SarahM has a BIG announcement on Monday!

[fullmetalheart]

Eh, I have a hard time faulting anyone for not wanting to do a shitload of dishes at a big gathering. I don't see the problem with using disposables once or twice a year for large gatherings. (Unless your the diggers and have an industrial size dishwasher, then there's no excuse.)

Using them every day, though, is just plain wasteful.

I've totally bought paper plates before because the sink is full of dirty dishes and I don't feel like washing them. :whistle:

But I don't use them on a daily basis.

[Divemaster01]

If Steve is so concerned about being thrifty, he should get a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system like my husband and I have at home. The water tastes great and is our free bottled water. Of course, they are isolated out in space and probably don't even know about it :)

[Peppercorn]

And given how Steveovah responds to people who have trouble registering on their site, I can only imagine how he may act around his neighbors IRL. I bet he's ticked off a few.

But Steve is such a people person! He makes friends wherever he goes, don'tcha know.

If by people person you mean sermonizer, and if by friend you mean dumbstruck bystander or captive audience at the retirement home.

I've totally bought paper plates before because the sink is full of dirty dishes and I don't feel like washing them. :whistle:

Ha! I'd do that too, except my cheapness wins out over my laziness. That is, my thriftiness. I'm as thrifty as a fundie buyin' stryrofoam at the Wal-Mart. :P

Why would the Maxwells need paper plates? Dishwashing is a fun family female activity, right? Gotta fill those empty hours somehow.

[Peppercorn]

Interesting observation. I think you're right, their annual luncheon with the neighborhood ladies have seen sparse attendance. I'm speculating here but I think it's the Maxwells' "conversational skills" at work here. I can imagine the time is spent in stiff conversation about DEATH, the Bible and SIN!. The luncheon is probably a mixture of religious proselytizing, Bible study, and the usual Maxwellian weirdness. I'm sure once was enough to scare off most sane person. The ones who still accepted the invite are probably new neighbors or themselves weirdly devout (i.e fundies). Otherwise, I think the Maxwells have developed a reputation for being the weirdos you avoid.......

Didn't Teri have some odd topic of conversation picked out for one of those lunches? Where every guest was supposed to tell about their trials and tribulations, or fondest funeral memory, or forsaken Pepsi nightmares? Gah. I can't remember. It probably wasn't that bad, except in my freewheeling imagination.

[salex]

I would say that the daily use of paper cups and paper plates seems both expensive, wasteful and also sort of a sad way to live--I am always very aware of the texture of the cup or glass I drink from and the flatware and dishes I eat from-- sometimes coffee or hot tea in a heavy mug is nice, sometimes in a fine cup is nice... but rarely is a Styrofoam cup a nice thing to drink from!

I use disposable clear plastic plates etc for some parties, and that is in large part because I don't hire waitstaff to work the party--in my semi open floor plan, where I often put a casual buffet on the kitchen Island, if I want to attend my own party and not spend the whole time managing dirty dishes, it is easier to have the guests toss their dirty dishes rather than end up with a giant visible pile of dishes in the sink and on the counter while people are still getting their food. And, if I were entertaining in the same way (buffet, serve yourself) in the dining room, same kind of problem. So, I often use the clear plastic disposables for those kinds of parties. I have considered bringing in a server (a friend of mine always does at her annual "big" party) but I just haven't done it--I'm either poorer or cheaper or both.

And, when my sister was in grad school, I took her a big stack of good disposable dishes, heavy disposable flatware and a huge sleeve of the red cups, when she told me she was so busy she could barely breathe, and her campus apartment had no dishwasher. So, I understand the convenience.

[Snarfblatt]

On the subject of dwindling attendance numbers I have to say that if I was one of their neighbors I would definitely have gone the first time but then been "busy" every year after that. Or just gone back the second time but then I would be done with them. So I can definitely see why numbers are dwindling.

The other possibility is that there are fewer neighbors invited because the Maxwells are horrified by their worldly neighbors.

