mynextmistake

It said she serves it over mashed potatoes. I’ve always seen shepherd’s pie served with mashed potatoes on top, not canned biscuits, but maybe they do things differently in Texas.

Regarding Jill’s “recipes,” I was reading a back issue of hgtv or food network magazine at the dentist’s and it had a section where a “star” talked about their favorite family recipe. This one profiled Joanna Gaines and her recipe was shepherd’s pie. IIRC It basically said to brown some ground beef, dump in some frozen peas/carrots and a packet of gravy mix, unroll a can of biscuits over the top, throw on some shredded cheese and bake it. I’m a busy mom and i’m all for recipe shortcuts and quick cooking, but this was Joanna’s favorite family recipe? Huh. All the Duggars seem to idolize Joanna so maybe Jill figures if Joanna does it it must be okay.

I think her idealization of the past is a defense mechanism against the shit life that is her present. I sort of do the same thing; my mom wasn’t a great mom (although she was miles better than Michelle was) but when i’m having a really bad day my first instinct is to call her for comfort. In those moments I remember the few times in my childhood when she was there and did take care of me the way a mother should. The difference is that most of my days aren’t bad days, and I think most of Jill’s are, even if she only recognizes that on some kind of subconscious level. So I think she focuses on the positives of her past, even if she has to basically make them up, because they give her a safe place to go. After all, if she were to admit that the past is shit and the present is shit, how could she have any hope for the future?

My aunt made a similar dish she called Hawaiian Jello Surprise. Green Jello, canned crushed pineapple, shredded carrots, and chow mein noodles (the crunchy kind you get in cans at the grocery store). She served hers on a Corelle plate with a brown and gold design. Sometimes she would add raisins or cottage cheese. It was possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. Jill would love it.

I think Jill’s blog, like her entire life, is an exercise in wish fulfillment. Everything she posts on there is idealized. That’s true of a lot of people’s blogs, of course, but Jill actually seems to believe what she posts is true even when it’s obviously not. She reminisces about her and her parents and siblings tucking into a hot meal complete with homemade bread and a huge salad when we all know the reality is that dinner was Jill sitting in the bathroom scarfing down her measly portion of whatever love offering eight-year-old Jana had heated up while Michelle was busy being joyfully available. She talks about Derick being a great dad when we all know he’s a temperamental douchebag who acts like his kids like millstones around his neck (and that’s just what we see... imagine how he acts when she’s not filming him). She wants a Norman Rockwell life SO BAD but she doesn’t even know how to make real pot roast because all she’s ever had are parents who couldn’t be bothered to act like real parents and a husband who can’t be bothered to act like a real person. It’s just sad.

I like the name! And Nicole is an interesting choice for a middle name... it’s Jinger’s middle name, so I wonder if it is after a family member? I agree that is either a hospital or a birth center. Since she’s up and dressed already i’m going to guess it was an uncomplicated vaginal birth, as well.

I think i’ve posted this before but my friend is a teacher and one year she had sisters named Shampayne and Shardonnae. She said the funniest part was that their mom was a straitlaced churchgoing woman who complained once in a parent-teacher conference that my friend had mentioned wine in a lesson (I can’t remember how, but it was relevant to the lesson) because alcohol was “the Devil’s juice.” I am predicting a trendily classic name, like Charlotte or Ava or Hazel. I do think Diana will be the middle name.

Figs and dates for an anniversary celebration? I hope the anniversary suite at the Shiloh Inn came with two toilets.

Why would you need pita and crackers? Have these people ever even seen a vegetable?

To be fair, the Family Research Council did hire Josh, who had even fewer credentials and an even more repellant personality. Somewhere out there is a grass-roots Christian lobbying organization that would be willing to hire Derick. It might be in bumfuck nowhere and pay him in rutabagas, but it’s out there.

I like the idea behind Jinger’s dresses and I like the styling of the dresses themselves. I do not like the range of colors she chose. When I have seen this idea work before it has always been dresses that are different shades of the same color (e.g. pale blue to navy) or are within the same color family (e.g autumn colors... I had a friend who did that theme and her bridesmaids were in deep red, burnt orange (it looked way better than it sounds), a deep gold color and chocolate brown). Jinger’s could have worked if she stuck with shades of red, or even the reds and the peach/beigey shades, but Jana’s blue and Jill’s bright purple just don’t look right.

This is why I left hospital nursing. My primary obligation as an RN should be to keep my patients safe, but nowadays it’s to keep them happy. This is fine when the two don’t conflict, but often they do and the administration caves to patient demands anyway. The final straw was when I had a woman who had already fallen once during her stay (for folks who don’t know, falls in hospitals are a big deal and also count against certification and reimbursement rates) complain to the administration about the fact that I kept reminding her not to get up without having a nurse or aide standing by. I got admonished by my nurse manager for providing “poor customer service.” Screw that. Hospitals all over the country are having a terrible time finding qualified nurses, and IMHO this is why.

My husband has been complaining about unwanted attention from the neighborhood dogs. I wonder if this is also a problem for Derick, or if his repellant personality is enough to keep them away.

