laurakaye

Meri and Jen did a semi-cleverly edited video (I saw it on Tik Tok) and they have their own page called Salty Birches. Jen ends the video by saying "F*** you, Kody!" I guess I have mixed feelings with Janelle selling t-shirts based on Kody's quotes and now Meri's Kody-bashing channel. On the one hand, might as well make a profit over the stupid and vile things that Kody says, while he lives in a multi-million dollar home with his pretty shy wife and tries to screw them out of whatever money he can. On the other hand, it feels like dirty money - these women will never be able to cut Kody out of their lives if they are marketing off of things he says. On the third hand, if Kody could just keep his horrible stupid thoughts to himself, his exes would have nothing to profit from and we all know that he can't do that, so - well played, OG's.

I needed a good chuckle so I watched the chicken video. My favorite parts were the still shots at the end of Dave, Tessie and Gabriel with open mouths captured in mid-chew. And after watching a close-up of Dave biting off a chunk of chicken, it's no wonder Jill is so worried that we all want her hunk. I watched with the sound off so I assume when Jill was cutting a head of iceberg lettuce in half, that was for the "salad." Which I am sure accompanies every dinner. So I guess this means that when she does cook, it's performative for the sake of her social media. In that case, I hope Jill tries to become a cooking influencer because at least then we know her kids will get fed.

I agree, while also remembering that the worth of these women in Kody's eyes was to give him children, and I feel like Meri was being punished by Kody for something she could not control. I do think she was selfish but Kody treated her like crap on the bottom of his shoe for decades, so she took what she could and when no one stopped her, she took more. Did I black out for a minute or did I hear Kody tell the realtor "I went skinny dipping with my daughters!" That entire segment of Kody's disturbing stream of consciousness with the realtor made me so uncomfortable, I had to actually look away at times. He put on that macho-man deep voice and proceeded to babble nonsense for who knows how long. Kody turns into a very different person when it's just him and another man. Make of that what you will. He basically turns into Tigger and can't stop bouncing around. Janelle buying 165 acres of land and saying she's going to plant flowers, maybe build some cabins, put up a meeting space, blah blah....on what cash? Are Maddie and Caleb funding this? How does a woman who had to move into an RV and later a college apartment suddenly have the money for such a massive endeavor? And she's supposed to be the smart one? I loved how the editors cut in stock photos of beautiful flowering gardens while Janelle talked...those must've been the imaginary flowers that only grow in Janelle's mind. Kody calling Meri's friends bitches....wow. Hope Robyn's friends don't take any offense - oh, wait. She doesn't have any. Huh, I wonder why?

100%. This is Kody in a nutshell. However, this begs another question - when the chainsaw got stuck in the tree and he was trying to remove it using an axe, was the chainsaw still running??

I just started reading a book called The Hidden Life of Trees. One of the first quotes I saw was, "if a tree falls in the forest, there are other trees listening." That said, I hope the next time Kody decides to take his FOMO rage out on a poor unsuspecting tree that happens to be blocking the Queen's view of the mountains from the veranda of her mansion, the other trees band together and start dropping heavy spare branches directly on his head. If you didn't watch/fell asleep/thought you were watching a rerun (you were), here is a recap: Kody: I invented the Brown Family Mosh Pit and I can't believe they're actually gonna do it without me! I have to cut down this majestic tree but I have cut down 1000 trees in my day, plus I've got on my trusty work gloves and visor, so this should be a piece of cake. *takes 15 pulls to start chainsaw, revs it like a he-man* Robyn: KO-DEEEEE!!!! KODEEE!!!! STOP CUTTING!!!! Kody: *cuts down tree so that it falls onto another tree, throws visor on ground in rage, sits down on forest floor and pouts while the other trees start making a plan* Robyn: So now that Christine is getting married, I'm guess I'm pretty sure this means that she won't live on Coyote Pass with us. Meri is also finally done (direct quote, or very close to it). Janelle - well, I am terrified of her but I am going to pretend that she might still be our next-door neighbor for just a little while longer in order to not have to sell this land and divvy up the proceeds. Christine: I'M GETTING MAHHHHHHHRIED!!! I'M GETTING MAHHHHHRIED!! (repeat 14 times over the next hour) Janelle: The wedding was beautiful. Perfect. Awesome. Great. Did I already say beautiful? Beautiful. Also it was beautifully awesome and awesomely beautiful. Meri: I am decorating for Halloween because when I decorated in Vegas and Flagstaff, no one ever came over to see it. I am repurposing this hideous dusty old bunch of crappy paper and plastic flowers from the Commitment Ceremony as decorations on the fake graveyard in my front yard, since our commitment was crap! LOL! This is so fun!! (giggles awkwardly with Jen and Blair). This show is really circling the drain. Also, I never ever asked to have to re-watch Christine bump and grind on David so thanks a lot, TLC. Just what I want to watch while eating my Cheerios before going to work.

