Wellfleet

100% right. If you're going to spend big $$ on home furnishings, equipment etc, don't waste it on a bloody wastebasket! Ask for all-cotton towels and bed linens, 100% wool or cotton blankets - things that will still be decent after 100s of washings. Or premium-quality stainless flatware. Not the kind you can bend in half with your own two hands, but a semi-heavy set, the kind that will get you years of use if cared for properly. But I have to remember that even though Amy is nearly 30, she's really not much more mature than her cousins - another 20-something going on 14.

When you get BBT, let us know, Happy - I'm clueless on that one too. :>)

Yah, looks like Zack is following right along with the Josh Duggar Post-Wedding Diet. Do all fundie men gain a minimum of 30 lbs within a year of marriage? The younger ones certainly seem to, at least in many cases.

Have to agree - a smaller and female Boob. Poor kid.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think dead air refers to a loss of signal - basically nothing on the screen. I don't think it indicates programs being shown without the interruptions of commercial sponsors.

My heart is breaking for your friend too. I've never had a baby or even been pregnant, but I still think it must be the worst thing that can happen to a woman, the loss of a child. Please tell her - for all of us - that there are many, many others who feel her pain and are holding her in their hearts at this time. Warmest virtual hugs...

Smart dog . :>) And your post made me think of a little framed card I bought for my sister the Christmas after she got her Golden Retriever puppy. "I feel sorry for people who don't have dogs. I hear they actually have to pick up their own food if they drop it on the floor..." Grin.

In general, I agree that out-of-wedlock babies were not the life-ending shame in 1986 that they were in 1926. However I still think there weren't any beaming faces of joy to be seen when Deanna announced her pregnancy with Amy. This was, as best we can tell, a fairly-strict Southern Christian family in a small, conservative rural community in a very red state. I don't believe JL and Mary were weak parents either - or that Boob had a tough childhood. But he definitely gives the impression that HE thinks he did.

Oh, Tiffany's - that is the loveliest place to browse. And I'm not even a major jewelry person. Everything there is just so darned pretty. Heavy sigh of longing...

Not to mention - inaccurate. :>)

So true. As always, they can continue to spread their religious values online, and in-person wherever they'd be welcomed. Although that might not be a lot of places right at the moment. What they're going to miss is the Big Time Show Biz $$, plain and simple. Up to now, the reason they've accepted speaking engagements, and/or hauled their gigantic family around the country in the Stinkbus to various events, was because they were being PAID to do it. And paid more than just covering their expenses too - they were making a tidy living. What they so righteously object to is losing a sizable portion of that income. PS - something that's totally and complete their fault BTW.

I'm not what you could ever call an Amy fan. Her on-camera personality is way too "on" for me - too false. I don't think anyone is ever THAT giddily-happy about almost everything. She seems to be in a perpetual state of "audition." But she's proof that being raised by JL and Mary didn't have to result in an adult who would be attracted to cults because of a less-than-idyllic childhood. Deanna was raised in the same home as Boob, by the same parents, and yet in many ways her life has been diametrically-different from his. She "fulfilled righteous desires" before marriage, so much so that a pregnancy resulted. And she kept that baby, which in the early 80s had to have been much more difficult to do, especially in the rural South, than it is now. Moreover, she raised that baby to be a Christian but fairly independent and tolerant, unlike Boob whose own kids are in so many aspects 180 degrees different from Amy. Yep, Amy is proof that Boob's issues are probably much more Boob's own problems, and not due to all the poor parenting he had to endure. Poor little picked-on Boob... time to eat some worms.

I don't think Boob & Me-chelle ever had one single qualm about getting free stuff, or asking for free stuff. Or ever will. I don't even think they're sincerely grateful for all they do receive. Me-chelle gives every indication of being a much-spoiled and entitled last born, someone who actually expects that others will smooth the way ahead, and strew roses on the path to boot. And from what I've heard on the show about him and even from him, I'm guessing Boob feels like this time in the limelight now is His Turn. His right - something that's owed him because he never received the storybook-perfect childhood and family life he clearly wanted SO much. They both feel they've earned all the treats and bonuses they get, and earned them not just because of their childhoods, but because they've managed to have All Those Kids. An achievement worthy of unending praise and support - and apparently Free Stuff - in their belief system. I bet if Quiverful stated that having as many tiny toys as possible was what really made God love you, value you and hustle you right into Heaven, Boob would now have 2 or 3 million little Matchbox cars lined up at the TTH, instead of kids.

OMG. If this had happened to me, I'm fairly sure I'd still be crying. What a great story, and what a great memory to have... :>)

Good news. One less thing on your plate. You have plenty enough to cope with as it is... :>)

Seashell - you probably won't be the only one doing the Happy Dance! I predict the boys will be lovin' school big time! You might want to be prepared for some relatively-heavy questions from them. Personally if I was in their situation, I'd be wondering why I hadn't always gone to school with other kids etc. As a teacher, I'd recommend you try to speak to each of the boys' teachers at the BBQ, a heads-up kind of deal, you know. A great idea by the way - a BBQ meet-and-greet event. Wish we had them or something similar when I was still working. Good luck with everything!

The guy down front with a native child on his "lap" - the one pointing at the camera - looks remarkably like a Waller - one of TFWD's sibs?

My mother could roller-skate AND ice-skate backwards. To me, as a child, this was incredibly impressive. Outside of Olympic skaters on TV, she's been the only person I've ever seen who could actually do that. Mom was a very athletic kid apparently, and told us many stories about her childhood and teen activities. We lived on the southern shore of Lake Ontario until I was 10, and Dad told me Mom learned to water-ski in one afternoon when I was a baby [i'm the oldest].

Loving the spontaneous combustion concept for Josh! And PS - for some really, really sad movie recommendations, how about Sophie's Choice or Cast Away? Although Cast Away ends on a hopeful note, that last scene with Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt always gets me big time. Through no fault on their own, they're still apart - arrrggghhh!

Me either - but then again, Josh would never plug in a coffeemaker. That's "female" work. Wink wink.

Terrific idea to use chicken baby food as a "carrier" for kitty medicine!

Consider it done, Mindy. Here's hoping Figaro still has at least 4 or 5 of his nine lives left and will be with you for a long time to come...

I wish I had the strength to sit through even part of those financial seminars that Boob took back in the day. I bet I'd learn a lot of "creative methods" for obtaining free or radically-discounted goods and services. I don't imagine that many would qualify for the "How would Jesus do it" list, however.

IMO, they're absolutely con artists because they went on to use the supposedly-defective first kit in their home. If the original kit was indeed faulty or unusable, how is this possible? And it was good enough to use, as it apparently was, they weren't entitled to a free replacement kit in the first place. The problem is that the Duggars always want to have their cake, and eat it too. And then they want more free cake - because they're so wonderful.

Yeah boy - this about says it all. Your SIL has the IQ of a dead flashlight battery, Happy - and the arrogance and narcissism of Donald Trump. Good grief.