That's why the housework can wait....

Eee, I didn't realize how mucked up Elly's left hand in the first panel was, but it is waaaay past my bedtime already, and besides, I've found plenty of mucked up hands in the collections. Homage! ;)

As She Lay (Imagining She Was) Dying

Don't go making Elly ill....

Wall of Text--Sometimes I Just Need to....

Yeah, this is a huge wall of text, but it expresses my current state of "WHA?" with what's going on with this strip lately. I thought Lynn was working within year-two continuity, but now it seems she's doing a retconned year one with some year-two stuff stitched in (e.g. Farley; Uncle Phil's holiday visit and date with Connie). I just--huh?

Mira!

Reconnaisance

Certain Realizations

Memory believes before knowing remembers

Something begins to dawn on somebody.

Did Michael go back "wrong"?

While you and I know that in the Saturday, 1/10/2009 Foob, Fred the fish mysteriously because Frank, I wouldn't be surprised if this were silently corrected, much like the Crow Crane mishap this past August in the Lizthony wedding arc. But I think a more nefarious explanation is plausible.

Blah Blah Blah

Eeeee! My scanner's now hooked up to my son's computer. I had to install PaintShop Pro because the image-editing software that comes with the scanner just doesn't cut it. BUT! It's a newer version of PSP than what I'm used to. Adding text to the older version was so easy and straightforward. New version? Adding text is incomprehensible! After trying to figure it out and getting frustrated, I ended up using lousy old MS-Paint to add the text. Which is why it's boxed off the way it is. I'll have to work on learning new PSP's text feature.

Fight the good fight, Lawrence!

Surely, Lawrence is not alone in this sentiment! In the last panel, I wanted Mike to be gesturing with his hands while also creating the effect of putting his hands up against the panel--like maybe he could almost (only almost!) escape from the strip.

Edit: We are having computer problems at home, so there is a chance that my next update will be delayed. I am hoping that my live-in tech support (husband) gets us up and running before Friday, but these things are difficult to predict....

Elly, it's called picking up as you go, and getting the whole family to do so!

This is the strip I'd originally planned to post on Friday, 1/2/09, but delayed to sync up better with the repeats.

I wanted to have some fun with visual details, but unfortunately the tags in the left, bottom of the panel ended up too small to read. They are--moving from back, left to right, front: "fauxley poo, $9.95" and "plush toy, order today!" The other visual bits should be detectable to the naked eye. :)

When is a new year also an old year?

Okay, sorry about sticking this image in your brains. Also for the wonky perspective. It was, um, their passion that destroyed the angles!

Your bling is far out, dawg, and totally heavy, man!

Click to enlarge
In the rerun strip that I expect us to see (barring new-run insertions) this coming Saturday, 1/3/2009, Phil returns from taking Connie to her staff New Year's Eve party. The clothes I have Phil wearing here are (pretty much) what you'll see him wearing there. It amused me to imagine him wearing this casual attire while Connie's all gussied up for her work party.

To construct this strip, I consulted the second FBoFW collection--Is This "One of Those Days," Daddy?--and also the results of a Google image search on "ballroom dancing." Stitching together those two yielded the awkward results you see above. Also, I've decided that I hate drawing Connie's bad hair and owl glasses. I'm also half convinced that LJ wanted Elly's best friend to resemble Mrs. Beasley.

Update: LJ has removed a strip from the original sequence, so Phil returning from his date with Connie should appear this coming Friday, 1/2/09. Or there could be more omitting/insertion. Wow, this is almost like suspense. ;)

The Courtship of Lawrence's Mother

Click to enlarge.
Okay, so this is out of sync with what's running in the strip right now, because of the new-run filler that LJ inserted this past Saturday. I was expecting Saturday's strip to be the repeat where Phil and Mike are on there way over to Connie's place and today's to be the one where Phil briefs Elly on what he and Connie spoke about. The odd dialogue in my strip for today is based on that summary.

For Christmas, Lawrence gets to be mortified...

Click to enlarge.
In case you are wondering about the sporadic application of bricks, this is another homage to LJ. I don't want to put in a direct link, but if you are curious about what I'm talking about, you can see an example by checking the March 7, 2006 strip at the foob-site archives.

He's had bad dreams--so bad, he threw his pillow away

Meanwhile, as Elly martyrs herself...

Since when is Farley a Cujo?

A click will make big.
Original-flavor Farley was a sweet, dumb doggie. He didn't attack babies and chew on their diapers. So what gives with new-run Farley-the-puppy?

What Liz was thinking when Connie and Elly were talking

Click on image to enlarge.
While Liz is thinking all this, Connie is yammering about Phil.