I think people are way too hard on Jill. I find her blog posts interesting and some of the lifestyle suggestions she makes are 100% on point. This post is a great example. I never in a million years would have thought of substituting chopped-up lunch meat for bacon, but since she pointed it out it’s become one of my favorite life hacks! My kid wants milk and we’re out of it? Chopped-up lunch meat in a sippy cup! My bike has a flat and I don’t have a patch kit? Chopped-up lunch meat will fill any hole! My husband’s out of deodorant? Throw some chopped-up lunch meat in his armpits! It will disguise any embarrassing body odors, and as a bonus I won’t have to pack his lunch! Like, seriously, y’all. Jill, like most geniuses, is just unappreciated in her own time.

Wow. That seems kind of... cold. (Not you, six, but the idea that people would skip a wedding reception because it wasn’t fancy enough for them.) I was brought up that you graciously accept hospitality when it is offered with the understanding that what people are offering is usually the best they can do. I’ve been to wedding receptions with candlelit sit-down meals and wedding receptions with a Costco cake and plastic cups of Hawaiian Punch and everything in between, and they’ve all been equally joyful and loving occasions. Maybe i’m old-fashioned, but when I go to a wedding it’s because I want to show love and support to the couple getting married, not because I expect a meal that is exactly equal to the cost of the cheese platter or whatever I got them as a gift. When did everything become so calculated and mercenary?

Pickles claims there was a meal at the reception. I am going to break with most folks and say i don’t think it’s a requirement that guests be served a full meal at a wedding reception. Where i’m from, most families are of modest means and a plain cake and punch reception is a pretty common thing. My reception was at 2 pm and we just did a variety of hot and cold appetizers and then cake. Nobody is going to starve to death in two or three hours. I’m sure there was a chik-fil-A nearby for guests who got desperate.

My daughter was born on July 30. The entire month of July was so incredibly uncomfortable. I did not bear it anywhere near as gracefully as Jinger.

I’m a nurse. The major differences between LPNs and RNs are education and responsibilities. You can be an LPN (in most places, anyway) after completing a one-year certification program. To be an RN, you need at least a 2-year AAS degree, and many employers will hire only BSN level RNs. The scope of practice for LPNs and RNs depends on the state, but generally more complex or supervisory tasks are left to RNs and LPNs handle more routine stuff. A lot of LPNs work in long term care centers or clinics rather than hospitals, because the nursing care needed in those settings is less complicated. All of that aside, Abbie’s clearly got some brains if she works as an LPN. LPN programs require study of anatomy, physiology, biology, math and a lot of other tough subjects. It’s by no means an easy program to get through. Nor are LPNs in any way a “lesser” category of nurse. I think it’s great that JD found someone with some maturity and the desire and motivation to pursue a career. And she wears jeans!

How can any of these kids be happy when they’re basically entering into arranged marriages? The world the Duggars live in is so narrow that they truly believe that all life is going to bring them is an early marriage to someone selected from a very narrow pool of suitable candidates followed by years and years of childrearing and eating tater tot casserole every night to make ends meet. And even that depressing life must sound better than the only other option, which is basically turning into Jana and spending their life cooking meals and raising kids for someone else. Either way they’re in prison, but at least by marrying they’re choosing their own guards. If the Duggar kids had had a normal (or even fundie-lite) upbringing that allowed them to experience life and date more than one person, I very much doubt that any of these couples (except Joe and Kendra and possibly Jinger and Jeremy) would have ended up together. When you get right down to it, most of then Duggar kids are really not well-matched to their spouses in any meaningful way. It’s really infuriating that 19 kids were forced to live in a world this small because Jim Bob couldn’t get over the fact that Michelle had necked with another boy at the movies when she was 16.

The whole look is tragic. A faded, frumpy sundress with buttons and patch pockets over a modesty tee with a limp handkerchief trying to pass as a scarf and nude birkenstocks? Wedding rehearsals may not be super dressy but you can at least show up in something that doesn’t look like you just pulled it out of a dumpster. Let’s not even get started on the hair that looks like it hasn’t been washed in a week. Just... eww. I liked Lauren’s dress. It was very simple but it fit well and looked very good on her. The bridesmaids dress was an unfortunate style for Joy, because an empire waist style with bodice shirring is always going to make busty women look even bustier. Still, it managed to look modest but still reasonably stylish and is something that can be worn again.

The saddest part about these “recipes” is you could make something healthy and tasty in the same amount of time it takes to melt cheese on tater tots. This weekend I made southwestern quinoa salad... quinoa, black beans, fresh veggies and all kinds of healthy stuff and it takes less than half an hour to prepare.

“He forgave me?” Did Ben have an abortion?

Probably a knee-length skirt over leggings. That was Joy’s ensemble of choice when she was hitting the gym before her wedding. I’m more impressed by all the eye makeup they’re wearing. I would think the sweating would make it run into their eyes and blind them.

I’ve noticed before that Jessa’s posts are very well-written for someone who had no real education. I think she’s the most genuinely smart one of the bunch. What a waste.

Wow, manga cum laude in a real major? WTG Tori. Too bad she’ll probably never get to use her degree. Topic... does Jill even know how to close her mouth?