For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 18, 2011

Awwwww….

That’s nice of you Elly…but left over macaroni????

she’s what, 4? she hated it last week she eats it this week she’ll yell next week. that is the definition of a 4 year old

How much would it take to make a little extra for her family? This is getting really mean!!

… I could have used an Elly when my kids were babies…

Kids that age are always changing their minds.

I wouldn’t call that whacko. I’d call that a huge help and a great friend. I haven’t had any children (yet) but I have had a family member die unexpectedly. Those meals were nice b/c we were not only grieveing but spending our time trying to get a hold of family members and making funeral arrangements. When I broke my ankle, two of my friends brought meals for us so my hubby (who’s a fantastic cook) didn’t have to cook.

I’ve been given meals, and I have sent meals out…and I’m reasonably sure that I am not a whacko…

Going out on a limb here but I’m guessing John Abrams doesn’t have any friends.

Recipes scale pretty easily, particularly by simple ratios (like, say, doubling to make one batch for your family and one for your friend). It would appear that Elly actually went to some extra effort to give her family warmed-up leftovers. Which suggests she’s trying to send them a message…

John is a grown adult, and whining. I think he is capable of fixing something he likes for himself if he rejects her offerings. Better yet, fix something for the whole family. Lots of husbands make a stop for take-out food for the family on the way home from work. That’s always well received in most of the homes that I know.

Elly,you are a True Gem!

Bet she would’ve appreciated the help at the time,j.a.

Whenever I’ve made food to help someone out, I always made a larger amount so my family would get some also. Seems odd that she didn’t.

To the complainers in the group, a night of leftovers aren’t going to kill them. Can’t a person do something nice without getting criticized? She’s not letting them starve. Sheesh.

Might be that she doesn’t like macaroni with red sauce (which is what hers had in that strip). This looks like either butter or mac & cheese.

I appreciate the fact that she helped but making enough for both families wouldn’t have taken that much time. Besides, she made several meals for Annie’s family to last for days. All she had to do was make enough of one meal for her family to go with the mac and cheese.

Its like the preacher who is so busy saving souls that he forgets about those souls under his own roof.

Good lord… it doesn’t matter what Elly does—people still spew hate at her. What does that remind me of….? Oh yeah! Being a part-time teacher. Teaching close to a full load, getting half the pay with no benefits, scrambling to help and please as many students as possible while still teaching them what they need to know about the subject and responsibility, and then getting hate-spewing emails from the few who can’t be pleased about anything.

What? It’s been a rough week already with midterm grades and being completely broke. I’m a little sensitive to criticism today, even aimed at others.

I think it’s really great that Elly is doing something so nice for her friend but I also think it wouldn’t have taken that much more time, effort and ingredients to make a little bit extra for her family too. If she’s going to all that trouble in the first place then why not? At least that’s what I would have done anyhow.

Niki – I hope you have a better second half of the week. I think teachers are the world’s saints, and can pretty much do no wrong in my book. Thanks for taking on one of the most important jobs the world has to offer.

Regarding the strip, sometimes comic strip artists will exaggerate a situation to make a point or a joke (as opposed to a documentary, which more or less tells things like it is). Very possibly Lynn Johnston actually would have just scaled up dinner in reality, but wanted to make a point it’s really tough for new parents to keep things together the first few weeks after they have a new child. Not exactly sure how feeding you family mac and cheese for an evening is a form of family-abuse; I always loved it when my mom served macaroni and cheese. I also loved PB&J (more for lunch than for dinner, but if my mother ever fed that to me for dinner once, which she may have for all I know once she started working again, I don’t think much less of her for it).

Maybe it was more important to use up the leftovers. They’ll get the casserole tomorrow!

I’ll bet she would have welcomed a helping hand though. Mother’s aren’t expected to be slaves any more.

You do unto others what you want them to do unto you. It’s the Golden Rule and Elly is following it. Though I never learned what their religion is.

And if John had helped Elly out there might have been enough hands AND time to make a decent meal for themselves AND the new mother.

HECK, I’d eat leftover macaroni ANY DAY over POT ROAST. BLEEEEECH.

As someone stated above — no matter what Elly did it would never be right.