mamadrama

It's weird, isn't it? That it could be so fake and yet so dull...I think there are real "moments" in the show, especially when Whit's true colors come out and she appears frustrated or angry, but I don't buy any of the plot shenanigans. And I'm with you-if they wanted it to be scripted then why not go with actual writers?

Cate had a New Year's resolution-to lose 180 pounds. You know, 70% of my life is spent basically just hanging out at the house. For instance, the kids and I haven't left the house all week. We've just been doing home stuff. But I can guarantee you that if a reality show was filming us, we'd be doing fun shit every single day to at least make it LOOK like we're more exciting than we are.

I totally get it! We were the same way. Turns out we're both ghost hunters, our FB pages are filled with pictures of our urban exploring adventures, etc. Isn't it wild how you had no idea the other existed but then you meet and find out that you have so much in common? I am still pretty excited about it myself. I think Carly and Nova could potentially have a great relationship in the future, but I also think that's something that can be cultivated between the two of them when they are older. C&T gave up the right to raise Carly with any of her siblings, and that's what it sounds like they want-not visits here and there but to actually raise the girls together. I do feel badly for Cate. I am wondering if this was the turning point for her going back to rehab. I mean, it stressed ME the hell out and I don't have a dog in this fight, nor do I like any of the people outside of the kids.(B&T seem okay.)

A similar thing happened to me last year and I had the same reaction (probably because I, too, and am only child and always wanted a sibling). Some random guy got on Facebook on a page for our local historical society and posted a picture of a man. "Do you know this man? I am 35 and this is the only picture I have of my dad. I don't know where he lives or what his name is but my mother says his family is from that area." Guess whose dad it also turned out to be? He'd grown up always wanting a sister, I'd grown up always wanting a brother. We were thrilled to find each other. (And our relationship is totally separate from what we have with our parents.) I honestly don't see the harm in curtailing visits with everyone, but still keeping them all updated on each other's lives, until Carly is 18, MTV stops filming, Cate is healthier, etc. ** (I don't know if you all are interested but my kids-ages 9 and 5- actually made a 20-minute documentary about our meeting and finding each other for the first time. The kids put it together, entered it into a film festival and WON "audience favorite" and "child movie". We were shocked as hell.

And putting batteries in his flashlight so that he can safely find his way as he crawls up all their asses.

Wife Swap, Teen Mom edition.

I kind of get that. After our son died, we purposefully tried for another baby (I pushed for it) but once I got pregnant I could NOT bond with the pregnancy at all. People kept telling me that it would "get better" once she was born, but it didn't. Although I cared for her and didn't neglect her, I felt no joy over the birth of my daughter or her infancy. She was around a year old before I really started feeling a connection with her. I later learned, through my child loss support group, that this is common with "rainbow babies." It's like your brain refuses to let you become attached or bond because you're subconsciously afraid of another loss. Man, Cate needs real therapy. I'd also like to see her get out of that toxic environment. It would be interesting to see her paired up with Farrah for awhile. Being with another woman who almost goes overboard with her appearance, someone who is active (Farrah has many faults but girlfriend still hustles and gets out there in the world), someone who has learned to say "no" to the people she considers toxic, someone who isn't afraid to remain single...I'm just wondering what the outcome would be if Cate was forced to live in Farrah's world for a month or two. (I mean, I'd probably eventually kill her myself...)

Yep, that was it. And she was all of, what, 12 when it happened? God, these two.

I thought I'd been fairly clear about that in my post, that I didn't doubt it. I was just wondering if I'd missed a post or a story somewhere along the way that said it for sure. I am certainly not defending Amber or insinuating that she does not have lien, but in following so many shows and "stars" I often miss things along the way.

It's been a bit of a nightmare here. Mine was a bit different. I applied for a sales tax number so that I could set up and sell my books at festivals and such. Only, I never had to do that. Wherever I went, the venue ordered the books and took care of the sales, including the sales tax, so I never handled any cash. I never filed anything with the tax office because, you know, there wasn't anything to file. I had no idea that I was still meant to file every quarter, even if the amount I'd earned was $0. So...7 years later...I get hit with a $45,000 bill. They'd packed all kinds of penalties and crap on it. Put a lien on our property. I set up payments with the office, paying something like $100 a month, but they kept adding more and more to it. I finally got through to someone back in September and was like, "I don't think I even OWE this." Turns out I didn't. In total, I only wound up owing $600-which I'd paid off a year before. The guy readjusted the amount, gave me a $0 balance, and closed the tax number for me since I'd never used it. The lien is still showing, however. I'm still fighting to get it taken off.

Mine still shows as a lien and not only was I set up with payments with them, but I actually paid the whole thing off more than a year ago. The lien has existed there in theory (on paper) but it didn't affect my passport, didn't garnish anything from my bank account, etc. because I was in repayment. What it did do was screw my credit. I've spent the past few weeks going around and around in circles with IRS customer service, trying to talk to someone about getting it lifted period, especially since I no longer owe it. Not defending Amber. I'm onboard with the fact that she's a piece of shit and that she, who can bankroll a stranger but can't be bothered to take financial responsibility for her child, has probably let it slide because I can't see her taking the initiative to get this worked out.

Do we know for sure that Amber hasn't set up payments with the IRS? They're actually pretty easy to work with. As long as they get their money, they'll generally work with you. (Been there...) I mean, giving what we know of her, I just kind of assume that she's ignoring the issue but do we know for sure?

