Candle Holding

 

I don't know the origin of this phrase but I can look it up. All I can find actually is the definition, but not the origin? I know it's used in a Relient K song - "Can't hold a candle to her, cause all the moths get in the way." Wait I FOUND IT. It is referencing the lowest apprentice would be the one who holds the candle for the master since that's all they're good for, so if you can't even hold a candle then you're truly worthless? So holding a candle to tell the worth of something is not really a valid test. But I did not know this before looking it up, so it's an understandable mistake I think. 

Text:
A: How good in that product?
B: I held a candle to it and nothing happened so... ?

Butter Ball

 I may have mentioned previously that we usually bring a salad to family functions (we make really good salads). This comic came to mind when I saw a turkey butter sculpture in the grocery store and thought about other things to sculpt out of butter (like a massive cow a la Big E). One pound of butter is four sticks, which means a 12lb butterball is 48 sticks of butter. Now that I think of it like that, the butter ball in the picture should probably be bigger. But now I'm curious how big a sphere that would be and not sure how to go about finding out unless someone else has let their curiosity get the best of them... Nope, Google keeps correcting "ball of butter" to "butterball" and pulling up turkey recipes. But now I want to know... seven sticks wide by seven sticks tall would be 49, then figure it as a sphere instead of a wall... this is not why I minored in math but it is helpful. I'm devoting too much brain power to this - making it three-dimensional is hard.

Text:
A: Why do you have a huge sphere of butter?
B: My mom asked me to make a 12 pound butter ball for Thanksgiving.
A: oh NO.

Grape Full

 

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy time with your friends and family, and thank the Lord for all He has done for you!

I asked my editor (my husband) what he thought of this comic and he basically groaned so I take that as a good sign - a successful pun. I thought it up at a luncheon when I was struggling to focus so I was tracing the maple leaf on my paper napkin then I thought about grape leaves and then this comic came into my head and was written on the napkin.
I focus better when I'm able to doodle - working from home was great with that because even with the camera on, they couldn't see my hands so I could doodle away during meetings. There was one time I was in a meeting, doodling away, and my Project Manager mentioned something about how I was good at drawing pictures and I thought "Oh NO they can SEE what I'm DOING" but really he was just talking about some graphs and charts I had made for the project all professionally - he was not referencing my comics and critters doodled on the back of a page-a-day calendar. 

Text:
A: How do you feel about your abundant vines?
B: I'm very grape-full. 

Python Math

A little late, but yay my finger has healed to the point where typing is not painful, so that was only a few days out of commission. Still keeping it wrapped to limit movement and avoid catching the split on anything. 

 Before any panic ensues, the Python in question is a programming language. Why is it called python? That's a great question and I need to look that up. Haha, I NEVER would have guess that. Here's the link. The programming language is named after Monty Python's Flying Circus. As for this comic, I don't recall the article I read that inspired it. I learned Python for some tasks at my last job, and I don't recall having any issues with math in it but I was not using it for math functions - I was retrieving, modifying, and returning data with it. But since I was learning the language, I read a lot of articles on it and somehow this comic came into being. 

Text:
L: The more I learn about Python math, the more I just don't want to know.
R: Snakes can do math now?!?!?

Triple Ginger

 I sketched this out and didn't get around to inking or digitalizing because I just really like it and wanted to post it quickly. Triple Ginger Cookies are delicious and have ground ginger, crystallized ginger, and fresh ginger in them. Here's a recipe. 

This comic was semi-inspired by a meme I saw about a person reading a recipe and getting to the ingredient "ground ginger" - at this, he exclaims "as opposed to what, sky ginger?" Clearly he is confusing "ground" meaning to grind something up with "ground" as in earth. 

Explanation: In the cartoon "Avatar: The Last Airbender", their world is divided into four countries: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. The Fire Nation tries for world domination, and the intro sequence for the show mentions "everything changed when the fire nation attacked." I took "ground" ginger to be from the Earth Kingdom, so it follows that sky ginger would be from the Air Nomads and water ginger from the Water Tribes. 

The initials below are referencing characters in Batman: Alfred (the butler), Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Jason Todd (Bruce Wayne's sons). I considered having the last line said by Bruce, but thought of that after it was written and didn't want to find the space to add another person.

