Alice Mitchell: Her Clothes and Her Laundry

In a twist on the "Alice goes visiting" standard, Alice is visiting with a woman who seems to be her own age (or even younger!). Typically, Alice gets all dandied up to visit with an older, stouter woman. She brings Dennis along and he says something "cute" like, "Mom, I don't see any battle axes here!" HA HA! It's hilarious, and it's a Public Service Announcement (Parents: Watch what you say around your kids).

I always just assumed that Alice's super duper dressing up was because the older lady she was visiting was snooty. Here, though, she is sitting, having tea (from a tea service!) with a woman her own age. Who are these people, and why are they so fancy? Are they royalty? I mean, what stay-at-home mom do you know that will get dressed up in skirt, blouse, pumps, jewelry . . . to go sit on the couch and have tea with a friend? Is it a job interview? Is it a bigger party or something that requires dressing up -- it's just these two that we get to see?

Now, OK, living in a granola-ish college town, my idea of what is casual and what is fancy may be skewed. 75% of the people at my grocery store wear gym clothes or jeans. No one looks askance if you show up at the movies in jeans and a sweatshirt. When I wear blue jeans and a nice blouse to my neighborhood book club, I rank with the best-dressed there. HOWEVER, I have discovered that my parents' town is fancier than mine. At Thanksgiving, I wore jeans and a sweater to the movies. My parents wore slacks, blazers, coordinated outfits, etc. Who fit in better at the movies? Not me. So, it is possible that Alice lives in one of these less casual towns.

Still, Alice and her friend are just so darn fancy here! Am I out of the loop? Do women really have little get-togethers with their friends, serve tea in fancy dishes, and expect their friends to show up dressed to the nines?

Or is it that Hank Ketchum can't draw slacks? No, that's not it. Mr. Wilson wears slacks all the time. I just think that in Dennis the Menace, women don't wear slacks outside of the home. And that's the way it should be, people! Don't let the feminazis tell you otherwise!

And, besides, what the heck does she mean? She separates her laundry into "whites, darks, and Dennis." So, she puts his clothes in a different pile? What's the big deal? Ooooh . . . 3 separate piles! Maybe she doesn't have a washing machine? Or does she mean she washes DENNIS with the laundry?