FOOBAR

Here it is....

2010-06-09T16:25:00.003-04:00

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Erg. Since I'm not home, I had to use a different scanner, and it did some funky stuff to my image quality. So, let's see. I modeled the layout and also the first and third panels after the August 12, 2007 "cookout" strip, the one where Elly scares Robin by saying that she'll blow up if she eats ONE more thing, only to eat one more thing. That's also what the final panel here refers to. I was going to put more people and business in that first panel, but I realized I'd probably need an extra week if I did that! So while Mike burns what's on the grill, everyone else is assembled inside, and they all come out a moment later!

Panel two has John speaking with Ted. That's Dee in the left, bottom corner of panel three and Uncle Phil on the right side. Liz is talking to Aunt Georgia in next panel. Next are Abby Caine and April, then Greg Thomas with Steve Nichols, then Francie. Anne Nichols is agreeing to cater Nick and Lawrence's wedding reception. And finally we have Meredith reassuring Robin.

I'm reminded that certain little-used characters never really got a consistent look: Ted, Steve, Greg, Nick, Anne. In some strips, Nick looked like Anthony, in others he looked like Gord, and in some, he looked like their highly unlikely offspring. Similarly, Greg strikes me in some places as a Gordo/Ted hybrid.

So, yeah. This is it. I just really wanted to close off with a sense that things are continuing. Life is happening. (Please imagine that a respectful time has elapsed between Elly going catatonic and Mike having a cookout.)

I have no plans to take this blog down, though probably in a couple of weeks, I will switch to screened comments. With ARB, I noticed that a dormant blog becomes a comment-spam magnet.

Thanks to all of you who have visited this site. I've had fun doing FOOBAR!

Edit: I almost forgot to explain about Françoise. She's quoting "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" by Albert Camus, where he concludes that one must imagine Sisyphus happy. Sisyphus has resisted suicide and considers himself superior to his fate. My silly way of lampooning how absurdly (ah, geddit?) advanced Francie has been portrayed in the strip. :)

Ugh, please bear with me!

2010-06-09T06:00:00.003-04:00

This is taking longer than I'd expected. I'll update as soon as I can. Sorry about that! (I know, Lynn can consider me a total wimp. Oh, well--I'm in such good company! :) )

Breather...

2010-06-07T06:00:00.001-04:00

I need to take a little breather--the epilogue goes up Wednesday.

Inside the Pattertonic Head

2010-06-04T06:00:00.031-04:00

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Well, howtheduck totally called this. Yes, Elly, in her catatonic state, is thinking the reprints. This is an image I've had in my mind for more than a year--ending* FOOBAR with Elly catatonic, John wondering what she's thinking about, and the last panel showing Elly with that day's reprint in her thought bubble.

I of course didn't know what reprint would be running on that day. I think the one that this landed on is oddly appropriate. It seems to fit in with the theme of never having appreciated what she had when she had it. (Not that John was such a prize, but you know what I mean.)

*But I'm not quite ready to end--there will be some epiloguey goodness to follow.

Pattertonia

2010-06-02T06:00:00.008-04:00

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The Story Not Written

2010-05-31T06:00:00.008-04:00

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So, yeah, that's Deanna with Michael. I refuse to put her in the dreaded bowl haircut, but when I lengthen her hair, she looks disturbingly Aprilish. So--Dee. Not April.

Flat Stanley as Michael

2010-05-28T06:00:00.014-04:00

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Maybe because of the way I drew the table, I couldn't get Michael not to look flat in panel one (and yes, I did erase, redraw, erase redraw). Oh, well, maybe it's symbolic of the way Elly tried to steamroll him. ;)

And Elly STILL unhinges that jaw!

2010-05-26T06:00:00.007-04:00

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A Pattern?

2010-05-24T06:00:00.007-04:00

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Elly's little chat with Liz

2010-05-21T06:00:00.004-04:00

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How not to be like Elly

2010-05-19T06:00:00.006-04:00

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Elly, Connie, and Anne have coffee

2010-05-16T22:23:00.011-04:00

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John has a drink with Ted

2010-05-14T06:00:00.013-04:00

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You know what I just realized? John's hair in the second panel doesn't match the way I have it in the first and third panels. I used one of the strips from the Settlenuptials as my reference for the second panel, and didn't think about the fact that John had his hair slicked back for the occasion. No wonder I kept thinking he looked painfully Anthonyesque. So, my wank is that there was a big gust of wind between panels one and two, and it settled down before panel three.

