Arndt Man Boys & Mary-Elizabeth living out their own unique stories

[Markie]

This family has always fascinated me. What do the kidults do for a living? Have any of them went to college? Joined a team or club without being accompanied by a sibling or six? Do they have friends outside of the family circle? They have all the appearances of normality, but yet... 

[Suz8710]

They really are so cute, all seemingly good natured dorky sporty-preppy cuties with a strong work ethic. It's beyond me as to how the guys managed to essentially be the exact same person - with the only differences as far as I can see being things like a pizza topping or t-shirt preference.

The cuteness wears thin (and the almost too good to be true bubble pops) though when I see strong anti-abortion posts and such sprinkled on the FamTeam facebook and I think Paul has posted some on his page (public).  I hold out hope at least a few of them don't share as strong of beliefs but I won't hold my breath.

[AnywhereButHere]

11 hours ago, Suz8710 said:

You can tell Rick's done this before haha. Perfectly posed. I can't even 

And to those volunteering as rescue tributes...while you've both taken my top choices  , I'll volunteer for Jude. It's gonna take a big team to take on the FamTeam  I'll bring the penguin disguises.

 

Maybe these will work. 

 

[Suz8710]

@AnywhereButHere hahaha! What a perfect "caption this." 

[ChickenettiLuvr]

Oh, blessed mother.

You all's comments + Arndt lunacy just caused me a setback. And an unscheduled breathing treatment.  Which means I can't sleep for at least 4 hours thanks to the wild heart rhythms that accompany said rescue meds.

If any of you tattle to my husband, I'll give you a middle-of-the-night phone call with unworldly breath and cackling sounds.

Now I need more jello. And blankets for the uncontrollable  shaaaaaaaaaking. 

[ChickenettiLuvr]

Oh mercy. Thanking the penguin gods that Melissa McCarthy's bit didn't provoke the belly laughs like last week.

I literally awakened the house guests sleeping next room by the guffaws.  Hard to beat the Moose Lambs!!!

[Grimalkin]

@ChickenettiLuvr I hope you get a really really good night sleep, and you get a hospital room to yourself, with a nice window view. Feel better. 

[ChickenettiLuvr]

Thank you,  @Grimalkin.  I'm lucky that hospital only does private rooms. Unfortunately, they won't leave the door shut and I hear wailing and moaning. 

I'd sell both my boobs + DH's testicles to buy an unintended 12 hours' sleep..... 

... and there's Nurse Ratchet for the midnight shift.  She turned off my TV and is coming back in TWO minutes -- I'm warning you! -- and phone better be turned off & put away.  I'm a little pissed ...

==== But NR can't stop the party in my head:

Countin' flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all

Playing solitaire 'til dawn with a deck of 51

Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo--

Now don't tell me I got nuthin to do .  

*sorry, no quick ability to find YouTube and post... Probably the Statler Brothers in the 70s .....

[DaniLouisiana]

Feel better and don't let Nurse Ratchett get you down, @ChickenettiLuvr! Hugs.

[Black Aliss]

On 2/10/2017 at 9:50 PM, Grimalkin said:

    I often think of the x-files when reading about the FamTeam.

I have mentioned it before and I will say it again, there is an episode with a family full of adult boys that live at home and keep their mother under the bed. I realize it's a bit unfair to the FamTeam to compare them, but it comes to mi d whenever I read here.

Why is that unfair? It seems like the most logical explanation for these bedroom birthday shots--they let her out from under the bed, but not out of the room.

[nokidsmom]

19 hours ago, Lurky said:

I guess the thing is, that the parents could quite easily change their mind and allow some of the younger kids to have different lives - there's still time

I totally get what you are saying but it's a shame to see decent, hard working young men feeling that that their parents should allow them a different life.   They are adults and do not need their parents' permission to do anything.  However I understand the mindset they may be operating under, that they need their parents' approval and fully being on board with they are doing, before they can do it.  Their love and loyalty to their parents may be hindering them from understanding that while they may love their parents, they do not need their permission to live an independent life, if they is what they really want.   Weigh the cost of living your parents' vision for your life versus your own.  How will you feel about it when you look back on your life?

I am supposing it's not occurred to any of them and maybe if there's any indication of any of them deviating from Rick's retirement plan (because I believe that the manboys' financial, household and "the neverending project" that is Vine Valley support is Rick's retirement plan) the erring manboy is quickly brought back into line. 

We think the Maxwells are bad, hindering their adult children, especially their daughters from leaving Maxhell, but Rick and Cathy are just as bad.  The really, really sad part is the manboys are regularly allowed to leave their prison and happily return back.  They have real world skills, they could easily leave for a job and not bother to return.   It would be seemingly easy for them but apparently there's a lot more going on that is keeping "safe at home."

[Carm_88]

16 hours ago, Markie said:

This family has always fascinated me. What do the kidults do for a living? Have any of them went to college? Joined a team or club without being accompanied by a sibling or six? Do they have friends outside of the family circle? They have all the appearances of normality, but yet... 

