Maxwell 33: Managers of Their Vests

[NancyDrewFan1989]

Head lice is a pain in the butt, so I do feel bad for Lydia and Ruthanne that they had it. However, I almost burst out laughing reading the blog post. For example, when Anna mentions to focus on combing and not cleaning the house got me. Lice breed in carpets, blankets, pillow cases, clothing, and even on car seats depending on the ones you have. I have a feeling that this isn't going to be the last time Anna and Chris deal with lice. 

Plus to add insult to injury they didn't even know how to take care of their daughters head lice when they found the eggs and bugs. It is possible that they got it from a family member, close friend and/or a church member. They could have gotten it from sharing a hair brush, pillow case, blanket, etc. with someone. Considering the amount of time the children spend at Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell, I wouldn't be shocked if they got it from a fellow Maxwell. 

[SPHASH]

Remember in the Little House on the Prairie books how Nellie Olsson told Laura and her friends how Miss Wilder got head lice when she was a little girl and her classmates called her Lazy Lousy Lizy Jane?  That was my all time favorite episode in those books.

[PennySycamore]

That was a good episode, @SPHASH! I think it also taught me the origin of the word "lousy".

[johnhugh]

Let’s hope NR Anna doesn’t find crabs when inspecting Christopher.....

[Blessings of the Corn]

On ‎10‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 8:24 PM, princessmahina said:

My husband and I are ~90% vegan. And we definitely are the “fat” vegans. Oreos are vegan, yo, and we take advantage of that pretty often ?

Vegan doesn't necessarily  meant "healthy". I have a friend who is  a strict vegan. For breakfast at a restaurant he'll eat toast, oatmeal, and hash browns. While those aren't "unhealthy" they are def startchy and carb heavy. He's fairly active, and he loves beer,  but he is vegan b/c he is very against animal cruelty or using animal products in any way.

[Michiru]

NancyDrewFan1989 lice most definitely do not breed outside of their source of nourishment. It is good to do some cleaning but you do not have to go overboard with it. The lice will not be able to live for more then three days outside of hair.

[JermajestyDuggar]

My boys haven’t gotten lice (and I hope they never do!), but I have always said that if they do, I’m going to buzz their hair immediately. Sorry boys! 

[mango_fandango]

Oh I remember the days when my mum had to deal with headlice on me. My hair was quite long when I was young, and also very thick (still is), so having the comb-throughs was not fun. I remember one particular treatment that smelt of vinegar and itched like hell when it was in my hair. I also have some vague memory of a treatment that smelt like tea tree, which is a much nicer smell, but no idea it was called. 
 

Sometimes, when I was in primary school, we’d get a letter home stating that a parent had reported a case of headlice in their child. It was always printed on red paper. 

[raspberrymint]

Is thick hair (3B and curlier) less suspectible to lice?

[Bethy]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:10 PM, IReallyAmHopewell said:

1. Well, Gothard made people grind wheat and bake bread. Maybe that's it? Or, of course, in case all liberals are raptured and there's no more store-bought ones to be had, the girls can make them?

I did not know Gothard was a proponent of grinding your own wheat. Regardless, if you've ever had whole-wheat bread made from freshly-ground flour, you know how vastly superior it is to anything store-bought. (Whatever part of the wheat is stripped away in white flour is the part that essentially goes rancid on the shelf, which is why store-bought whole wheat goods and anything made from store-bought whole-wheat flour has that bitter aftertaste.) If the Maxhellions were making their tortillas from freshly-milled flour it would make sense. I know they used to mill flour, solely from a passage in one of the early Moody books where the mom hands Molly earplugs and laboriously explains why they're necessary to protect her hearing before turning on the electric mill. If they're not grinding their own fresh flour anymore, I see no point in making homemade tortillas other than busywork to fill the empty hours.

[Jigsaw3]

12 minutes ago, raspberrymint said:

Is thick hair (3B and curlier) less suspectible to lice?

Personal experience tells me that 3B/C curls are just as susceptible to lice, I'm afraid.

I have had them twice (once from a hairstylist, once from maybe a train seat??? source unknown.)  In both cases I did the chemical treatment immediately (and washed pillowcases and such.) I then spent several weeks afterwards combing my hair out twice a day -- and I'm glad I combed. I could see the eggs and the bugs that I was removing pretty clearly, since I would comb over a white bathtub. It took a while to get everything out, and there was no way I was stopping until well after the expected life cycle based on the last nit I saw.

Since I have really curly hair I'd condition it well and comb it by sections while wet, then put it up so it'd dry mostly straight and easier to comb. I'd spend enough time combing it to get through all the knots and make it mostly easy to do. I wore ugly updos for the whole time.

If anyone has them in their household, I'd recommend combing as well as a chemical/natural treatment just for peace of mind.

[Caroline]

21 hours ago, NancyDrewFan1989 said:

Head lice is a pain in the butt, so I do feel bad for Lydia and Ruthanne that they had it. However, I almost burst out laughing reading the blog post. For example, when Anna mentions to focus on combing and not cleaning the house got me. Lice breed in carpets, blankets, pillow cases, clothing, and even on car seats depending on the ones you have. I have a feeling that this isn't going to be the last time Anna and Chris deal with lice. 

Plus to add insult to injury they didn't even know how to take care of their daughters head lice when they found the eggs and bugs. It is possible that they got it from a family member, close friend and/or a church member. They could have gotten it from sharing a hair brush, pillow case, blanket, etc. with someone. Considering the amount of time the children spend at Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell, I wouldn't be shocked if they got it from a fellow Maxwell. 

