For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 15, 2010

as per my response from yesterday I was wrong , shes griping to Anne, not cConnie

The thing probably doesn’t even have a tape-deck. It’s going to be obsolete VERY soon.

A trash compactor for Christmas. How romantic - NOT. Use a little imagination, John.

OK - NOW - it’s hitting close to “home”! (said the guy with size 12 Hush Puppies!)

You know what they say about the size of a man’s hands and feet….

They need big gloves and shoes? ;-)

My husband bought a vacuum cleaner a couple days before Christmas this past year, and I made it crystal clear that it would not be my Christmas or birthday gift.

Never mind getting a much needed appliance as a gift, especially if it has been upgraded to make it more special. When you don’t have a lot to spare it makes it nicer; and you know the thought was there. Now a trash compactor was “in” when this strip first came out. No longer are, and for good reason. I wouldn’t want one ever! (and i have female size 7 feet)

Elly has to look at the big picture. She has a very nice life, he doesn’t run around on her, Or come home drunk. The children and her are dressed very nicely, they have a nice home, etc. If he wants a new stereo so be it.

I got a compost bin for Christmas two years ago and a tiller last year. And I loved them both (in fact, I asked for the compost bin and picked it out myself). I told my husband that if he bought something useless I’d return it. He’s gotten me jewelry in the past, but how many necklaces and earrings can you wear?

I bought my wife a punch bowl set for Christmas and she commented on it but it was the best thing she had when it came time for parties.

^And she sees her husband as a trash compacter. If my wife saw me that way, I’d probably buy her the mechanical kind, too.

I’m growing tired of this arc, I must say, and I’m losing all patience with Elly.

Looks like everyone has forgotten how much Elly spent when she went to buy the can opener. Typical.

@jaeldid66=be sure to read the comments addressed to you yesterday, and good luck.

a trash compactor would make life easier, and wouldnt have as many smelly feet.

Avolunteer said “Now a trash compactor was “in” when this strip first came out. No longer are, and for good reason. I wouldn’t want one ever! ”

I have a trash compactor and love it. We live way out in the country and what I can’t compost or burn in the wood stove or recycle we have to haul to the dump ourselves. The compactor makes it much easier to only make one dump run a month. Plus, the bags are made to break down.

Household items like trash compactors, refrigerators, stoves, etc…, or items with which to do household work for the family are NOT gifts. They are household necessities, and everyone uses them. That’s not a gift. He really is A DOOFIS! However…

I agree with cdward & howtheduck.

Her behavior is really making me sick!!! I can’t stand her more and more the second time around. She never does anything to correct the situations she so deplores. Just complain, complain, complain. I’m glad she’s miserable.

I hope he bought some big speakers with killer woofers to drown out her incessant woofing!

X-D Very funny! Elly never asked for trash compactor. Sheeshhh! Weird!

If I need a new appliance, it should be part of the budget, not a gift. Plus, I want to pick out the features & color myself. If you don’t want your wife to pick out your tools, why should she want you to pick out hers? That said, Elly does a lot of whining!

Come on Elly, you knew what John was like before you got married him,

Deal with it.

Wow…

reading all of these posts just makes me realized exactly how incredibly lucky I am to be married to my husband!

He doesn’t think as long as a woman isn’t getting cheated on or beaten that she should just shut up and be happy.

I’m beginning to understand why so many marriages end in divorce.

Hey, Mrs. Luke..got two things for ya:

First.. if your going to continue to insult John, could you atleast spell it properly? According to 2004 Meriam/Webster dictionary “doofis” is spelled DOOFUS

Second..do you hate all women or just Elly in particular? Going by some of your comments, I really can’t tell.

So am I wrong for buying my lovely female accomplice a Roomba robot vacuum for Mother’s Day when it’s exactly what she asked for?

I find it very interesting that so many people are complaining about Elly complaining!

Someone wise said, “Women marry men, hoping that they’ll change; men marry women hoping they won’t.” If Elly was hoping John would change after they were married, she’s in for disappointment after disappointment.

AMEN traciann76. BTW I think Mrs. Luke hates everybody, no discrimination. Is also always right.

