What's Going On in Maxhell? A Whole Lotta Nothing, Pt. 2

[FloraDoraDolly]

8 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I would kill to do a study of isolated fundie families' speech patterns and speech development; I know we've also commented a bit on the way the Duggar kids speak, but they're far less isolated than the Maxwells are and it turned out that a lot of things people thought were idiosyncrasies (saying "whenever" where most people would say "when") seemed to be fairly common regionalisms. I'd also love to see how foreign language learning works in an environment that so heavily restricts information and what can be said (though then again, I taught English in China, so I guess I have a bit of insight to that).

The Arndt family would make the most interesting case study. I don't follow them as closely as some of the regulars here. But every time I've watched one of their videos and heard those manboys speak, I thought they either had low IQs or were all on the autism spectrum, or perhaps both. Their childish mannerisms didn't help matters, either. But other FJers informed me that the Arndts are, in fact, developmentally normal and that they talk this way due to social isolation.

[Melissa1977]

12 hours ago, meee said:

@RoseWilder I feel like if that were the case they'd go out of their way to take pics of her.  I'm remembering the scene in the Moody books when a stranger was holding one of the Moody babies, he/she got scared and cried, and Mr. Moody said something like, "You can keep holding him. We don't want him to learn that crying gets him what he wants."  That's not a direct quote, but near enough.

Yes, you're right, they would take pictures, but they wouldn't post them. Their pictures are about perfection, not about angry crying kids. As they post ALL the kids but Lydia, I bet she's not keeping sweet at pictures.

[Eternalbluepearl]

The Maxwell's moved a shed and it was intense. *yawn* They are rats in a maze and Jesus is the reward pellet. 

 

Side note: I cannot believe sometimes how involved the Maxwell's all are with each other. I see my adult brother fairly often at BBQ's and whatnot but I'm not involved in the maintenance of his house. It's not like if he and his wife decide to plant some flowers, my adult sister and I would have to show up in gardening gloves ready to dig in the dirt. It's odd. Why are they so up each other's asses all the time? 

[Coconut Flan]

The shed moving was quite a bit more than planting a couple flats of flowers.  The Maxwells are still all intertwined to a ridiculous degree, but I can see getting all the help they could for moving that thing.  My kids would have called on each other for help with that. 

[Black Aliss]

5 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

The shed moving was quite a bit more than planting a couple flats of flowers.  The Maxwells are still all intertwined to a ridiculous degree, but I can see getting all the help they could for moving that thing.  My kids would have called on each other for help with that. 

That was enough labor (time=money in my book)  that, adding in the expense of the truck, it wouldn't have made sense to me to move someone else's old shed. I'd have just ordered a new one from Home Depot.

[lizzybee]

So I fell down the Maxwell rabbit hole this week. I'm not finished. I'm still in 2010 and my goodness - just years of the same thing. These people are just in their own little world, doing... not much of anything at all. I know, I know, keep reading. Read the threads. But I had to come up for air for a minute.

 

[Granwych]

1 hour ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

Why are they so up each other's asses all the time?

Those are the only asses they're allowed to associate with. 

[MamaJunebug]

2 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

The shed moving was quite a bit more than planting a couple flats of flowers.  The Maxwells are still all intertwined to a ridiculous degree, but I can see getting all the help they could for moving that thing.  My kids would have called on each other for help with that. 

What's curious is that after they helped build the support framing, the MaxReversals mainly stood around and watched. Mary even wore flip flops, the least prudent footwear imaginable for the event.  Maybe they're human after all: one of my personal truths is, "Work fascinates me -- I can watch it for hours!"

Steve's really letting himself go, isn't he?!

 

[Crocoduck]

After seeing the intense shed moving, I realized I should have carefully documented moving the used hot tub I recently bought. It was EPIC!

[Season of life...]

To the Maxwell family, I think the shed relocation was actually high excitement. I was fooled by Sarah's hyperbole: the "...move was intense, very intense." and, "Enjoy the pictures. They will tell the story. Believe me."

Well, Sarah, you got me. I was ready for some action--a crushed fender, broken pieces, bruised shins, a hot mover who flirted with Mary, etc. What story do the pictures tell? Yup, that shed was surely moved. Yee-haw, Lolly!

"At one point, when it got over to Joseph’s house, and we were trying to get it into position–well, things got interesting." No, they didn't. 

I'm glad it went smoothly, and the shed miraculously was the same size as Joseph's slab (wait, should I rephrase that? Nah...), but this activity did not warrant Sarah's breathy exclamations. 

Either they know they are dull and are trying to influence the reader by using over-exaggeration, or this really was a big do to them. Either way, kind of sad. Then again, I just remembered how dirty ceiling fans get them all hot and bothered.

You do you, Maxwells--you do you.

 

[HoneyBunny]

"The guys braced the shed one night..."  The guys?  The GUYS?  I see Anna and Mary in that sweaty shed wearing long, hot denim skirts. Give them some credit too!

One thing (actually, almost the only thing) I like about the Maxwells is that the the childults are seen doing non-traditional things, like the men cook and bake and the women use power tools. As it should be. But let's give credit where credit is due Sarah. John wouldn't have a remodeled house or a shed if it wasn't for his sisters. 

[kpmom]

I imagine we'll see a story line involving moving a shed in one of Sarah's future books..  

[LurkerOverThePond]

Tell me, are those white box-like things next to the shed pad really beehives and the black little dots on them swarming bees?!? I know next to nothing about beekeeping, but that looks extremely dangerous and stupid to work casually within a couple of meters of an active beehive with no special suits and using some heavy machinery there. The Maxwells are usually very safety oriented so this looks more like a Duggar way to do it!

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, Granwych said:

Those are the only asses they're allowed to associate with. 

