Maxwell 46: Relegating the Kids' Table to the Vestibule

[Hane]

@sparkles, it sounds like the houses in my parents’ neighborhood, which was built in 1955. The house started out as a four-room Cape Cod with an expansion attic, but eventually had a garage attached by a family room, a finished basement with a full bath, and two more bedrooms on the attic level. 

[sparkles]

2 minutes ago, Hane said:

@sparkles, it sounds like the houses in my parents’ neighborhood, which was built in 1955. The house started out as a four-room Cape Cod with an expansion attic, but eventually had a garage attached by a family room, a finished basement with a full bath, and two more bedrooms on the attic level. 

Sounds like Levittown. ? I think there’s maybe one original Levitt house left. Everything else has been redone with some people building their own McMansions right up to the property line. Thankfully, on my block even thought many of the houses have been updated, some that have been near tear-downs with just enough of the original framing left so things could be grandfathered in, everyone has been respectful of the feel of the neighborhood so nothing looks out of place. Except for new windows (we replaced the ones from 1942 so you can imagine how energy efficient they were) and the closed in sunroom, our house from the outside looks exactly like it did when it was built. 

[ElizaB]

9 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

Anna and Jesse are looking radiant lately. I do think they are a love match. (is Bridgerton is getting to my head?) 

And Sarah dear, could you please stop using the words threesome and foursome when referring to your family? It makes us worldly people feel a tad uncomfortable. 

Does anyone else think that maybe Anna is in college and that is why they live in Kansas City? I don't know why I think that- maybe wishful thinking. 

[MamaJunebug]

10 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

And Sarah dear, could you please stop using the words threesome and foursome when referring to your family? It makes us worldly people feel a tad uncomfortable. 

Second great LOL moment tonight! Thank you. 

1 hour ago, sparkles said:

Sounds like Levittown. ? I think there’s maybe one original Levitt house left. Everything else has been redone with some people building their own McMansions right up to the property line. Thankfully, on my block even thought many of the houses have been updated, some that have been near tear-downs with just enough of the original framing left so things could be grandfathered in, everyone has been respectful of the feel of the neighborhood so nothing looks out of place. Except for new windows (we replaced the ones from 1942 so you can imagine how energy efficient they were) and the closed in sunroom, our house from the outside looks exactly like it did when it was built. 

While on the subject, anybody ever seen a Lustron home? They were a post-WW2 housing solution, built of metal squares that fit together like big, 3-foot-square bricks; one of the selling points was that you could hang all your pictures with magnets!

There are two within a few miles of me and I’d love to see the inside  of them. One is owned by a local supermarket chain - its one of about 10 houses the chain owns, & currently rents out, that back up onto the store’s parking lot. I’m sure they’ll all be destroyed fir parking expansion or torn  down to accommodate McM’s before long. 

[sparkles]

26 minutes ago, MamaJunebug said:

Second great LOL moment tonight! Thank you. 

While on the subject, anybody ever seen a Lustron home? They were a post-WW2 housing solution, built of metal squares that fit together like big, 3-foot-square bricks; one of the selling points was that you could hang all your pictures with magnets!

There are two within a few miles of me and I’d love to see the inside  of them. One is owned by a local supermarket chain - its one of about 10 houses the chain owns, & currently rents out, that back up onto the store’s parking lot. I’m sure they’ll all be destroyed fir parking expansion or torn  down to accommodate McM’s before long. 

Wow, that sounds…weird. Interesting but weird. I trust they were well grounded, at least. I hope they’re able to preserve some of them if they’re threatened with destruction at some point. Not sure if that’s happened to the last original Levitt house but it would be a shame if it wasn’t preserved as well. (I’m not in Levittown, just to be clear—my neighborhood predates it by a few years, but I grew up sort of nearby on the south shore of Long Island. While the housing model gave a lot of young post-war families their start, William Levitt was also a raging racist and refused to sell to Blacks or Jews, despite being Jewish himself. Unfortunately, that racist stench still remains and Levittown is still staunchly white and very insular.)

Edited February 23, 2021 by sparkles

[thoughtful]

42 minutes ago, MamaJunebug said:

While on the subject, anybody ever seen a Lustron home? They were a post-WW2 housing solution, built of metal squares that fit together like big, 3-foot-square bricks; one of the selling points was that you could hang all your pictures with magnets!

Well, that sent me off googling. Very interesting - thanks!

 

[johnhugh]

Quote

Opening a wedding gift from a blog reader!

Don’t give me ideas Sarah....

[Hane]

There are a couple of Lustron houses in my town. Someone I know lives in one of them.

[Austrian Atheist]

14 hours ago, ElizaB said:

Does anyone else think that maybe Anna is in college and that is why they live in Kansas City? I don't know why I think that- maybe wishful thinking. 

I think, one of her sisters was in college. So it's definitely not impossible. 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

On 2/22/2021 at 12:27 PM, Coconut Flan said:

I like that they let Arnold be a regular cat and climb into the cabinet to watch the action.  That's something I never expected in Steve Maxwell's house.  

Apparently Steve helped him into the cabinet! Sarah said so in the comments. I know cats climb, but there's no easy way I see into the cabinet. 

[HoneyBunny]

On 2/22/2021 at 8:39 PM, MamaJunebug said:

Second great LOL moment tonight! Thank you. 

While on the subject, anybody ever seen a Lustron home? They were a post-WW2 housing solution, built of metal squares that fit together like big, 3-foot-square bricks; one of the selling points was that you could hang all your pictures with magnets!

