happy 1st day of spring

random doodle of the day

hmmm

One of the things I've been doing lately is drawing this cat.

And thinking about my upcoming trip to Japan.

random eavesdroppings

These eavesdroppings are not all from the same person, but compiled together they could make an interesting story.

"
We should have gone someplace where they serve you. I'm not used to this.

How STUPID are you? How STUPID are you??

You did this to yourself!

I'm gonna call my lawyer.

It's it's it's it's it's massive.

I'm tellin' you Debby. He has a portable outhouse. It's like a brand new, brand new outhouse.

I had shorts and a t-shirt on, and I was the only one in the pool.

I had a dream last night about dust on something.

I love girls. I do.

I decided that I'm not contagious anymore.

Is ANYONE alive still except for you?

One of my brothers is missing teeth, and the other two had too many teeth.

"
..........................

I'm back in Panera, and I'm wearing a T-SHIRT in here today. That's right, A T-SHIRT. And I'm so warm by this sunny window, that I wish I had shorts on. (This is a good thing).

..........................

I need a new watch. I bought this cheap watch like two years ago after my good one broke, and then I never bought a new one. Actually, I never really had a good one, maybe I had a nicer-looking one, but eventually I would like a good one.

misc.

The coolest thing about digital photography is that you can take a picture of any stupid thing, and then you don't have to pay to have it developed.

Back in the days of film, this would be a "finish off the roll" shot.

Today I'm not sure what I'd call it.

I'm pretty sure this is margarine and not butter. It seems too bright to be butter. I didn't try it.

------------------

I've been kind of out of it for the past few weeks. I want my routine back.

George had that surgery a few weeks ago, then he had lingering headaches, then he thought he was better, then the headaches came back. He came home from work on Wednesday and I went to the doctor with him. They sent him for an MRI of his brain. Thankfully, he has a nice-looking brain. Then last weekend I traveled to a funeral (my great grandmother lived to be 97). I've also been having a lot of sinus problems that make me want to not do anything.

I was more productive today though.

------------------

I heard about the $1 Starbucks coffee on Jay Leno. That is exactly what I've always needed. I never drink the whole thing. They do not advertise it here, but they give it to me if I ask for it.

------------------

My coffee shops must be wondering what happened to me, since I haven't been out much lately.

I saw this at my chiropractor's office.



The Dash
by Linda Ellis


I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke of the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
With your life's actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

© 1996 Linda Ellis

the skippy trails

When the snow becomes higher than the top of Skippy's legs, I have to shovel paths for him so he has a place to go to the bathroom.

black sheep

Tonight I finished drawing this sheep cartoon (re-drawing it to make it better) and putting him on some shirts and stuff. He wants you to click on him so you can see the stuff.

A George Update.

George eventually relocated from the bed to the couch, and then from the couch to his computer. He still has headaches, but they are not as bad.

The tumor is benign.

People from our church keep bringing us food, and we have loads of casseroles that will keep us fed for weeks now.

misc.

My husband has been bedridden for the past two days now, with a spinal headache... an unforeseen side-effect of the spinal surgery. He's learned firsthand now that a headache like this is an agonizing thing, and we're told it could last seven days.

----------------

I've been busy taking care of him and drawing cute dog cartoons.


----------------

Last night I dreamed that I was in a department store where there were some products with cute cartoons on them, and I commented to some girl that I like those cute things. She said, "No you don't!" I was like, "Yes, I do!"

What was with her??!


----------------


Here's one of the cute dogs I finished. He's a PBGV. A Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen.




----------------

I bought a ticket to JAPAN! (April 16!)

Where I've Been

On Monday morning George had back surgery, to remove a small growth that was in his spine. We've been assured that it's unlikely to be cancer, but they will tell us for sure sometime soon.

I think he will come home today, but he's been feeling pretty sick.

I've been working on my computer at the hospital, but not online, unless I can somehow hack into their system.

wednesday morning preschool

A Puppet Show

"Hi Bob. Where's the bathroom? I gotta go poo."

"hee hee hee"

Puppet show interrupted by the crafts teacher: "Hey you kids, we don't talk that way. That's not nice."

Me: "Let me take your picture."

lazy saturday

Who would've guessed that I go to judo tournaments on Saturday afternoons? Well, I don't. But I did today, and instead of doodling I took some pics with my new camera.

.................

Mystery Building



This building resides next to a coffee shop where I work all the time. The first floor is a restaurant, but what I want to know is, what goes on in that windowless middle section?

