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

[Palimpsest]

 new poster @MissManners.  I love your user name.

I think Steve does screen and answers some questions on the blog.  His terse answers are well known here.  On the other hand, Sarah does respond to comments from people known to her - and Steve wouldn't respond as "this aunt."  He prefers lying by omission to outright lying.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

12 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

 new poster @MissManners.  I love your user name.

I think Steve does screen and answers some questions on the blog.  His terse answers are well known here.  On the other hand, Sarah does respond to comments from people known to her - and Steve wouldn't respond as "this aunt."  He prefers lying by omission to outright lying.

 

Apparently he wasn't ever grounded by my mom who said those were equally wrong.  

[nokidsmom]

3 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

I always like it when Sarah gets snappy on the blog.  It's a sign of a human response - and it probably does discourage a few demanding leg-humpers.

Sarah must be sick and tired of the blog and of being the designated Maxwell photographer.  She's been doing it for years.  At one point Anna was supposed to take it over, but that idea obviously petered out - probably because Anna's writing skills are even worse than Sarah's.  Sarah only seems to enjoy the Ellie posts.

If you think about it, Sarah is easily the hardest working Maxwell woman and has been for a long time.  Her Moody books, bad though they may be, are possibly the best sellers of all the Maxwell publications.  She did all the accounting for John and Joseph's folded construction company.  She helped out with One Ton Ramp and the MOTH forum.  She used to do most of the mailings and probably still does.   She helped home school all her younger siblings and probably did the lion's share of the chores until Mary and Anna were able to help.  I'm not sure what Anna and Mary are doing these days, but cooking, cleaning, practicing the violin, and drawing pictures can't take up all their time.

As Sarah is now writing her new book series, and claims to enjoy writing, it must be infuriating to be dragged away from it frequently to take silly pictures of her sisters cleaning and write filler crap for the blog.  Why should she want to spend time photographing her brothers' children when they can do it themselves?

Sarah seems to be as bored with the blog as we are.  Free Sarah!

This got me to thinking that Sarah has done so much for so long, that her family has gotten used to it so it's Sarah's job by default.  Perhaps they feel entitled to it.   Maybe at some point, she was fine with doing all that but now it's getting old.  

I saw this with a younger sister while she was living under my parents roof and didn't leave until she was Sarah's current age.  She cooked, she cleaned, she did IMHO an inordinate amount of household work.  Not that others didn't work either but after a long time, everyone got used to "little sis" doing the work.   And after other sister got married, she would go over to other sister's home and clean her house.  Granted it was her choice to do it but it went on too long.  She got real tired of it, but would never stand up and say enough already.  Even today when she visits, she spends all of her time doing housework and yes, this is her vacation time.

Anyhoo, it seems that Sarah may have fallen into a similar trap.   If she were to actually marry, I suspect the household wouldn't know what to do without her around. 

[meee]

On 7/5/2016 at 2:43 AM, Handmaiden of Dog said:

There is a deep strain of Puritanism in Steve.  I'm sure he has told his womenfolk that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and "Idle hands are an open invitation to the Devil."  There really is no need to live in a completely spotless home unless someone in your family has health problems that require it.  My personal motto is "My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy."  I could wash my kitchen floor every single day or I could wash it once a week-- the next day it will be dirty again.  I wipe up when I need to and try not to get too anal about it.

My husband wants me to be happy-- a happy relaxed person to come home to is high on his priorities.  Some husbands however feel like unless their wives are spending most of their waking hours slaving away the wife is getting a free ride.  "Keep em barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen" as though a wife who spends a few hours lounging around in her underwear reading a book is cheating the husband out of something.  I also suspect that keeping wives pregnant and hard at work is supposed to ward off unfaithful thoughts because a wife who is bone tired is not going to run off with the handyman.  Except that maybe a woman who is being ground down every day with sheer drudgery might wake up one morning and decide that greener pastures await.

Puritan.  That's the description/adjective I've been looking for.  I keep being surprised by (and posting here about) how what they call each other is just about the only "normal" thing about them: Mom and Dad instead of Mother and Father; Sarah and Anna and Mary instead of, I don't know, Damaris and Dorcas and Beulah.  (Though what's with "Dad and Mom" instead of "Mom and Dad?" Seems awkward.)

[Palimpsest]

2 hours ago, meee said:

Though what's with "Dad and Mom" instead of "Mom and Dad?" Seems awkward.)

Dad is the Head, the Patriarch, and ruler of the home.  Mom is the Neck, the Helpmeet, and submissive wife - and in Teri's case (sadly) probably checked out a whole lot of the time.

Of course Dad is mentioned first...

[Granwych]

13 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Dad is the Head, the Patriarch, and ruler of the home.  Mom is the Neck, the Helpmeet, and submissive wife - and in Teri's case (sadly) probably checked out a whole lot of the time.

Of course Dad is mentioned first...

Dad is ALWAYS mentioned first.  Always.

[Palimpsest]

22 minutes ago, Granwych said:

Dad is ALWAYS mentioned first.  Always.

