Maxwell 26: The Toothbrush Thing Is Real

[Maggie Mae]

16 minutes ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

Sadly, the sexism among kids' toys, clothes, and accessories goes beyond fundie culture. I read it was easier to find gender neutral children's merchandise  at any point in the 20th century than it is now. For more on this, check out @LetToysBeToys on Twitter.

That's because in the 20th century, marketing wasn't the force it is today. If you sell one Lego set, it can be passed down. If you sell a boy Lego set, you'll have to buy a girl Lego set, thus buying two lego sets instead of just one. (Which is ridiculous, because more legos are always better.) People also buy a lot more in general and travel more. Different standards and materials mean more toys are produced and sold, they break easier, and health standards require some to be disposable. 

As a person who was poor, and taught the value of frugality and good stewardship, some of the wastefulness just makes me sad. 

[mango_fandango]

I have curly-ish hair, and it actually looks better when it’s brushed, which seems to be the opposite of what other curly-heads say. It’s also super-thick and gets tangled easily... when I was younger and had longer hair going to the hairdresser was a nightmare. Now it’s shorter I actually quite enjoy going. 

[WiseGirl]

13 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

This is a good reminder to everyone that donates to their local homeless or youth shelter to donate black hair-care products. 

I cannot like this enough. 

12 hours ago, fundiefan said:

When donating, remember there are more than white Europeans in the world. 

Truth products for all hair types are needed.

[JermajestyDuggar]

9 hours ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

Sadly, the sexism among kids' toys, clothes, and accessories goes beyond fundie culture. I read it was easier to find gender neutral children's merchandise  at any point in the 20th century than it is now. For more on this, check out @LetToysBeToys on Twitter.

I didn’t find out the sex of my kids before birth and I was always looking for gender neutral baby clothing. I found a few but not a lot. Part of why that is hard is because it’s much more common to find out the sex before birth. I was in the minority by waiting until birth. So a baby shower is usually filled with gendered baby clothing. When you couldn’t find out the sex before birth, gender neutral baby clothing was common. 

[fundiefan]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I didn’t find out the sex of my kids before birth and I was always looking for gender neutral baby clothing. I found a few but not a lot. Part of why that is hard is because it’s much more common to find out the sex before birth. I was in the minority by waiting until birth. So a baby shower is usually filled with gendered baby clothing. When you couldn’t find out the sex before birth, gender neutral baby clothing was common. 

I've never been pregnant, but I was at three different baby showers in the past six months or so. None of the couples found out the sex. I was stunned, almost literally, by the number of people who were pissed/offended/complaining about not knowing what to buy since *they* didn't know the sex. 

I understand it's hard to buy gender neutral, but not impossible. Especially when there is a gift registry.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

11 hours ago, Don'tlikekoolaid said:

I would send t shirts, hard candy and stuff like that.  I met some women from Africa years ago at a Gov’t function. They were dressed in full ethnic clothing and they were BEAUTIFUL and regal.  I wonder what they would have said about this BS, because they looked like they didn’t need a damn thing from whitey or men or anyone!

There are better ways to donate to others.

I’d never send hard candy to children who may not have access to dental care.  

I remember the backlash Amaya got on the real world for passing out blow pops to kids in India.  As heartbreaking as it is for me to see kids denied blow pops (the worlds most perfect food) I had to agree.

and I just totally pitted myself as both old and shallow.

if I were donating I’d find some charity (with an excellent record) local to the people I wanted to help and donate money so the people who know what needs are greatest there could have resources.

but every kid needs some fun stuff.  Maybe blow pops and toothbrushes?

[Jana814]

I know of 2 people in the last year who had babies & didn’t find out the gender. I don’t have kids but if I did I would want to know the sex mostly because I hate surprises. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

7 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

I've never been pregnant, but I was at three different baby showers in the past six months or so. None of the couples found out the sex. I was stunned, almost literally, by the number of people who were pissed/offended/complaining about not knowing what to buy since *they* didn't know the sex. 

I understand it's hard to buy gender neutral, but not impossible. Especially when there is a gift registry.

 

Confession:

I fucking LOVED pissing people off by not finding out the sex. It was hilarious to me. I would often challenge anyone complaining about it. I’m not normally a shit stirrer but when I’m pregnant I am! 

[Lgirlrocks]

Well FJ. Incase you didn’t know this, it is important for mothers to spend time with their daughters. 

