
C: What can we learn from the signs and wonders of Acts 8?
N: We should put up signs so people don't wonder.
B: Or wander. 

No Time Likes the Present

 

Should the present be happy about this?

He's kinda cute with his enthusiasm. 

Is this another Throw Back Thursday with a sketched comic? Why yes it is! Will there be more? That (like that joke about glass coffins) remains to be seen. 

There is something rather therapeutic about sketching on paper that just doesn't carry over to digital drawing, at least for me. Back in the day when I started doing comics (about a decade ago), I would pencil them in on paper, then ink them, then either scan them in or take a picture of them, then crop and edit, then we were good to go! It's a lot of steps and with these ones I just did the penciling then snapped a picture, edited (added my url), and called it good. Maybe I'll digitalize it eventually, who knows. I do like the longer process, but it takes time that I don't really have currently since I have a small child. 

I thought this one up while waiting in line for my Sunday morning pastries at Roggenart. They now have two locations but we are sticking to the usual one because it's close to the park in which we like to eat our pastries. It's a great way to start your Sunday. I don't remember why the phrase "no time like the present" was used, but I slightly misheard it and that's how this comic happened. 

Text:
*three clocks (an old fashioned alarm clock, a pocket watch, and a wrist watch) are frowning at a gift. In the second image, the gift is smiling*
Title: No time likes the present

Parental Stressors

 

This might be a direct quote from a sibling conversation about an upcoming vacation. I don't remember what the topic was, might have been movie selection or day trips. I mean, if you can't avoid something, why not cause it? I'm reminded of a scene from a time-travel show (spoiler - it's this one) where a character postulates that if an extinction level event (i.e. a fixed point that cannot change) is about to happen, it doesn't matter what you do right before it since everything is still going to be wiped out (outcome remains the same). Also, there are a lot of time travel shows currently. It seems Marvel has realized their best storylines are all complete so they're going back and revisiting them via time travel. At least they aren't like X-Men and just redoing their movies via Origin Stories? There was a non-superhero time travel tv show called Timeless that I liked - very nice wardrobe and decent acting but the storyline was a little confusing since they got cancelled at least twice and then surprise renewed. I don't know if we actually watched the whole thing - we might have dropped off after one of the cancelations. 

Text:
N: Mom's gonna flip if we do that.
S: Mom's gonna flip anyways.
L: Can't prevent it - might as well cause it.

Coming Soon

 

Wondering what verse that is? Here it is! Wondering what show this is? It's The Chosen! I watched the first season before our baby arrived and then watched it again with my husband afterwards. We are now watching the second season and I like it a lot! I should write a full review on my other blog since that's where I put my movie reviews (don't think I've done a TV show review yet but why not start now!) but I can do a small review here. 

So first things first, there is no episode named "Coming Soon" - that's the filler title they use because they list how many episodes a season has but they drop the new one on a weekly basis. This is a show about the life of Christ told through His interactions with His disciples and those who closely followed Him. The site says "See Jesus through the eyes of those that met Him" and that's a great synopsis. They are planning on seven seasons which means yes, they are adding a lot of details that are not given in the Biblical account. If you want a show that just says what's in the Bible, then maybe just read the Bible? The added details and stories are Biblically, historically, and culturally sound so maybe think of the show as Historical Fiction rather than a straight retelling of the Biblical narrative. I like the show and recommend watching it, but more importantly know what's in the Bible. Maybe watching the show can help you when you read the Bible to 'see' the characters and how they could have interacted with each other. I think it's similar to a Sight &Sound production but different in that television vs theater way (i.e. they have a lot more time to give details).

Text:
L: The next episode is called "Matthew 4:24" and after that is "Coming Soon" - hey, all the following episodes are named that, how confusing to reuse titles!
M: *facepalm*

Clogged Ducks

Moms hate them. I drew this and was going to digitalize but I like the sketchy look. The ducks are wearing classic Dutch shoes called clogs. A common problem with breastfeeding is getting clogged ducts, which are super painful and I have been getting quite often which is very unfortunate. Pray for the moms of infants that you know - they probably are suffering with this. Also suffering with a child that won't stop crying. On that note, time to mind the baby.

