Cathy Classics by Cathy Guisewite for March 04, 2013

I can’t say this often but I can identify with that Cathy.

Good morning Cathy Clan.

And it makes it harder when you still remember how fantastic it looked or what a perfect day it was when you wore it.Good morning, Cathy clan!!

I’m a little disturbed now. I ALWAYS identify with Cathy, and I assumed everyone else does too!

Oh to have my 17 yr old body back again!

Don’t worry shygirl and O-Kay — you’re not alone. I admitted early on here and I’ll admit it again: I feel that Cathy is my kindred spirit, and we even have the same first name! These are reasons that I started reading the strip a looooong time ago. It is hard to believe, however, that Cathy fit into a size 7 just last spring…

The only thing I continue to hold on to in my closet that doesn’t fit me half the time are my fat jeans . . . or is it my skinny jeans?!? Either way, I’m covered for whichever time period the bottom part of my body tells me I currently need!!!!! ;-)

Hi, rgcviper!

Hi, lightenup! Hey, soul sister! Hope you’re feeling well today! Thanks for having my back yesterday. I really appreciate it!!!!! :-)

Hello and Happy Monday to all my nutty “Cathy” friends. Hope your day is going well so far!

rowena28: Regarding your post to me yesterday: No, I’m not being held captive nor is Indiana located in some male-dominated foreign country (like the Middle East, for example)!

What I AM is a stay-at-home wife who hasn’t worked (outside my home) for the past 11 years. The only money coming in is what my husband makes and while I may not particularly like some of the decisions that have been made, they’ve been necessary ones all the same. And just because my husband is the only one bringing in the money doesn’t mean he’s some backwards-thinking Neanderthal that makes all the decisions alone and I just have to go along with them no matter what because I’m the powerless “little woman” in our relationship.

Believe it or not, we have the tough discussions together when it comes to this stuff and then we mutually agree on what to do where they’re concerned. “Is this something we need . . . or is it something we just want but can either do without or can find an alternative for it instead?”

Yes, I hate my cable t.v. being cut but during television season from September until the end of May/first of June, most everything we watch is on network t.v. (CBS, ABC, and NBC) so we wouldn’t be watching a whole lot on cable right now anyhow (except for an hour or so when we go to bed at night). We’ve managed to find a few of our favorite cable shows (like Dallas, Rizzoli & Isles, Hoarders, and Hot In Cleveland) online — we just have to wait a day or two after they air on cable before they become available to watch there . . . and once they are available, we can watch them whenever we want on OUR timetable instead of when the t.v. schedule says we have to watch (or record) them. And the few shows we used to watch on cable but aren’t available to watch online (like House Hunters), we’ve just learned to do without. I’ve been utterly amazed at how life HAS managed to go on at our house without cable t.v.!!! Plus, this past Christmas, our daughter and son-in-law generously gave us a one-year paid subscription to Netflix so we’ve got things we can watch there, as well (which will come in a lot handier in the summer than it does right now when everything we normally watch is in re-runs).

Yes, I hate that the newspaper had to be cancelled but we can get all the local goings-on by watching the 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 10, 10:30, 11 and 11:30 news reports on t.v. And all the comics and Dear Abby columns I used to read in the newspaper can also be found online.

I may sometimes feel like I’m being deprived of things I love because I don’t work, we don’t have extra money, the economy is bad and we’re now having to do without a lot of things we love and are accustomed to because they’re less affordable than they used to be but in reality, that’s simply not the case. We’re not living in a cave and totally doing without things we need (and want). We’ve still got cell phones and we’ve still got internet service — 2 of our biggest luxury items that we’ve agreed on that we’ll NEVER get rid of (unless the circumstances become DIRE — which is highly doubtful) because they’re still very necessary items when it comes to day-to-day living in our home.

But despite everything, there really IS an upside to all this for me: we’ll have more time to get things done around our house as well as my mom’s. I’ll also have more time to cross stitch, read actual books and, best of all, I’ll have more time to hang out with all my nutty friends here on “Cathy’s Corner” too!! Life is good!!!!! ;-)

Sorry, everyone, for hijacking such a HUGE chunk of space here on this one post but I felt it necessary to respond to what I saw as a very unfair assessment of my marital and home living conditions based on a few off-handed comments I’ve made over the last 4 months or so that I just couldn’t let it go. Thanks for your patience on this subject and I’ll “see” you all later!!!!! ;-)

20 minutes, Cathy? Really? [Eye-roll]

HI, MOM. Hello, Clan.

Hi Cathyites!! Way to stand up for yourself Mom!! And good show of support lightenup. I was in on the early liberated women movement, but I still think household decisions should be made by both. As for Cathy — when was she ever a size 7:)