Maxwell 33: Managers of Their Vests

[sparkles]

2 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@mango_fandango, I can understand not grinding your own wheat, but if you're going to make your own tortillas and a press would help, why not use it?  Why make it harder on yourself?

I would say because this is the Maxwells but to be honest, depending on how you like your tortillas, a press isn't necessarily a big help. I mentioned that I make my own and while I use a press (an old-fashioned cast-iron one) initially to flatten the dough ball, I finish by hand with a rolling pin. BTW, that mat that Anna uses in the first link is the bomb. It's huge and makes a great non-slip work surface. I also had that same grain mill but traded it in for a much smaller model that attaches to my Kitchenaid.

https://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-A4768978-Pastry/dp/B00166Q7S6

30 minutes ago, dripcurl said:

Such useless busywork. If the entire Maxhell clan was gluten-free, it would make sense for them to make all of those at home. I can’t believe this family makes their girls waste their time slaving over things like this when they are already so limited in life.

Not to defend the Maxwells or anything but you can say the same about making any food from scratch but there are lots of benefits to it. For one thing, you have control over the ingredients; for another, it's often way cheaper—as in pennies vs. dollars—especially if you're cooking for a large group, which they are. And most of the time, things just taste better, not that I think this is a big thing for the Maxwells given the crap they seem to enjoy. Dusting ceiling fans and polishing cabinets? Waste of time. Cooking from scratch, not so much. (YMMV).

Edited November 5, 2019 by sparkles

[PennySycamore]

@sparkles,  I've never seen one of those mats, but they look cool!  I do have a Silpat type mat I need to remember to pull out this year when I'm baking holiday cookies.

I know that a stone surface is considered best for pastry work, but I think I prefer a nice butcher block.  Wood seems to hold onto a little flour so there's less sticking and less excess flour used to flour your countertops.  if I had my dream kitchen, I'd have both surfaces in different places so I could choose which one I wanted to use.  

[mango_fandango]

In the corn tortillas post Sarah does say she prefers homemade over shop-bought. I’ve never made tortillas so I wouldn’t know.

I also came across the burrito filling recipe... https://blog.titus2.com/2009/06/14/the-burrito-making-process/  it’s just a onion/jalapeño/bean slop. It takes a couple of days to make. I mean... bleurgh. No rice? No salsa? No... texture? If they went to a Mexican restaurant and had proper burritos it’d blow their minds. Even if they weren’t the most authentic, going to somewhere like Chipotle would be a huge step up from bean slop. 
They’ve also used the recipe for several years. That’s so Maxwellian. No change or variety whatsoever. 

[Giraffe]

4 hours ago, LilMissMetaphor said:

For people who micromanage, they are actually really bad at time management then.

Idr when I started following them, but this has always stuck out to me. Their life’s motto seems to be “Busywork is my life.”

[Maggie Mae]

20 hours ago, sparkles said:

I always keep store bought ones handy—they seem to last forever and never get moldy, which is vaguely Frankenfood-ish—but there’s nothing like a freshly made tortilla. They’re not that difficult and once you get into the groove, it goes pretty quickly. I don’t think that’s the Maxwells’ reasoning however. First, ya gotta train the little homemakers to be but second, It’s definitely a big thing among the fundie homeschooling set to grind your own wheat and bake your own bread.

I'm a fan of the fresh ones - though we also buy them. I do know that I wasn't allowed to read, play unsupervised, use any sort of media, or do anything beyond cook or clean, I would absolutely be grinding my own wheat, gardening, making homemade tortillas. There wouldn't be any reason for some of the garbage meals I've had in my life. Because there wouldn't be anything else to do beyond stare at the walls, waiting to die.

 

20 hours ago, sparkles said:

I don’t know what they do these days with Steve’s new diet, but there was a post a long time ago that I can’t find now, that talked about their garden—yes, they had a garden at one point that it seems other people kept up since they were away so often—where they showed off their hot pepper harvest and talked about how they like spicy food. Hard to believe since everything else about them is so bland…

Hot peppers are the easiest thing in the world to grow. Weird that we never hear about them pickling peppers or slicing them up for their burritos.

 

3 hours ago, sparkles said:

I would say because this is the Maxwells but to be honest, depending on how you like your tortillas, a press isn't necessarily a big help. I mentioned that I make my own and while I use a press (an old-fashioned cast-iron one) initially to flatten the dough ball, I finish by hand with a rolling pin.

I use a press, and I find it way easier than rolling out dough.

 

3 hours ago, sparkles said:

Not to defend the Maxwells or anything but you can say the same about making any food from scratch but there are lots of benefits to it. For one thing, you have control over the ingredients; for another, it's often way cheaper—as in pennies vs. dollars—especially if you're cooking for a large group, which they are. And most of the time, things just taste better, not that I think this is a big thing for the Maxwells given the crap they seem to enjoy. Dusting ceiling fans and polishing cabinets? Waste of time. Cooking from scratch, not so much. (YMMV).

