Rhondinella

Is Heidi on speed this season?

So I'm not the only one who mutes the tv when the twins are speaking right? Yeah, I thought so.

Jean telling her story in a national forum is the single bravest act of courage it's ever been my honor to witness. She has earned my undying respect.

Ok, so I've managed to successful avoid Lularoe in my life. I've had some acquaintances try to invite me to groups or sales on FB, but I have just ignored them and so far that's worked out fine for me. Until today. As soon as it happened I knew I had to come here and share the experience with you guys. I went to pick my daughter up at the house of a fairly new friend. I had met her mother casually at a couple of school events and we had spoken on the phone, so I felt comfortable letting my daughter go over there (she's just turned 14). When I went to pick her up, I ended up having to go into the house (ugh) and was immediately greeted by the overly-cheery SAHM, who to be fair does seem like a very nice person. But I had been in the house less than 2 minutes when my daughter came running down the stairs with her friend wearing, I kid you not, lularoe leggings with CHINESE FOOD BOXES all over them. I assure you she did not have them when she left my house. Yeah. Apparently her friend had given them to my daughter as a birthday present. Well, they had let my daughter pick out whatever pattern she wanted because (and here's where I realized I was in trouble), her mother sells Lularoe and has an ENTIRE ROOM, floor to ceiling all around the perimeter completely covered with lularoe crap. I'm not exaggerating. It looked like a warehouse. The mother insisted I step in the room with her as she babbled on happily about how much she loves lularoe and the clothes and her business, and, I surely had some lularoe myself by now, right? No!? I didn't? Well, how is that possible? Just feel them. (I admit, they do feel really good). Has anyone come to your school (I'm a teacher) and set up a display for your staff yet? Oh, please give me a call--here's my card--I'd be happy to do that if you have a vendor day at your school (we don't, to my knowledge). Because I was actually taught manners growing up I didn't verbalize the first thing that came into my head, "Are you batshit crazy?" and instead said (in a politely curious tone), "I've heard of lularoe, of course, but I've also heard that sometimes the leggings rip easily. Is that true?" Then I got a 2 minute lecture about how, yes, they've had some trouble with the quality in the past, but that was just some of the first batches and the company has it all ironed out now so there's no need to worry. (My daughter's leggings seem, on first inspection, to be fairly strong and not like something that would rip easily, so . . .maybe?) Anyway, I was seriously starting to worry that I wasn't getting out of that house without buying some damn fugly leggings, but fortunately I managed to politely disentangle myself and my daughter. So my takeaways from that experience: 1) This lady really genuinely seemed into selling these things as a "fun" thing to do that she really enjoys, and didn't seem to be trying to get rid of stuff to get out from under it. 2) But that may be because her husband is a lawyer and local politician and they seem to be doing quite well financially, so it's not like they NEED any money she brings in from the business. It's possible it's just a hobby for her rather than a necessary money-making venture. 3) The leggings seem soft, and there were some decent looking floral patterns and what not, so not everything is ridiculous. But a lot of it was. 4) They are cute on my 14 year old, because 14 year olds can do whimsy in their fashion. 40 year olds, not so much. Fin.

Thank you! I'll look into that.

Hey, sorry to break in, Flash (and comic book in general) newbie here. I need some help and I figured you were the people to come to. My daughter turns 14 this weekend and she has become a HUGE Flash fangirl/nerd in the last year. As a birthday present we're thinking of getting her tickets to a comic con or some other event that might feature members of the Flash cast. A cursory Google search is not helping me find anything. (I've found a couple with Arrow people, and that might work as a backup cause she loves that too.) I would prefer one in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas or Missouri. Probably can't afford to go much further than that. And if Grant Gustin were appearing somewhere, that would be ideal (although I'm reading online that he doesn't do comic cons, although he just recently did his first?) Any guidance in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

And on TGW they couldn't even refer to it as "Reddit" but called it "Scabbit" (barf!). And they use Chum Hum, yet I'm pretty sure Grace at least once refers to a "Google alert." So, . . . yeah, it makes no damn sense.