I'm not making fun of head lice.  It sounds awful.   It's surprising to me that the Maxwell types haven't used head lice as another reason to not send their kids to public schools.  Ironically, my long-haired daughter attended the evil public schools from pre-school through Grade 12 and never brought head lice home. I never did either.  Just lucky, I know.

[LilMissMetaphor]

20 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

That was a good episode, @SPHASH! I think it also taught me the origin of the word "lousy".

I always thought it meant lousy like crummy.  Not louse-y.  

[NancyDrewFan1989]

@Caroline For some reason, I don't think the Maxwells have had much experience with head lice in the past. NR Anna made it sound like she and Christopher had no idea what to do. I do assume that Teri and Steve would give them tips and assist them with how to get rid of head lice.

I had head lice as a child once in elementary school. The only part that Anna really got right, to me, is the combing. I remember my parents having to put all of our clothes and towels in the laundry then plastic bags right when they were done. For our bedding the would strip our beds every morning and put them in plastic bags as well. They even threw out all of our hair brushes, elastics, and other hair accessories. The plastic helps kill the lice. I know that sounds extreme, but my mom is a teacher and had consulted the school nurse on the best way to get rid of them, as well as, recommendations for shampoo and hair spray and carpet and furniture cleaning sprays. 

The only place where Anna went to for getting rid of lice was one website that had the most cost effective way. I have a feeling that Anna and Chris are going to be experiencing head lice again. It would not shock me if Melanie and Nathan and Joe and Elissa find themselves dealing with the critters as well. The same goes for current adult Maxwell children who are living at home. If John and Chelsy encounter them they might have an easier time than the other Maxwell members as, currently, they only have Axton and Chelsy seems to be more willing to get help outside the Maxwell compound. 

[catlady]

just be sure that the first thing you do is pray.  first on the list.  if God isn't too busy giving Braggie Abbie exact change for mocha lattes, He will cure your lice.

[MamaJunebug]

Don’t want to argue long hair, but thinking about Anna having to comb every inch of those girls’ heads to eradicate the lice makes my arms hurt. 

Cue the harps and squiggly video: I look back and see now why Big Mama Junebug didn’t want to let our hair grow long. We girls had chin-length bobs ‘til the school year ended, then we got adorable pixie cuts. The boys had combable hair til summer, then: buzz cuts. 

Cut the harps and squigglies and bring me my soapbox:  I will opine that the ChristopherMaxwellFamily, whether or not they realize it, keep their girls’ hair long to restrict those girls’ movements.

Long skirts hinder movement and sitting to have your long hair combed and fixed requires  little girls to be still far longer than their brothers have to, on any given day. 

Tending to long hair consumes minutes of the day that could be spent reading, drawing, ciphering, playing. 

I support the right of females to wear their hair as they like it! Long, short, shaved! — do your thing! But I also believe that wittingly or unwittingly, parents who require their daughters to wear their hair long restrict the girls’ behavior and freedom in doing so.

Edited November 8, 2019 by MamaJunebug

[Hane]

13 hours ago, LilMissMetaphor said:

I always thought it meant lousy like crummy.  Not louse-y.  

“Lousy” as in “crummy” did indeed originate with the concept as “lousy”=“infested with lice.”

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Today's gem:

 

"Benji preferred to hang out with Ellie and me for awhile. I loved this capture."

Does she mean Benji capturing Ellie or the photo or....???

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by IReallyAmHopewell
typo

[PennySycamore]

20 hours ago, raspberrymint said:

Is thick hair (3B and curlier) less suspectible to lice?

If you're talking about type 4 hair, maybe.  I read an article in The Greenville News some years ago that black kids were less likely to suffer from head lice.  Don't know if that true, but it interesting if so.  

My husband's grandfather could never understand why the hell they'd name a kids' game "cootie".  Cooties are just the thing that boys would catch from girls but originally a term for body lice.  

@Jigsaw3, I was talking to my hairstylist a few visits ago and said that their salon had sometimes had to send kids home when they had lice. 

I am reminded of that scene in Gone With the Wind where Mammy is boiling the returning soldiers' clothes while they bathe in the washtub.  She remarks that they all have "crawling clothes and dysentery" and warns Sue Ellen to not get too close to Mr Kennedy unless she wants to catch lice.  

 

[raspberrymint]

Thanks.  I ask because I'm multiracial and never had lice, and I noticed that girls with thinner hair that grew longer than mine seemed a lot more susceptible.  (I never got it from them, either.)

[fundiefan]

So, the playing in the leaves post. In the next 6-7 weeks, to finish out the year, we will get:

Maxwell family pictures

Filling shoeboxes with junk & plastic

Printing the Excel list for Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving recap with the same food, praying, non-heathen decorating for Christmas

Babysitting a time or two

Trips to see the lights while listening to the cd they listen to every year

Making bread for carolling

Carolling

The Christmas concert they always see - I don't remember who it is, but every year, in various groups, off they go. Sometimes, with an actual meal in a public restaurant first. 

No book for Sarah this year, so I wonder how they'll fill that slot. 

[NancyDrewFan1989]

In other Maxwell news, the family had fun playing with the leaves this fall. 

[SPHASH]

Benji is the son Poor Sarah will never have.

[AliceInFundyland]

The most traumatic part of the head lice experience was having all my stuffed animals washed. They didn't all maintain their natural plushiness afterwards and I wasn't at all pleased.

[mango_fandango]

Combing through Ruthie and Lydia’s hair probably did take ages, but at least their hair is straight and quite fine-looking (I assume). Using a fine-toothed comb on thick hair like mine is NOT fun. It used to get pretty tangled so you can imagine how those sessions went... 

Also: who is that third adult (assuming they’re 18+) in the group photo at the end of the leaves post, between Abby and Bethany? It’s not Sarah. Maybe a family friend?