[snarkyjan]

On the subject of dwindling attendance numbers I have to say that if I was one of their neighbors I would definitely have gone the first time but then been "busy" every year after that. Or just gone back the second time but then I would be done with them. So I can definitely see why numbers are dwindling.

The other possibility is that there are fewer neighbors invited because the Maxwells are horrified by their worldly neighbors.

It's not just the pants-wearin', job-holdin' wives and teenage daughters, or the college-attenders of both sexes. What would really make their heads explode is the discovery that normal people don't consider DEATH to be a suitable subject for casual conversation, especially with people they just met.

[Jana814]

On the subject of dwindling attendance numbers I have to say that if I was one of their neighbors I would definitely have gone the first time but then been "busy" every year after that. Or just gone back the second time but then I would be done with them. So I can definitely see why numbers are dwindling.

The other possibility is that there are fewer neighbors invited because the Maxwells are horrified by their worldly neighbors.

Agree on both statements. I would be creeped out if a neighbor did what they did.

[silverspoons]

If Steve is so concerned about being thrifty, he should get a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system like my husband and I have at home. The water tastes great and is our free bottled water. Of course, they are isolated out in space and probably don't even know about it :)

I would think Steve knows about Reverse Osmosis. I had never seen a system till I moved into our current house. Every home in our neighborhood has one ( the homes were all custom built over 30 years) because our public water system has very high levels of arsenic. After I got ill the Mayo clinic tested my water after going through RO and the levels were still too high in their opinion (and we had upgraded our RO system) for my condition. RO is good but it does not remove everything. With the Maxwell's strict diet and exercise plan my guess is Steve is weird about water. If they are so careful with how many spinach leaves they get each morning I bet one off reading on his faucet water got him to order that water. They do not seem cheap with food, a lot of those Costco fruits and veggies are expensive. I remember they bought 6 of those apple cases once at $9 each. While I like Costco apples, if I needed 50+ apples I would be down at Kroger.

[johnhugh]

Agree on both statements. I would be creeped out if a neighbor did what they did.

I would imagine this will be the last brunch. I would love to be a fly in the wall there to see if they are quite informal, or if the Maxwell women start preaching at them.

I would think that the majority of their neighbours think they are quite odd. We just get to see snapshots of Maxwell life, some of the neighbours get that plus real life interactions and sightings, :whistle:

[Brittany15]

I also imagine low attendance as it happened during a weekday. Some people have jobs.

[WonderingInWA]

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I also imagine low attendance as it happened during a weekday. Some people have jobs.

No, no, they would not have been invited. They are working heathens.

[Daenerys]

Also these people aren't really 'friends' if they are only interacting with them ONCE a year for any length of time. It would be weird to be invited to this event by people down the road who never otherwise actually speak to you...

[sparkles]

I would imagine this will be the last brunch. I would love to be a fly in the wall there to see if they are quite informal, or if the Maxwell women start preaching at them.

I would think that the majority of their neighbours think they are quite odd. We just get to see snapshots of Maxwell life, some of the neighbours get that plus real life interactions and sightings, :whistle:

You're kidding, right? Of course you are! The people with bible verses on their paper plates? Whose every thought and action is because Jesus? Not preach?

BWAH!

[ILoveJellybeans]

Everything is formal and preachy in Maxhell.

[johnhugh]

You're kidding, right? Of course you are! The people with bible verses on their paper plates? Whose every thought and action is because Jesus? Not preach?

BWAH!

Shuts the door of the prayer closet....

Notice how all the guests sit on one side of the table, and I hope Stevie you didn't sneak a peak of the defrauding tarts bosom in the turquoise outfit. :naughty:

[thoughtful]

The people with bible verses on their paper plates? Whose every thought and action is because Jesus? Not preach?

BWAH!

Napkins, too!