I'm behind so I'm just now catching up and had to come here to say: Kody actually demonstrated some good parenting!? And ROBYN IS THE VOICE OF REASON AND INSIGHT!? This is no fun. I blame Trump.

Where even are they in that picture? A bowling alley, I assume from the shoes? I mean, they've been married two days, are on their honeymoon and the most romantic thing they can find to do is go bowling? I'm not disparaging fun activities outside of the bedroom on a honeymoon--Mr. Rhondinella and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon (it was a thing back then), but at least hanging out in the World Pavilion is slightly less pedestrian than a bowling alley. Weird.

THANK YOU! Didn't she specifically say she didn't want to do the wedding in December because she wanted it to be outdoors but December would be too cold to do it outdoors? I thought when she conceded to a December wedding date (in exchange for the lavish "beach honeymoon" in notoriously warm and sunny Seattle) that indicated she had given up the idea of having it outside. I bet it was one last FU to her mom and dad for not letting her get married in August like she wanted. "Oh, you're making me get married in December, huh? Well, I'll show you . . . stand outside in 32 degree weather for an hour." And, yes, they are jeans. I'm almost positive. But it seems to go with the theme of the wedding and his personality so . . . eh.

I've said something like this before, but the more I watch this show the more convinced I become of it--they truly do believe that "living this lifestyle" is something that requires their full-time commitment. Therefore, they can't have full-time jobs because then how would they be able to dedicate their lives to their husband/wives, their families and their children? Now, of course, the notion is laughable on several levels, most obviously because none of these people is putting in anything like full-time hours raising kids, cooking, cleaning or doing family stuff. That may have been the case when all the kids were little, but now the only one with really little kids is Robyn, and as we've noted she's got no job AND a nanny. Secondly, though, even if they DID do regular parent/family/child duty, that doesn't preclude at least some of them from holding down at least a part-time job like, oh, say, THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES. They think their commitment "to this lifestyle" makes them special and therefore entitled to special treatment.

But when she was blonde in that one pic they showed she was a DEAD RINGER for her mother. Like for a minute I actually thought it was a picture of a younger (skinnier) Janelle. I wonder if that's why she dyes her hair black? To avoid the association. I honestly think the "Kody writing the vows" thing was a producer idea to create DRAMA!!!! Asking Kody to do that when she must have known he would wing it seems like a very un-Maddie thing to do. I mean, girl had this wedding planned down to the minute ("No one can arrive before 11:30!) and seemed like she'd put a lot of thought into every detail. It seems unlikely she would willingly give up one of the most important parts of the whole thing unless she was forced to somehow. Of course, if the above-mentioned early wedding conspiracy theory is true (which seems plausible) then maybe she really didn't care about the wording of the vows since they were already legally married. But still.

This is basically exactly what my father did with my sister and I. I had a 9 month engagement and was getting married in December when my sister, out of the blue (sort of like Mykelti) announced she was marrying a boyfriend she'd only been with a very short time. And she wanted to do it that same September! My dad just said, "Ok, here's how much money each of you has. You can do whatever you want with it, I don't care. But when it's gone, I'm done. You'll have to find your own funds after that." Seemed reasonable and fair to me. (BTW, we all predicted her marriage wouldn't last since they'd only been together like 2 months, but they just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary, so . . . weird things sometimes happen).

Do you know how old he is? I'm just curious.

But, but . . . .it's Heavenly Father's plan for everyone to concentrate their life and all time and energy on family alone! It probably has never once occurred to them to consider what would happen if every person on earth (or even half of them) decided to follow the same plan.

As much as I'd like Meri to be happy and get away from Koduche, I definitely hope you're right and it's not with that guy, cause he looks young enough to be her son.

