Maxwell 30: Buying a Vest Debt Free

[usedbicycle]

I totally chuckled at the "fresh" tortilla phrasing. Obviously not fresh enough for Sarah! Fundies are really gifted at backhanded compliments. 

[SolomonFundy]

I've long held the opinion that the sisterly house blitzing sessions are thinly veiled scouting missions to fuel Steve's voyeurism and sense of complete control. 

The fact that they are dispatched to clean houses that are already painfully tidy is fine, but documenting the process is unnecessary in the normal course of events. Steve has never allowed any member of the family to have privacy in any form. The blog celebrates the fact that his children, even as adults, were not permitted to be alone in their rooms at night. (I really do wonder if Teri and Steve are making poor Jesse sleep on the foot of their bed these days.) They aren't even allowed to move far from the family home. Why would he pass up the opportunity to perform routine inspections via his Stay At Home Maid service? 

[Captain Obvious]

11 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I wouldn't like for someone to surprise clean my house while I was away. Or present. I don't honestly even like "help". I like my things my way and in my places and I am a border-line neat freak, so please, just leave it alone. 

My mom was pretty sick for a while and she had a cleaning woman come in once a week. As mom improved, they no longer had the cleaning woman. Our family used the party room at her apartment for a family get together, and I was there all day to set up and make sure mom didn't have to do anything. I cleaned her kitchen, pretty generically, and she was not a happy woman. After much apologizing, I did ask why the cleaning woman was ok but I am not. She said because that's what she paid the cleaning woman to do, and she did it at my mom's direction and choice. Fair enough and I apologized sincerely. She knew I was trying to help, but she is my mother after all, and she likes her things her way. 

I do know other people who would love to have someone come in and clean for them.

Assuming someone will like such a thing is the mistake. Asking if someone would like it is the bombl.

Exactly - that was my point. 

I don't know what Melanie's cleaning preference is, and I'm sure as a heavily pregnant mum of 5 who likely gets little help from her husband, she appreciates the help, but this was a step beyond that. And I highly doubt they would have had asked permission because we all know how much the Max girls love their surprise cleaning/cooking visits so they can flaunt their housewifery qualities for the blog. 

But I'm not sure how much agency she would have if she didn't want the aunts coming round uninvited, or otherwise doing things that would normally be her role. 

[Foudeb]

I'll give them a pass on this one. It sounds like Mary & Anna were staying at their house to babysit. Having someone in your space is a more than fair trade off for free childcare, and they should've had enough advance warning of the invasion to put any compromising materials (the lyrics to row row row your boat etc) safely under lock and key. Better have the sitters clean after themselves as they go (I bet a house with that many kids gets dirty by the minute) than have your space invaded and then come home to a big mess. 

For the sitters it's a Steve-sanctioned activity they can do with the kids to fill up that schedule. The children were probably happy to do a "gift" for their parents and played along. In Maxhell that probably counts as f*n. 

Its probably a matter of degree - washing the floors and ceiling fans is ok, rearranging clothes drawers isn't. I'll give them a pass in assuming they stuck to the former. I've always done a bit of a clean up after house-sitting - nothing crazy, but enough to erase any trace of my presence and perhaps a bit extra to show I'm a good house sitter (cleaning the windows is an easy one as you can just buy the spray and kitchen roll so no need to go through their cleaning supplies). No disrespect meant to the house owner, its more of a here you go, aren't I nice gesture. If they wanted me to keep my hands to myself they should have either told me so or just not have invited me to stay in their house - expecting them to clean after me would have been ruder imho. 

[Deleorean88mph]

On 4/8/2019 at 9:50 PM, theologygeek said:

I signed into FJ just to see if anyone noticed Chapter 9.  How did no one in their circle of family or friends tell them to get rid of that title???  That title is hilarious.  LOL  

It's almost like they want to give people something/anything to talk about!

[MamaJunebug]

@Foudeb wrote,

”they should've had enough advance warning of the invasion to put any compromising materials (the lyrics to row row row your boat etc) safely under lock and key. “

And MJB rolled off the sectional!!!

