It could be that we see the former thing come to pass; first, though, we have to see Elly stir herself into motion.
Panel 1: We start off in Elly's messy kitchen. There's a handprint, stain of some sort and picture Mike drew on what I assume is the fridge door. We see Elly sitting down with Mike leaning against her eating a cookie. She sighs that she doesn't want to clean the place.
Panel 2: She rises listlessly and says that it's a dump but she has no incentive. That's kind of odd because any major dude will tell you that having pride in one's surroundings is all the incentive you need to keep things organized.
Panel 3: We next see Elly dialing a rotary telephone. Instead of reminding her that Lynn was supposed to have made things timeless instead of just making a mess of things, Mike asks Elly what she's doin'.
Panel 4: In something that sounds like real English, Elly tells him that she's inviting someone critical over for dinner.
Summary: This seems to mean that Elly can only clean her house when she wants to impress someone with the same impossibly high standards she does. If I recall correctly this is somehow connected with an arc that has Ted imply that she's a failure as a wife and mother so we're about to see Lynn's God-awful rewrite of his doomed relationship with Connie.
ETA: Today's banner tells us that you just gotta love shameless plugs for kids' books.
