For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 28, 2020

yikes

Oh, that doesn’t look good. Elly has not even gotten to the bathroom before she collapses. Taking care of April has worn her out. It’s either that or the punchline pushed her into the recliner.

Interesting, talking to her daughter and she calls her dad “John”???

Why would Elly say “a relative of John’s” to the father of her daughter?? She must be so rattled. Simply say “She’s a cousin on the Patterson side.”

She made a mistake. Life will go on.

Isn’t Elizabeth old enough to take on some of what Elly’s doing?

https://www.fborfw.com/features/who/index.php?id=Fiona%20Brass

For those who don’t mind spoilers, this is Fiona’s story.

I said it yesterday and I’ll reiterate. Having company, even a CLOSE relative (which Fiona is NOT), is WORK. Elly should not have to be entertaining. And EVEN IF John and the kids did all the work (which we know would never be the reality), there still is a feeling of invasion of privacy during these early days with a new baby, when Mom is trying to get into a new routine with the addition to the household. A guest disrupts this. I would not only be resentful, I would have told my husband that he has to tell Fiona that this isn’t a good time. Politely reschedule 3 months from now. Or 6. My husband would not have done this anyway.

Yeah, that’s working very well so far! /s

Frankly, I blame El on this one. I would never clean the house before the house cleaner gets there. I am sure this is true because I know I don’t mow before the lawn kid comes over. Period!

Personally, I love Elly. Everyone (even cartoon characters) have flaws. Those of you who are perfect may not realize that. LOL

If cartoon characters did not have flaws, the strip would not be funny or interesting. That is what is powerful about FBOFW, the flaws of the characters make us reflect upon ourselves, and sometimes allow us to laugh at our own flaws.

John should be doing all this work

I love the way Lynn builds a joke until the last panel just nails the punch line.

She never fails.

That woman will wear out her welcome I’m sure.

This reminds me of my mother. After my father died, my brother and I hired a cleaning lady to come to Mom’s house a couple of times a week to do the heavy lifting and things in the house that our mother, who was in her 80’s at the time, shouldn’t be doing herself.

My mother always used to rush around the house dusting and vacuuming etc. before the cleaning lady would arrive because she didn’t want the woman to think she was a lousy housekeeper!

GIVE JOHN THE BUCKET AND MOP.

I remember a story in Reader’s Digest. The new housecleaner had just finished right before teenaged son arrived home with his friends and left a trail of coats, backpacks and sports equipment on the way to making a mess in the kitchen. Mom nervously asked if she’d come back next week. Housecleaner said she would, as long as Mom never told anybody she was their housecleaner.

" I refuse to get into a Theological Discussion"….