Maxwell 55: Anna and Mary Adventures at ABC - Freedom!

[MamaJunebug]

5 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm 74 and have a funeral outfit, and another outfit for weddings and such. No need to go dress shopping anymore. 

Lost weight and thrifted a few LBDs which work so well for all occasions. Even happy occasions - I just add fun jewelry and a bright shawl & I'm there. 
 

SO MANY THANKS to the fellow traveler who found the wedding photos on Teri’s page. I’m still smiling at the thought of “our” Sarah, well & truly out from under her parents’ thumbs.  

[Queen Of Hearts]

On 10/18/2022 at 6:55 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I admit I don’t mind her wearing the dress 3 times. My practical side appreciates it. 

Same. And if she likes how she looks in the dress and wants to re-wear it I can't blame her.  Sometimes finding clothes we like is hard!

[Cults-r-us]

39 minutes ago, Queen Of Hearts said:

Same. And if she likes how she looks in the dress and wants to re-wear it I can't blame her.  Sometimes finding clothes we like is hard!

She probably has her wedding-going dress, funeral-going dress, church-going and whatnot dresses, which are probably enough dresses for Terri.

[HereticHick]

23 hours ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Is this the first Halloween activity Mary has ever done? Good for her.

Will Teri be passively-aggressively upset with Mary and make her feel sinful and guilty for abandoning the Maxwell rules?

I will actually be very surprised if ABC uses the term "Halloween" instead of "Harvest Festival"

[ElizaB]

I also don't mind the re-wearing of the dress. I also think that it is a super flattering dress on her and is quite stylish. Mother of the bride dresses can be very "old" and I think hers makes her look young and fresh. 

[Caroline]

23 hours ago, Queen Of Hearts said:

Same. And if she likes how she looks in the dress and wants to re-wear it I can't blame her.  Sometimes finding clothes we like is hard!

We're invited to a super fancy black tie family wedding next summer.  We're probably not going because of work, distance, etc.  I'm ok with not going because I detest dressing up to that degree and would have to invest a lot of time and money into finding something appropriate.  I don't like weddings in general, but I really hate the fancy ones.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 minutes ago, Caroline said:

We're invited to a super fancy black tie family wedding next summer.  We're probably not going because of work, distance, etc.  I'm ok with not going because I detest dressing up to that degree and would have to invest a lot of time and money into finding something appropriate.  I don't like weddings in general, but I really hate the fancy ones.  

My husband has an old suit but I bet he doesn’t fit in it anymore. So if we were invited to a super fancy black tie wedding, he would have to rent a tux/suit. And I don’t do evening gowns. I wear stretchy dresses with pockets to weddings. Therefore I would also have to buy something new. I would hate to spend a bunch of money on clothing I probably wouldn’t wear again. 

[Maggie Mae]

4 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Therefore I would also have to buy something new. I would hate to spend a bunch of money on clothing I probably wouldn’t wear again. 

I was buying new dresses every year for the annual conference/dinner/Gala/charity ball circuit and rent the runway really helps out. That and Nordstrom Rack. I like RTR because I like that even though I spend the same amount of money, I don't have to store a dress that I probably won't wear again. But The Rack is nice bc they are less expensive. 

I don't like how difficult it is to find formal dresses that accommodate a bra. 

[HereticHick]

11 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

I was buying new dresses every year for the annual conference/dinner/Gala/charity ball circuit and rent the runway really helps out. That and Nordstrom Rack. I like RTR because I like that even though I spend the same amount of money, I don't have to store a dress that I probably won't wear again. But The Rack is nice bc they are less expensive. 

I don't like how difficult it is to find formal dresses that accommodate a bra. 

In my experience, consignment & nice thrift stores are great places for fancy dresses, shoes & accessories--lots of people donate them after wearing them only a few times, or maybe just once.

[Maggie Mae]

14 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

In my experience, consignment & nice thrift stores are great places for fancy dresses, shoes & accessories--lots of people donate them after wearing them only a few times, or maybe just once.

It's a really small town, I would 100% end up seated next to the person whos old clothes I was wearing. 😄 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m an oddly shaped plus sized woman so unfortunately I can’t do thrift. I rarely even find a dress that fits. Let alone one I like. 

[Alisamer]

I have had some success with Poshmark for dresses and stuff!

[Maggie Mae]

20 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I have had some success with Poshmark for dresses and stuff!

I had a coworker who was always in new Lululemon and I was like "wow, you always have new stuff I never see in our local store" and it turned out she was getting basically new lulu's from pashmark at a quarter of the price! 

[theologygeek]

On 10/20/2022 at 1:11 PM, HereticHick said:

I will actually be very surprised if ABC uses the term "Halloween" instead of "Harvest Festival"

Sarah's church is having trunk or treat, the pastor called it Halloween, and told people they could dress up if they wanted.  I love it lol  

[anachronistic]

I love eshakti for special occasions and wish I could still do trick or treating but I don’t have kids.

 

[Maggie Mae]

12 minutes ago, anachronistic said:

I love eshakti for special occasions and wish I could still do trick or treating but I don’t have kids.

 

I dress up to hand out candy. The kids think we are weird but we also have the good hi-chew.