Text:
A: Enjoy these triple ginger cookies, young sirs.
D: Whoa, how are there three types of ginger?
A: Well first there is ground ginger.
D: Ok.
T: Then there is sky ginger.
A: No-
J: Thirdly there is water ginger.
D: I think I've had that kind in lo mein.
A: That would be water chestnut.
T: But everything changed when the fire gingers attacked.

One Large Fry

I thought this up at Chick Fil A but I'm not about to draw a waffle fry (they are delicious, though). Now I kinda want to make a tater tot the size of a bread loaf. 

Text:
A: What is THAT?!?
B: I ordered one large fry. *holding one massive French fry*

Coffee Grinder

 I did not realize that "grinder" was a strictly local term for a meatball sub - I thought everyone called them that. And I had no idea what a hoagie was until I moved further South. 

Text:
S: You made a caffeinated sandwich?
N: It's a coffee grinder.
(not in comic)
S: ... bless your heart.

Reason for Crying

Life update - I cut my finger while prepping dinner (Lucy suddenly screamed when I was slicing a pear and somehow the blade came down on my finger right by the nail) so now typing is difficult with my fingertip band-aided. No stitches needed, but I can't use that digit which wow, you don't realize how much you use something until you can't. Or rather shouldn't, as I keep being painfully reminded. So the next few comics will have shorter blurbs. 

Text:
L1: Why are you screaming? Explain yourself using full sentences and citations.
L2: *BURP*
L1: That's valid.

Morel Support

 Happy Veteran's Day! Reach out to vets that you know and thank them for their service. If you can, donate to charities like Wounded Warrior Project or Paws for Purple Hearts. 

There are many mushroom puns available to those who know different types of mushrooms, but I'm drawing a blank. There's mushroom for improvement in this area, and I refuse to refer to myself as a fungi. I am pretty sure I have another comic about toadstools, ah here and here (I was just remembering the second one). 

Explanation: When someone is down, you could cheer them up i.e. give them moral support. The pun is a confusion between moral and morel (the later is a type of mushroom). And wow, they are expensive so getting a box of them would be a really good gift (if that's what you're into). 

Text:
A: Why did you send me a box of mushroom?
B: I heard you needed some morel support.

Klondike Bar

 

The slogan for Klondike Bars is "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" and their wrappers currently have suggestions like "sing karaoke in the DMV" or "run a 5k in a polar bear suit" or similarly ridiculous suggestions. 

Text:
L: You're eating a Klondike bar?
M: And I'm not ashamed of what I did.

Training Train

 

It has been quite a while since I've been on the Metro - some time before March 2020! We haven't been down to DC in a long time since most things were closed and then we now have a small child. It would be unfortunate to wear a long dress on public transit - it tends to be crowded (at least it was before all the 2020 craziness) and that does not bode well for a fancy train. Now I want to look up why the back of a dress is called a train... I have now learned a lot about types of dress trains but nothing on why it's called a train. Let me know if you know!

Alternate response could be "Your train didn't leave the station when your train left the station!"

Text:
Title: On the Metro
A: Oh no! The back of my dress!
B: Your train didn't leave the station, but you did!

Shared Features

 Don't you just love it when two people are talking without communicating? That tends to happen when one person takes something literally (I did not give my nose to my daughter; she has her own nose) whereas the other person is speaking in the broader sense about something (children usually look like their parents which we refer to as 'having' the features of their parents). I don't remember which feature was in question when this comic was inspired by a conversation - it might have been my hair or eye color. I really like my hair color, and my eye color is nice too. 

Text:
M: I think Lucy will have your nose.
L: No, she will have her own nose.
M: You never know!
L: You kind of do. 

All About the Slang

Happy Birthday to my Grandmother! I love going to her house - I am very grateful for the godly influence she has been on me my whole life. 

I have yet to try this sort of speech on any of the kids with which I interact, but I feel it would be rather funny to do. Here and here are other versions of this comic - I just make a new version when certain slang runs together in my mind. I will probably keep making these as more slang gets invented and I get old and more confused by it. 

Text:
Title: How To: Talk To the Youths
A: Can you help me TikTok a fleek slap of Angry Birds?
Y: *CRINGE*