I don't think any of them have went to college but they do appear to have friends outside of the family. I believe they were pictured with girls a few years back. They have a wedding photography and videography business and some of them are court reporters. They tend to go in groups, that is for sure. However, I think they are allowed to go alone. They're weird ones!

@ChickenettiLuvr Feel better soon! 

[usedbicycle]

 Sigh, Luke.... I hope he makes a woman (or man) happy someday, other than Mom and Dad. (Pardon my  fundie obsession.)

 

 

[VooDooChild]

6 minutes ago, usedbicycle said:

 Sigh, Luke.... I hope he makes a woman (or man) happy someday, other than Mom and Dad. (Pardon my  fundie obsession.)

 

 

Ugh!  Papa Arndt is just icky looking!  He gives me the creeps.

[Hane]

I'm a tad older than the Arndt parents, and have only one child, but I just plain don't have the energy to exert that much control over my offspring. After being raised by a controlling mother, I did all I could to help my daughter be independent.

[SoybeanQueen]

On 2/11/2017 at 3:43 PM, Naga Viper said:

So, I only count 24 candles on that cake. Do they always use an arbitrary number, or are Rick and Cathy gaslighting the manchildren about their ages?

My Sweet Penguina....

[Howl]

The key to understanding the Arndts is hiding in plain sight:  Safe at Home Ministries

The Rick squint thing.  Creepy. 

[MamaJunebug]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

The key to understanding the Arndts is hiding in plain sight:  Safe at Home Ministries

The Rick squint thing.  Creepy. 

Same thing with Cathy's smiley face. It never varies. 

And ITA with the "Safe At Home" key. Just a few weeks ago, a young, handsome, gainfully employed man was ambushed at the front door to his apartment, just across the river!, in the normally peaceful, semi-gentrified Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. The poor guy who doesn't have a safe home with his family was robbed, forced into a car and driven around at gunpoint. Oh, he was lucky, he's okay now, but See, son -- yes, you could have your own place, but is it safe? You know you're safe at home. 

Sadly, there are all too many local stories of robbery and beatings and murder of ordinary folks....

[Carm_88]

Paul got his license to fly a drone. 

Mary Elizabeth and Cathy were given chocolates. Happy Valentine's Day from the Arndts. 

[MamaJunebug]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 4:53 PM, socalrules said:

I agree not getting married is not a big deal. That many children and not one has dated, wanted to date or go out and live away from the family is what is odd. They really believe that their wives are going to show up at the front door. It's even stranger considering the fact that they seem to go out in the world, especially the court reporters. Now granted they may just be working at depositions involving boring business transactions but they would at least be in a room with people that talk about normal crap when the deposition is on a break. They know exactly what is out in the world. They aren't sheltered like the Duggars or the Maxwells. What is scary is that it appears that no one wants to even take a step out of Ardnteville. 

To the bolded -- orrrrr it may be depositions or testimonies surrounding grisly crimes.  And that many of said crimes happened to people who were not (say it with me now) SAFE! AT! HOME!

31 minutes ago, Carm_88 said:

Paul got his license to fly a drone. 

Mary Elizabeth and Cathy were given chocolates. Happy Valentine's Day from the Arndts. 

Was the presentation of the box o'chocklits made in the master bedroom?  The photo does not make this clear.

[Carm_88]

8 minutes ago, MamaJunebug said:

To the bolded -- orrrrr it may be depositions or testimonies surrounding grisly crimes.  And that many of said crimes happened to people who were not (say it with me now) SAFE! AT! HOME!

Was the presentation of the box o'chocklits made in the master bedroom?  The photo does not make this clear.

I am not sure! But I would assume it was in the Master bedroom. 

[usedbicycle]

From this comment on Paul's wall in December, it looks like at least one of boys dated. So maybe they do date, but just never have been able to keep a girl until marriage.

I would love to know who that niece is but my sleuthing attempts were unsuccessful.

 

 

[Carm_88]

24 minutes ago, usedbicycle said:

From this comment on Paul's wall in December, it looks like at least one of boys dated. So maybe they do date, but just never have been able to keep a girl until marriage.

I would love to know who that niece is but my sleuthing attempts were unsuccessful.

 

 

I feel like Cathy would get rid of them. If not the combined batshit craziness of this family would. 

[quiversR4hunting]

On Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 10:39 AM, nokidsmom said:

I suspect that the boys are too enmeshed with their parents to get very far.  Especially the older ones, I highly doubt there's going to be too many women their ages (30s) who will want a man who is overly involved with his parents and family to the extend that the manboys are.   

(Snipped)

And this is why I think the Maxwell ladies would be perfect. From one bizarre headship to another but with more fun. 

[Elegant Mess]

2 hours ago, quiversR4hunting said:

(Snipped)

And this is why I think the Maxwell ladies would be perfect. From one bizarre headship to another but with more fun. 

If such a relationship were to actually come to fruition, I'd hope the Arndt man boy could stand up to Steve and insist on living in the locale of their choice and not be pressured to buy a place within a mile of the main Maxwell house.