A Little Party

2010-05-12T06:00:00.011-04:00

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Eek, I never thought I'd do a Lynn-like teeny-tiny figures "longshot" frame. But I wanted to get everyone in--and there you go. Another homage!

The Nichols Boys in 2010

2010-05-10T06:00:00.010-04:00

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The Anne Nichols liography has Christopher and Richard both living in Alberta. Richard is a firelighter.

Where Dee finds herself upon returning to 2010

2010-05-07T06:00:00.008-04:00

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This is an actual continuing education program for pharmacists. :)

I hate to admit this, but I can kind of see Lynn's point about her not-changing-characters'-hair rule in the later years. This is supposed to be Dee with her hair grown out from that awful bowl haircut Lynn stuck her with. I referenced a couple of strips from December 1999, when Dee had just returned from Honduras and her hair was grown out a bit. Only I thought her hair looked almost mullet-ish in those strips, so I tried tweaking it, and now she doesn't look like Dee. ::sigh:: Let's just pretend she does!

Anne, post-warp

2010-05-05T06:00:00.010-04:00

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Catching up with Connie and Lawrence

2010-05-03T06:00:00.030-04:00

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Okay, so here is a conversation with my son, which took place the afternoon of Free Comic Book Day (this past Saturday), shortly after we got our free comics:

Son: What will you call your "FOOBAR" comic book?

Me: I don't know--I hadn't though of making a "FOOBAR" comic book. If I make one, what do you think I should call it?

Son: I don't know, either. Oh! Elly Patterson Free-For-All!

Welcome to 2010

2010-04-30T06:00:00.018-04:00

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Fear not--we'll also be checking in with other characters, and there will be more follow-up/aftermath. This is pretty much the moment after the ::poof:: of the spell, in which we see where the characters find themselves (kind of like when your pre-empted TV show comes back "in progress"). :)

Farewell, 1981

2010-04-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Some commenters here had such interesting ideas about Elly using her stated desire to do one more "Yammersons" strip as a pretext that would allow her to engage in subterfuge that I feel a bit bad that I didn't have anything like that planned. I really did just have her doing one more strip to get her digs in before the move "Back to the Future."

Yammerson Frugality

2010-04-26T06:00:00.008-04:00

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One for the time-road....

2010-04-23T06:00:00.002-04:00

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There's a bit of a meta-joke here, since using my "Yammersons" template does allow me to churn them out quickly once I've written the script. :)

The memories will remain

2010-04-21T06:00:00.006-04:00

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"Oblivious" is such a poor excuse

2010-04-19T06:00:00.013-04:00

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I know these two have been having this conversation for a small eternity--I'm almost in grad/zits/vacuuming territory here! But... just ~~one~~ two more strips devoted to this conversation, and then we'll mix things up a bit.

Non-perseverance

2010-04-16T06:00:00.009-04:00

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Confrontation

2010-04-14T06:00:00.009-04:00

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Note: I will be away on a work trip Thursday through Saturday this week, so my commenting is likely to be sporadic. Never fear, though--Friday's strip is already uploaded and scheduled to self-post. :)

Not detail-oriented

2010-04-12T06:00:00.007-04:00

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It's Cliffhanger, hanging from a cliff, and that's why he's called Cliffhanger!

2010-04-09T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Okay, so I decided that between panels one and two, Elly removes her Nizziepack, releases Nizzie, and removes her coat. I am so done drawing the pack. I was kind of baffled as to how exactly it's supposed to be constructed, and then I found that it's clearer here.

I realize that those are a couple of big, honking books in the last panel. I was initially planning to make April larger in relation to them. I'd considered erasing and resizing the books, but then I thought, "WWLD?" And the answer was clear. "No erasing! No correcting! No resizing!" Hee. :)

The end begins

2010-04-07T06:00:00.008-04:00

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Whenever I need to draw Anne, I find myself staring in disbelief at the reference strips I'm using--that hair, that face--the floating heads and partially drawn features. Poor Anne.

