mynextmistake

Weren’t the Bates girls only allowed to go to Clown College? None of them have actual useful degrees from an accredited school, do they?

Well, but in real life, Jinger has her own home, a loving relationship, fashionable clothes, the opportunity to travel, and access to books and secular media while Jana is stuck in the TTH raising other people’s kids and wearing Salvation Army maxi-skirts. That fantasy guy who sees her as an equal doesn’t seem to be doing her any favors. Jana should feel free to stay unmarried if she chooses, but I don’t think the argument that she’s better off than Jinger because she’s holding out for a guy who she’s realistically never going to meet unless she starts looking outside fundie circles is particularly convincing.

My husband and I share a 2 bed, 1 bath 800 square foot house with a toddler and a large dog. We get by just fine, although lack of storage is an issue.

I so agree. Jill is not overweight, but she is a pear shape. She needs either a longer top or a boot-cut pant; the combination of skinny jeans and waist-length top are not doing her any favors. And the blouse is weirdly matronly (especially paired with that shapeless cardigan) and a shade of pink that does nothing for her. I wish Jinger, who always looks cute and polished, would give her some style tips.

One of my friends is a teacher. She had sisters in one of her classes named Shampayne and Shardonnae. Of course, the Duggars don’t drink alcohol, so maybe it would be Pepsee or Milque.

Right back at ya! Happy new year.

As an RN and a mom, I think the U.S. has lost its goddamn mind when it comes to how pregnant women are treated here. I personally felt like the minute my pee stick turned pink, I lost all my autonomy and became a giant incubator. No alcohol, cigarettes, or street drugs, fine. But the rest of the banned list was ridiculous. No soft cheese. No lunch meat. No bagged salads or soft-serve ice cream. No caffeine. And god forbid you have to take prescription drugs for an actual medical condition. I took phenergan for hyperemesis and on the rare occasion I mentioned that to somebody you would think I had confessed to smoking meth. “You’re taking... pills?” they would gasp while clutching their pearls. “Can’t you just tough it out? It’s only 9 months!” My iron had gotten so low I needed IV treatment, and my hair was falling out from vitamin deficiencies, but damn it what if my baby was born with a tail or something? Fortunately I had an awesome OB who had been practicing for 40 years and who told me I could have a cup of coffee every day and that I should just take the damn phenergan and stop puking 17 times a day and that he didn’t really care that much if I ate Brie as long as it was pasteurized. But other people were in-freaking-sane. I had a lady come up to me at the park, look at my coffee, and snarl “I hope that’s decaf.” Just absolutely insane. My daughter was fine, btw. Except for the tail.

I don’t understand why Derick acting like a sexist jackass while working at Walmart means that it’s more likely he had a gay lover killed in DA. Seriously? What do those two things have to do with each other?

Pain meds aren’t out when pregnant. I believe both hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Norco) and oxycodone/acetaminophen (Percocet) are pregnancy category C, meaning that they can be used when the benefits outweigh the risks. Untreated severe pain carries a lot of risk for both mother and baby; physiological stress related to pain can cause complications such as increased blood pressure, decreased perfusion, etc. Doctors aren’t going to hand them out like candy, but a pregnant woman with a broken arm isn’t going to be denied pain relief because she’s pregnant.

That would be interesting. Is creationism the antithesis of all scientific theory or just evolution? I grew up learning about evolution, thank God, but it doesn’t seem to me that it would be inconsistent to believe God created the earth but Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity.

So Susanna’s not fundie? Interesting that out of the Kellers’ 8 (?) kids, 2 (Susanna and Anna’s brother who offered to help her leave Josh) have left the fundie fold.

In photo #4, Dan looks like a guy who is seriously reevaluating his life choices. Run, Dan. Run. Seriously, I wonder what he makes of Jill? He certainly didn’t choose a fundie girl to marry. Deena is clearly Christian, but she seems to have been brought up in a normal Christian family: she wears modern clothes, has a job, holds hands/hugs/kisses her fiancé, etc. Maybe Dan thinks Jill is the reason Derick’s lost the plot?

Where is Susanna’s husband? Is she (gasp) a single mom?

I agree that he is trying too hard. But God, at least he’s trying. This birthday surprise was obviously a huge deal for Jinger, which is not surprising when you consider that her mother and her married sisters/sisters in law would be lucky to get dinner at Denny’s, a stretched-out secondhand blouse, and a five minute romp in the bedroom as their birthday celebration. And since all we’re seeing is what they’re showing us, I’m not sure how any of us can judge what’s going on behind closed doors. However, given the fact that they are both apparently pretty happy (you would have to be a better actress than I think Jinger is to fake that kind of happiness 24/7) I think it’s more likely to be sunshine and roses then shadows and Machiavellian darkness. I mean, I get that Jeremy is a tool. I would not want to be BFFs, or even close acquaintances, with him in real life. But I think it is possible to separate that from his relationship with Jinger and recognizes that he may be very good for her even if he would not be good for us. It honestly seems sometimes like we *want* all of these people to be miserable as some kind of karmic payback for their lifestyle. That’s fine what it comes to Jim Bob and Michelle, and Josh, or even Jill/Derrick and Jessa/Ben and the other grown Duggars who have espoused their family’s hateful rhetoric, but Jinger never seemed to want to be a professional Duggar and given how far and fast she’s fled from that life I think she deserves a chance to prove she might be a decent person on the inside before we gleefully consign her to the hell of an unhappy marriage.

