Wellfleet

Knowing the Duggars, and what a heavy Koolaid drinker Jill has been all her life, I'd say the "what" is "it."

I keep saying I'm going to invent a TV remote that can be attached to a lanyard and worn around my neck, because I loathe listening to most commercials and hate being caught without the remote when a break comes on. Local ones are especially noisy and just poor. Of course, every once in a while I do hear them - and do think some are clever. My favorite for nearly 2 years now has been "Whaddaya wearing, Jake from State Farm?" Fun-nee...

After five, I like a whiskey sour or just some good sippin' whiskey like Jack Daniels, followed by a good red wine with dinner. Or an icy cold beer with lime in the Summer, or if there's a clambake, or a picnic, or a corn-and-sausage roast going on. An Irish coffee on Christmas Eve and mulled apple cider with a wee bit of rum in the Fall and Winter. I've never turned down a nice glass of champagne either, or a staunch Bloody Mary at a Sunday morning brunch. :>)

If anyone here is a fan of Bill Maher [i'm a huge fan], check out his comments on the Duggars. His show was on vacation or whatever when the story actually broke, but you can see it all on YouTube. Loved what he said. Thought the shades were very odd too - and VERY dark shades as well. Maybe he was auditioning for the next Men in Black?

From the last 2-3 shows, the only time I seriously differed with Bill and Jen's handling of events was the kids on the counter. I would have removed both of them immediately with firm warnings that neither was to ever climb up there, unless Mom or Dad was there with them. They probably would have been placed in time-out as well.

If Ben and Jessa do actually adopt a baby, my guess is that it will be "Joan Crawford-style' - a 100% under-the-table backroom adoption. The child of some poor wayward Gothardite daughter who wasn't able to remain pure and tempted a hapless male by showing her elbows at church one day.

I finally figured it out. To me, it looks as though Derrick has new, ill-fitting dentures.

I'm the same way, Micks. I loathe sweetened drinks of any kind. Not that I can't have sugar. I just prefer unsweetened everything. I didn't even like sweetened cereal as a kid. Give me Shredded Wheat, Rice Krispies, Grape Nuts and Irish oatmeal with a little milk and a handful of dried cherries. Yum. My mom was very careful about nutrition when we were little - ahead of her time really, we ate yogurt about 10 years before it caught on in the late 60s - and none of us have any food addictions that I know about, other than coffee [me]. I do like my Italian roast Starbucks, but I make it at home in my French press. And there's absolutely nothing better than a tall glass of COLD water with ice. According to the elderly GP my Mom took us to as kids - water is the only beverage that truly quenches a thirst.

Vernor's is delicious! I have a friend with family in Detroit who always brings a case or two home for herself whenever she visits. Which means I get a gift bottle that is thoroughly enjoyed - with a "kiddie cocktail" marasachino cherry.

I have a spacemaker Brita pitcher - slim, fits on fridge door - and can definitely taste the difference between tap water, and water after it's been through the Brita. Big difference - highly recommend Brita. Use it exclusively when making coffee and tea. It takes about 10 min tops to fill and filter the whole pitcher. Change filter every 40 pitchers. And I wish I had an endorsement deal with the company, because I tell everyone how good it is.

I really hope Bill and Jen [bill especially] are firmer with Will at home than we usually see on the show. Jen is definitely the stricter parent, and it doesn't seem to bother her either. She knows she wants Will to be a well-behaved child and she's going to have to do things that will sometimes make her unpopular with Will in order to achieve that. Bill pays lip service to this concept but also seems to look for excuses to ignore, trivialize or rationalize bad behavior. Bill is reluctant to lose his status as Will's "best buddy." I think he realizes he needs to be a Dad, not a buddy, but he doesn't seem willing to be firm - no smiles or chuckles - if it means Will will pout or scowl at him. Will is five now, still cute and very amusing to Bill. But Will at ten doing these things will not be cute or amusing - to anyone. If Will was in my classroom, we would definitely be working on boundaries, respect for others and for authority. Which is one reason I was glad to see him enrolled for karate. IMO, the karate teacher was excellent and clearly has years of experience handling young children. I hope Bill picks up some pointers from him. Edited to add: I still think Will has made a lot of progress even in the last year, and his immaturity issues should lessen as he grows and especially gains socialization at school, at his karate class etc. If I were Bill and Jen, I would keep him one more year in a pre-school setting. I don't think kindergarten now would be the best move for him.