More Panera Eavesdroppings

More Eavesdroppings from my time in Panera. Maybe I can use some of these in the future for some cartoons.

"
The parents are wackos!

She wound up meeting a guy, but she was actually after some other guy.

Their benches were so filthy, that when I got my food I didn't want to eat it.

If we don't have the music on, she says, "I don't hear any music!" And then we have to turn it on.

Have you ever seen a mosh pit, where the jazzy kids get together, shoulder to shoulder, and you can't move?

His head was sort of stickin' in the window, and I think he was tryin' to smell liquor.

She wanted to take the Euro train from London to Paris, but nobody would go with her.

I LOVE the Dollar Store.

Are all the Quiznoses closed?

LOOK AT THE BROWNIES MOMMY LOOK AT THE BROWNIES!

Let me smell you.

"

My 3rd Office & some random EAVESDROPPINGS

This third office is my "undisclosed location." I come here at least once a week. I recommend the cappuccinos here, as long as I can see who's making them. There is one lady who I trust will always make it just right.

....................

RANDOM EAVESDROPPINGS from my many hours working out & about:


I thought I was the only one with a UPS boyfriend!

She brought her own pillow so she wouldn't catch herpes.

The Hills is a GREAT show.

The other thing they had was tuna noodle casserole.

They are preaching against the United States of America!

Do not get it wet. Because the glue underneath will dissolve.

I just got a new skirt and I know I will never wear it.

She's a lovely girl, she's very sweet, but she's 22.

They both die but it's not sad.

*disclaimer: I cannot validate the accuracy of these claims. These statements do not necessarily reflect the opinions of My Life is a Cartoon or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

My Panera Office

This morning I am in my Panera office. This is my favorite of my four offices. I travel out here about 30 minutes from my home in the farm lands into the hoity toity side of town, where I can feel like a part of the working world.

They have free coffee refills here, nice open seating and free wifi. I'll stay here through breakfast and lunch and work on my website.

My Starbucks Office

Welcome to my Starbucks office. This is where I like to work in the mornings sometimes, at the back table of this room that's more like a hallway. Unfortunately there is no free internet in here, but I enjoy working with Photoshop or just doodling in my sketchbook. The coffee seems to work better for my brain in Starbucks than at home.


I have a view out this window of the traffic going around the "circle," where I can watch car after car ignoring the yield sign.

This is just one of my four offices. More photos to come.

random thought of the day

I think it is very weird to pour your cream into your cup before your coffee. Not that there's anything "wrong" with that... it's just not my thing.

random thought of the day

It must be hard to get people to take you seriously if you have teeth like Bugs Bunny.

doodle of the day

Cute Overload

I call him the cutest of all the cutes who ever lived.

Check out the edges on this photo. I got the coolest program for Christmas called PhotoFrame Pro, that adds all kinds of interesting edges to photos. I'm having a ton of fun playing with this thing.

I'm in Starbucks this morning and a guy decided to plop himself down at the table directly in front of me, in the seat facing me. So now I can't ever stare straight ahead without risking making awkward eye contact with him.

Another uncomfortable situation is if someone sits near you, and you were about to leave anyway, but if you get right up and leave you look like you hate the person.

The Biggest Loser

OK, George would hate it if he knew I'm posting these pictures, but I've been wanting to for a long time. On the left is the old George. On the right is the 50-pounds-lighter new George. He lost 50 pounds over the course of a year just by eating less.

Our flag did still wave...

But there was no mercy for random shopping carts left during the snowfall in Tops Plaza.

Some doodles from "Mom's Morning Out," the preschool thing where I help out with crafts once a week. We have a two week break right now. Actually, I have a three week break. I skipped out on the Christmas show and eating the cookies that the kids frosted themselves (yum yum, what are those little green decorations, honey? They look so tasty).

I never realize how many creatures come up to my front porch at night until the snow falls and they leave tracks. This looks like bunnies to me, although bunnies usually leave turds all over the place.

what does this mean?

Last night I dreamed that some engineers built an invisible roller coaster. It was fashioned after drawings originally made by Leonardo da Vinci. I saw some people riding it. George's dad was one of the people. George was afraid that his dad was putting his hands too close to the track. That was hard to know, of course, since it was all invisible. I was concerned that someone could get hurt, like maybe an airplane would need to make an emergency landing in this field someday, and run right into the roller coaster. Or maybe some kid would be riding a four-wheeler and run into it. There was an office there, and they wanted to hire me to sit at the desk. I wanted the job, because they said that I didn't even need to answer the phone, just sit there from 9am to 12pm, and I'd get paid.