I don't know, maybe it's part of Meri's catharsis to destroy the things she has with Kody in a deliberate way, like carefully breaking apart a sign she could've just tossed, or taking scissors and making her friend cut one stitch at a time from a quilt, etc.. After all, Meri stuck with this loser for two decades of being told she was nothing more than a barnacle stuck to his a$$ and yet, she didn't leave. It's also just more manipulation on Kody's part to even ask Meri to send him his part of the quilt, because in Meri's mind it probably proves that Kody is still sentimental about their time together, even when he's just playing with her. Meri drives me nuts, but she's also disentangling herself from two people who have done Doctorate-level course work in keeping her on the hook with whatever bread crumbs they felt like tossing her. And if Kody ever did beckon her back with a toss of his ringlets, hopefully Meri's friends would intervene and stop her from making another horrible mistake. That said, I really do think there might come a time when Kody needs a distraction from his life and finds himself on the road to Parowan...if it does happen, I just hope Meri can be strong enough to slam the door in his face.

Does Jim Bob award a prize for this? :)

Are these women allowed to complain about their headships? My feeling is that they have sneaky and creative ways to do so without actually doing it - maybe talking about how hard it is to stretch their food budget for the large family that God provided (the unspoken part being that Headship isn't working enough to support them), or how exhausted they are taking care of their many blessings (Headship not helping out because that's women's work), etc. I think Jill and her counterparts feel that suffering daily is part of their burden of being good Christian women. If Jill weren't burdened by her daily life, she'd have no foundation for her beliefs. And if she looked around with gratitude at what she does have, that would mean she's satisfied and we all know that is definitely NOT the case.

I wonder if Jill and Nurie "pouring their hearts out" consists of Jill sobbing and wailing about what a flawed human she is, while Nurie just says "woo woo, woo woo" and pats Jill's hair and tells her how beautiful she is. I can't imagine any deep soup searching goes on between those two - I don't think they're capable of that.

I forgot about that - whose fault is it that Meri was the only recipient of Kody's nasty old t-shirts? He could have distributed them amongst his women, assuming anyone else wanted them. Meri also told us that the quilt was Kody's idea and I believe her - it seems like a vanity project right up Kody's alley. I am also loving each episode's "project" between Meri and whatever friend is hanging around. Pretty soon she's going to make them walk around the BnB with a black Sharpie, crossing out any label, book or painting that contains the letter "K" and I am here for it.

I love the weenie roast idea, with Meri, Jen and friends dressed in flowy, gauzy layers of clothing, waving sage sticks around a roaring bonfire and chanting whatever incantations are useful for ridding Meri of Kody's cooties...as opposed to carefully snipping individual stitches from an old quilt in order to mail Kody back his shirts with minimal damage. Come on, Meri - the man told you he wouldn't even consider repairing your relationship until you're both in your 60's. Next time he asks for something back, send him a video of you lighting it on fire. And Robyn can't handle not being the envied favorite wife anymore. Without outsiders gazing with longing at Kody and Robyn's relationship, these two don't really have a foundation - except that Kody seems to still really be into Robyn, but she seems freaked out by his laser-beam attention. Hahahahaha! I don't know what to think about the ATV accident, but if it really was Robyn flying off the bike and she said that her head and neck hurt, why the heck would Kody be all, "okay, let's go watch the sunset and have a deeply unsettling conversation about the state of our relationship?" Wouldn't he have wanted to settle his delicate queen in bed amongst her pillows and wait on her hand and foot until she was all better? I mean, this is the man who wanted to check himself into the hospital and perform his own chest x-ray just to be near Robyn when she had Covid. Something's off.

