Painting and pineapple, 2

Some time Saturday -- after a lot more carping from her -- I finally asked Wife if she truly dislikes the painting. Why make such a fuss over my trying to make the house more beautiful? Does she think it is ugly?

No, not at all. She said she actually likes the painting itself. Her gripes are twofold.

1. She resents that I can somehow afford to buy art when she can't afford to make her own bills. She has been saying this for months, but I can't understand it. Her Social Security brings in about 1/5 of our household income; I charge her 1/5 of our household expenses. If she is running chronically over every month, then I should be also, ... but I'm not. The only other possibility that makes any sense is that her private expenses are too high, but she has yet to sit down and tally them up to see where her money really goes. So she doesn't really know how she is spending, but is convinced that she has no personal expenses and is still running chronically short. (If I ask her, "What do you mean 'no personal expenses'? What about ...?" she always replies, "Well, except for that. But that was just once.")
   
2. She notes that in order to hang up the painting, I had to take down a pencil drawing of her when she was age three, that we had had hanging in the bedroom for several years. So maybe buying this picture was all just a sneaky way to justify taking down the drawing of her. That I rehung the drawing in the living room is apparently immaterial, because "Nobody can see it where you put it." OK, so go move it somewhere else ....

Whatever. Anyway, just to follow up.