Yes, and so is Mr Moody.  Slogging through Summer With the Moodys, if people can bear it, really gives great insight into Maxwell family dynamics. 

[Jana814]

3 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Yes, and so is Mr Moody.  Slogging through Summer With the Moodys, if people can bear it, really gives great insight into Maxwell family dynamics. 

I read the Moody books. Mr. Moody always seemed be higher the Mrs. Moody. I figured it was what happens in the Maxwell house. 

[Granwych]

8 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Yes, and so is Mr Moody.  Slogging through Summer With the Moodys, if people can bear it, really gives great insight into Maxwell family dynamics. 

I wonder if the family members have to back out of a room where Mr. Moody (aka Steve) is, like how everyone in the presence of a medieval king were bound to do.  With every post about Stevehovah, I can't stand the man more.

[Palimpsest]

1 minute ago, Granwych said:

I wonder if the family members have to back out of a room where Mr. Moody (aka Steve) is, like how everyone in the presence of a medieval king were bound to do.  With every post about Stevehovah, I can't stand the man more.

Well for those who haven't yet read that amazingly boring book:

Spoiler

Mr Moody is omniscient and omnipresent.  All decisions, play time, library books, and good things like water balloons come from Mr Moody.  Mrs Moody inefficiently forgets to defrost roasts, knocks over mail boxes with the car, has many headaches, spends a lot of time having personal time with God.  Oh, and her idea of hide and seek means standing in the corner of the living room so she can be found first and go and read a book.

 

[HermioneSparrow]

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Well for those who haven't yet read that amazingly boring book:

  Hide contents

Mr Moody is omniscient and omnipresent.  All decisions, play time, library books, and good things like water balloons come from Mr Moody.  Mrs Moody inefficiently forgets to defrost roasts, knocks over mail boxes with the car, has many headaches, spends a lot of time having personal time with God.  Oh, and her idea of hide and seek means standing in the corner of the living room so she can be found first and go and read a book.

 

Wow, Teri really disliked being a mom, isn't it?

[sparkles]

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Well for those who haven't yet read that amazingly boring book:

  Hide contents

Mr Moody is omniscient and omnipresent.  All decisions, play time, library books, and good things like water balloons come from Mr Moody.  Mrs Moody inefficiently forgets to defrost roasts, knocks over mail boxes with the car, has many headaches, spends a lot of time having personal time with God.  Oh, and her idea of hide and seek means standing in the corner of the living room so she can be found first and go and read a book.

 

The thing that got me is that all of this could have been explained away at the end by the Big Reveal that Mrs. Moody was preggers. "Hey kids, now you know why Mom was kinda checked out these last few weeks. That's how she always gets when she's expecting!" Not that this is a great resolution—although SOME women do get a little wonky in the beginning—but it's a lot better than no resolution at all so that we keep on thinking ol' Mrs. Moody is just a complete non-entity.

[SolomonFundy]

21 minutes ago, HermioneSparrow said:

Wow, Teri really disliked being a mom, isn't it?

Teri was suffering from severe depression for the majority of the Reversals' childhoods, and possibly much earlier. Steve's cure for her depression was to get her pregnant as often as possible, and spend mornings walking and talking with her father to try and circumvent Teri's "problems" with his help. She was never treated by a doctor for the depression, and her coping mechanism seems to have been hiding in the marital bedroom with a can of Diet Pepsi. The overwhelming majority of the "Missing Mother" elements from Sarah's semi-biographical Moody books can be attributed to Teri's depression.

That said, I have personally always held the belief that Teri Maxwell doesn't enjoy small children, now or at any point in the early years of her marriage. 

[Palimpsest]

14 minutes ago, sparkles said:

The thing that got me is that all of this could have been explained away at the end by the Big Reveal that Mrs. Moody was preggers. "Hey kids, now you know why Mom was kinda checked out these last few weeks. That's how she always gets when she's expecting!" Not that this is a great resolution—although SOME women do get a little wonky in the beginning—but it's a lot better than no resolution at all so that we keep on thinking ol' Mrs. Moody is just a complete non-entity.

Agreed, but I don't think Mrs. M. is much more of an entity in the later books. She's pregnant and checked out for the duration.  The twins finally appear in book 4, IIRC.  That said, I haven't read Summer Days with the Moodys but I think someone else said she spends that one caring for the twins in her bedroom. 

@SolomonFundy, very true about the missing mother aspect and depression.

However, in Maxwell-land the Moody life is what everyone should aspire to - and Teri is the best mother ever to walk the face of the earth.  It is sad.

I also get the impression that Teri doesn't enjoy small children much today.   She enjoys the idea rather than the reality, perhaps.  Anna and Mary seem to be doing most of the baby-sitting for their nieces and nephews anyway.  Teri reads with the ABCs for 20 minutes each once a week.  That hour is on the sacred schedule.