Much sympathy to you and your family, jynnan. Your FIL sounds like a wonderful person with a well-lived life. Good to have you back too, and take care. The huge ones are massively-diversified and will be just fine. Even if they never sell another can of soda from this moment on. :>)

Actually chocolate, in the right amounts, has definite physiological benefits too, especially DARK chocolate. Just as long as we don't eat too much. I'm counting chocolate in there with beer and coffee as "relatively" health foods. :>)

I count my blessings that my mother never let us have anything but milk, orange juice, water, hot chocolate when we were little, and the very rare Koolaid in the Summers. This is why I think none of us six kids have ever cared much about carbonated drinks at all. We got soda-pop-coke-whatever only as "kiddie cocktails " at my grandparents' house - ginger ale with a maraschino cherry. Since college, I've had to have my [ruby red] grapefruit juice in the morning. We all like our coffee a lot, and we're half-German so we do like our beer. But I rationalize both these drinks as relatively-healthy. Coffee, if you don't go nuts, has some definite physiological benefits. And beer is full of B vitamins. No kidding, from the brewers' yeast! See? Rationalization - LOL :>)

If he really quit. To me, jury's still out on this. IMO, if he did quit, it was because he knew he was headed toward dismissal. Or at the very least a warning: "Look, we've been patient and we've been flexible. For a year and a half. The ball's in your court now. Do you want to work here or not? If yes, you know what you have to do. If not, thanks for your time and best of luck..."

All good points. Besides, aren't nursing mothers told to basically eat like construction workers? I had a friend whose first baby was actually losing weight - beyond those few ounces newborns tend to lose in the hospital. When she went home with the baby, she went back to her pre-pregnancy eating habits, which were healthy but relatively deficient in fats and red meat. Good, right? Turns out, her doctor put her on a diet for underweight women. She wasn't, but she did get to drink milkshakes, enjoy butter and real ice cream, steak, pasta, veggies with cream sauce etc without guilt. She said it was for her, hands-down, the best part of having a baby - other than the baby. :>) My bet as well. And now, teaching pre-teens about bankruptcy law is starting to make a little sense...

Something tells me diapers might not have been changed as often as strictly necessary in the Duggar household, especially in the early days before sister-moms and TLC. I can absolutely see Boob trying to stretch that package of nappies a little longer - because he's such an Olympic-calibre tightwad. And Me-chelle thinking maybe she can wait to change J-whosis for an hour or so - just because she's such a hopeless slack-ass. Those poor babies.

Jill does.

I've done calligraphy for years and have worked mostly with a copy of Emily Post or on the Crane Company's website. I've never seen the woman's name listed first for a couple, or had anyone request it. It's either Mr and Mrs Al Fresco - or Al and Sharon Fresco. Of course when I first started in the 70s, Emily still said a divorced woman was addressed on social stationery as Mrs Sharon Fresco. Only women who were still married could be Mrs Al Fresco. And we have come a long, LONG way since then.

Agree. I think the Bateses were portrayed by TLC as being best friends with the Duggars - after it became so glaringly-obvious the Duggars really didn't seem to have any friends. Other than each other of course. TLC made it appear as though Kelly and Me-chelle were in regular contact throughout the year, that the kids were much more involved in each other's lives etc, that Gil and Boob were best buddies etc. But I'd bet some serious coin that this was not the case at all.

Maybe she is thumping up your stairs at night, just letting you know she's still around - giving you a warm, heartening memory...

I think Derick's always had dark eye circles, but they do look a little more prominent here. First look at the new choppers too. I'm also surprised he didn't have this kind of dental work done until now.

Boob and Me-chelle might have been overconfident and/or naive - but I think they were just plain stupid. I'm not sure it ever occurred to them that things would go the way they have. Neither one of them have shown any capacity for examining anything from different viewpoints and thinking "What if?" I think Boob was born thinking he was right about everything; finding Gothard, where all men are always right and always in charge - was icing on the cake for him. And Me-chelle, I think, is so lazy that she loves having Boob being the one who has to make all the decisions. Means she doesn't even have to be bothered thinking about X at all.

I'm ashamed to say it but I love those Hawaiian plates that are everywhere in the Islands. Some kind of meat entree - Spam even - with 3 mounds on the plate: one of white rice, one of potato salad and one of macaroni salad. And usually a luscious gravy. Anthony Bourdain was having one the other day on TV and my mouth was literally watering. And Portuguese sausage is the bomb.

Much sympathy, Bitter. Grief is the price we pay for be able to love our furbabies but I hope you'll soon be able to remember Bossy with no tears - nothing but smiles!