Text:
*image of two ducks wearing clogs*
Clogged Ducks

Tooter Queen

We got our daughter's name from Queen Lucy the Valiant, who is an excellent character from the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. The Tudors were a royal house in England. Our daughter, like most babies, has gas and therefore is a tooter. And that's how this comic happened :) I need to watch what I eat to know if something I ate is causing the gas she is having, but there's a lag between when I eat something and when it gets processed into breast milk, so it's difficult to pin point any connections. Also, when I'm nursing her and she's tooting, it's quite strong and I can't get away. Such is life. 

Text:
P: To which royal family does your Queen Lucy belong?
M: The Narnian -
L: THE TUDORS! (Tooters)

Apocalypse Movie Idea

 

I quite frankly don't remember what spawned this idea. But there's always disaster movies around Independence Day, right? Happy Independence Day :) 

Text:
Title: Apocalypse Movie Idea
A: Oh on! The dead are rising!
B: How many of them are out there? Can you get a head count?
A: Well... they don't all have heads...

And a rare Behind-The-Scenes making-of-a-comic: 

A Wee Bit Concerned

This was a conversation from earlier and it's true, a loose diaper is concerning. And the pun just had to be made. We have already had our share of leaks and blowouts and apparently that will just keep happening until she's toilet trained. 

Text:
L: I think her diaper might be loose and that makes me... a wee bit concerned.
M: *holding baby, has no response to that amazing pun*

Updated comic to give Lucy her crown!

A Cue Stick

 

I had to look up how to spell "billiards" and now the search probably things I'm into pool. I'm not - I have never been good at it but have played a few times when I was younger and we knew someone/someplace that had a pool table. I forget how I thought up this excellent pun but I like it a lot. "Acoustic" is kind of the opposite of "electric" when it comes to music - it's very peaceful and also the word sounds like "a cue stick" which is what is used in billiards/pool to hit the balls. But I just looked it up and actually there is the over-arching term "Cue Sports" which is also known as billiards but it includes many games that are played with a cue stick including but not limited to pool. And just thought I'd note that "billiards hall" reminds me of the game Clue where there's a billiards room and that might be where I learned the word "billiards." It's not a common one nowadays. 

Text:
A: Why is classical guitar music playing in the billiards hall?
B: It's a-cue-stick!

Cicada Dating Service

 

So this is a little late but I found it in my 'to be posted' comics and realized I need to post it unless I want to wait seventeen years which is a bit excessive but I have to say, I'm glad we don't get invaded like that every year. I mentioned to my husband that I'm glad that cicadas aren't like stink bugs which slide into your house then fly around and he said if cicadas did that, they would be extinct because we would NOT handle that well. It's bad enough when you're driving down the road and they're smacking into the windshield - we would not handle them being indoors. It's annoying in the summer heat to have to keep your car windows closed because yeah, don't want to come back to the car and find it full of cicadas. By the time this is posted, the cicadas will just be carcasses on the sidewalk since they just take over for a month or two by invading in full force then dying off in full force. Maybe don't model yourself after them. 

I think the dating advice in question was something along the lines of broadcasting that you're looking for a mate, but it was taken as needing to scream it from the tree tops. 

Text:

N: I'm not going to take dating advice from the cicadas.

L: Well, we don't need any context for that?

Wet Socks

 

Sometimes you want a solution and sometimes you want to vent. Sometimes you want to vent and then get the solution. The solution to the problem above is that people should not spill water and just leave it to be stepped in. Once it has been stepped in, the damage is done and irreparable. Especially if that person really hates having wet socks. Honestly though, sometimes the solution is a simple change of socks but instead an individual might stay angry in wet socks for a while. Just change the socks and get into a better head space. But also the spill should be cleaned up - nobody wants to step in it. So there's a solution on both sides.
And if someone really hates wet socks, keeping a spare pair at my work office was a great idea because sometimes it rained and there were huge, unavoidable puddles on the way in to work and nobody wants to sit in air conditioning with wet socks. Bleh. So having a spare pair is good. 

Text:
L: And now my sock is WET!!!
M: Well, we are at home - you could change into new socks.
L: No, I'm going to walk around in these and be angry!