I caught this blooper on CNN on Sunday

tee hee

memoirs

In 2000 we moved from Rochester, NY to Pittsfield, MA for George's new job. I was not happy about the entire situation and had no idea what to do with myself, except to go out looking for another picture framing job, which I had plenty of experience for.

All I've ever wanted to do with my life since I was a kid is draw cartoons. I guess this move to MA was the time when I felt desperate enough to just sit down and start drawing stuff, and see where it would go. I have always felt like a wannabe, and my drawings were really not that great. For some reason it is just in me that I have to do this.

A lady from George's company was there to help us find a temporary apartment. Her name was Gay Johnson. Whenever anyone would refer to her, they would always say "Gay Johnson," not just "Gay." Maybe she did the same. It must be a little awkward when introducing yourself for the first time, to start out with "Hi, I'm Gay." I'm pretty sure she said, "Hi, I'm Gay Johnson."

After she helped us find a place to live, I drew a cartoon on a little thank you note for her. This is a sketch of what I drew. I made some changes to the final one, which she has.




Gay was crazy happy about the card. She loved it, and this was very encouraging to me.



This is a bad sketch I drew of the apartment we stayed in, a furnished little one-bedroom place, connected to Mary Jo's Hair Salon.

I spent a lot of time sitting behind the kitchen table drawing and watching non-stop news about Elian Gonzalez.

For the next few years I drew cartoons and sent them to magazines, (and got rejected), and then there was a little ad in a local paper looking for an artist. I had enough cartoons by then to show them what I could do, so I had an interview there and got the job, freelancing for them.

For all these years it has been my goal just to make the same amount of money drawing as I made picture framing, and this year it seems I have finally accomplished that. It is a great feeling to be doing what I love to do. I can only thank God right now for the optimism I feel about what the future holds.

doodle of the day

He's friendly.

My interpretation of a French Bulldog...

If you click on this guy you can see some French Bulldog Christmas cards, t-shirts, and other gifty stuff!

happy thanksgiving eve eve

This morning I was back in Panera working on some new dog doodles. Even though Christmas shopping has already begun, it's never too late to upload some new stuff onto Cafepress.



I happened to be sitting next to a very loud gossipy crowd in there today. I haven't heard so much cackling since the montage of cackling Hillarys on The Daily Show with John Stewart.

Christmas Cards by me

Hey everyone, check out my new SQUIDOO page featuring my Christmas cartoon greeting cards. :)

doodle of the day

I've been doodling a lot of little dogs lately.

blahhhhhhhhhhhh

I have the blahs tonight.

for lack of anything better to say...

We need to find some new favorite shows. I can't watch Jay Leno anymore because of the writer's strike. And George has no more Dog the Bounty Hunter.

..............

I hate shopping for clothes.

..............

Have you ever noticed that, even though alligators are grey, virtually all cartoon alligators are green.

..............
A summary of my day...

This morning I helped a bunch of preschoolers glue things. Then I went to Borders, and I was going to sit down and have a cup of Seattle's Best coffee, but there was a group of Girl Scouts in there, taking a guided tour of Borders, and they had all the tables full of reserved seats with little cupcakes waiting for them. So I went to Starbucks for my coffee. There is no free internet in there, so I was going to draw for a while. A lady I have never met before wanted to see my drawings and ended up sitting down and talking to me for a long time. That was different. Then I bought some gifts at Babies R' Us for a baby shower I'm going to tomorrow. Then I went to the mall and tried on some boots that didn't fit right. Then I tried on a few sweaters, and actually bought one. Then I went to Wegmans and bought some sushi. Then I came home, and discovered that the girl at the Bon Ton forgot to remove the security device from my sweater. So I can either try to remove it and have ink explode in my face, or drive all the way back to the mall to have them remove it. Now I've eaten my sushi, and watched Dog the Bounty Hunter cry on Larry King, and written this blog post. I think I will go to bed now.

adventures in the dollar store

I am sick n' tired of my sunglasses continually falling apart. I'm down to one pair and I keep forgetting to take them out of George's car. So today I bought three top-of-the-line pairs at the dollar store. There is a treasure trove of stuff in there! Who knew, you could buy a set of screwdrivers for a buck? These sunglasses even claim 100% U.V. protection. Of course, I'm sure China would never try to deceive anyone.

an unintended science experiment

On Wednesday someone at church asked me if I'd paint a picture of a schoolhouse on a bed sheet. They are using it as a prop in a children's program tonight. It's supposed to look like the schoolhouse in Wonderpets, which I never heard of until Wednesday, and got to hear the Wonderpets theme song and show intro online. So I've been singing that for the past two days as I've been painting this.