I don't think dusting a ceiling fan is a waste of time - but it only need to be done every six months or so.

I agree with you on the making food.

[catlady]

And it once took Terri a month to sew a button back onto a sweater. After she got the chore onto the Revered And Almighty Schedule, she had to “gather supplies.”  The vast majority of people who keep sewing items tend to keep their needles and thread in the same place.  You can even buy a sewing kit at the dollar store that has all the necessaries in a little vinyl pouch; easy peasy done.  So Terri’s gathering of supplies sounded like so much manufactured drama, as many of their tasks, like the aforementioned cabinet polishing. 

Edited November 5, 2019 by catlady
Words are hard.

[fundiefan]

2 hours ago, catlady said:

And it once took Terri a month to sew a button back onto a sweater. After she got the chore onto the Revered And Almighty Schedule, she had to “gather supplies.”  The vast majority of people who keep sewing items tend to keep their needles and thread in the same place.  You can even buy a sewing kit at the dollar store that has all the necessaries in a little vinyl pouch; easy peasy done.  So Terri’s gathering of supplies sounded like so much manufactured drama, as many of their tasks, like the aforementioned cabinet polishing. 

I remember that and how stunned I actually was over it. I am typically beyond stun-able when it comes to Maxhell, but that threw me. I don't sew. I don't even pretend to sew. But, buttons are a fact of life for the most part and I have needles and a vaiety of thread all in a little box on a shelf and it takes me 60 seconds to sew on loose button. The thought of gathering supplies/having to schedule it - it's just mind boggling. 

And, yes, they are the busy work masters. 

[NancyDrewFan1989]

I recently read the last Maxwell post. I pity Abby and Bethany now. Those two are going to end up either like Sarah or they are going to be married off to live like Griselda Teri.

[scoutsadie]

4 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I remember that and how stunned I actually was over it. I am typically beyond stun-able when it comes to Maxhell, but that threw me. I don't sew. I don't even pretend to sew. But, buttons are a fact of life for the most part and I have needles and a vaiety of thread all in a little box on a shelf and it takes me 60 seconds to sew on loose button. The thought of gathering supplies/having to schedule it - it's just mind boggling. 

And, yes, they are the busy work masters. 

There has been speculation, though, that taking so long to do this menial task was related to/a sign of Teri's depression, though. As someone who suffers from anxierty and depression, I can relate to finding it difficult sometimes to accomplish what others may deem "simple" tasks, so I won't snark on this.

[Maggie Mae]

4 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I remember that and how stunned I actually was over it. I am typically beyond stun-able when it comes to Maxhell, but that threw me. I don't sew. I don't even pretend to sew. But, buttons are a fact of life for the most part and I have needles and a vaiety of thread all in a little box on a shelf and it takes me 60 seconds to sew on loose button. The thought of gathering supplies/having to schedule it - it's just mind boggling. 

And, yes, they are the busy work masters. 

I've had dry cleaning in my car for a year now. Same dress. I know because the annual event I wore it to last year just occurred. I imagine it was something like she just kept forgetting to get the right color thread, as sewing on a button wasn't a priority for her. 

[PennySycamore]

5 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I remember that and how stunned I actually was over it. I am typically beyond stun-able when it comes to Maxhell, but that threw me. I don't sew. I don't even pretend to sew. But, buttons are a fact of life for the most part and I have needles and a vaiety of thread all in a little box on a shelf and it takes me 60 seconds to sew on loose button. The thought of gathering supplies/having to schedule it - it's just mind boggling. 

And, yes, they are the busy work masters. 

Or maybe Teri was hoping to get some thread and a needle at Target.  Mine always had a few sewing supplies, but they no longer do.  I needed some needles because I was going to mend that little hole in the toe of my sneaker.  I had to get my needles at the grocery store because I was not about to go the Hobby Lobby for them.

@Maggie Mae,  you having some dry cleaning in your car makes me feel a little less like a slacker for having that bag of clothes I've been meaning to take to Safe Harbor for a few months after I KonMari'd a closet.

[uber frau]

The problem isn't that it took a month or more for her to sew the button back.  BTDT  (and I have the notions and I'm generally pretty organised).

The problem is that they think that:

1. They are infinitely more organised and godlier than anyone else and that anyone who doesn't run their household exactly like them is inefficient and probably bound for the hot place.

2.  The Button Incident reflects positively on their Godly Organisation System and will encourage people to buy it.

[SPHASH]

Lydia got head lice so Amish Anna wrote a post about it.  While head lice is no laughing matter there are some snarkeable lines in the post.

[kpmom]

5 hours ago, uber frau said:

The problem isn't that it took a month or more for her to sew the button back.  BTDT  (and I have the notions and I'm generally pretty organised).

