Making Ends Meet: Browse The Strips

Friday, October 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I loved making up names. When I thought up the word Grubberware, it immediately conjured up the idea of a party where toilet brushes, rubber gloves, plungers, and other unattractive bathroom cleaning stuff would be displayed and sold. This meant I could draw toilet-related stuff (which was rather discouraged) and possibly get away with it. I guess there's a part of me that will always want to bug the guy in charge.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Lynn's Comments: After reading Tom Sawyer, I was convinced that spooks really did come out at night. My dad was no help; he loved to tell ghost stories. The Brothers Grimm book was a favourite of my grandfather's. Between the two of them, my brother and I were reluctant to go out in the dark until the year that my grandma gave us flashlights for Christmas. We used these to expel ghosts from corners, creeps from closets, and bugs from the bed sheet, until the batteries ran out!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Like my mother, I couldn't resist the hungry faces of kids at the door. It's amazing, isn't it, how fresh baking makes folks magically appear.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here is another true-to-Johnston-life happening. Rod decided to carry on his father's tradition of making pancakes on Sunday morning but cancelled his next performance due to lack of interest. In colder climates, even pancakes aren't enough to make one leave a warm, toasty bed!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When we had people over, my kids often sat quietly at the top of the stairs hoping for worthwhile gossip or a chance to sneak into the kitchen and swipe some goodies. I knew they were there. I could easily have shoved them off to bed, but as long as it wasn't a school night, I figured, out of sight, out of mind. This liberty came to an end when Aaron, after a huge ingestion of pop, decided to burp the alphabet. The hallway created the perfect amplifier. He was in bed by the time he got to "P."

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Because this storyline took place in late October, I had to make up something that would cover both the houseware party and Halloween. Imagining that John had picked up a costume for Michael created an opportunity to have some fun.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: It was fun to imagine this scenario: tea-sipping ladies caught off guard, shrieking at an evil face in the window. Funny situations like this drifted into my imagination so easily. I loved drawing facial expressions, and I loved making up names like "Nedwitt." Writing and drawing something like this was a joy.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: As I imagined this scenario, it occurred to me that the women I hung out with were all pretty strong willed and assertive. One of us would certainly have gone out to confront the delinquent outside, and she would have been armed!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Once again, my husband complained that I had made "John" look like an idiot. He wished that I'd make him the hero once in a while, which I thought I did! It's just that comedy requires somebody to be the fall guy, and, unfortunately, John was an easy target.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The night I went trick-or-drinking, I wore a white-blonde wig, a Dolly Parton-style outfit, and my false teeth. In a British accent I'd learned from my mother, I greeted our wary hosts who repeatedly begged me to tell them who I was. I was one of the few revellers that night who got to do the big reveal the following day.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The problem was also compounded by the fact that the kids never liked those odd-coloured, molasses tasting, wax paper wrapped toffees that you only see during the last days of October--they'd always leave them for me. These ugly things are still given out at Halloween, they still taste the same, and I still like them!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Like so many, I would rather buy a can of pumpkin filling or purchase a whole darned ready-made pie, than go to the trouble of making one myself. In reality, I have only once cooked and eaten a pumpkin. In this one true-to-life case, I did cook our Halloween pumpkin and learned a valuable lesson: Never cook a pumpkin you've used as a Jack-o-lantern...it tastes like *#$%!!!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: There were times that I did outshine my mom-in-law, but it was not in the pie-making department. I made great casseroles, soups, and stews; she did the breads, the roasts, and the baking. Both of us were fine in the veg department, so between Ruth and myself, we provided our men-folk with some mighty fine grub. There's nothing like two women in the kitchen--especially when they're both a bit competitive!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The original Farley really did love chewing gum. I discovered his penchant for gum when I saw him take some out of a wastebasket, work the Kleenex off it, and continue to chew for some time without swallowing. I had never seen a dog do this before, so Farley's gum chewing became a bit of a party trick. He particularly liked Juicy Fruit--even if it had been previously enjoyed. The thing was to make sure I was there when he spat it out, or I'd have a surprise on my foot later on.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My mother-in-law, having been an elementary school teacher for many years, readily took on the challenge of teaching our children whatever they hadn't been able to grasp in school. She once used a fresh pie to help Aaron learn fractions. My dad-in-law was in the room when she asked, "What do we call the biggest piece of pie?" and it wasn't Aaron who answered but Tom who, smiling easily, said, "mine!"

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My mother used to nag me to do my homework. She didn't have to--really, it was just something she had to do. Her nagging drove me crazy. I'd get my work done, just not at the precise moment that she wanted me to! Perhaps it was her need to have everything organized and under control--or perhaps it's because she was not allowed to finish her own education that she was so focused on homework and studying. My mom's father didn't believe in educating women because "they would just get married and have children and waste it all." How unfortunate. How narrow minded he was. I hope there's a life or two after this one and that she gets another opportunity!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was recently reminiscing about the great lunches I used to make for him; "Other kids might have a slice of cheese and some dry, white bread--but we got a great big, honking SANDWICH!" Katie didn't share his enthusiasm; "I used to trade mine with a boy who always had sugar sandwiches." (She's always had a sweet tooth.) I wasn't angry that Katie had given her lunches away--considering the poor diets of some kids, he probably needed a good, nutritious lunch more than she did.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The other place where a silent candy wrapper is needed is church! Mom never minded the peppermints Dad brought so we kids would stay awake during the sermon... she was embarrassed by the sounds of the wrapper!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When I did this drawing, I actually felt my arm waving in the air desperately wanting to answer a question--it brought me back to my grade school days. I never missed an opportunity to show off. It was always disappointing to have the teacher ask someone else, someone less energetic than myself. There is one serious drawback to being chosen after such a wild display of shoulder-wrenching arm gestures, however: If you get the answer wrong, you look pretty darned silly!!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I think I see my school days through "rose coloured glasses." I remember mostly good times, positive times with good friends and good teachers. I tend to forget the teasing, the bullying, and the tears. I've put aside the failures, the fiascos, and the teachers who made me want to quit. I've forgotten all the bad stuff and the sad stuff... and things I did that I wish, if given a chance, I'd do differently. My years in the hallowed halls now seem like the "good old days," and perhaps that's for the best. If I learned anything I guess I learned how to laugh at myself and be happy.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I rarely saw my parents kissing. Sometimes they held hands but it was a discreet show of affection--which was quickly over if someone drew attention to it. Still, they were very romantic. They thought about each other and did things for each other easily and naturally. They were husband and wife, but they were also the best of friends. I often made fun of the two of them and their mushy ways, but in the end, I wish for all the world I could have had a marriage like theirs.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I always wondered how teachers, with all they have to do and all the students they have to keep track of, still, out of the corner of an eye, manage to catch the troublemakers red handed!