[anjulibai]

How the hell are their schedules so crazy and complicated that they have to schedule a day out for shopping a month in advance? 

Also, they all live together - why do they need to spend a special day together? 

[catlady]

Quote

Mom invited we girls for a day out, and because of how crazy and complicated our schedules were, we scheduled it over a month in advance to get it to work!

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.  On your next shopping excursion, buy yourself a book on grammar.  If you take the descriptor out of the first clause, you get "Mom invited we for a day out."  That's not correct, is it, Sarah?  I hope you don't have errors like this in your latest book.  

And since you and your sisters work for your father and brothers, i find it rather sad that they require you to provide 4+ weeks' notice for a day off.  Your day-in-the-life posts are not depicting time so "crazy and complicated" that you need that much advance planning.

[Alisamer]

On the gender thing, I've noticed recently that looking at photos of my sisters and I when we were kids, compared to my friend's 11 year old daughter - there's a HUGE difference! Even though the kid's favorite color is blue, so much of her clothing is gendered even if it's not all pink. Sparkles, ruffles, etc. When we were kids in the 80's, most of our stuff was bright primary colors or gender neutral, and I really don't think our mom actively looked for that sort of thing instead of girly stuff (unless it was to piss off her mother-in-law who LOVED pink...). Friend's daughter thinks that certain Lego sets like pirates are "for BOYS", while when we were kids we got Tonka trucks and toy tool sets, and stuff like bikes and big wheels came in colors like red and bright blue. Our toy tea sets and kitchen play set were harvest gold and avocado green, to match real kitchen stuff at the time. Pirates are for everybody, kid!

There really does seem to be a huge divide in gendered toys and clothing, now, more than before. I go through the toy sections of stores fairly regularly, as a doll collector and transformers collector - and the "boy" section is all black/red/orange while the "girl" section is 99% pink and purple. I guess people like that, but it's strange to me how it seemed to gradually shift so far away from where it was in the early 80s, while cultural tolerance of gender differences seems to have shifted the opposite way.

[mango_fandango]

As if those girls have crazy and complicated schedules. What the hell do they do all day? We’ve seen their “day in the life of” for each daughter and I wouldn’t call any of it crazy or complicated. It’s just ship some Titus 2 orders, do some drawing, cook dinner. Hardly rocket science.

[Palimpsest]

Oh, be fair everyone.   They have been crazy busy and had very complicated schedules recently.  Unusually so for Maxhell.

• Sarah has been signing 300 copies of the not-a-Moody book.
• Mary spent weeks doing all the illustrations.
• The girls have been packing and sending the books out.
• OCC.  Say no more.
• Thanksgiving.   All that exhausting prep and a day off the regular schedule.
• Plus normal chores, work for the bros, and dusting the ceiling fan.
• And a positive flurry of blog posts.  What is up with that?

Quote

I enjoy seeing how Mom has embraced the value of scheduling things that are important to her she hates to do.  As you know, she has scheduled reading time with her grandchildren, play time with them, weekly lunch and grocery shopping with GiGi, etc. 

FTFY, Sarah.

And, Jesus wept.  They live together, eat together, have family Bible time together, pray together, work together, go to the church of the Holy Nursing Home together - I would think it more important to schedule time apart than a lunch out and a shopping expedition.  Together.

 

[Coconutwater]

Good Lord, if my mother wants to have lunch or dinner she shoots me a text or just calls and if I’m busy we reschedule or she does. Their lives revolve around that damn schedule, what a boring life. 

[freejugar]

I imagine how scheduling sessions go.

Mom, how about the 1st?

no, i have to cook and re heat meat

The 2nd?

i have to read to the grandchildren

3rd?

lunch with gigi

4th?

i have to schedule xmas dinner

5th?

(shit i'm out of excuses) ok then, lunch with the daughters it is!

[Alisamer]

21 minutes ago, Coconutwater said:

Good Lord, if my mother wants to have lunch or dinner she shoots me a text or just calls and if I’m busy we reschedule or she does. Their lives revolve around that damn schedule, what a boring life. 

I know, right? Since my mom got into Pokemon Go I never know when I'm going to get a text from her wanting to go hunt Pokemon or do a raid or whatever. We do spur-of-the-moment stuff all the time.

Once, my sister texted me at 1:30 on a Friday afternoon, saying "You know, if we left after work today..." and by 4pm we were on the road to Walt Disney World for the weekend. My reaction was not "let me check my schedule" it was "give me 20 minutes to pack."