End game

2010-04-05T06:00:00.007-04:00

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You'd think there'd be a "trains" pun here

2010-04-02T06:00:00.004-04:00

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Punctuation translation

2010-03-31T06:00:00.006-04:00

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Training Joe Yammerson

2010-03-29T06:00:00.007-04:00

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John gets cranky in his strip

2010-03-26T06:00:00.007-04:00

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Completely OT

2010-03-24T06:00:00.009-04:00

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Will the real story please stand up?

2010-03-22T06:00:00.011-04:00

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Of course, I am probably guaranteeing that LJ will make with a new-run that renders this invalid and impossible. Oh, well... We're to understand that the straight reprints are right around the corner.

That face

2010-03-19T06:00:00.009-04:00

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Absent knowing where Lynn is going with the 'Allo-girl discussion between Elly and Anne, I give you a little riff on that face clench of overreaction Elly does.

Elly's non-passion

2010-03-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Yeah, I know I made Elly's right hand disturbingly small and spindly. I am pretending it's an intentional homage. ;)

"Elly Patterson likes hate!"

2010-03-15T06:00:00.016-04:00

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Today's entry title comes from my son (age seven). We had the following conversation:

"Why does Elly Patterson have 'hate' in her comic strip?"

"It's a running joke. Emmy keeps not liking the way the conversation goes."

"Elly Patterson likes hate! Elly Patterson likes 'hate' in her final panels!"

'Allo, 'Allo

2010-03-12T06:00:00.016-05:00

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Lynn has written that the original inspiration for Connie was an art teacher of hers. She didn't adore her--she ridiculed her by mimicking her and drawing caricatures of her. I was going to have Connie allude to Elly filling a notebook with mean doodles of the art teacher, but canned that in favor of the 'Allo-girl reveal. But here's the between-the-lines/panels bit: Elly is lying in panel two. :)

Shoe, other foot--Elly doesn't like

2010-03-10T06:00:00.007-05:00

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Coffee or Tea

2010-03-08T06:00:00.004-05:00

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Yammerfriends

2010-03-05T06:00:00.006-05:00

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Re-thinking the old thoughts

2010-03-03T06:00:00.009-05:00

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This strip is meant to pick up from the "Mith Campbell! Michael Patterthon's bothering me" strip that originally came right after the "egg breath" strip. I realize that this makes it highly likely that Lynn will insert some new-runs in between.

Edit: Yay, I'm actually in sync with the reprints.

Prelude to a nightgown

2010-03-01T06:00:00.006-05:00

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Two-fer

2010-02-26T06:00:00.010-05:00

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Another longform strip filled with gooey exposition

2010-02-24T06:00:00.023-05:00

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Chantal was one of the friends at the slumber party April had to celebrate her 10th birthday, in April of 2001. I don't think she was seen before or since. Chantal had the distinction of being the only girl who had kissed a boy, and the other girls pressed her to share every detail. In case you are curious about looking up the strips at the strip catalog, they are ID numbers 8986 through 8991. What strikes me about Chantal is that, to me, she looks kind of like a blonde version of April, though with a different nose.

Not only did I not mean to dress them up like waitstaff (white tops and black pants), I actually meant to match Mike and Lizzie's night clothes as shown in the current strips. Oops.

A shout-out goes to forworse. Her comment about the first babysitter shown in the strip--Karen--growing up to be Becky's mother got the wheels in my brain going about other babysitters growing up to be the mothers of April's peers.

Glasses being the ultimate disguise and all

2010-02-22T06:00:00.008-05:00

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Don't worry--April is going to do some splainin' on Wednesday.

The Gander Can Cartoon, Too

2010-02-19T06:00:00.006-05:00

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The limits of gratitude

2010-02-17T06:00:00.005-05:00

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...Aaaaaand Lynn opted not to run the strip I'm referencing here. Of course she did! Grrr. Anyway, it's ID #3973 at the foob catalog (using their "Search by ID Number" option).

