Author: Cynical Woman

Click on the thumbnail above to view the full-sized webcomic!

Actually, what with family visits and travel the past month, keeping the kids occupied hasn’t been that big a problem yet this summer. We did do all the above activities, and before anyone asks, we distilled mint leaves to get mint essential oil, and the marshmallow shooters are actually little breath-powered rifles that shoot mini-marshmallows. They are not some sort of alcoholic beverage produced in our still.

But I did have one week at home with the kids where I really needed to come up with something for the little monsters to do. So we made a still, slingshots, and marshmallow shooters. Then later that week, I was talking to a few people about the activities we had done, and what we’d still like to do, including making squishy circuits. One mom told me the squishy circuits looked exactly like plastic explosives, and that she expected I’d be in jail before the week was out. The Hubster thought that comment was pretty funny until I reminded him that he’d have to come up with bail money to get me out.

If anyone is interested in doing any of the activities listed above, I suggest you get a copy of Make Magazine’s Summer Fun issue. It’s got the still, the marshmallow shooter, and lots of other cool projects in it. If we do anything else really interesting, I’ll let you know. And if you hear about a blue-haired mama who was killed in a tragic marshmallow shooting, you’ll know it was me.

We’ve been on the road a lot the last couple weeks, including a trip to see the Hubster’s family in DC. We spent a lot of time working in my mother-in-law’s yard, pulling weeds, trimming trees, and yes, taking out one very nasty rosebush that hit me in the face at one point. It was a fun trip, and we’ll be back in DC again in a few weeks to do even more gardening.

You’ll notice that my brother-in-law has a halo, just like the Hubster. There’s a reason for this, and it’s not because I think he’s an angel (though he is a great guy). The real reason for his and the Hubster’s halos is that my in-laws had these painted plaques done during a visit to Puerto Rico (where my mother-in-law is from). Each plaque depicts a different member of the family as a saint. My father-in-law was the patron saint of good husbands. My mother-in-law is the patron saint of good wives. And then each brother in the family had a particular aspect they were supposed to represent. The Hubster is St. Michael the Magnificent (he’s the oldest of 5 boys). My brother-in-law Chris, whom I drew in this week’s webcomic, is St. Christopher the Cheerful, and he is pretty cheerful every time I see him. Like I said, he’s a good guy. Of course, all my brothers-in-law are good guys, and I’m grateful to have married into such a wonderful family, so I’m always happy to go see them, evil rosebushes or no.

Of course, one of the problems I have with traveling is that it makes it hard to keep up with the website, I can manage to get a week’s worth of blog posts done in advance, but then I have to get the next week’s web comic going while I’m on the road. I still haven’t figured out the best way to handle that. To keep packing simple on this last trip, I decided to draw the webcomic on my iPad. The results aren’t bad, but they’re not as polished as I would like. I could take paper and pen and do it, but I’d have to pack my pens, my drawing pad, a t-square, a drawing board. Plus I worry about how to carry around my paper so it won’t get mangled.

I could just not worry about doing a 4-panel strip and instead do a color sketch on the iPad, and I’m leaning more and more toward that. I can do a nice digital painting on the go. But I still need to find a good way to do webcomics on the go, as I have a new comics project in the offing that I will have to do whilst running around with the kids. I just don’t get that much time at my desk, so everything pretty much has to be done on the go.

I’ll figure it out eventually, I’m sure. I just need to keep experimenting until I find something I like. You’ll see the results here, I’m sure 😉