Wellfleet

To me, great cooks are like any other artists, except because we get to eat the medium in which they work. Yes!! My mom LOVED to cook, and even more to bake. She was never happier than when she had a few bowls of cookie dough going at the same time. And it really did seem like I was watching an artist when her hands were molding and shaping those doughs and batters. I can still taste her buttery German kuchens. Yum.

Do we know - for certain - that Josh has given up on Rehab Camp? I thought he still had at least 2-3 months left. He didn't start until sometimes in August, right? I thought the whole Ashley M thing burst at the end of July...

I too was surprised that Jill was taken to Nepal to meet Derick, but am also confident that it was a primarily TLC-motivated storyline-driven move. There's no way Boob would have stuck a crowbar in his wallet to take her on his own dime. No way. But regardless of how it was paid for, it did come off as a little desperate on her part, and more than a little weird on his part, especially since he had only 2 months left to "serve."

Oh, they'll get the opportunity all right. Sadly though, it won't happen until Boob is gone. I think the loss of Me-chelle will not come close to the same level of "aftermath" and adjustment for the kids. Let's face it, she's not a very involved parent - in many cases, she's barely been involved at all. But the Last of Boob will be traumatic in ways we can't guess, and very different from the way things are when a mature child loses a parent.

Absolutely. Sierra and all the Duggars need a whole season of What Not to Wear to be exclusively about them. One of the best shows TLC ever did, not that there's a lot in the running there. I can't imagine what they'd look like after Stacey and Clinton got finished with them. I only know it would be better - much better.

Sierra must have had a really rough life, prior to becoming the Duggars' go-to event planner/baby-sitter at least. This is the oldest-looking "25-year old" I've ever seen. These days it's usually the opposite. Someone is actually 50 and we're guessing 35 or 40 tops.

Read all the names here aloud, top to bottom, going along without pauses. Now, is there any competition - at all - for the name that sounds like a dead clack of a broken key on the piano? Nope, it's just Ben and Jessa again. Being those free-wheeling, independent rogue-mavericks that they are. No wedding cake, no public first kiss, and a baby named Spurgeon. What heights they're going to achieve. How clueless they are...

Agree - I think the Duggars do watch their own show. At the very least Boob and Me-chelle do. Maybe Grandma too. Maybe now the married couples as well. I do think Boob orders changes when he doesn't like what he sees, but I doubt he always gets them. I also doubt he has much in the way of final say either. He takes TLC's $$, and bottom line, if he wants that to continue, he has to Put Up and Shut Up. They get final say - because they've paid for it.

Agree. TLC had a specific reason for airing the mini-golf dry-humping footage. If they were truly interested in showing the Duggars to best advantage, that never would have seen the light of day. And that last episode in May? The one just before the molestation news became widespread? That was definitely put together in an odd way. I think Boob believes that TLC is on his side, but in reality TLC is only on TLC's side. They can reasonably expect better ratings, especially now, by airing a lot of what Boob & Me-chelle would probably not want seen. I'm guessing we'll see some of the "Duggars Give Back" - when they all brought supplies to some kind of community food pantry and pretended to load up a needy family with goodies. Makes me wonder how much control, if any, Boob has over what gets on air - and what doesn't. My own guess is - not a whole lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss Speaking of names. One of Key & Peele's funniest bits from their Comedy Central show. These guys, and their writers of course, are light-years more creative than Ben and Jessa - who, in IMO, should outsource the naming of all their future kids.

The fundies think that IS the correct spelling...

So true. I said it before, but the Duggars NEVER do one single thing to help themselves. Boob & Me-chelle have insulated themselves from the Cold Cruel Evil Scary World for so long they truly don't know what mainstream is anymore [although they THINK they do, especially Boob]. And obviously the kids never knew, because Ma & Pa controlled everything so tightly. I've never known ANYONE who named a child after someone else using that individual's LAST name for the baby's FIRST name. People who admire Winston Churchill name their babies Winston, not Churchill. Sometimes it seems like the Duggars just HAVE to be contrary, even belligerent. And that Boob sees himself as a machete-yielding, safari-leading Dad, hacking his way through the jungle of the Real World. He really is a consummate jackass...

One of the victims in the Gabby Giffords shooting in Arizona a few years back was a little girl who was born on 9/11 - the actual day in 2001. And she ends up being killed by a whackjob gunman 9 or 10 years later - wow. The stars were certainly misaligned for her, this time around. Poor little kid... July 28th - you and my heroine - Jacqueline Kennedy.

Or sturgeon. Or burgeon. And there's an even bigger list if we count the rhymes. Urgin' - virgin - mergin' - purgin'... As long as they pronounce them like Sarah Palin would, by droppin' the G. Good grief. This family does NOTHING to help itself, does it? At this point I'm hope the poor little fellow gets a nickname hung on him accidentally and really soon. ANY nickname. Even Stinky would be OK.

All good - but Selfie Prince Seewald takes the birthday cake!

Barb - you should send a copy of your EXCELLENT comment here to People. Let's see if they'll include in the Letters to the Editor section within the next few weeks. Every word you said is right on the money, and it would be truly sweet to see this comment in the mag.

I'm sorry to say I think this is definitely a possibility. The Arnold-Kleins aren't exactly struggling financially either. This may be an even greater factor. In general, I believe the public likes to observe the details of the lives of wealthy people - whether attractive or not.

Yes, I think you are - seriously.

So very sorry to hear about your Mom, Next. Be good to yourself in the next few weeks. Try to remember the things that make you smile...

Agree, Me-chelle sounds completely tranked up. And her voice is not just her "normal" baby voice, but she's speaking abnormally slow and measured. Almost as if she's got lines to read - but the lighting in the room is really poor. ???

I thoroughly agree with this entire post - with the single exception of the "maturing emotionally" part. IMO, neither Boob nor Me-chelle has matured emotionally or psychologically much beyond the age of 12-13. And I think I'm being generous with those ages. If we could actually measure this with any accuracy - and maybe someday, far in the future we will - I think the real age could be closer to 9-10. Especially in Boob's case.

My Dad said the same thing - he felt tricked as a child. He always mentioned those Lassie movies from MGM - and Old Yeller - and Dumbo - and Bambi. And my Mom was always a mess when we watched Dumbo. When Mama Elephant gets locked up and can only reach her trunk out of the cage to scoop up little baby Dumbo and rock him. Sniff, sniff... I must admit I lose it everytime I see that too.

OMG, I forgot Sophie's Choice. How could I? Hands-down, saddest - movie - ever. That gorgeous music didn't help either. So very sad. Steel Magnolias is sad too but with a lot of humor and an overall positive vibe, I think. Knowing that it's a true story certainly adds to the sadness though. And how great was it that a male writer could produce such a wonderful film about women? Robert Harling - now why haven't you written more? We need you!

"White Christmas" was written for the movie Holiday Inn - Bing Crosby sings it twice in this film, I think. Holiday Inn was released in 1941, and then after the War, they made a second movie called White Christmas, different story entirely, which of course included the song again, with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Fanny Kaye. But overall and iMO, Holiday Inn was the better film overall.

Have been loving "Bam-Bam" - the perfect name in this particular situation. Bam-Bam Seaworld - love it!