There are two within a few miles of me and I’d love to see the inside  of them. One is owned by a local supermarket chain - its one of about 10 houses the chain owns, & currently rents out, that back up onto the store’s parking lot. I’m sure they’ll all be destroyed fir parking expansion or torn  down to accommodate McM’s before long. 

I LOVE Lustron houses. There were two near us when I grew up and I was fascinated by them. I remember my dad telling me they never needed to be painted, just waxed like a car. Whether or not that’s true, that certainly captured this child’s imagination. 
 

https://www.toledoblade.com/business/real-estate/2004/07/04/Toledo-area-boasts-large-group-of-all-steel-Lustron-homes/stories/200407040012

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by HoneyBunny

[MomJeans]

(Total thread drift about phonics & homeschooling- feel free to not read).

As an educator, and former survivor of the 80's homeschooling movement, you will see a lot of homeschooling curriculum brag about teaching phonics.  From my own experience as a kid in homeschooling, I think it can easily be abused by a parent-teacher as something you spend 20 minutes doing on a Monday, and then shove a workbook at your kid for review the rest of the week. (just my opinion)  

As for why we use phonics even though much of the English language doesn't follow its rules, well, it's not actually meant to be the sole reading method taught to kids.  It's one of several tools to help kids decode unfamiliar words, and most kids need all of the tools.  However, a significant number of words, especially simple words that can create a children's story, will follow phonics, so most brand-new readers focus on phonics in their first books. 

Other methods you probably were taught at the same time include sight words (words that don't conform to phonics - you just learn a few each week to build your reading skills), illustration decoding,  root words, prefixes, and suffixes.  

There are some kids that are natural sight word learners. I've got one, and personally I still push phonics with her, but it wasn't fun at first.  Sight word only kids can still be very high achieving readers though!

If you were a kid in some schools in California in the 80's, you may have had only sight words in your first grade class. There was an experiment with replacing phonics with only the Fry Sight Words lists. 

[Tangy Bee]

Off the subject, but does anyone know how old is Arnold the cat.

[mango_fandango]

Not sure how old Arnold is. He was a stray, and they found him a few years ago. 

[PennySycamore]

All  this talk of Levittown reminds me of this classic folk song by Malvina Reynolds, although she might not have been inspired  by Levittown.

 

[church_of_dog]

16 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

All  this talk of Levittown reminds me of this classic folk song by Malvina Reynolds, although she might not have been inspired  by Levittown.

 

According to wikipedia she was singing about, or at least inspired by, the suburb near San Francisco named Daly City:

[MamaJunebug]

Teri got a haircut! And at one point pulled it off her face to one side! I KNEW she’d look better with it chin-length!

Will she let it grow out again? Time will tell. 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

@PennySycamore, I knew the song Little Boxes, but I didn't know who composed it until you brought it up. It turns out, Malvina Reynolds also wrote Magic Penny, a song I always loved as a kid.  I actually learned it at church!

Spoiler

We only sang the chorus and two of the verses.

Magic Penny

Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

It's just like a magic penny,
Hold it tight and you won't have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

So let's go dancing till the break of day,
And if there's a piper, we can pay.
For love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

I wonder if any of the Maxwells see love that way.

[Sops2]

What are these bottles in the Maxwell kitchen?

[Angelface]

5 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

Teri got a haircut! And at one point pulled it off her face to one side! I KNEW she’d look better with it chin-length!

Will she let it grow out again? Time will tell. 

I am so irrationally jealous of this ?. Due to various lockdown situations and the tier system (UK) I haven’t been able to go to the hairdresser since September/October. Every time the rules tightened, meaning I couldn’t leave my area or “zone” I was due to get my hair done the next day!! Once this has all gone away to a situation where we have to learn to live with the virus I am going to go to the hairdresser once a week for a month! Highlights, lowlights whatever.  Usually, pre-covid, I’d get a colour treatment every six weeks or so and a cut every three months. I am feeling un-pampered as JRod would say!

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

5 hours ago, Sops2 said:

What are these bottles in the Maxwell kitchen?

Maybe fancy vinegar? I think I've seen some balsamic vinegar bottles in that style. 

They sure look like something else, don't they!

[HoneyBunny]

I am a fan of short hair.  I like long hair, too, long straight hair that can be braided or updo-ed. But, with fine curly hair, short hair has always been my only option. So I tend to like it in others, too. Teri’s shorter hair is so much more becoming.  It doesn’t drag down her normally long face as much and makes her look years younger. Cut a few layers into it and it would be perfect. And I think Anna Marie looks darling with her hair short.  I had a friend who always had long hair. After she went through chemo and it started growing out just a bit, it was so much more becoming on her. But she kept it going, and has the same long hair she had before again. I guess that’s what SHE likes!

[church_of_dog]

I've also seen cooking oil in bottles like that.  In fact I have one of sunflower oil in my home at this very moment.  (even weirder -- it's in my bathroom because I decided not to cook with it so I'm looking for skin and hair related uses for it)

[bertnee]

Does anyone happen to know what book Teri is reading with Elizaebeth, the one with construction vehicles? It looks like one my kid would like. 

[PennySycamore]

@church_of_dog and @WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?,   you are on to something.  I think there are two bottles.  I'd guess that one bottle is extra virgin olive oil and the other balsamic vinegar.

ETA:  My grandkids love a book called Goodnight, Construction Site, but there are a number of books for little kids about construction vehicles.*  The guy that did the show Dirty Jobs wrote one, IIRC.  He  is Mike Rowe and he was just in a ad I was watching for Home Serve about getting a warranty on your drain lines.  I think there was actually a backhoe in the ad. 

*Of course, the classic is Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  

Edited February 25, 2021 by PennySycamore