I mean I am a planner, and planning and schedules are a good thing. But not if you're ignoring opportunities that aren't on the schedule!

[fundiefan]

1 hour ago, anjulibai said:

How the hell are their schedules so crazy and complicated that they have to schedule a day out for shopping a month in advance? 

Also, they all live together - why do they need to spend a special day together? 

This thought is circling my brain but can't find a place to settle. You live together. You all "work" for the family businesses. You all see & talk to each other all day long with few others even present. 

WHY do you have to schedule time in advance to go shopping? 

Terri: Girls, let's go shopping. 

Mary: I have to polish the cabinets & clean the ceiling fans this week. Let me check my schedule. 

Sarah: I have to read feedback about my book and edit a gazillion pictures. Let me check my schedule. 

Anna: I have to take some tech calls for Nathan's business when he says so. Let me check my schedule. 

All: OK, in December, two months from now, we all have a couple hours on Saturday to go shopping so let's schedule it. 

It hurts me to think about it. 

My niece, who lives out of town, is going to be in our area this weekend for, well, life with her friends. She wanted to know if we wanted to get together for dinner Saturday night. This past Sunday, she sent a group text to all of us - like, 7 different women in 7 different households - and said, hey, I'm in town. Let's get together Saturday for dinner. By Monday, it was all set with only one of the 7 not being able to make it. Boom. Done. 

Why oh why do these people make everything so effing hard? 

I should have read all the response before pounding on my keyboard - most are exactly what I just said in some form. 

Sorry for being redundant. But, this is the Maxhell thread; life is redundant when it involves them. 

[3splenty]

7 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Confession:

I fucking LOVED pissing people off by not finding out the sex. It was hilarious to me. I would often challenge anyone complaining about it. I’m not normally a shit stirrer but when I’m pregnant I am! 

Like my grandma would have said, "If you aren't present for the beginning (conception), you don't need to be nosy about it.  You'll know soon enough."

 

[Odd1Out]

6 hours ago, anjulibai said:

How the hell are their schedules so crazy and complicated that they have to schedule a day out for shopping a month in advance? 

Also, they all live together - why do they need to spend a special day together? 

I doubt there’s that much going on in their daily schedule. It’s most likely that they prepare their 15 minute increment schedule a month in advance and once it’s saved on the Excel sheet it freaks them out to make changes. So everything has to be scheduled a month ahead. There can be no last minute, impulse decisions. 

[Maggie Mae]

15 minutes ago, Odd1Out said:

I doubt there’s that much going on in their daily schedule. It’s most likely that they prepare their 15 minute increment schedule a month in advance and once it’s saved on the Excel sheet it freaks them out to make changes. So everything has to be scheduled a month ahead. There can be no last minute, impulse decisions. 

I wonder how many times people are like "eh, I don't want to do that 15 minute activity, i'll just go fake some bathroom thing and read a book until something better comes around. Of course, Steve probably schedules bathroom breaks as well. 

[nausicaa]

On 12/4/2018 at 4:17 PM, Maggie Mae said:

This is a good reminder to everyone that donates to their local homeless or youth shelter to donate black hair-care products. 

I've heard this before and want to contribute, but as a total White Basic Bitch, have to admit I am completely lost in the black hair care section. Does anyone have some suggestions for the most cost effective items to buy?

[Myfanwy]

For the love of too much tinsel; are you trying to tell me that a mother and her daughters went out to lunch and did some shopping????  Somehow four adult people found time to eat and shop! Well aren't you guys just the most original people who ever originaled. This is definitely not a thing that happens all over the world every day of the week. No siree Bob.  

[HerNameIsBuffy]

@fundiefan Nathan is still in tech? They shut down the one ton ramp ages ago - what capacity is he working in?

[Lisafer]

11 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I've never been pregnant, but I was at three different baby showers in the past six months or so. None of the couples found out the sex. I was stunned, almost literally, by the number of people who were pissed/offended/complaining about not knowing what to buy since *they* didn't know the sex. 

I understand it's hard to buy gender neutral, but not impossible. Especially when there is a gift registry.

 

And typing "gender neutral baby clothes" into Google yields plenty of results! Like this lovely outfit:

Spoiler

Squee! If I had a newborn, I'd be popping him or her into that one in no time!

I found out the sex both times: it made it easier for me personally to plan things. But I like to plan ahead: had the names picked practically before my children were conceived.