Whispered conversation between strips

2010-02-15T06:00:00.008-05:00

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Memory and Distortion

2010-02-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

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I guess we'll have some Michael/Lawrence stuff to get through before the big reveal of Connie's fugly new look in the strip. Getting just a bit ahead of things.

Meanwhile, back in Milborough

2010-02-10T06:00:00.008-05:00

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I don't know about you, but I need a break from the trials and tribs of Connie "I need a may-unnn" Poirier.

Tertiary-Character Theatre

2010-02-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

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The curly-haired woman is supposed to be the hostess who seated Connie in the reprint strip that ran this past Friday. The woman talking to her is a waitress I made up. :)

More Montreal

2010-02-05T06:00:00.012-05:00

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This is meant as more of a follow-up to the strip I expect to see reprinted on Saturday. In case you are not familiar with the Mrs. Beasley doll, here's what she looks like:

I expect you can see the resemblance with Connie.

Connie's thought bubbles, continued

2010-02-03T06:00:00.015-05:00

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This is supposed to be what happens right after the strip that originally ran on 2/16/1981 (to find it at the search catalog enter the text follow it in the "punchline" search field). I am gambling on Lynn reprinting this strip, but I've been wrong about these things before and expect to be again.

The moment before

2010-02-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

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Yammerguilt

2010-01-29T06:00:00.008-05:00

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Elly thinks about using her journal to prevent a hair don't, but not a broken leg

2010-01-27T06:00:00.002-05:00

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Here we go....

2010-01-25T06:00:00.005-05:00

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....Of course, in the original run, Lynn never actually showed the mystery door-answering "girl" in the strips.

Based on the strip I thought would be reprinted today

2010-01-22T06:00:00.019-05:00

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So, this is based on the strip that originally ran on 1/30/1981. Lynn ran a new-run yesterday--I'm not sure if I'll just end up a day out of synch or just generally scrod. Anyway, if you'd like to find the strip I referenced, search the strip catalog at the foob site using decision-makers of the future in your punchline search.

Probably a guarantee that we have Anne-and-Elly new-runs.

2010-01-20T06:00:00.016-05:00

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This strip is meant to follow up on the one that originally ran on January 28, 1981. Yesterday's reprint originally ran on January 27, 1981. So I suppose I am virtually guaranteeing that we will actually get new-run filler that continues Elly and Anne's coffee talk. ::sigh::

In the likely event that this happens, you can find the strip I was referencing by doing a punchline search at the official foob site's search catalog, using the phrase spitballs in the dictionary.

Oh, and I know I'm having Lawrence dwell on the broken-leg thing. He really doesn't want to break it again.

Hope this works as a lead-in to the new-run we get today....

2010-01-18T06:00:00.010-05:00

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She who loves to hate

2010-01-15T06:00:00.007-05:00

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Ceci n'est pas une pipe

2010-01-13T06:00:00.010-05:00

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Lead-in to Lizzie's bathroom disaster

2010-01-11T06:00:00.014-05:00

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Over at Foobiverse, there was some discussion about how Elly managed not to hear Liz wreaking havoc in the bathroom--leading to the scene revealed in today's foob reprint. This, I figured, is a likely explanation. I know it's a bit of a retread of the reprint that appeared on April 9, 2009, but Elly is all about repetition and not-learning.

As others plot, Elly churns out another Yammersons comic

2010-01-08T06:00:00.004-05:00

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Hope this was worth the wait....

2010-01-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

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Here it is! I hand-lettered to save a step and get this up faster. Hope it's reasonably readable. In the last panel, I know I should have done a Lynn-style longshot to get both Lawrence and April all the way into the frame, but for some reason, I was amused by the idea of only being able to see the top of Lawrence's head.

So, yeah--extended-play format with lots of extra exposition. :)

Delay

2010-01-06T06:00:00.003-05:00

Ugh, I have a lousy cold that is slowing me down. Strip is penciled but still needs to be inked, scanned, and lettered. I am hoping to get it up sometime this evening.

About that sitter...

2010-01-04T06:00:00.011-05:00

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Okay, so I am jumping back a bit in my time sequence for this one. Chronologically, this comes before the NYE strip I ran on Friday, 1/1/10.

Happy foob year!