So that means that the ladies all smeared food about on, and wiped their mouths with, an excerpt from Psalms. Wonder what they would say about someone who besmirched a biblical verse if it wasn't their super-holy selves.

[MamaJunebug]

I can't read too much Maxwell w/o getting blue. Can anybody determine if this year's guests were there in '12? Or '11?

I'd've been insulted to have been served one strawberry (UN-stuffed!) even if the death talk didn't bother me.

[uber frau]

You could have gone this year then, MJB. If you inspect the photos closely you will see that there were enough strawberries for a gluttonous TWO per guest this year. (Probably because most of the woman they invited had other important stuff happening that day, cleaning their ceiling fans and such, and the Maxwells found themselves with extra food).

Clearly Mrs J. feared being underfed and brought her own supplies.

ETA: All of this year's guests have attended at least one previous Maxwell brunch 'event'. I'm not sure if they're there for the LOLZ or there for the fellowship, but either way they knew what they were getting themselves into.

[nokidsmom]

I would imagine this will be the last brunch. I would love to be a fly in the wall there to see if they are quite informal, or if the Maxwell women start preaching at them.

I would think that the majority of their neighbours think they are quite odd. We just get to see snapshots of Maxwell life, some of the neighbours get that plus real life interactions and sightings, :whistle:

Totally agree that neighbors probably think they are weird in a lot of respects. I can imagine that Steve in particular could be a rather unpleasant neighbor given the descriptions of him here IRL and he strikes me as the type of neighbor who would make big deal about noise, rock music, being defrauded by the wife of the next neighbor who wears shorts, etc. etc. He's probably not liked but there might be a few neighborhood ladies who feel sorry for Teri and the girls.

[anachronistic]

They held the brunch on a Friday, presumably in the morning. I know that the Maxwells don't approve of women working outside the home anyway, but even most stay-at-home mothers I know have stuff to do with their kids all the time on weekdays; play groups, errands, home schooling, you name it. There's a very short window of time between when a kid is still taking 2 long naps a day and when they have a social/school life. So maybe it's not so much that people didn't want to come an enjoy some delicious mushy........mushes..........it's that they had lives. Which the Maxwells don't.

[precious_one]

The only time I use disposable dishes and utensils is if my guest out number my plates and cups. So that is maybe twice or three times a year. I did go out last year at Christmas and buy more plates just so we didn't have to use disposable.

[Jana814]

Totally agree that neighbors probably think they are weird in a lot of respects. I can imagine that Steve in particular could be a rather unpleasant neighbor given the descriptions of him here IRL and he strikes me as the type of neighbor who would make big deal about noise, rock music, being defrauded by the wife of the next neighbor who wears shorts, etc. etc. He's probably not liked but there might be a few neighborhood ladies who feel sorry for Teri and the girls.

Agree! I not sure how I would feel if a family like the Maxwell's lived in my area.

[jingerdoe]

A family like the Maxwells DID live in my neighborhood for awhile. I actually thought they were fundie-lite because I didn't see any frumpers or crunchy perms, but there were lots of denim skirts and boxy, bulky sweaters (and the flip-flops! in new england! in october!) They mostly kept to themselves, and were a small family by fundie standards - about 5 kids, with the oldest in their teens. I only realized that they were Gotherd when I started seeing "real meaning of christmas" ish fliers in the neighborhood.

[Jana814]

A family like the Maxwells DID live in my neighborhood for awhile. I actually thought they were fundie-lite because I didn't see any frumpers or crunchy perms, but there were lots of denim skirts and boxy, bulky sweaters (and the flip-flops! in new england! in october!) They mostly kept to themselves, and were a small family by fundie standards - about 5 kids, with the oldest in their teens. I only realized that they were Gotherd when I started seeing "real meaning of christmas" ish fliers in the neighborhood.

Interesting. I don't think a family like the Maxwell's would fly in my area (Jewish, Catholic mostly liberal) where almost no one homeschools & the people usually only have 2 or 3 kids.