Yes, I had one re-released back over the summer. I actually have around 22 books out, but they're all mostly fiction (a few true hauntings but mostly paranormal mysteries). I would really like to write a memoir about my childhood but I'll have to wait until a lot of people are dead first. :-)

There's a line, though, there and if the birth parents continue to cross it then it might be better for the child to close the adoption even if it DOES mean some harder conversations and questions later. They don't have to use words like "crazy" or "immature" to describe C&T. They can, however, use words like "addicts", "boundary crossing", "endangering," "disrespectful", "baiting" (which is what they do to their fans in regards to B&T), etc.

The only thing that excited me about this episode is that I've been following the "real life" case that it was ripped from. They made the catfish kind of sympathetic and pitiful (while still being devious and sociopathic) but she has nothing on the real woman, Shelly Chartier. I am not surprised that they chose to use West Virginia, considering that the actual story took place in a desolate part of Manitoba. (When they need a far-removed, desolate, depressing landscape Hollywood usually goes for where I live...) If you're not familiar with the "ripped from the headlines" aspect of this one...He was an NBA star, not MMA, but Paris is actually an Instagram model. They really were both catfished and extortion was involved. "How this Canadian woman catfished an NBA star and an aspiring model, almost ruining their lives" http://abcnews.go.com/US/canadian-woman-catfished-nba-star-aspiring-model-ruining/story?id=46778331

Seeing Frenchie made me miss Rock of Love and Charm School. Oh, VH1 and your days of "celebreality." How I miss you...

"I'm a cinematographer" says one cameraman of a trashy reality show to the cameramen of another. Meanwhile... Producers and cameramen are kicking themselves for their ethics. Instead of backstabbing each other to climb up to the role of exec, they could've been wooing the dummies.

Mom is Mom. She's a sad, lonely person who has never quite got it together. The best thing I learned to do is to accept her limitations and understand that she's never going to be the parent or person I need but to appreciate who she is. And distance. Lots and lots of distance and boundaries. Drinking helps, or so my husband says at family gatherings. ?

That is how it is done here, too. Also in Georgia, where we own a second home.

And yet she wasn't too depressed to go to CA and film a new show. Or pick up a new guy. Ugh. I missed the first half. Did she explain the whole "going to Vegas to see Matt" thing? (You know, code for Reality TV Boot Camp)

At this point, to close the adoption, B&T would need to go inside some kind of reality tv relocation protection program. NewMatt looks heavier on TV than he does in his pictures. I know, that's shallow. I don't think he's a bad looking dude or anything but, DAMN Amber. Get it together! Gary sure has her number... God, I hope DebzOG is punking us. She is hardly recognizable as Farrah's mom from the first season and 16 & Pregnant. Okay, skydiving looks fun. I'm no fan of Maci's and am just kind of "eh" on Taylor but they probably have the most functional A cast relationship on the show. (Gary and Kristina win for B characters.) I'm kind of an ass girl and I like big booties but, uh, Farrah's is starting to look deformed. Slow it down there, girlfriend. When she and Sophia were walking down the sidewalk, it was like two puppies were fighting under a blanket. Cate...Carly could care less about seeing you at this point and the only thing Nova cared about was going to the park. And no, Carly was not "obsessed" over Nova-she was a little girl playing with another little girl.

I am usually pretty soggy when it comes to parenting. We do things as a family that, if I were on a television series like this, you all would rip me a new asshole (I would rip myself one, if I were watching me, because I am also judgey). There have been several things that I've seen on this show that I've kind of shrugged off like, eh, whatever. However, this thing with Andrew...it makes me mad and sad for Leah. I grew up in a single parent household. My mom wasn't married because she didn't want to be. At 34 she decided she wanted a baby so she went out, found a nice guy, "dated" him for a little bit, and had me. (Very Heart, circa 1990.) She and Dad have maintained a great relationship over the years but they stopped dating once she got pregnant. In fact, I am 38 years old and my mom hasn't been out with a man since my conception. Seriously: no dates, no hanky panky, nothing. She is very asexual and, as a product of the 50s and 60s, she has a bad taste in her mouth against traditional forms of marriage. Now, she says that she never dated because she didn't want to bring any strange men around me while I was growing up. That she feared for my safety and wanted to protect me. I now know it was because she simply didn't have the desire then and doesn't have it now. With that being said... Mom is a hoarder. (Read my story over on the HOARDERS' board.) In addition to hoarding things, which she excels at, she also hoards people. She has "beautiful stranger syndrome", which is a phenomenon in which Mom meets random people, becomes obsessed with them, puts them up on pedestals, and thinks they can do no wrong. They'd come stay with us, dine with us, hell-practically become part of the family. Of course, nobody can ever stay up there that high for very long so, eventually, they displease her. Then she cuts them off for good. You know how many people paraded in and out of my life growing up? Men AND women. I have pictures of me giggling on the bed and couch just like the one of Leah. Some guy who Mom brought home as a friend. Or a woman. Wonderful people who thought the world of me. Nothing wrong or inappropriate with them at all. But Mom eventually went apeshit and ran them off and then I was alone again, trying to deal with her mental illness on my own. This is what I see in Leah's situation. And could be I'm projecting, I don't know, but it still makes me sad. Mom is also bi-polar and borderline like Amber. Always someone new. Always someone showing Amber an amazing time and loving Leah to death-until they're gone because Amber has run them off (some deservedly so, of course). Amber's willingness to let random strangers into her life at full speed comes at a cost, and it's not to her. It's not just the potentially bad people who can hurt Leah in this manner-the good ones can, too. Thank God she has Gary and Kristina.

So was the "trip to see Matt in Las Vegas" and the visit to his "therapist" code for Marriage Boot Camp? It's going to be kind of jarring to go from THIS episode, where they're mean to be "working it out" and she's saying that she doesn't want to meet anyone else to the editing-time fuckery of NEXT episode where she's already with NewMatt.

Those tweets are funny but I promise they're not from me! :-P

Ha ha ha! It's like I have ESPN or something!