Not a Big Fan of Laundry.

In my career as a cartoonist, I’ve tried not to be too complain-y about life as a stay-at-home mom, rarely have I complained about the ‘housework’, it’s my choice to be home, so it’s only fair that the lion-share is mine to do, whatever. I don’t get all saintly about it, but maybe it’s because I have a pretty high-threshold for filth. I can really let it go sometimes and not really worry about it too much, it’s a gift. But, with six people in my family now the laundry can get pretty, um, prolific. I can usually talk the kids into doing a whole heck of a lot of the folding, okay, I can command them to do it, and most of the time that’s cool. But, like the other day, there are those times when the kids are doing something really good and productive and I’m on round two of my Facebook newsfeed and there are six baskets of clean clothes on the bed, and well, someone HAS to do it. Might as well be me. But then I do it and guess what? The sense of satisfaction is pretty awesome, for about the 15 minutes that it all stays folded.

In this comic, I almost, sort of, come close to sounding complain-y about the kids too, something that I really try not to ever do, ever. I try to see the best in these little guys I’m sharing my life with, but I have to take the rose-colored glasses off and admit, that really without them, I wouldn’t have to do half the laundry, it’s just a fact and you know, the truth. The reason why kids aren’t more careful when rifling through their drawers, or more thoughtful when throwing their clean clothes on the floor, or more considerate when tossing their dirty clothes right beside the basket, has nothing to do with words like thoughtless, inconsiderate, or careless, it’s that they just don’t care. Oh, they care about me, just not about the clothes. I could walk around taking it personally, but if I’m honest with myself, I should remember when I finally started to ‘care’ about the laundry. I remember it like it was yesterday, because it kind of was, I only started to care because it threatened to get knee deep and someone needed to, and I’m really the person who ‘should’. So it’s hardly fair to hold it personally against them for not caring, they’re just kids, enjoying ‘the now’, and if that means throwing a barely-worn-for-5-minutes shirt on the floor, sigh, that’s just part of the joy. So anyway, the comic!

Doing this comic made me also question why all my clothes are black and grey and all the kids’ are colorful?

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Also, I wanted to mention that at any time, members can  sponsor a comic on Facebook. Here’s how it works:

1. See a comic here that you LOVE? Want to share the comic on Facebook, to get some needed likes and attention for yourself (and me, a win/win)?

2.Go to this page and make a $5 donation per comic: Wanna Share my Comics? when you pay for the comic tell me in the message which comic and on which Facebook page you’re going to post it.

3. if you know how to grab the .gif from my site, congratulations you little tech-monster, you! If you need me to send you the .gif I’ll do it as quickly as I can.

4. post the comic to your facebook page along with any pithy comments and the link to my sites: http://www.mamaiscomic.com and http://www.facebook.com/mama.is.comic

 

Here’s a great example!  My comic sponsored by This Milk Matters, Lactation Support:  Very Crafty  well over 8000 Likes!!!!!!!

And that’s all you have to do to be an official sponsor, thanks for being a fan!

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The Mama Is…Home book just in time for the New Year!

It’s time to Spring plant (Oh wait, my husband just told me that lots of people are still dealing with snow, okay, but the point is SOON it will be time to plant.) It’s also time to think about the way we are, and how we can be better, because it’s January and all is new. Well, the book Mama is… Home; Reflections on Home, Technology, and Babies, Of Course isn’t necessarily new, but it sort of is, because I never gave it a very good send off into the world because my mother passed away about a month after I published and then I didn’t do much talking about the book after that. Lo and behold, two years have almost gone by and the book still hasn’t gotten much of a send off, so here goes.

You know how in your heart you want to do better, be better, but your actions may not always meet up with your self-image? (hopefully it’s not just me!) This book is about all the funny little ways I am bad at this crunchy-granola mama thing – not the AP parts, I’ve got that figured out- but the cooking of good wholesome meals, the urban-gardening, the making of pancakes that my kids actually enjoy (spoiler alert: I’m not really very good at those;o) And I digress a bit (or do I?) into a discussion about my yearly read of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice(spoiler alert:it happens every 20 years;o) But throughout it all are a whole BUNCH of comics about mothering, some that have never been seen on my blog.

If you’re just visiting this blog and want to buy a copy, it comes signed and happily mailed by me, the goddess of moo, and my staff of happy elfs for Only $14.99! BUT, if you want to become a member, only $9.99 a year, you can buy the book for 25% off, which is awesome, I think you’ll agree!

Mama Is…Home; reflections on home, technology, and babies (of course)
$14.99

If you’re a member of this here site, thank you! To show my appreciation, follow this link to buy the book Mama Is…Home at 25% off list price: …

Mama is…Home (members price)
$11.24

Happy Monday! (I refuse to call it ‘cyber’)

Maybe it was too many years in art school reading, writing and debating art and humanity and the cyborg body. I’m boycotting the term cyb-anything.

Or maybe it’s just that I hate to have ordinary days of the week labeled anything other than ordinary days, or true holidays, like my birthday. It’s coming up by the way.

Or perhaps, it’s that I’m sick and tired of having my life defined by my shopping habits.

I went to the beach on Friday, I celebrated not it’s blackness (though it was pretty foggy)

I went to a friend’s house on Saturday for a movie, and didn’t set foot in a small business, either. (it doesn’t mean I won’t, just means I didn’t wanna that day, that’s all I’m saying.)

I spent today hanging with the kids and working on my website a bit (note the pretty pictures down the right side bar! and a new search bar! for functionality!) And come to find out it’s cyber-Monday and I was supposed to be on-line shopping. But I won’t, not today.

Maybe, ultimately, it’s because I’m out of money, but I like to think of myself as adorably curmudgeonly. Here’s a comic about Buy Nothing Day (the only other holiday that I DID celebrate besides Thanksgiving ;o)

Okay, I’m not curmudgeonly all the time, in a minute or two I’m getting off the computer to start DECORATING for Christmas!

idle parent

…This is based on one of my favorite parenting books of all time, The Idle Parent, by Tom Hodgkinson.

It borrows a lot from my most-est best-est favorite book, The Continuum Concept, and sort of modernizes it.

The Idle Parent makes the ideas a little more accessible, a little more hip, now, current and presents them with a wicked twist – especially for parenting older children. I whole-heartedly recommend the book, except for three pages (If I remember the count correctly, it’s been a while.) If you’d like to read my review of the book, it’s here: the idle parent by tom hodgkinson book review