rue721

@iwantcookies omg thank you for finding that goldmine of crazy

Omg if anyone can find that photo, can you please post it? I don’t remember this at all and it is cracking me up

@Scarlett45 I’m so sorry that you’re having to grieve your godmother on your own. Try to be as kind and gentle toward yourself as your godmother would have wanted? I can’t believe that her daughter is disregarding her wishes, but I guess everyone goes a little crazy at times like this and sometimes they make even pretty big mistakes. Give Cosmo a hug for me? I’m so happy you have each other. And his happy face makes me think that he’s thriving with you ❤️ You’re saving a life, and doing right by your godmother, and I’m so glad that Cosmo’s love and joy is already a comfort.

Isn’t the whole issue that Jesus had with the Pharisees that they were too legalistic and judgmental? 🤦🏻‍♀️ Gee, I wonder what the metaphor is there... On the one hand, I feel compassion for Jill because the foundations of her worldview have been exploded into rubble. On the other hand, I feel frustration because I think maybe this random, ridiculous Young Earth thing might very well be her “bridge too far” and she’s reaching her limit on how much she’s willing to grow and change. The truth is, if I somehow found myself married to Derick, he could expose me to mainstream conservative, evangelical life all day every day, and it probably wouldn’t make a bit of difference in my beliefs about politics or theology or life. At a point, if you disagree then you disagree, and more time or exposure isn’t going to change that. If I don’t think I would change much in that situation, and wouldn’t become more conservative, then why should I expect Jill to change and become more liberal? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Maybe this is a childish way of looking at it.

I hear you, my boyfriend is in PG and even though he’s 1c because of his job, he still can’t get an appointment. It really worries me, because he has to go in to work every single day and there have been quite a few scares. He is fairly low risk, but with covid you never know. I’m in NoVA and have no idea when I’ll be able to get it, either. We just are getting so few doses. I’m hoping that sometime in April, I’ll be able to make an appointment, but who the hell knows. I’m happy to hear that other states are able to get the vaccine to everybody, but not going to lie, I’m jealous, too.

Full tuition scholarship =/= no loans. You can get loans for living expenses as well, and it’s unremarkable for people to take out loans specifically for that. I know I have. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the Seminary offers private loans to its students as part of “financial aid packages,” based on how exploitative it seems to be. I took out a similar loan from my university years ago (and it was also to pay for living expenses). I don’t believe the seminary is accredited, so I’m not sure whether students are eligible for federal student loans. If they’re not, then the seminary almost definitely has a financing program, because otherwise there’s no way they could get this many people paying to go to school, it’s simply too expensive for many people to pay out of pocket while also paying to support themselves for four years in LA. I don’t have some special knowledge of what goes on with Jeremy’s finances, and nobody will until the Vuolos inevitably file for bankruptcy one day. I’m personally certain, though, that this is the spending of people living on credit. Lots and lots of flashy, overpriced consumer goods, but nothing being purchased that requires a rigorous credit check or even proof of income. JB inherited a tidy little real estate empire from his parents and has continued to take care of and expand it. He’s a mediocre money manager, but good enough. Since forever, he’s been doing lots of things that commercial real estate folks do to bring in side income from their properties, too, like antenna rent. JB should be a fairly wealthy guy from the family real estate business alone, and I think the real estate business is the bulk of what has supported the family in the past and what supports them now, although of course the TLC money has probably helped.

Jeremy is living on debt. Student loans alone could be putting $40-50K into his bank account every year, and what do you bet that when loan money arrives in his account at the beginning of the semester, he spends it like it's going out of style? And that's on top of his credit cards, of which I'm sure he has many. There is also cash from the house sale and possibly from his job at the Seminary, but I think that's going to pay monthly minimums and other bills that can't go on credit cards. This doesn't look like a family living off savings, to me. It also doesn't shock me that he has the ability to access enough debt to live like a king as a student, although it does somewhat shock me how irresponsible this spending is.

Heard 😂

From the look on his face and where he's putting his hands, I think he might have just had a spanking

Opposite -- from your left, it's Joy, Hannie, Jennifer. Now I better go to the prayer closet and repent my sins, because how do I know all these weirdos on sight?!

I feel like whatever is going on with Jeremy is more than just a marketing failure. Maybe Jeremy has been told he doesn't have the chops to be a preacher after all, or something else happened at the Seminary that's eating at him and making him rethink his plans. And I really don't know why, but quarantine seems to have been really hard on them, especially on him. He seems to have gone into a mental health tailspin that gets worse the longer the pandemic goes on. Maybe the truth is that he's just not that emotionally resilient.

I agree completely, and just wanted to add that I think Ben might take out or project a lot of his frustration with his life onto Jessa. He's powerless in his life, but he's got power over HER. He's frustrated with his life, so he becomes frustrated with HER. I think it's not just that she's not simpering enough for him, it's that whatever negative feelings he's got, she's a "safe" place to dump them whether they actually have to do with her or not. And then what is she supposed to do about it? She can't actually make any move to solve the problem, like divorcing him, without losing her family, religion, and meal ticket. Or that's what she thinks, anyway... in reality, I think plenty of people would tune in to A Very Dugger Divorce, to watch Jessa try to navigate life as a divorcee and single mom. But Jessa is too cowed by her culture to go down that path, at least for now.

