Maxwell 31: InVESTing in Quality Bible Bindings

[Rosie]

8 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I do know of some children in my area who go to sleep away camp for most of the summer. Their parents have the money for it though. Most people don’t have thousands of dollars for camp each summer though. It’s funny how you will see so many middle class kids going to sleep away camp on TV and movies when it’s likely that middle class parents couldn’t actually afford it. 

Like everything else , sleep away camp has become far more expensive relative to household income than it used to be.  My five siblings and I all went to sleep away camp for a few weeks every summer in the 70s and it was no big deal to my not-rich parents.

DH and I sent our kids to sleep away camp as well, when they were younger.  They went for two weeks each summer and loved it.

Even today, there are reasonable options for sleep away camp including e.g. the YMCA ones, many of which are excellent.

[Jana814]

I went to both sleep away & day camp. I much preferred day camp.  When I was growing up their was only a few options for day camps in my area. Now their are so many more. My town has a community center, they run a camp for the entire summer, meaning from the last week of June to the end of August.  The Community Center camp is more affordable then other camps. 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Jana814

[MamaJunebug]

3 hours ago, kpmom said:

 

I’m having trouble making the boards behave, sinin case tgecwuote above stays blank, I’m replying to @kpmom who pointed out that Mel uses MOTH scheduling and that Griselda Teri has mentioned it many times. 

To which I shall cling to my shard of hope and so that Griselda (& her minions) has, um, massaged the truth before with vague allusions and promises and curiously unprovable statements here & there. 

Of  course she’ll advertise Mel and her happy brood as proof of the happiness MOTH brings.  Whether Mel will choose to enslave Abby further at age 12 remains to be seen. 

Wasn’t Nate the one who helped Poor Sarah in their tween years keep things afloat while GT slept?  I’m going to hope with all my heart that what he’s observed (his family go from everyday, ordinary people to isolated, father-worshipping, mother-supporting inmates),

and what he’s experienced (Susannah’s sadly brief life, the several miscarriages, the anxiety of many of his children’s births),

and what he experiences with his in-laws in their ordinary, happy functioning in the world — 

i would hope that with all that, he and Mel will be kinder to their oldest surviving daughter. I really, really do.  But I doubt we’ll ever know, via Maxborg communiques.

[PennySycamore]

@HerNameIsBuffy,  I always assumed that Carol lived with her parents before she married Mike Brady.  I know the original intent of The Brady Bunch was for Carol to be a divorcee, but ABC would not go for it.  I think there was a mention about Carol maybe being a widow in the first episode, but it was never explicitly said.  I need to watch that episode again.  I would assume that if Carol, were a widow she might be able to live on her husband's life insurance for a while especially if she and the girls lived with her parents.  There was a plot point in A Very Brady Sequel where Carol thought her first husband had died/disappeared but a man shows up and claims to be Carol's lost husband.  He's not though. I realize the movie isn't canon.

[SPHASH]

On Alice I always wondered how Alice, Flo, Vera, Belle, and Jolene could afford to live on a waitresses salary in Phoenix AZ.  And Mel Sharples was a cheapass.

Edited June 21, 2019 by SPHASH
ETA

[nelliebelle1197]

20 hours ago, catlady said:

this does make sense, and i agree that Alice should have cut back to 2-3 days per week after the wedding; she might have been able to take up with Sam the Butcher if the Bradys didn't hog all of her time. 

but to take it further, so if Mike worked and employed Alice to look after the three boys, then how did Carol support herself and three kids before she got remarried?  i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that it was never clarified whether she was a widow or a divorcee (though since the girls never talked about their birth father, most people assume he died).  if she had no live-in help herself, she probably did not work outside the home; so where did her money come from?  a huge life insurance policy?  were her parents wealthy?  

Here's the real answer.

Edited June 21, 2019 by nelliebelle1197

[FloraKitty35]

There's a new post up on Titus 2 about Stevehovah's Father's Day surprise.  

https://blog.titus2.com/2019/06/21/fathers-day-surprise/

 

 

[sparkles]

On 6/20/2019 at 9:55 AM, SusanAtTheLastBattle said:

I went to Jewish summer camp for sessions that ranged from 3 weeks to, one final summer, a special 7 week Hebrew immersion program. It’s expensive, but it’s also something that Jewish philanthropists focus on providing scholarships for:

https://www.jewishcamp.org/one-happy-camper/scholarships/

Camp is one of the major things that has been shown to make Jewish kids from liberal backgrounds (non-Orthodox/gender egalitarian/integrated with the wider world but often less educated about Judaism) feel positively about their background and like they have ownership over their Jewish identities.

