(Strip Number 4324, Original Publication Date, 29 April 1983)
Panel 1: We find Elly on the phone talking about how she feels as if she has to spend every hour of her life living for other people.
Panel 2: She then repeats all the annoying nagging that her family has turned into background noise: "Pick up this, put that away, do your homework, do this, finish that!!"
Panel 3: She does know that she should expect that because she's a mother and usually she enjoys the job.
Panel 4: It's just that the overtime gets her down.
Summary: While you can't sugar-coat how difficult being a mother is, you also have to admit that Elly makes her life harder because she's an idiot. Take yesterday's strip; if she were to show Mike how she wanted things done instead of assuming that he could see inside her head, she wouldn't have to lecture about picking things up quite so often.