I think Derick's falling out with JB was about *him* feeling betrayed by JB. Probably because JB turned out to not be as open-handed as Derick expected. I think Derick probably saw JB as a father figure (which makes sense, since that's his father-in-law) and probably trusted him because of their weirdo religion as well, so the betrayal cut deeper than it would coming from someone else. That said... who knows if Derick felt this, but if I learned that my SO had been sexually assaulted by their sibling numerous times and that their parents had just covered it up, blamed my SO, and kept treating the sibling as a golden child... you best believe that I would HATE their parents forever. HATE them. That is disgusting and horrific behavior. I would also not want our shared children around either the sibling or the parents, because I would consider it dangerous. That's another reason not to go to the TTC, btw -- can't bring Izzy and Sam. Or at least, I wouldn't. We know about Josh's crimes (or at least some of them), but I still contend that there might be a whole LOT we don't know, and I doubt it's anything good. Who knows if Josh was an anomaly or just doing as he had been taught by some other monster. Who knows what danger kids running around that chaotic house might be in still.

Maybe Jed! wanted it. I doubt there are any other women or exciting new adventures on the horizon, and Daddy says it will make him even godlier and more likely to win his next race. Maybe as one of the more ambitious and less good looking guys in the pack, this was a chance Jed! jumped at. ETA: I think we're going to see Jeer court or get engaged very soon now, too. The twins seem close and I think it'll be too lonely and weird for Jeer to be left behind on his own once Jed! is gone.

No, the mortgage and deed will be in my name only. It’s just too big a step to buy property together, considering we’re not married! But we’ll both be moving into the house together. A couple of my friends think that’s unfair, because he’ll be contributing to the household and helping pay the mortgage but not getting any equity... but he and I talked about it and this is the way we both prefer. The truth is that I think we will get married, and probably not that far off in the future, but we’re trying not to be too impulsive. Like we decided to wait a year before moving in together. We’re also both of the mind that it’s better to live with someone before moving on to more commitments, like marriage and kids. The truth is that I’m very nervous about working while going to school in such a demanding program, but I guess if it’s just too much then I’ll have to leave work for a while or at least cut back. One of the reasons that I’m busting so hard to get my CPA beforehand is because I can make more per hour or even hang out my own shingle that way, and I want to have that flexibility during school.

Yeah, I’m in the evening program. It’s still 10+ credits a semester, so it’s going to be pretty grueling. (Gulp).

This is so ridiculous, but because of all my big personal news last week, it suddenly feels like my life is upside down. The law school itself is emailing me every day wanting me to commit (I will! But I haven’t even had a chance to read all these emails yet!). My boss wants to know if I want to go part time or hourly when law school starts, and she needs to know within the next couple weeks. Suddenly, I’m looking at houses because I need to buy and move before classes begin in August. My boyfriend and I will be moving in together into that new house, which is very happy and exciting but also a big change. I applied to a public sector job last week, and now they need me to complete a high-stakes, two-hour assessment within seven days. And I have my last (and hardest) CPA exam on Monday!!! I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed. Happy, but overwhelmed. Sometimes life comes at you so fast!

@Jeeves I’m sorry about your friend’s death 💜 It sounds like she really trusted you, and I’m glad you were able to be there when she left home for the last time. @jcbrown The book sounds like a wonderful gift, your friend’s son will treasure it.

If Derick loves Jill or the boys, this must freak him out. His own mother was widowed fairly young and with sons to support as well as herself.

Honestly, I feel like I've aged so much in the past year. Who I was in 2019 feels so different to who I am now. And I can't believe how far away 2016 is now... I feel like we've lived through so many eras in just the last five years, and it's wild. It makes me feel much older than I guess I really am.

That's going to be uncomfortable for Izzy, too, because he's probably going to realize she's wrong before she does. It's not like Jill is going to know she's ignorant, like if a parent were asked to help a child do homework in a language they never learned or for a math class they never took. Jill is going to think she's been taught the "truth" about a lot of things and will have to be corrected, if only to keep Izzy from showing up at school spouting all kinds of embarrassing nonsense. My hope is that it will inspire her to get more education for herself, but if she's still clinging to the idea that at least some of JB & M's "teachings" were correct, then that may be a long way off. Suddenly, I'm seeing how difficult their marriage must be at times

Interesting thought. Jill seems like the "good student" type and probably has a very hard time being reminded again and again that she was wrong about EVERYTHING. Not even her fault, it's just that everything her parents taught her was wrong. Talk about humbling.

Honestly, spending four years in an unaccredited master's program makes no sense to me. What will it qualify him for?

In Jeremy's perspective, he probably sees himself as having expertise as a preacher, and interesting prominent connections by way of MacArthur, the Duggars, and Cade/Gabby. I don't think the podcast was a bad idea on its face, but it failed because Jeremy and Jinger are terrible at podcasting (and at preaching). So nobody wanted to listen... and the podcast needed to take off for the merch to take off. The book makes no sense to me, because even in the ad copy, it's like, "you've seen this all before on Counting On!" Why would I want a regurgitation of a boring reality show? I also hate that this idea that they're willing to "suffer" through the trials and tribulations of... falling in love and having babies (?!) because they are waiting for their ~real~ reward in heaven. These poor martyred saints, having to.... fall in love and have babies 🙄

Omg Fenna is so cute! 😍 Sitting there in her own chair, grinning ear to ear!