2010-01-01T06:00:00.020-05:00

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I love jazz! I grew up with it. So it really bugs me when Elly and Lynn show their usual disrespect for it. (For a prime example, go to the "strip catalog" part of the foob site and enter "discordant" as your keyword search.) So I wanted to show some respect and imagine that Phil and his band would be playing this:

Notice how Miles Davis makes no "tattica" sounds with his trumpet. ;)

Emmy "Killjoy" Yammerson

2009-12-30T06:00:00.006-05:00

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The conversation before the gobsmack

2009-12-28T06:00:00.011-05:00

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I'd heard that today's official foob would feature Mike, Phil, and an Elly gobsmack. I wanted to make a reference to that, but not seeing the strip, I had no way to know what Mike and Phil would be wearing--hence the wardrobe change Phil suggests in the last panel.

Michael makes good use of his mother's poor opinion of him

2009-12-25T06:00:00.016-05:00

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Notice that I made Francoise shorter than Robin, as she's supposed be, considering she is four months younger than he is.

Timewarp Holidays

2009-12-23T06:00:00.008-05:00

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The strip that explains about sending objects across time through the crawlspace was on July 3, 2009.

Yammersons and Santa Mom

2009-12-21T06:00:00.004-05:00

Recycled art for a recycled story arc

2009-12-18T06:00:00.015-05:00

So, Lynn appears to be doing another iteration of the Phil-Connie storyline that she did prematurely during Christmas 2008/New Year's 2009 and seemed to wrap up back in February. Then she probably realized she has to bring them together again if she wants to reprint the "Connie chases after Phil by going to Montreal" arc. So in honor of that SNAFUiness is a repeat of the January 2, 2009 art, but with shiny new dialogue.

Anne was really only joking... about joking

2009-12-16T06:00:00.008-05:00

Pre-holiday Yammersons

2009-12-14T06:00:00.006-05:00

Lawrence overhears

2009-12-11T06:00:00.006-05:00

Yammersons and Santa Mom

2009-12-10T06:00:00.006-05:00

When Mike gets his turn

2009-12-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

I know that's a pretty wonky-looking Santa and elves. Sometimes it goes that way....

Another thing Canon Connie will never say

2009-12-07T06:00:00.004-05:00

...Not that I can even tell you what it would mean to beat the Ontario off of someone, but I enjoyed the sound of it.

She can't even make friends in her head

2009-12-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

Phil also hates shopping for Elly

2009-12-02T06:00:00.002-05:00

An Awful Awareness

2009-11-30T06:00:00.002-05:00

There's slow and there's SLOW

2009-11-27T06:00:00.002-05:00

How many of us could resist the urge to mess with Elly's head?

2009-11-25T06:00:00.003-05:00

The Christmas Letter You Never Wanted

2009-11-23T06:00:00.004-05:00

The Horror

2009-11-20T06:00:00.005-05:00

Joe's pretty much being us, but there ya go....

2009-11-18T06:00:00.002-05:00

Connie and Anne discuss Elly again

2009-11-16T06:00:00.005-05:00

Ugh. So my mobo died and I had to replace my computer. I'm now running a shiny new laptop w/Windows 7, but now I've got Gimp instead of PaintShop Pro, so I've got some getting used to.... that's why the text size is a lil off....

Edit: Oops... I only just realized I used the wrong font for this. That's something I can't blame on Gimp--I do have the foob font installed.

Between the story reading and the illness tangent

2009-11-13T06:00:00.002-05:00

Après

2009-11-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

Farley the dog, Farley the Mowat, and Elly the idiot

2009-11-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Nobody Warned Family Circus Dead Granddad

2009-11-06T06:00:00.002-05:00

Fish Flubs

2009-11-04T06:00:00.003-05:00

Post-Halloween Yammersons

2009-11-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

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Non-equivalence

2009-10-30T06:00:00.002-04:00

How Elly doesn't make a new friend

2009-10-28T06:00:00.003-04:00

I know Elly wasn't exactly leaving things to fate when she reconstructed Mike's Stone[d] Season and tried to have it published as her own work--let alone causing the whole time warp. But it's not out-of-character for her to be self-contradictory.