[anachronistic]

Oh, I’d do that if any kids lived in my building, but they don’t. But my city is doing a ‘pumpkin float’ with a beer garden and music the Saturday before, so I might dress up when I go there - I’m not doing indoor events but since it’s outside I think it’s safe. (I was very disappointed to learn that a pumpkin float is not pumpkins floating all by themselves, it’s Jack o lanterns on rafts in the pond, but I am intrigued anyway.)

[JermajestyDuggar]

20 minutes ago, anachronistic said:

Oh, I’d do that if any kids lived in my building, but they don’t. But my city is doing a ‘pumpkin float’ with a beer garden and music the Saturday before, so I might dress up when I go there - I’m not doing indoor events but since it’s outside I think it’s safe. (I was very disappointed to learn that a pumpkin float is not pumpkins floating all by themselves, it’s Jack o lanterns on rafts in the pond, but I am intrigued anyway.)

I saw an event where they hollowed out enormous pumpkins and used them as boats for Halloween! It was crazy how big those things can get. 

[Caroline]

39 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I saw an event where they hollowed out enormous pumpkins and used them as boats for Halloween! It was crazy how big those things can get. 

They do that in Damariscotta, Maine.  It's a riot.

 

[browngrl]

When we moved into our current home most of our neighbours were elderly. I used to call it the "street of grumpy old men". But over the years the neighbourhood has undergone intense gentrification and now is full of families with young children. Last year I decided now was the time to go all out for Halloween - decorations, costume (for me), full sized chocolate bars - all of it .....and we had exactly zero kids. I sat there in my witch costume and morosely ate my way through all the chocolate. Turns out all the neighbours with children had rented a bouncy house and had a party for all the kids instead of trick or treating. 

This year the parents have planned a similar event. To help myself feel like I'm giving back for all the Halloween fun I had as a child, I sent the person who is renting a bouncy house some money. I'm still stocking up on full size chocolate bars because Halloween is still an excellent excuse to eat candy. 

[Caroline]

17 minutes ago, browngrl said:

When we moved into our current home most of our neighbours were elderly. I used to call it the "street of grumpy old men". But over the years the neighbourhood has undergone intense gentrification and now is full of families with young children. Last year I decided now was the time to go all out for Halloween - decorations, costume (for me), full sized chocolate bars - all of it .....and we had exactly zero kids. I sat there in my witch costume and morosely ate my way through all the chocolate. Turns out all the neighbours with children had rented a bouncy house and had a party for all the kids instead of trick or treating. 

This year the parents have planned a similar event. To help myself feel like I'm giving back for all the Halloween fun I had as a child, I sent the person who is renting a bouncy house some money. I'm still stocking up on full size chocolate bars because Halloween is still an excellent excuse to eat candy. 

How disappointing.  My neighborhood is a circle of around 20 houses.  It's very safe, and we have always known all of our neighbors.  We've lived here for 22 years from when our daughter was a toddler.  There is a mix of people - retired people, young parents, parents of teens, single people, a real variety.  People have moved on over the years, but we still get to know who ever is new.  There have consistenly been around ten kids in the neighborhood through the years we've been here, and they trick or treat.  I still love it.  When my daughter was a new kid in the neighborhood a lovely (very elderly now) woman found out her name and prepared a special trick or treat bag for her with her name on it.  She did that for all the kids in the neighborhood.  She had been a teacher for years, and really likes kids.  She and my daughter are FB friends and our neighbor is almost 90!!  It's a dream neighborhood because of neighbors like her. 

I agree that Halloween is a good excuse to buy and eat candy.  I haven't bought mine yet because I don't want to eat it before next week.  I have such pleasant memories of trick or treating when I was a kid.  Fundies don't know what they're missing.

[JermajestyDuggar]

My neighborhood is intense when it comes to trick or treating. Droves of children roaming the streets. It’s pretty chaotic but my kids love it. 

[SassyPants]

I’ve lived in my current home for 13 years and have never had a tricker-treater. I live in a tiny, coastal, vacation town. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by SassyPants

[Loveday]

I thought our new neighbourhood would be filled with trick or treaters. It's a huge, not very old development, and I often see little kids out riding bikes with their parents, and older elementary kids at the bus stops when I go somewhere at that time of day. But last Halloween, our first in the new house, we only had about twenty or so kids! And we'd bought a TON of candy, I still have some of it. All I could think was that we're way at the back of the neighbourhood, and most of the kids--and their parents!--just didn't want to walk that far. It is quite a trek! I think this year we're just not going to participate, much as it kills me. I'd want to buy plenty of candy just in case last year was a fluke, and last thing I need as a diabetic is more leftover candy! 

[danvillebelle]

We will be continuing our years' long tradition of buying candy just in case (we lived in an apt. complex with kids and now a neighborhood with a smattering of kids) anyone comes to the door, but then eating it ourselves because they never do.  

From what I've seen in the 3 years we've now lived in this town, people do the church Trunk or Treat things the weekend before, then there are a couple of streets that band together and go all out with candy and decorations and the kids tend to congregate there. There is an adorable little boy who rides his bike with his dad on our street every afternoon; I will make sure I have something just in case he comes to the door.