A friend who had a sweet gig house sitting for a year (just think, no rent or utilities to pay for 12 months) effed things up royally by leaving the foyer cluttered with boxes from her storage unit when the homeowners arrived for their bi-monthly stay. (The arrangement was that every 6 to 8 weeks, my friend would spend a week elsewhere while the owners were home. My friend had plenty of family & friends with whom to bunk for a week at a time, 6 or 7 times in a year.)

Anyhow, things went south pretty quickly after that. I tried to encourage her, the next time, to leave the house so tidy as though she hadn’t been there, but it was too late. 

None of which has aught to do with Maxhell  but I was grateful Foudeb wrote about “leaving no trace,” or to that effect.  My friend didn’t grasp that concept and for a while I thought *I* had been the one to be missing something. 

[OhNoNike]

Wtheck is up with the new blog post.  A reader thanked them and sent HER OWN copy back to them?  That’s so weird!

[freejugar]

Fake is what it is.  Mary probably did that book  page, she's  into  lettering

[OhNoNike]

4 hours ago, freejugar said:

Fake is what it is.  Mary probably did that book  page, she's  into  lettering

I had the exact thought, actually.  

[hollyandivy]

39 minutes ago, OhNoNike said:

I had the exact thought, actually.  

you are not the only one, I suspected that as well!

[SPHASH]

44 minutes ago, hollyandivy said:

you are not the only one, I suspected that as well!

Yeah that has Scary Mary written all over it no pun intended.

[lilith]

Have to get product promotion back on the front page of the blog.....

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

16 hours ago, Foudeb said:

I've always done a bit of a clean up after house-sitting - nothing crazy, but enough to erase any trace of my presence and perhaps a bit extra to show I'm a good house sitter (cleaning the windows is an easy one as you can just buy the spray and kitchen roll so no need to go through their cleaning supplies). No disrespect meant to the house owner, its more of a here you go, aren't I nice gesture. If they wanted me to keep my hands to myself they should have either told me so or just not have invited me to stay in their house - expecting them to clean after me would have been ruder imho. 

I had a similar philosophy and habit when I used to pet and house sit. I tried to never rumage through anyplace I didn't need to. Kitchens are pretty much public space, so I always familiarized myself with the cupboards, but I didn't go peering through their bathroom storage, for example. I did occasionally have to search for replacement light bulbs, but I never saw any stashes of pornography or song lyrics.

I usually focused on having clean sheets on the bed and clean floors when the homeowners returned. How much more I cleaned depended on how long I was there, and how messy the pets were. Three largish dogs bring a lot of dirt into a house. And 15 cats bring their own set of cleaning issues! I usually made myself daily to-do lists (but no schedule with 15 minute increments), and made sure to put cleaning tasks on the day the pet owners returned. (Or the day before if they were returning early in the day.) I never rearranged anyone's clothes, or bookshelves, because that seems rude and invasive to me.

[bluelady]

4 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

I had a similar philosophy and habit when I used to pet and house sit. I tried to never rumage through anyplace I didn't need to. Kitchens are pretty much public space, so I always familiarized myself with the cupboards, but I didn't go peering through their bathroom storage, for example. I did occasionally have to search for replacement light bulbs, but I never saw any stashes of pornography or song lyrics.

I usually focused on having clean sheets on the bed and clean floors when the homeowners returned. How much more I cleaned depended on how long I was there, and how messy the pets were. Three largish dogs bring a lot of dirt into a house. And 15 cats bring their own set of cleaning issues! I usually made myself daily to-do lists (but no schedule with 15 minute increments), and made sure to put cleaning tasks on the day the pet owners returned. (Or the day before if they were returning early in the day.) I never rearranged anyone's clothes, or bookshelves, because that seems rude and invasive to me.

I agree.  If someone wants to come and do my dishes, great!  Sweep and mop my floors?  Go to it!  Bathrooms, for me, start to get a bit personal and I would never have someone do my laundry for me (other than maybe sheets and towels).  

