Chapter 4, Cover Delivery

The main thrust of this chapter is going to be Mom's pregnancy and the birth of the baby. However, I thought it fair to warn you that there's also going to be a lot of stand alone strips, too.

Can you imagine 44 pages of nothing but pregnancy jokes? @.@

Chapter 3, Page 44 Happy Birthday, Jesus

We used to do this. I don't know why we don't any more. Maybe it got to be too much work. Anyway, it's a nice memory, sitting around the table singing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus.

In case you can't tell, there's a little figure of baby Jesus in the manger on the table.

Chapter 3, Page 43 Waiting for Santa (Sorry for the delay)

Sorry this is late. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of this week's backlog up over the weekend.

(One of the downsides to the holidays. Things get crazy!)

Oh, and yes, I really did continue believe in Santa through my preteen years. I think I was thirteen or fourteen before I finally gave up.

Ah well. ^^;

Sorry for the Delay

Do to circumstances beyond my control...

Okay, so I could have controlled it. It's kinda complicated. (More like embarrassing.)

The point is that the regularly scheduled update has been delayed. Hopefully I'll have something on Friday, more likely Saturday.

Thank you for your patience. Please excuse me while I hit my head against something hard.

Chapter 3, Page 42 Such is Life

Well, that's how things go, isn't it? Just a few holiday related strips and then the next chapter starts. Hopefully I'll be able to get a more coherent plot out of it.

Chapter 3, Page 41 The Dreaded Flashback

Flashbacks are really tricky, but this story was too good to pass up. Really, even though Grandpa is running a business out of his home it's still primarily a home. What kind of idiot would antagonize a good business man?

Not that he's rich or anything (he's definitely not). What I'm getting at is that this is a prime example of a bureaucracy having a 'shazam' moment.

(Off topic, but I really hate the word bureaucracy. I can never get it spelled right and when I try to use the spell checker it never shows up.)

Chapter 3, Page 40 Marbles

Item one: Mary really shouldn't yell across the house like that. She's in the second floor 'attic' (really a spare room used for storage) while Mom and Dad are in the dining room.

Item two: Did she really think through what she just said? Possibly, but it's hard to say. Jokes tend to come to mind and leak out her mouth without her really being aware of what happened. (That happens a lot, and not just with jokes.)

Still, the whole marble thing was way too good to pass up. Mom seems to think so, too.

Chapter 3, Page 39 Really Bad Shot

In Mary's defense, the snow is really too fluffy to make good snow balls. All those 'piff's in the third-to-last panel? That was all one snow ball that broke apart.

Ruth's tactic really makes more sense in these conditions. Unfortunately, there's no way Mary could ever pin Ruth down long enough to shove snow down her coat.

Yes, it's pathetic. Mary is 12 and Ruth is 9. Ruth is just much more solidly built than Mary. Yeah. It has nothing to do with Mary spending most of her free time sitting around reading.

...

Yeah. Right.

Chapter 3, Page 38 Mom the Houseplant

Dad loves this joke. Every time Mom sits under the light he has to say something about this. Not sure what Mom thinks about it. She usually just ignores him.

Note: I'd like to thank whoever is visiting Mary Quite Contrary from Summit, New Jersey. 50 visits since October 2nd. The most hits from a single visitor I've gotten.

Chapter 3, Page 37 The Light Box

I was shameless in my youth.

Of course, I was also totally oblivious to the fact that Mom was sick. I just thought moms slept a lot.

I did wonder why Dad worried about her so much, though.

Chapter 3, Page 36 Scooter

I'm amazed no one woke up after this.

Just to note, this is at Mary's paternal grandparent's. The trips there are very short, so the next strip will have Mary and company back at home.

I just really, really wanted to show this. There's nothing quite like discovering huge glowing eyes staring at you just before getting beaned by a streak of tabby.

I had no idea cats could move so fast. 0.0

Chapter 3, Page 35 Compassion?

Mom cares, she really does. You'd probably have to also be German to tell, though. (She was born in America, but she's very stereotypically German.)

Ah yes. You are feeling tired? So work, that'll wake you up.

Chapter 3, Page 34 Downside of the Season

I really do tend to get more nightmare type dreams around the holidays. All the stress, I think. Sometimes I wonder what the point of them is since they just make me more stressed out than I was before. (Not to mention the royal mess it makes of my sleep cycle.)

Here's something that I've been wanting to ask. How many kids have nightmares involving the death of their grandparents? That includes kids younger than Mary is now. I don't remember a time when I didn't have this sort of dream.