No, it's OK, I'm fiiiine. Just go.

I refuse to believe that there are still husbands like the one in today's strip. Who would actually believe a spouse who includes something like, "No need to stay home for me!" in granting permission to go away for the weekend? I'm not one to condone passive-aggressiveness, but that right there is classic, and should be recognized by everyone. The guy is pretty much screwed at this point, and clearly has to do something to make it up to the wife--even though, honestly, he did nothing wrong. But that's just the way this works. Unless he does this regularly and is secretly having an affair. I doubt that's the case, though.

And submitter? I don't think it's something that just fishermen deal with.

Can you make goulash out of a hide?

The most confusing part of today's strip is the heading "Grounds for you know what". No, actually, I don't know what (not personally, anyway! *rim shot*). Divorce? I wouldn't really call this grounds for divorce. That's extreme. And why the heck was Drusilla making appetizers? It'd be one thing if she thought the boss was supposed to be coming to their house, but that doesn't seem to be the case. (Also, Al, don't use the name "Drusilla" again, as it only makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dru would clearly do something insane in revenge, which would be entertaining, but doesn't really fit with the strip.) I mean--look at all that food. That's only for Drusilla and Knotop? That just seems extreme.

If Knotop had any brains, what he would've done is come home and lied. He should've said that as he was leaving, his boss invited them over for dinner, and of course Knotop couldn't say no. Everybody wins (unless Drusilla says something about a "last-minute invitation" while at dinner). At least Knotop looks a bit sheepish. I would, too. Look at all that food! Well, at least Drusilla can bring the pie with her as a hostess gift.

Really, do women spend their whole days preparing a meal just for their husband when it's not something like their anniversary? Also, Al, a side salad doesn't take very long to whip up.

At least he'd be neat if she vacuumed his hide

Today's strip makes me wonder whether there's a divide here between the older and younger generations when it comes to chores. I admit that I, too, have indignantly done chores while hoping that a housemate would pick up on the cue and help. Even so, I can't feel too bad for the wife. Mrs. Leadbutt by this point should realize that he's not going to lift a finger without prompting. So she either needs to say something to him, or not get into a snit about it. I mean, at least he's offering to help, right? (Which reminds me of a story that I may have told before: So one time after dinner, my dad says to my mom that she shouldn't clean up after. "No," he said, "Barb can do it!" How very generous of him.)

Again, obviously it's not good that Leadbutt just sits there. At the very least, he could leave the room. But who knows...maybe he mows the lawn while she sits in a deck chair and reads a trashy romance novel.

And let's notice that it was submitted by a couple. Interesting. I guess they've been arguing about chores lately?

The urge to barf his bits. Ew.

Today's strip is one of those where I don't object to the overall message of the strip, but the execution just makes me say, "Come on!" The husband wants something called "Barf Bits"? Seriously? No. No company would ever sell that as a product for people to purchase and consume. I could see some company selling that as a gag (*rim shot*) gift, but that's it. No husband would be complaining that he couldn't eat his barf bits. No no no. And why does the mother look so upset in the top panel? Is it because she knows that her family is going to complain as soon as she gets back? If that's the case, then she should say, "OK, nobody has any suggestions. So don't complain when I get home and haven't bought the snack you like."

Interestingly, it seems the family is bothered that she got something similar to what they like, but not quite the right item. Either she doesn't know that Wheat Crums and Pistachio Wafers and Barf Bits are their favorites (doubtful), or she chose those possibly generic items to save money. Or she just enjoys pissing her family off, in which case, kudos to her. They seem like brats.

And really, it seems that they were all at home when she went shopping. They could've come along.

I like how we just have a "The urge." It's not "the urge to" do something specific. Just an urge.

Now I have a helpful egg cooker!

I'm trying to figure out why it's important in today's strip that Fignewt is retired. It's highlighted in both the expo box and Elpie saying that he needs to get a life (when she actually means he just needs to stop bothering her--which, really, would be what most people would say). I guess we have to assume that when he had a job, he wouldn't hover that way. Probably because he came home and found dinner on the table, as it should be.

I kind of feel bad for Fignewt, though; look at his face in that top panel. He doesn't look demanding or anything, just a bit sad. Aww. Maybe that's why it's important he's retired--he doesn't really feel a sense of purpose in his life, so tries to help out. Sure, what he's saying is annoying, but now I feel bad for him.

Same with the bottom panel. If they'd chosen something other than fried eggs, I might be less sympathetic, but I have major problems with them myself (mostly flipping them, to be honest). And Elpie is just pissing me off. And what's up with the layout of the house--the bedroom open to the kitchen like that? Particularly since it doesn't look that way in the top panel.

I always seem to wind up sympathizing with the wrong person in these things, don't I?

Inching closer to accuracy

While today's strip does seem to depict life in a period somewhat close to modern times, it's still not right. The only way this could possibly be accurate is if the "soap serial" Wifey likes is on E!, which does have a scrolling banner with headlines. But if you're just watching a regular soap opera, you're not going to see that. You know what channels have those? News channels. Which, last time I looked, don't actually show entertainment programs. (I'm using "entertainment" loosely here.) The only time I've seen those during regular programming is if there's something the network deems important--generally weather. So I can buy them having a "Heavy floods" warning up. And the ad for the Hap Hapless Show is acceptable as well. (And hey, congrats on the creator of Hap Hapless at the jump from a comic strip to a tv show!)