[JermajestyDuggar]

I always tell my mom to stay away from my dishwasher. She always thinks the dishes in the dishwasher are clean and will put them away. I’ve told her a million times I put dishes in my dishwasher rinsed and they look clean but aren’t. So I’ve found unwashed dishes in my cupboards before ?‍♀️

Edited April 18, 2019 by JermajestyDuggar

[Howl]

I always take a few of my own kitchen supplies (sharp knives, plates, and a few odds and ends peculiar to the way I prep and cook) when I house sit for SiL.  Her place is like a lovely B & B and I know SHE cleans before my stay, so I try to leave it immaculate with clean sheets on bed.  

re: Maxhell

There is no privacy of any kind in MaxHell, thus no one in MaxHell has needed to develop boundaries about the personal effects of others. 

 

[Jana814]

When I stay at clients houses I always make sure to keep the place clean. I was staying with one this passed weekend till Tuesday. She ended up taking an earlier flight and I felt bad because her mail & newspapers were not organized on my next visit with the dog I was going to do it. But she was ok with how it was. 

[HereticHick]

13 hours ago, SPHASH said:

Yeah that has Scary Mary written all over it no pun intended.

The whole "ripping out some pages to show" and then mailing the mutilated book to the Maxwells makes no freaking sense

Lying makes baby Jesus cry, Maxwells.

Edited April 18, 2019 by HereticHick

[Black Aliss]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

The whole "ripping out some pages to show" and then mailing the mutilated book to the Maxwells makes no freaking sense

Lying makes baby Jesus cry, Maxwells.

I'm sure the nice lady meant it as a compliment. Not to be confused with a complement, as in

Quote

This book is a perfect compliment complement to My Delight. 

See how that works, Sarah? (Or, rather, see how that works, Steve? You might let Sarah know.) A useful way to remember this* is that a complement enhances something else.  Or, a compliment is the opposite of an insult.

 

*What some call a mnemonic, which is probably not a word encountered in the Abeka vocabulary worksheets.

[fundiefan]

Aside from not believing some woman sent pulled, colored on pages back to the Maxwells, I am, surprisingly, astonished at what they think they can say/do/make-up and not be questioned. 

Steve's arrogance makes him, and his family, really freaking stupid.  

[Eternalbluepearl]

Okay you guys are really making my day by imagining the Maxwells *LYING* About a blog post! I'm dying. Thank you all! 

[Lisafer]

I'm really curious now as to whether the Maxwells really did make up the story and doodle on those pages themselves. If that was true, the level of cognitive dissonance between their "Christian" faith and a lie backed up by falsified drawings would have to be pretty extreme. 

I mean, they've shown repeatedly that they'll lie by omission, and that they have no problem altering things like blog comments, so blatant lying might not be a bridge too far. 

Another possibility: the book was written in by "extended family" for the purposes of promotion. That way, it's not a total lie. Although it would still be extremely dishonest, I'm sure the Maxwells would do something like that and feel justified and holy afterwards. 

[lilith]

I doubt the Maxwells outright lied, but I also doubt someone spontaneously sent in their godly doodles in a fit of gratitude for Teri’s meek and quiet platitudes. I think it’s very likely that they asked what some would call a friend to send in her completed pages to use in the promotion. We know that they send their products to “test families” to garner reviews and I think this is an extension of that.

[Lisafer]

44 minutes ago, lilith said:

I doubt the Maxwells outright lied, but I also doubt someone spontaneously sent in their godly doodles in a fit of gratitude for Teri’s meek and quiet platitudes. I think it’s very likely that they asked what some would call a friend to send in her completed pages to use in the promotion. We know that they send their products to “test families” to garner reviews and I think this is an extension of that.

This seems like the most plausible explanation. If so, my god, they're such liars. I would prefer outright lies to dancing on a narrow tightrope of "truth." 

[SolomonFundy]

Anna-Marie also does calligraphy and artistic fonts. I believe she's the one who got Mary interested in that as a hobby.  If she were the "sweet young mother" in question, the rest of the details are alllllmost not a lie. Her age and number of children is currently incorrect, but I think she did have 4 when she was 27. 

However, I tend to agree with the rest of you that this was probably Mary operating on Steve's orders. Anna-Marie is extremely precise and talented, and this "homework" lacks her panache.