(Strip Number 3989, Original Publication Date, 16 April 1981)
Panel 1: We find ourselves watching Elly and Annie having their cuppa coffee; Elly whines "I don't understand it, Anne; how can John rationalize spending that much money on a toy for himself?" (This unbelievable belief that the stereo is not for her use stems from her suffering from something called "fecal encephalopathy": she's got shit for brains.)
Panel 2: Instead of calling her on that, Anne makes the same mistake she's about to make when she tells Elly that she doesn't need advice on weight loss from skinny people; she does so by saying "You're not so bad off; didn't you get a trash compactor for Christmas?"
Panel 3: Elly angrily refutes this evil attempt to question how martyred she is and how bad John is by questioning the need for having a trash compactor in the first place.
Panel 4: She reiterates her point by alluding to marrying a man with size 12 feet. This dates the strip because back then, size 12 was huge instead of normal.
Summary: The reason, of course, that she's saying illogical crap like this is because she doesn't want to admit that she is making a mountain out of a molehill. I mean, if she's forced to admit that John can easily afford a stereo, she looks foolish using it as an excuse to complain about buying whatever she wants, doesn't she?