Absolutely, she will - that's probably why Kody wanted his shirts back. Because there's absolutely nothing creepy at all about making a quilt of shirts from a 7-year old and an 18-year old since they've been together since Day One and all. Regarding the title of this episode, were we supposed to Weep or Laugh when Kody talked about his college "lover?" And who uses the word "lover" for a college tryst? Also, raise your hand if you looked around in sheer panic for something to throw at your TV when Kody started up about losing his virginity? Come to think of it, I think I did both weep and laugh during that segment. Also, Kody - Europe called, they are full up right now and don't have room for you, Robyn and the Tenders. But honestly, there we have it - Kody's solution for when things get rough is to pick up and move. He's such a buffoon - if it hasn't worked for the past 30+ years, why would it work now? And how do the few remaining non-Robyn kids who might still be occasionally speaking to him feel about their dad wanting to move so far away that visits would be nearly impossible? Honestly, maybe it would be better for everyone if he did move to another continent - maybe his kids would feel more peace if they knew that he actually couldn't visit them due to distance, instead of knowing he could visit but chooses not to. I loved the conversation between Kody and Robyn after they nearly drove into one another (which I have heard is actually NOT a good idea when driving 4-wheelers around uneven terrain): Kody: When we look into one another's eyes, I can see into your soul and I can read your mind. I can see your brain and also your heart and your pancreas. Robyn: So - do you think Janelle will move to Coyote Pass with us? Kody: Who? Oh - nope. That ship has sailed. I don't love her. I never loved her. Robyn: Yes you did. You're rewriting history. Also please stop staring at me without blinking. Kody: Ok, look - I never didn't ever not love her but I never didn't ever not want to not love her. So can you drop it? Robyn: So you're saying there's a chance? Kody: ........................... I think the issue is that those two have not been practicing their dialogues prior to filming lately - what with Robyn being so busy deciding where she'll allow her two 20-something daughters to travel unattended - but they're both talking in circles, talking around each other, and twisting each other's words to the point that I don't believe either one of them know what is going on anymore, and I am here for it. Also Christine is getting married. Not sure if anyone here knew that.

I am speechless that Jill managed to keep the Teidi pregnancy a secret until now. That goes against everything she stands for - after all, those pregnancies are about Jill first and the actual parents second. How on earth did Tim keep his mother's mouth shut for this long? Also, I am so bummed that Brianne and Sammers are no longer. Jill's demand for modest dress at the retreat, accompanied by a picture of a woman in 19th century garb, would have been such a perfect opportunity for Brianne to show up wearing exactly the same dress as the woman in the brochure and probably carrying a frilly parasol around with her, while Jill pretends that her DIL to be is perfectly normal.

I feel like he's been in seminary school for the last 17 years. And then what does Jeremy want to do? Teach? Preach? Take over for Johnny Mac? Start his own mega-church? I can't wait to find out. 🙄

So the whole idea of a "Ladies Retreat" is about what? Not empowering women, because it sounds like many of them will be bringing their headships along to keep an eye on them. Not for some recharging time to talk with other women, because you never know who will be listening and reporting. No quiet time if you bring your husband and kids, because I have a feeling that these men don't "babysit" and probably need as much care as their children. And while the menfolk are "free" to attend, they can give a donation "if they are burdened to." This entire thing sounds like a burden for everyone in attendance except Jill and maybe Hunk, who gets a woman-free pizza night with his boys.