I really wanted a little yellow paint to paint the insides of the windowsill flowers, but the only paint I had was in a spray can. No problem, I'll just spray a little into this styrofoam cup, and then I'll paint it on.

I found out that this is what spray paint will do to a styrofoam cup:



And my brush is still recovering from the trauma. After all that, I didn't like the yellow anyway, and painted it over with white.



This could actually pass for art in some museums.

blast from the past

When I was a senior in high school I was never without this sketchbook.



During study halls I'd sit and draw an ongoing comic strip which included appearances by a bunch of my classmates. Here are a couple of bits from "Bionic Bill vs. Andy Gram." Someday I'd like to blog this whole thing, but it will take a lot of scanning.




Those of you who knew me in high school may recall that "Bionic Bill" is John Gasper, who had a lot of input in the writing of these stories.

I'm older than I was, but younger than I will be.

A particular person keeps pointing out to me that I have wrinkles on my forehead.

Personally, I don't mind. So far I have lived all of my adult life with people questioning whether I am really a grown-up.

Today I turned 34.

34's not a bad age. I think I'll stick with it for a while.

I feel good I feel great I feel wonderful...

A few thoughts from my coffee-fueled brain this fine morning...

*****************

Belgian waffles are one of those things that smell really great, but they taste just ok.

*****************

Why does the gas pump have to ask me if I want my receipt? Of course I want my receipt! Duuuuhh!

*****************

This is my second morning this week working on my laptop in Panera Bread. I really like working in here. The coffee is very good. The caramel lattes are stupendous. Lunch is affordable. Free Wi-Fi. It helps me get out of my house and into the world. And the people working here are a constant reminder that if I don't get my work done and make some money, I too could end up behind that counter slicing sandwiches.

*****************

One job I never want to experience again... Cutco sales representative. Here are some of my notes from my Cutco meeting back in 2001. I sold some to my parents and then got my butt out of that unfortunate career detour.



*****************

I really do feel good today.

random thoughts in a coffee shop

Sometimes I enjoy listening to other peoples' conversations in this coffee shop. And sometimes I think other people are just kind of annoying.

******************

For the past week I've been avoiding coffee because of sinus problems. But now I feel better, so am back here enjoying an Italian blend.

******************

It finally feels like October.

******************

I can't stand it when people have really long toenails. Now that it's cooler, those people should put their socks and shoes back on.

******************

I am addicted to pomegranates again.

******************

Lately I keep having very weird dreams. Very very weird ones.

******************

In my lifetime I want to draw a syndicated comic strip. And when I do, if I do, it will be very funny. Not like a bunch of the stupid stuff that is in the newspaper today. Mine will be roll-on-the-floor-laughing funny. I just need to come up with the right theme. Someday.

Come back! I have vitamins and minerals!!!

Today's post is sponsored by the letter "I."

a new blog post!

I have been doodling less lately. Since I got my laptop I have been enjoying the new experience of working on it in coffee shops, which is where I usually was doodling. Even though my chair at home is more comfortable, there is something very fun about having the internet pop up right there at my table.

Here are some doodles I drew in church. The creature saying "stop it!" is based on the face of a boy sitting in front of us, who kept on fighting with his brother.

A guy sitting in front of us in church last week was giving his kids paper to draw on during the service. He jokingly asked me and George if we'd like some drawing paper. I said, "No thanks, I have my own." Little did he know, I am not kidding, ha ha.



**************************

Have a craving for Ho-Hos? Then come on down to the Ho Ho Buffet. All varieties of Ho Hos for one low price.

phooey

Blogger won't let me post any pictures tonight.

Luggages Luggages Luggages

I am finally home after going on many adventures over the last four weeks. One interesting place to visit but not to live... Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

away on business

I am still around. I'll be at my parents' house for the next week and a half, doing some work at their business while they are away on vacation. I am enjoying a lazy Sunday today. Right now I am going through a bunch of old photos I found, and organizing them in my Picasa photo album. There is a link to it on my sidebar.

playing with my new mac