Being a Type AAAAAAAAAAAAAA personality.

[dreadedcandiru2]

As we've seen, most of the reason why Elly gets in a snit about left-overs is that she was brought up to clean her plate at all costs. It didn't matter if she hated the food being served or if she was already full or even if doing so would lead to Marian feeding into her fear that she was too fat to live, she had to clean that plate to be a good child. The reason that I mention this is that "biting off more than you can chew" is an idiomatic expression that has greater applicability than watching Elly glumly choke down old casseroles because of her sick fear that Marian will teleport into the room and lecture her about waste if she doesn't. It is also used to describe a habit that defines the Elly of the middle years: her habit of taking on far too many responsibilities in the belief that if she doesn't, people will think that she doesn't care about anything. This means that the general public is destined to be exposed to the same Elly that tries and fails to do ten things at once that the family is familiar with in the strips that are currently on tap. Ah, well. At least she has that public image she always wanted. Too bad it's "Harried middle-aged lady who can't say No to anything."