Absolutely not, MsngNola…my husband has bought me new appliances and kitchenware as a gift…but the difference is it’s something I’ve asked for or that he knows I’ve been wanting. I would love a Roomba! lol Thanks Pattybf…good to know.

Ya, because talking specifically about this comic strip equates to everyone else on earth in your little minds. Go wait on your husbands.

I just keep wondering out loud why nobody else who says the same things I do ever get called out, just me. Do you read the rest of the comments, or just mine?

It looks to me like traciann76 may be rrt46’s new account. Pattybf looks like the new backup troll account. I’ll let the site know.

I have no idea who rrt46 is..but please, contact the site so that you’ll look even more the fool.

Wait on my husband? Hardly.

As I’ve said before, but I’ll speak slowly for you, Mrs. Luke..comics are a significant sign of the times. Look throughout history..if you can figure out how.

And while you are absolutely correct that this is just one comic..look at the world around you (if you can get your nose out of the air that is) People treat each other like bleeep, especially their spouses.

How interesting that you never did answer my question as to if it’s women in general or Elly in particular.

I’m thinking in general.

If this strip was a reality show . The reality would be the brand new fully-loaded , custom paint-job Lamborghini multi / variable speed under-the-counter , takes a Rocket Scientist an entire weekend or a Handyman that will take monthly payments for installation , Deluxe all in one Can Opener . Setting on top of the note on the supperless dinning room table that reads … Jon , I used this weeks grocery budget for this opener . We will be dinning out this week and until it’s installed and working as advertised . Love Elly

I don’t believe the Female of our Spices are vindictive or hold grudges . The facts are , somehow , someway , seams like they always get even . Just Joking , not this last part , Ha Ha . My poison-pen letterbox is already full .

Elly you need to get out of the house and spoil yourself.

MrsLukeSkywalker said: “Household items like trash compactors, refrigerators, stoves, etc…, or items with which to do household work for the family are NOT gifts. They are household necessities, and everyone uses them. That’s not a gift.”

MisngNOLA said: “So am I wrong for buying my lovely female accomplice a Roomba robot vacuum for Mother’s Day when it’s exactly what she asked for?”

I agree with both Mrs.Luke’s statement & MisngNOLA’s question.

As a wife of 21 years and counting …

Household items that are necessities for everyone’s use (whether they’re actually using it themselves or someone’s using it for them, like the can opener, for instance) are not gifts! Any man that would buy a “gift” like this for his wife as a birthday/anniversary/Christmas gift really doesn’t know her at all!

The only exception to this statement would be if it’s a specific request (just as traciann76 said).

For example: my husband knows I’ve been coveting a KitchenAid stand mixer for 2 or 3 years now but research showed some of the parts were made with inferior plastic pieces that may not hold up for too long (depending upon how strenuously it’s used, such as to make bread dough). About a month ago, Kohl’s came up with a really great deal on the more expensive (normally $500.00) professional model (made with metal parts instead of plastic) for about half-price. Long story short: I’ve already got what I consider to be my Christmas 2010 present. But if I know my husband … he’s not going to: 1.) let Christmas go by without giving me a gift of some sort and 2.) let a kitchen appliance be my gift even though I’ve been wanting it for so long!

GretchensMom, I’ve had the Kitchenaid 6 qt. Professional Stand Mixer with several of the optional attachments for about 7 years. I love it! That’s a great thing to receive as a gift. I wish mine was a gift. I grew up with one, so I already knew they were great when I went to choose my own. I make excellent pasta with the roller attachments too. I’m sure you can talk him into it. They are a bit expensive, but they last forever, and Kitchenaid has a great replacement policy. If anything goes wrong, they send you a new one.

