For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 18, 2010

Sorry Elly, I know whats coming and your not going to have an easy time with Lawrence. Good luck.

What, you’re born a janitor?!? :o\

In my next life, I want to be a cat… in a good home… :)

Girls and women do not have to accept gender roles. It is a challenge even today, but you do have a lot of control, if you choose to exercise it.

Vacuuming isn’t so bad. It’s dusting I hate.

I don’t like dusting either, but Tanya has the right idea. Cats don’t dust, they make it!

@Reddheadd, that’s just opening up a huge can of worms. So many arguments, so little time…

@lightenup: if you enter into a relationship explicitly stating that you don’t believe in gender roles, and only pursue a relationship with someone who is agreeable, you avoid arguments. Other people have the right to have more “traditional’ relationships if that is what they want. I would not argue with that.

I’m a SAHM right now and the traditional roles are hard for me. I spent ages avoiding them- learning to fly planes and build computers from scratch. But I can’t make what DH makes, so it’s me home. Cleaning isn’t so bad in itself (it’s hard to get the kids to allow you to do it though!), but it’s totally thankless and extremely short-lived. At work, sometimes I’d do a project and people would say how good it was and I’d get a raise, etc. Today, I shampoo the rug and the kids spill on it the same day, and DH doesn’t notice.

But hey, you do what you can, and life changes. When I’m back at work, we know the roles are all divvied up more evenly.

Oh, and I like cleaning where you can see a difference. The other kind kills me, you work and see nothing. And mowing the lawn is a pleasure. Vacuuming is basically the same thing, but with more picking up of stuff on the ground and mowing involves more recognition, fresh air, and sometimes a beer after!

@masnadies: Raising kids while staying at home is certainly a challenge. I started a Moms Group in my community when I stayed home - for my own sanity and to be with other adults as much as for the benefit of the kids. Now, back in the outside-the -home workforce, I have many new skills, experiences, wisdom, etc.

i even do windows, well when it gets to be warm weather,

FishStix:

especially the ones with long hair!!!!!!!

When it comes to cleaning the house, well it is MY house and I don’t want to live in clutter and dirt.

Sometimes I just pretend that company is coming any minute. I get it done.

We have shared duties around the house for 40+ years. I have done my share of cleaning, dishes, laundry and the changing of diapers and even 2 o’clock feedings. Oh, yes, by the way, I’ve darned my own socks and sewn on my own buttons. Although, major projects, like the youngest daughters wedding dress, she tackled by herself.

Women have more power than they know.

If they all ever realize that, we men are in trouble.

Why would I let that cat out of the bag? Because mine already knows. Misery loves company. (But what a sweet misery).

FishStix - LOL! masnadies - I’ve been a SAHM/homeschool mom for 20 years. I don’t clean until it is dirty enough to see where I’ve cleaned versus I haven’t. With sons around 24/7, there is no point of doing light cleaning, as it wouldn’t stay done for very long. I’d rather spend my time teaching my sons, than to spend time cleaning, anyway. I don’t like clutter, but have had to put up with it to a certain extent. Homeschooling stretches the teacher’s mind & experiences, as well as the students’. I understand that raising children is usually a thankless job, but now that my sons are 20 & 17, I’m enjoying the fruits of my labors.

Summerdog: Housework is definitely a thankless bunch of drudge work that I hate to do but I agree with you completely … I don’t want to live in dirt and clutter either, so I clean.

Doctor Toon: You sound just like my husband!

Tanya: In MY next life, I want to come back as my dog … she’s a complete princess who lives better than we do!!!!!!!!!!

I hate the chemical liquids for cleaning on window and such as because the smells from the chemicals are terrible. Also, I hate the dustings. It makes me sneezes a lot. Ahh-chooo! I hate it!

I have a cat that likes to sleep with me whenever i’m home from college. That cat will wake me up every so often, by laying on my face.

Furniture polish comes in oil form too. I can’t use sprays or chemicals with my bird(s) in the house, so I use a little wood oil. It catches all the dust and keeps your wood from drying out, and is the most natural. Glass Plus is actually pretty good, and has no ammonia like the rest of them. And Bleach. Whatever they say, chlorine is a natural element, and it kills 99.9% of all germs. Your house isn’t clean if you don’t use it.

Anyway…

Susan has been right in saying that Elly is down on women, not Susan for pointing it out. Today proves it in plain English.

Trying to keep a house clean while kids live there is like trying to shovel snow in a blizzard. You get the big drifts now and then , but leave the little jobs till later.

For some blatant self advertizing, someone who hates the chemicals of cleaning, needs L.O.C. cleaners from Amway (liquid organic cleaners.) The current product name is “Legacy of Clean.” Company is 50 years old on products like that and doing $8.2 BILLION (that’s a “B”, not an “m”) in profits last year. I’m a distributor … www . jve . biz pwd: nutrition (search in “other” for cleaning products.) Only because lysol has a more persistant TV PR ad campaign did we ever get suckered into believing an overpowering pine scent that peels the skin from the inside of your nose meant something was “clean.” or that normal hands on anything meant germs were going to instantly kill your family … yeah, right.

Ms Johnston: Will Elly be dealinng with life-issues similar to your own. That is, if its not too hard. Your views on life are so reassuring to so many. I hope you’re doing ok and we might read a little bit about it through your characters. I’m so glad you decided not to quit. I love all of your characters.

And so, FishStix, then who cleans up the blood after the “upside-down-cat-dusting?”

Elly looks much younger here. :-)