The problem is that they think that:

1. They are infinitely more organised and godlier than anyone else and that anyone who doesn't run their household exactly like them is inefficient and probably bound for the hot place.

2.  The Button Incident reflects positively on their Godly Organisation System and will encourage people to buy it.

ITA

The post was stunning because these people literally schedule their days down to the minute.  They make a good part of their living selling a schedule lifestyle.

It would have been a funny post if Teri had a sense of humor about taking all that time to sew on a button ("Here I am, the co-author of MOTH, and yet it took me a month to get organized enough to sew on a button!")

Instead, it seemed like a serious, step by step post on how to get organized enough to sew on a button.  Like she was really trying to explain how to do it.

IDK, maybe it was meant to be humorous and I just missed it?

[OhNoNike]

I had lice once.  Funny thing is that I went through my entire public school education amongst tons of kids and never got it.  However, my stepdaughter shared hers with me while “doing my hair” when she was about 6.   No biggie. 

What’s somewhat amusing is these kids don’t see nearly the number of kids I did.  Yet, they managed to get lice.  And these people don’t vaccinate their kids.  At least you can see and get rid of lice.... I know they would never make the correlation of how easily things can spread amongst (even sheltered) kids.  

[BrandoBarks]

The new post by NR Anna is weird.. Why didn’t she use an anti lice product on her children’s heads instead of endlessly combing through it for weeks? I’ve bought chemical free products suited even for small kids that have to be applied only once with the head covered for a few hours and then rinsed. That’s it, nothing else needed. No ordeal for anyone ??‍♀️ But we like to do different things for quality time with our children instead of lice combing....

[anachronistic]

Anna Marie linked to a site and admitted that her post was basically a summary of what she learned there. The only original ideas in it was her essential oil. And where the website recommended mindfulness and self care AM changed the idea to be about prayer and a Jesus. 

[HereticHick]

The Maxwells are so sheltered, I can't imagine how lice made its way into their compound.

 

And "homeopathic lice spray treatments"?  FFS.

[Screamapillar]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

The Maxwells are so sheltered, I can't imagine how lice made its way into their compound.

I guess someone wasn't praying hard enough.

[anachronistic]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the lice came from the nursing home. Any sort of group home is prone to outbreaks not due to dirtiness just due to it being lots of people in a confined space. I know a family who got bedbugs from a children’s rehab hospital after their kid came home with them hitching a ride on her wheelchair.

[usmcmom]

Something makes me think they were traveling to Washington recently. I think their anniversary post included a  photo of them in a beach and I wondered if it was near Anna’s parents. I have no idea if that is true, but maybe they got it from the airplane. 

I remember when my siblings and I got lice, my great grandmother told my mom “There’s no shame in getting it. The shame is in not treating it.”

When my kids had lice, my home-schooling sister got all snotty and pointed out that it was just one more drawback of public school. When I said lice could come from anywhere, she scoffed at that idea. 

When her kids got it two weeks later, I hung up the phone and laughed and laughed and laughed. 

We used some natural treatment that we got at Walmart. It smelled like licorice.  I agree that treatment does not have to take weeks of combing. 

[Jana814]

5 hours ago, HereticHick said:

The Maxwells are so sheltered, I can't imagine how lice made its way into their compound.

I was thinking the same thing. 

1 hour ago, anachronistic said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if the lice came from the nursing home. 

That easily could be where they got it. 

[SPHASH]

When I was in college my roommate got head lice.  She thought it might have came from her job as a laundry attendant in a hotel handling dirty sheets and towels.  She had gone to the salon to get a haircut and the hairdresser found the nits while towel drying her hair.  As a result she had to leave the salon sopping wet cuz the hairdresser couldn't finish her hair for health and sanitary reasons.  I went to student health services to get checked but I never got them.

[nvmbr02]

It has been a couple years since we have had to deal with lice, but I actually did a lot the same to treat the kids that NR Anna did. That lice comb is the best out there, I still have 2 in my drawer just in case and I have had amazon deliver one to more than one friend or family member dealing with lice. 

In our area at least the lice have become resistant to most of the over the counter treatments. So we combed. A lot. Usually two or three times the first night it was found, then once a day for 2-3 days, then every 2-3 days for 2 weeks until we were sure they were gone.  We did lice checks weekly when the kids were in elementary. My oldest had it twice and my youngest 3 times.  My kids got it at school.  When  the local schools did away with the nit free policy it would spread quickly, especially in the lower grades. The girls had a bigger issue with it. I think because they were also touching their heads with their friends when hugging or sharing secrets or whatever. Most of our neighbors would just pay a service to take care of the combing/ picking out the nits but I was not about to pay the going rate of $180 + per kid. So i ended up teaching a few friends a few tips on sectioning hair and what to look for. 

[tabitha2]

When I was First grade the Teachers gave regular lice checks to students. I got them mom just sat me outside on the porch and picked away because she was told the treatments would not kill the eggs.