I recently came up with a new character, a specter of Jill’s former self from her teenage years who occasionally turns up in the bathroom mirror.

This character, whom I refer to as “80’s Jill,” serves several purposes. She’s there to remind Jill of earlier ideologies she sometimes forgets in her hectic, here-and-now mentality. Sometimes, she brings out former insecurities which Jill has tried to deny or forget. Other times, she’s just there to show off her gnarly hair roll.

80’s Jill creepily resembles my own high school yearbook photo minus the chubbier cheeks I sported back then (if I ever get the nerve, maybe I’ll post the photo). I like her so much, I decided to make her a reoccurring character in the strip.

On a different note…

New Year’s Resolution Update! :
I’ve managed to get ahead 2 days now.  I’m tempted to waste away one of those days due to the sniffles, but unless I have the plague, it’s back to the drawing board.

It’s been a hectic season. One nice thing: Hanukkah came early this year, so I was able to do most of the family
shopping before the mad rush. The cartoon character fared slightly differently:

Against better judgment, I bought my kids a big-ticket “educational” toy…one of those “Smart Globes” that you can update with online information. Normally the girls ignore the educational stuff, but I learned a trick…I didn’t force the toy on them but kept it sitting on our family room table like an odd little centerpiece. After a few days they began gravitating toward it. Once Mollie found the country named after her (“Mali”…close enough), she was hooked.

Meanwhile, I also gave them some much-desired Webkinz. While the globe was initially ignored, they were comforted by toys they really wanted. And never underestimate the lure of gift boxes…

Most of “our” family vacation (mine was about a day and a half long) was spent relaxing at home. At one point I became stir-crazy and forced an afternoon of culture onto my husband and kids. I dragged them semi-enthusiastically through the History Museum and then downright comatose through an Impressionism exhibit at the art museum. I think that gave them their fill for the year.

We also joined some other families at an indoor water park during a fun Xmas Day (yes, there actually is something else to do besides eat Chinese food) and spent another day volunteering at our synagogue. We helped make soup packages, artwork for hospice folk, and – I love this – “goody bags” for dogs and cats in animal shelters. Because I’m such a pack rat, the day inspired me to sort through the girls’ vast artwork collection and see about donating some to a kids’ hospital ward.

Yep, it was a jam-packed December-slash-early-January. Most of the time I was working, but it felt good to sleep in a little and enjoy the freedom of not having to coax the kids onto the bus or get them to do homework. A little relief goes a long way!

As for my New Year’s resolution (by the way, this was also an unmet resolution for ’07), I’m going to do my darnest to start earning myself some time off by working ahead. Believe it or not (if you’re a cartoonist you can believe it), this is an amazing feat. My initial cartoon launch was supposed to be Mother’s Day, 2006. It was pushed up to March, and what was supposed to be nice extra padding of a two-month lead forced me to barely meet my deadlines. I’ve never quite caught up and have been lucky so far not to have any emergency setbacks (oh yeah…I just jinxed myself).

Anyway, if I make it a goal of gaining two days each month, it is possible I could earn some substantial emergency/sick (me or kids) /vacation/personal/sanity/need to watch an 8-hour “Scrubs” marathon… time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy New Year!