I'm gonna tag this as "stupid husband," too, because I blame him for not watching the show itself. I understand the scrolling marquee is distracting, but still.

SUV from the 50s

Today's strip just sort of baffles me. Are there people who would honestly put up with this? I'm sorry, but if my husband was all, "I'm taking the SUV," I'd reply, "I assume you're taking the kids and the Johnson kids to school, since there's no way we're fitting into the other car." This situation would happen once, not every time.

Love how the SUV looks like no SUV I've ever seen (but at least he got the lingo right!), and how he had to include that it has air conditioning. Oooh, fancy. Not too sure about those "kids," though. They look like they're 50. Not that that's unusual in a TDIET strip.

Honestly, couldn't the neighbor have driven that day?

No content involved

Honestly, I wasn't going to comment on today's strip, but I decided to take a gander. And while the content of the strip is too stupid to even think about (seriously, if there's anyone out there who actually thinks like this, we need to hunt them down and sterilize them), something in the strip blew me away. I imagine that the woman in the strip is supposed to be the wife of the idiot man, but look at her in the bottom panel. Al actually drew someone who looks like she's not old. That woman could be in her 20s--at least, her face is fairly young-looking. In the top panel she doesn't, and her clothes signify age, so I'm assuming this was accidental. But still. Al--that's what a young face looks like! (The kid next to her has a much older face.) I'm completely blown away. Seriously.

Maybe the the one flight of stairs is really four stories long

Well, if today's strip has to be about someone who's sick, at least it doesn't take place in a hospital. Although I will point out that it's basically the same strip as these two, which appeared in July. At least he put a few months in between, as opposed to the eight days between those two strips.

The big question here is what the heck happened to Mrs. Lugbutt when she went downstairs and made some tea? Because there's no way she should look that disheveled after merely climbing a flight of stairs. Good Lord. She goes up and down those stairs every day! They shouldn't be such an incredible hardship. Geez.

I guess I should be more ticked off at Lugbutt, but I can't, because he's sick. First of all, she should know how he likes his tea. If he's asking for it, he probably drinks it on occasion. Presumably they've been married for a while and she's seen him sick before, so even if tea is something he drinks only when sick, she should probably know he likes it with sugar and lemon. (And yes, I'd say the same thing if I were talking about a husband caring for a sick wife.) But yes, it is annoying that he didn't ask for the eggs and toast earlier. (And what they heck does he have if he's asking for eggs? When I'm sick, the thought of anything other than toast or crackers or soup usually involves retching.) And would someone ask for "pan-fried" eggs? Wouldn't you just say "fried"?

Ghosts of TDIET past

You have got to be kidding me. Today's strip is just a minor variation on a strip from last Tuesday! He has to have more than eight ideas, right? At least Ragweed's request today is a lot more appetizing than anything we've been treated to before.

Lulula, whom we saw a mere five days ago, sure has changed. I guess Scaduto has a list of names that he uses over and over, because he figures that nobody in the country could possibly have those names. I can kind of understand his thought process, but seriously, get over it. Just because I read a book or comic or whatever and someone in it named "Barb" acts idiotically doesn't mean I take it as a personal offense.

Once again, we have Scaduto referring to a husband as a "friend." Interesting. I had thought, as an anonymous poster suggested, that yesterday's "friend" was referring to the reader; it was just messed up by a grammatical error. But nope. Again, I'm not saying that it's bad to refer to a spouse as a friend; I just find it kind of odd. Maybe because getting somthing from the kitchen is a friendly thing to do?

I particularly like how they both look upset in the top panel. Like, totally put-out by the situation. Bewildering. And their chairs are, I assume, supposed to be next to each other's, but Scaduto (as we learned in last Thursday's strip) has problems drawing anything with depth.(Heh heh. Take that as you will.)

Taking a step back...nothing about this seems unreasonable. It seems that normally, she'll say she's going to get food, and he insists on getting it for her--so now, she probably just expects him to get it for her every time. That seems a bit unfair. Him asking for a snack; no, not great, but he seems to treat her fine otherwise. Get over it, Lulula.

The edge of a smackdown

I'm trying to focus on the content of today's strip, I swear, but my eyes keep going back to whatever Leadbutt is watching on tv. Is it cricket? The "uniform" is totally throwing me off. Fishnets with a knee pad, a t-shirt, a fanny pack (that looks like it has pouches in the front and the back), a baseball cap, and batting gloves. Scaduto, if you're trying to convey baseball, it ain't workin'. It also looks like the batter is holding the bat over his head; maybe he struck out and is about to throw the bat down in disgust? And...fishnets? Really?

Moving on. OK, to the "Quite a number of wives all over U.S.A.": If your husband tries to pull that crap on you, just say no. I might be willing to go so far as to grab him an apple, but he's more than capable of doing the rest. It reminds me of that horrible frozen pizza commercial, where the husband is, for some reason, watching television outside with his friends, and calls his wife to "order" a pizza. And she, for some reason, actually brings it to him. Spraying him with the hose isn't proper retribution. Just don't bring him the pizza!

I don't know. Maybe I'm just a wacky feminist with crazy notions of how a marriage should and should not work. But I'm certainly not planning on allowing my future husband pull any of this crap.

And why is "They'll do it every time" a postscript? (Perhaps to annoy Martin?) And why is this "Living on the edge"? Maybe by "the edge," Scaduto is implying that the wife is going to put cyanide in the sardine sandwich.