You’re one of the beautiful ones, in case you ever doubt it. Wow. If Michelle had a house on top of her, she’d be indistinguishable from the wicked witch of the west.

Yet another way in which Jinger is better off than her sisters... Jeremy’s previous experience spending afternoons making sandwiches with other ladies means his afternoons are probably longer and way more fun than Derrick’s or Bin’s or Austin’s. Ok, i’m off to the prayer closet.

There’s a bottle of wine on the table but they’re drinking cider, and Jinger is posing for that photo by pulling her bulky cardigan around to cover her midsection. Fuck, y’all, I think she’s pregnant. Oh well... a pregnancy a year after a wedding is considered reasonable timing even in non-fundie circles. She’s still better off than all her sisters.

I think the #5 is an apartment number, probably in one of a grouping of duplexes. The area to the right of the house looks like it might be guest parking, too.

Izzy looks like he’s seen a ghost. Possibly the ghost of Derick’s career?

I see people saying this a lot. Jill can’t have any more kids! Jill had a secret hysterectomy! Two C-sections mean that Jill is now barren at the age of 26! Where is this idea coming from? Thousands and thousands of women give birth to children after a C-section, or two C-sections, or three C-sections. There is no scientific reason to expect that a young, healthy woman of proven fertility like Jill will be unable to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term because her first two births were sections. She is more likely to have sections on her subsequent pregnancies than Anna or Jessa, but that’s a far cry from being unable to have more kids at all.

I’m starting to actually worry about this family. The old Derick was a tool, but he seemed to be a (relatively) emotionally healthy one. Now he’s a rageaholic Twitter feuder who is obsessed by how he is viewed publicly. Based on what Jill posts on Instagram (which I would expect to be things designed to paint their family in a positive light) he’s at best a disengaged and indifferent dad. He gave up the family’s sole source of income (except grifting) to take a “college” course in college ministry with no guarantee it will lead to a job, much less one that would allow him to support 2 kids. I think he is deeply, deeply unhappy. I think normally a man in his situation would divorce and move on, but if he wants to succeed in Christian ministry he can’t do that, so he just turns his unhappiness inward and gets more and more bitter. Jill has never struck me as an emotionally sturdy person, and I can’t imagine she was happy about being yanked off TLC, especially since Derick states it was a decision *he* made for the family. She’s 20 miles from her family (as an aside, how easy is it for her to go see them? Do the Dullards have two cars?) in a cramped apartment with two boys who seem to be exclusively her “jurisdiction.” She’s had two horrific surgical births after watching Anna and Jessa push their kids out in their living rooms like it’s a day at the beach. She probably feels inadequate as a mother and, since i’m guessing Derick’s unhappiness spills over into their home life, a wife. These posts we all mock about “date night” being Domino’s pizza and a Christian movie played on a laptop screen are probably her way at trying to portray some sense of normalcy or happiness that just isn’t there in real life. The thing that really worries me is that all of this has to be affecting Izzy and Sam. I don’t think Derick and Jill are abusive parents, and I think they (well, at least Jill) are doing their best. I think she does love her kids, and i’m sure that deep down, Derick does as well. But I think they’re both desperately unhappy people and they could really use some professional guidance on how to cope with the fact that reality turned out to be far less pleasant as they had dreamed it would. Those kids are just going to pick up on this stuff more and more as they grow.

All the Bates girls are attractive, but Carlin is really stunning. I’ve always wondered why we’ve never seen a Bates-Duggar courtship. It’s not like there haven’t been age-appropriate matchups and on a surface level the families look compatable (Gothard families with tv shows an a zillion kids). I know Erin and Alyssa both landed husbands that were way better than a Duggar guy, but Bobby and the guy that Carlin is courting seem like tools. At least the Duggars have income, and the twins aren’t bad looking. Anyone have any theories or scoop about this?

Ok. I still think it’s ugly. I’ve seen well-done “naked” cakes that still manage to look attractive and professional. This one has edges that look like they were hacked off with a knife for maximum crumbling, filling that is randomly dripping down the sides, and fruit “decoration” that is limp and covered in poorly-applied powdered sugar. It’s great that it’s a trendy idea, but it’s still poorly executed. But whatever, I didn’t have to serve it at my wedding. To each their own and all that.

That wedding cake is the saddest thing i’ve ever seen. It looks like my 2-year-old made it. It’s even sadder because you know it was the only food served at the wedding except maybe snack mix or Fritos.

I’m an ENFJ. I’m only one letter apart from Jill! How can this be? I wear pants and have a job!