All parts are metal, except for the clear bowl shield with the plastic pouring chute. The motors are strong, because they’re made for chefs who use them a lot. Some of the attachments that you buy separately are plastic, like the grinder, but they’re made of PVC. The stuff they use for plumbing. You can’t break any of the pieces I have, but I don’t have them all. The pasta rollers are stainless steel. The bowl is stainless, and the mixing attachments are stainless or aluminum, depending on which. It’s very high quality equipment, that’s why it’s a bit pricey. Those plastic pieces are tough. Don’t worry about that. The mixer itself only has a plastic knob where you screw on the attachments. Check out Kitchenaid online. There’s more fun there than at Kohl’s, lol. More choices too. If it’s on sale in a store, Kitchenaid usually matches the sales offers online. (They should hire me to do commercials!)

I hope this helps you out. I agree, something like that that you want is a great gift. So is the Roomba, since she wanted one. Elly said she didn’t even want the trash compactor.

Mrs. Luke. I have no idea what a backup troll is(doesn’t sound very nice), but go ahead. You know, you are always calling Elly out for whining. In the meantime I am always reading that you believe you are the only one persecuted for your opinions on this site. You whine about it all the time. Maybe you should read your own posts. Also, when someone agrees with you (including me) you are all lovey-dovey. Disagree and it becomes a personal attack. I was under the impression that this was an open discussion about a comic strip we all like. Guess not for some.

Excuse me, Ophelia? Until this day I had not even seen Patty’s posts before.

“Why are you helping to harass people?”

People?? I made TWO comments to ONE person and I’m harrassing people??

I didn’t realize people weren’t able to comment on other’s opinions..I foolishly thought this was an OPEN DEBATE forum.

I guess it just depends on who you agree with and who you don’t.

I’m sorry Patty, truly did not mean to have anything come down on you.

And Ophelia..who exactly is harrassing who? I never brought up your name, your opinion or your posts…hmmm

Ophelia. You are correct. I only recently signed on but that does not mean that I have not been reading all of the posts for a long time. I am always reluctant to wade in when people on a site seem to be so used to one another (it’s sort of like trying to break into the clique in high school)and now I know why. I didn’t say anything about you, so I really don’t know why you are so ready to attack me. Seems a little strange.

Ophelia…just because she just signed up 10 days ago doesn’t necessarily mean that she just started reading the comics and comments. I’ve been reading them for quite some time now but just recently signed up so that I could comment if I wanted to do so. I have to agree with the majority of the posters here that there are certain people on here that comment daily just to complain about Elly. For crying out loud, if the comic or characters annoy you that much, just quit reading it. I’m sure nobody would miss you here.

I think women of this era did a lot of complaining because they didn’t know yet that they didn’t have to be treated like part of the furniture. Women have learned a lot more about relationships over the past 30-40 years – and we don’t remember what we didn’t know back then. Elly represents a lot of young married women with small children from this era – they had figured out that something was wrong, but they didn’t have a clue what to do about it yet. In addition, there was no reference point – our mothers had had it far worse and were often more sympathetic to the husband than to the complaining wife – much like many of the commenters on this site (not anyone in particular for those who jump to take offense). Thank goodness that many of today’s women have figured out how to get their needs met – Elly has not – tho I think that as the comic progressed, she did find some peace.

To Susan001: Thank you for making me realize that I should not be buying into the drama anymore and I mean it. I think I will watch from the sidelines again.

You know what they say about the size of a man’s hands and feet….

‘They’ are wrong. There is no particular correlation.

i’m terrible with receiving gifts. only ones i got when i was a kid were from my mum, who’d throw out nearly all i owned, including said gifts every so often i’m great at giving, but now getting, well, i go into panic attack mode i’d still like a roomba tho

I’m with Phoebe on this. Give me a practical gift I will really enjoy using for many years. But I didn’t always feel that way. When I was young I thought the only worthwhile kind of love was romantic, starry-eyed, and frankly, a little frivilous. But there came a time when little doodads and pretty jewelry became a little tiresome to me. What it usually meant was that my husband had waited until the last minute to go shopping, and picked up a “safe, easy” gift that didn’t require much thought. While I like chocolates and flowers as much as the next woman, I like a gift that shows my husband thought about what I personally would like, not just what any other woman in the world might like.

I’ve already received, used and absolutely adore my new KitchenAid stand mixer! I don’t know how on earth I lived without it all these years!

Oh … and it’s the pretty red one too!!!!!