 

[HermioneSparrow]

5 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

Teri was suffering from severe depression for the majority of the Reversals' childhoods, and possibly much earlier. Steve's cure for her depression was to get her pregnant as often as possible, and spend mornings walking and talking with her father to try and circumvent Teri's "problems" with his help. She was never treated by a doctor for the depression, and her coping mechanism seems to have been hiding in the marital bedroom with a can of Diet Pepsi. The overwhelming majority of the "Missing Mother" elements from Sarah's semi-biographical Moody books can be attributed to Teri's depression.

That said, I have personally always held the belief that Teri Maxwell doesn't enjoy small children, now or at any point in the early years of her marriage. 

To the bolded: that was what I was thinking, kinda a little more than the depression she was going through. She doesn't seem comfortable with her grandkids either.

[SolomonFundy]

17 minutes ago, HermioneSparrow said:

To the bolded: that was what I was thinking, kinda a little more than the depression she was going through. She doesn't seem comfortable with her grandkids either.

Agreed. And there is a lot to it that we will never know. Like @Palimpsest, I've commented before on Teri's seeming preference for limited "Grandma" time. One could make the argument that Teri's reluctance to be more involved with the grandchildren (if she actually IS reluctant) is the product of some residual shame from her lack of involvement with her own brood. But I tend to think that she just naturally isn't the "kid type".

It has struck me more and more recently that Sarah could be losing interest in the grandchildren herself. Mary and Anna draw babysitting duty the most, and if the pictures are any indication, they genuinely enjoy playing with the kids in different ways. Sarah seems very disengaged from the younger generation in recent months, with the exception of Ellie visits. And frankly, I don't blame her.

[Snarfblatt]

Okay I'm reading Summer With the Moodys slowly because it is very, very dull and yes Mrs Moody does seem to be really checked out. Mr Moody is clearly the important parent although Mrs Moody is at home with them all day every day.  

The dialogue is killing me and I found a grammatical error. Also if I had a diabetic cat that required insulin I would sure as hell not let four small children pet sit for said cat. 

[Jana814]

13 minutes ago, Snarfblatt said:

Also if I had a diabetic cat that required insulin I would sure as hell not let four small children pet sit for said cat. 

I'm a pet sitter & I would feel unfortable taking care of a pet who was on insulin. 

[Coconut Flan]

I had a diabetic cat.  It wasn't that hard.  Feed them a measured amount of food and treats a day and stick them with insulin at the same times every day. The cat would hear me getting things ready and come and sit down and wait for his shot. 

[Palimpsest]

9 hours ago, Snarfblatt said:

Okay I'm reading Summer With the Moodys slowly because it is very, very dull and yes Mrs Moody does seem to be really checked out. Mr Moody is clearly the important parent although Mrs Moody is at home with them all day every day.  

The dialogue is killing me and I found a grammatical error. Also if I had a diabetic cat that required insulin I would sure as hell not let four small children pet sit for said cat. 

There are numerous grammatical errors.  We discussed the book in detail here: 

Look out for @Trynn's brilliant parodies.

I never did get around to posting my Amazon review - but I'm very sure that not all the negative reviews on Amazon came from FJ members.  Ours tried very hard to be constructive.  Others were not so kind but I doubt Sarah ever saw any of them.

 

[PennySycamore]

On July 8, 2016 at 9:54 PM, Coconut Flan said:

I had a diabetic cat.  It wasn't that hard.  Feed them a measured amount of food and treats a day and stick them with insulin at the same times every day. The cat would hear me getting things ready and come and sit down and wait for his shot. 

@Coconut Flan, my two "sugar kitties" were the same way.  First Bianca and then Snorpi would always be there ready for their insulin as it made them feel better.  They never objected to their injections either.

As easy as diabetic cats are to care for, I'd be reluctant to let kids cat-sit for them.  When I was away, I'd board Snorpi at the vet's.

[mango_fandango]

Ooh. No new family photo, but Daniel is already listed in the Christopher Maxwell section on the Tits 2 About page.

[Coconut Flan]

No, I wouldn't let young kids do it.  My guess is a responsible 16 year old and up could handle it for a few days as long as the cat was stable.  I didn't have to worry as the cat went with me since all my trips were to relatives after he was diagnosed.  My kids would laugh because the cat knew when it was time to follow me no matter which house we were in. 

[SPHASH]

New post up.  Sarah was walking Ellie and three dogs one who was a pit bull attacked Ellie.  Poor thing.  Passerbys stopped to help and took Sarah and Ellie home.  Ellie went to the vet but she will be fine.

[usmcmom]

30 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

New post up.  Sarah was walking Ellie and three dogs one who was a pit bull attacked Ellie.  Poor thing.  Passerbys stopped to help and took Sarah and Ellie home.  Ellie went to the vet but she will be fine.

Reading that post made me feel ill.  I feel so very bad for Sarah for having to endure that. A dog attack is such a traumatic thing and I know she must have been scared to death. I'm so glad that she and Ellie are physically fine.  I hope they both receive empathy and caring as they heal emotionally.   

Steve, please know my  thoughts are with Sarah.  I'm glad she and Ellie are safe now.