I think summer camp is especially important for kids from minority groups or with unusual experiences (special needs, parents with an illness, etc) to form bonds with other kids like them. E.g. https://campkesem.org/

(Although selfishly, I do think the best part of camp for me was getting me away from middle school mean girls & constantly hovering parents to a place where I was praised for getting dirty and being strong) 

I had a very similar experience. I went to a camp run by one of the Jewish philanthropic agencies—can't remember the exact name—and had the time of my life.  (FYI, it's the same camp Howard Stern went to.) They had 3- and 6-week sessions and I went for 6 weeks. Although it was run by a Jewish agency, it was VERY loosely Jewish, pretty much in name only, although somewhat typically, it was VERY liberal. And although the campers were predominately Jewish and middle class, there were kids from all economic, racial and religious backgrounds around New York, as well as kids who were special needs. We had no fancy activities or amenities. Kids at the youngest level slept in bunks with windows and doors but by the time you got to the oldest level it was tents and latrines. We ate government surplus in a giant mess hall, swam in a lake, went on hikes and overnights were you dug a hole in the ground for a latrine. Every Friday, we attended the Cultural Arts program, which campers or counselors took turns presenting. Saturday morning was for Forum, which covered current events and given this was the 60s, we had a lot to choose from. Every summer, each bunk chose a project to work on—one summer, my bunk and our corresponding boys bunk built a lifeguard raft for the lake. It was sheer heaven. I credit those summers for so much, especially awakening both my social conscience and somewhat ironically, my atheism. We were taught to listen, to challenge, to think and to have opinions. The Maxwells would never allow that.

[MamaJunebug]

3 hours ago, FloraKitty35 said:

There's a new post up on Titus 2 about Stevehovah's Father's Day surprise.  

https://blog.titus2.com/2019/06/21/fathers-day-surprise/

 

 

Well, pluck a duck. Here I’ve been mentally rah-rah’ing Mel & Nate not pushing Abby into SAHDaughterhood and there she is, yodeling away with Ofchris’s youngest on her hip. 

Anna has a whole different look when she’s not baring her teeth for the camera. That’s her at the piano, right?

[nvmbr02]

On 6/20/2019 at 1:03 PM, Rosie said:

Even today, there are reasonable options for sleep away camp including e.g. the YMCA ones, many of which are excellent.

It really just depends on your definition of reasonable options and your ability to get a scholarship, etc... . I just looked up our local YMCA camps just to double check the pricing at for a Sunday through Friday camp it is $590 for members and $640 for non-members. There is no way my sister, a single mom with 2 young teens could afford that. I know there are some great camps out there for special needs kiddos as well as low income households but even then it can be a stretch for many people out there. 

 

[PennySycamore]

@MamaJunebug,  yep, that's Anna at the piano.

I think it's weird to call your sister and your nieces and nephews "the young people".   It's not that they're not young and they're not people, but dammit, Sister Sarah, you're not fooling anyone that they're not your relations.  People that you're related to are the only people involved in your little church.

[HermioneSparrow]

3 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@MamaJunebug,  yep, that's Anna at the piano.

I think it's weird to call your sister and your nieces and nephews "the young people".   It's not that they're not young and they're not people, but dammit, Sister Sarah, you're not fooling anyone that they're not your relations.  People that you're related to are the only people involved in your little church.

That's Sarah, not Anna. 

[PennySycamore]

Thanks for the correction, @HermioneSparrow!

[socalrules]

1 hour ago, PennySycamore said:

@MamaJunebug,  yep, that's Anna at the piano.

I think it's weird to call your sister and your nieces and nephews "the young people".   It's not that they're not young and they're not people, but dammit, Sister Sarah, you're not fooling anyone that they're not your relations.  People that you're related to are the only people involved in your little church.

I thought it was weird to call them the young people because the way it was phrased made it sound as though there were other non-Maxwell kids who were going to be included in the performance. Kind of like how normal churches have kids from a wide variety of its members families take part in a performance. It’s always only Maxwells performing in their world. 

[Hane]

On 6/20/2019 at 10:02 AM, Melissa1977 said:

TV has created an irreal shiny image of the US. I think that image is less and less bright because TV has less power and non-US people know not only about the bright side, but also about the dark side of your country. But yes, there is common to think that US is inhabited mostly by middle class people with a great way of life.

When I was teaching English as a second language to young adults at a community college, one day my students were chatting about what they expected the US to be like. One guy from Ecuador said, “I thought everyone would be rich, happy, and blond.” 

[FloraDoraDolly]

8 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

Well, pluck a duck. Here I’ve been mentally rah-rah’ing Mel & Nate not pushing Abby into SAHDaughterhood and there she is, yodeling away with Ofchris’s youngest on her hip.

I don't see Calia in this photo. Does this mean her parents go to church outside the nursing home? (If they do, I'm sure it's some kind of fundie church, but still...)

