Freshly Squeezed by Ed Stein for November 02, 2012

@ Ed Stein, thank you for this comic. I enjoy it every day although I seldom comment. I think you have captured the essence of a modern family and the conflicts it faces in today’s economic climate. I have met men and women that allow their mothers to manipulate them. What I also find interesting is the way the family cope with their religious differences and the way Liz tries to cope with her mother’s old-fashioned style of cooking, which is certainly not healthy.

To followup on some comments from yesterday—if Liz can blow money on organic food (recall earlier strips where the husband and father were shopping and when one asked “what would Liz want us to buy?” the reply was “whatever is the most expensive,”) I don’t think they are the working poor. I can suspend disbelief with the best of them (I love SciFi), but I’m sorry, knocking a guy who is doing the best he can to support his family and already unhappy at work—I just don’t find it funny. But I’m not giving up on the strip as I have enjoyed it, I am just not enjoying this particular arc—so far.

Maybe it would be easier for him to support his family if his in laws weren’t living there too.

I’m sure he could support his family just fine. It’s the added burden of having to support HER family that’s the problem. You know, Gramma and Granpa could find a little something a few hours a week. Even just as a gesture, for lord’s sake. They have a free roof. Maybe kick in a little something for groceries?

There’s a place of honor reserved for that mother-in-law.

(Under the old oak tree, deep enough that the coyotes won’t dig up the carcase.)

she reminds me of Raymond’s mother on Everybody Loves Raymond!

There are times when a comic doesn’t have to be called a “comic” just to be funny. This is one of them.

I still say the 1050s perspective is weird for a strip that isn’t in reruns from decades past. I don’t know anyone who holds the attitude that it is the man’s responsibility to provide complete financial support for the family.

And THERE’S that backhanded compliment we expect from her. :-s

It is next to impossible to support a family on a normal single earner middle class income. That’s been so for a good thirty years. Nobody is entitled to a free ride. And don’t tell me that these ladies work just as hard as the men. In a two earner family a lot of the unnecessary decorating and fluffing just has to be skipped.

@Neo BlakkrstalExactly. But even Wal-Mart can get expensive. It’s still a case of supply versus demand. Why organic foods have to be expensive is beyond me. Doctors want us to eat healthy, but the majority of people can’t afford to. If I could afford to revitalize the ground in my backyard, I would be growing my own vegetables and canning them.

To be fair, in her times men were expected to provide everything.