And they're safe, as the same rules have been shoved up all of them.

[fundiefan]

43 minutes ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

Tell me, are those white box-like things next to the shed pad really beehives and the black little dots on them swarming bees?!? I know next to nothing about beekeeping, but that looks extremely dangerous and stupid to work casually within a couple of meters of an active beehive with no special suits and using some heavy machinery there. The Maxwells are usually very safety oriented so this looks more like a Duggar way to do it!

I don't remember where I read it but I'm pretty sure that yes, they are hives. I think on one of Joseph's profiles...maybe his real estate one? They 'raise' bees.

 

His Swift Otter profile mentions the bees. 

[CyborgKin]

2 hours ago, Season of life... said:

To the Maxwell family, I think the shed relocation was actually high excitement. I was fooled by Sarah's hyperbole: the "...move was intense, very intense." and, "Enjoy the pictures. They will tell the story. Believe me."

Well, Sarah, you got me. I was ready for some action--a crushed fender, broken pieces, bruised shins, a hot mover who flirted with Mary, etc. What story do the pictures tell? Yup, that shed was surely moved. Yee-haw, Lolly!

"At one point, when it got over to Joseph’s house, and we were trying to get it into position–well, things got interesting." No, they didn't. 

I'm glad it went smoothly, and the shed miraculously was the same size as Joseph's slab (wait, should I rephrase that? Nah...), but this activity did not warrant Sarah's breathy exclamations. 

Either they know they are dull and are trying to influence the reader by using over-exaggeration, or this really was a big do to them. Either way, kind of sad. Then again, I just remembered how dirty ceiling fans get them all hot and bothered.

You do you, Maxwells--you do you.

 

Sarah ought to write the voiceover for movie trailers.

5 hours ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

The Maxwell's moved a shed and it was intense. *yawn* They are rats in a maze and Jesus is the reward pellet. 

 

Side note: I cannot believe sometimes how involved the Maxwell's all are with each other. I see my adult brother fairly often at BBQ's and whatnot but I'm not involved in the maintenance of his house. It's not like if he and his wife decide to plant some flowers, my adult sister and I would have to show up in gardening gloves ready to dig in the dirt. It's odd. Why are they so up each other's asses all the time? 

I think that's enmeshment, though I'm still fuzzy on the details of that term.

[Granwych]

2 hours ago, kpmom said:

I imagine we'll see a story line involving moving a shed in one of Sarah's future books..  

And at least one Moody dressing up like a scary clown.

47 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

And they're safe, as the same rules have been shoved up all of them.

Geez, Dandy, you gotta warn me so I don't spew all over my ancient monitor!!

[sparkles]

Quote

The shed move was intense. Very intense. At one point, when it got over to Joseph’s house, and we were trying to get it into position–well, things got interesting.

Passive voice at its finest. Clearly, the shed got itself over to Joseph's house, so really, what was so intense about it? And what a waste of money it was to hire a crew. That's some magic shed! 

Major eye roll at the oh-so random beauty shot of Mary. 

[Fun-Dee]

Elissa made cookies, but there are no pictures of her or Callia.  Also it's Joseph's house not Joseph and Elissa's house.  If it weren't for the cookies, I'd think that Elissa and baby were long gone!  Either that, or maybe she's due to have another one any day, and they plan on surprising  us with the news!

[SPHASH]

The one mover was very defrauding with his shorts.

[PennySycamore]

@LurkerOverThePond, my dad kept bees for many years.  The path out to the woods was about 10 yards away from the hives.  My dad would only suit up with long pants and sleeves, gloves, hat and veil when he was dealing with the bees.  He'd also be armed with his smoker to calm the bees down.  I do think you'd want to be careful with the bees so close though.  

[Jatalie1996]

New blog post. The family helped Joseph move his shed. Trust me, it's exactly as exciting as it sounds.

[kpmom]

22 hours ago, HoneyBunny said:

"The guys braced the shed one night..."  The guys?  The GUYS?  I see Anna and Mary in that sweaty shed wearing long, hot denim skirts. Give them some credit too!

 

It took one of the commenters to point out how Mary and Anna helped too.

[Granwych]

16 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@LurkerOverThePond, my dad kept bees for many years.  The path out to the woods was about 10 yards away from the hives.  My dad would only suit up with long pants and sleeves, gloves, hat and veil when he was dealing with the bees.  He'd also be armed with his smoker to calm the bees down.  I do think you'd want to be careful with the bees so close though.  

Oh, but these are Maxwell bees, full of honey and the sweetness of Jeebus and never ever likely to sting the hand(s) that provide their care.   That, or their keeper is a swaggering git who wouldn't be seen in protective gear.

[usmcmom]

On July 27, 2016 at 4:34 AM, Melissa1977 said:

His sisters are 1 and 2 years old. If you're able to take good pictures of a smiley toddler and a non-crying newborn, both quiet and posing, then congratulations. But it's not easy. Probably they took a million pictures but just post the best ones.

I think that having a good picture of the whole family of six is a success. When I say a good picture I mean a picture with all the people eye-opened and smiling.

(And yes, I have kids and I know what I'm talking about)

Maxwells post thousands pictures of Bethany or Christina.

I think sometimes people snark too much and forget that kids are kids even at Maxwell's (sorry, I'm talking in general, not about you). Lydia is 1 year old, she probably is a too active to pose or maybe she cries a lot, and they cannot take good pictures of her.

I see your point. I was thinking of all the photographers I know (and the number seems to increase daily*) who don't always pose small children, but rather photograph them as they are playing and interacting with the family. I think these are some of the sweetest pictures. I agree that formal poses would be difficult with such young ones and I'm sure that is the style that the Maxwells prefer. 

*Does anybody else have an ever-growing list of photographer friends?  It seems to be the trendy young mom career around here.