[nelliebelle1197]

8 hours ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

I don't see Calia in this photo. Does this mean her parents go to church outside the nursing home? (If they do, I'm sure it's some kind of fundie church, but still...)

I seriously doubt it. Joseph seems to be balancing being an actual human being with being a borg member. He and Elissa seem to go out of town a bit and could have easily been at her dad’s. He is also careful about blog appearances because of his secular business.

 

 

[Markie]

I hope Nathan and Mel’s kids have some non Maxwell interactions. Hopefully they get together with Mel’s family and friends once in a while. Those interactions would not be covered on the Titus blog. I have less hope for Chris and Anna’s children. Her family lives much further away. I wonder if John & Chelsy and Joe & Elissa go to the same Fundy church? These families really do follow the Leave and Cleave models for women. That could be one of the reasons no Maxwell Maiden has married. Steve couldn’t stand his perfect daughters leaving him and cleaving onto another lesser being.  

Edited June 22, 2019 by Markie

[snowfootwaltz]

I am a strong proponent of sleepaway camp! I went to camp as a kid, was a CIT throughout high school and then spent five summers working at camp in Wisconsin then one summer as a day camp director in California. Then after going to grad school for an admin degree I was director at one of those ritzy East Coast all summer camps for four years. Now I volunteer as activities director for our one-week church camp every summer.

Camp has truly shaped my life. My closest friends are camp friends. Ahhhh! I get to go to camp in two weeks (with my newborn and two-year-old!) Camp is the best!!!!!!

I wish that camps were more affordable, though. Our church camp is $250 for the week and literally more than half of that goes for facility usage (we only charge to cover operating costs, all volunteer-run). Ritzy East Coast camp was $900 for each week the kids attended and that was 10 years ago...can’t imagine what it is now.

Edited June 22, 2019 by snowfootwaltz

[church_of_dog]

I went to Camp Fire Girls two-week-long sleepaway camp for two years.  The first year was probably 1972 or 1973, I'm not sure.  The second year I know was 1974 because one night at supper they brought a radio in to the dining hall so we could all listen live to some big news -- the resignation of President Nixon.  I was one of the older kids at age 12 that year, and remember that well.

We did all sorts of activities but mostly what I remember was learning about poison oak (not by getting it, fortunately, but I do remember the cold showers we had to take after being exposed to it) and how much I hated having to get up at night and walk in the dark to the bathrooms to pee.  I also remember hikes, first aid, crafts and broom hockey.

I ended up being an adult who loves living out in the rural forested or desert boonies, but my love of the outdoors apparently hadn't awoken by camp age -- I liked it well enough but was happy to get back home to my books (and a bedroom right next to the bathroom, lol) when the two weeks were over.

 

[PennySycamore]

@church_of_dog,  Nixon resigned in the summer of '74.  I was working for the summer for a sociology prof and recall hearing the news after I got off work.  A bunch of us went to the Spaghetti Store to toast Nixon out of office the next day.  

My granddaughter who went to camp last week at the SC School for the Deaf and Blind LOVED her week at camp.  Her counselor had albinism like she does and all of the campers in her cabin/bunk were visually impaired.  There were Deaf and hard of hearing kids there, but those kids had their own cabins.  She loved being around other kids who were also visually impaired.  One of my other daughters was telling me that Field Day at my granddaughter's school was really hard for her because she is legally blind.  She didn't feel so handicapped for that week she was at camp.  

[DooDahDame]

OT: I just read that Ellie had been bred and they will be doing an ultrasound in July. I wonder what took them so long? Did Stevehova perform the marriage ceremony? Was the groom of their faith? Excitement must abound in Maxhell!

[freejugar]

i hope all her puppies turn out gold or brown

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, DooDahDame said:

OT: I just read that Ellie had been bred and they will be doing an ultrasound in July. I wonder what took them so long? Did Stevehova perform the marriage ceremony? Was the groom of their faith? Excitement must abound in Maxhell!

I hope Chris posts the wedding pics.

[nelliebelle1197]

13 hours ago, Markie said:

I hope Nathan and Mel’s kids have some non Maxwell interactions. Hopefully they get together with Mel’s family and friends once in a while. Those interactions would not be covered on the Titus blog. I have less hope for Chris and Anna’s children. Her family lives much further away. I wonder if John & Chelsy and Joe & Elissa go to the same Fundy church? These families really do follow the Leave and Cleave models for women. That could be one of the reasons no Maxwell Maiden has married. Steve couldn’t stand his perfect daughters leaving him and cleaving onto another lesser being.  

Chelsey and John have been seen at the nursing home church. There is zero evidence anyone but GiGi goes to a different service.