May I just say . . . I literally give next to no craps at all about what I wear. I used to, when I was younger, skinnier, had more money and was much, much less tired. Back when I still gave a crap about anything other than sleeping, eating, and snark, basically. I have like three pairs of pants (all black) that I rotate through all week for work, and a handful of blouses that I throw on with them and, voila, I'm dressed. What I look like in them is irrelevant. Essentially if all the appropriate bits are covered and I'm not cold, I'm good. When I'm hanging at home it's sweat pants or shorts (depending on the time of year) and a T-shirt (usually one with holes in it). I say all this to say . . . . I wouldn't wear that Lularoe crap if you gave it to me for free. Hell, I'd have to think twice about wearing it if you paid me to. I'm definitely not fashion expert, but that is hands-down the worst fashion I've ever seen--and I buy clothing at Walmart, Target and my local thrift store on the regular. Like, I feel like it's going to haunt my nightmares.

I thought that number seemed low too.

The stuff in that clickbait post above is essentially what I read in the totally reliable journalistic publication Life and Style while waiting in line at the grocery story. This is their cover story this week: http://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/sister-wives-financial-118399 That is a brief teaser of what is in the whole article, but I'll summarize what I remember. The source of all of this information was Kendra, so make of that whatever you will. 1) All four of the wives are done with Kody, with even Robyn looking for a way out. Kendra claims Robyn's looking to divorce him and trying to weasel her way into a spinoff show of her own with TLC (I apologize for the barfing sound you just heard). 2) Kody is at the end of what few wits he ever had because he can't keep the family together and has has six figure debt and the TLC deal is almost over. They were nearly cancelled this year but TLC continued with one more season for some kind of contractural reason, according to Kendra. This is why Kody is allegedly trying to stop Mykelti from getting married too fast; he wants to drag it out long enough to be a storyline that will convince TLC to give them another season (ala the Duggars and their endless kid marriages). 3) This article confirms what the clickbait post says about Meri having a boyfriend in Hawaii who wants to marry her. It said she actually spends more time in Hawaii than in LV these days, and the family rarely sees her except for the days she is obligated to be there for filming. She's there so little, Kendra says, that the family is discussing turning her house into a "crash pad" for the older kids. (Although if they're in that much debt I don't know why they don't sell it). 4) Basically all the wives hate each other. And they all hate Kody. The end. Anything nice we see on the show is fake. Quelle surprise.

I've been trying to think about how to word my disgust with this show since I watched it, and this about sums it up: "presentation of selected evidence to support the investigators' theory." And it was really disappointing to me as a listener of the Real Crime Profile podcast, which is hosted by Clementi and Richards, who generally come across as knowledgeably professionals there (him more than her). They are talking about this case (and the show, to some extent) on the podcast right now, and, of course, they are selling it as a completely objective, total re-examination of the evidence from the beginning with no pre-conceived notions. I guess it's possible they actually did that but couldn't show it all--on the podcast they said they've been at this for a year. But, if they were being truly objective, it seems they could have found some way to make it clear that they didn't start with the theory and then look at the evidence. Word. The whole time I was laughing and yelling at the screen "I've heard clearer audio clips from ghosts!!" I would have picked up absolutely no words whatsoever if they hadn't told me what it was supposed to be saying. Ridiculous. I agree that this was the best part of the show, and the best analysis outside some of the medical stuff. Very interesting and compelling. The ransom note is the best evidence that this was a staged scene, no matter how it happened.

Ah, yes. That's possible.

Well, I mostly communicate in snark. But at least face to face most of the time. :-) I didn't see this posted anywhere http://jezebel.com/sister-wives-family-asks-u-s-supreme-court-to-legalize-1786557100 Basically, the "Browns" are petitioning the Supreme Court to legalize polygamy. Yeah, sure. Or, as the article says:"First their case must be selected for hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court, and that’s statistically unlikely. Roughly 7,500 cases are appealed every year, and less than one percent are heard by the court." Aren't they supposed to be financially desperate? Doesn't this kind of thing cost money? Jonathan Turley is the lawyer of record. Maybe he's doing it for free for the publicity? ETA: For any lawyers in the group, or anyone else interested, that article has a link to the full petition. ETA2: Hmmm, this is interesting. In reading over the petition I noted that the "petitioners" are listed as "Kody Brown, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Sullivan." (italics added). So, the one he's legally married to is the only one who doesn't legally have his last name? That's . . . odd. So much for the emphasis Robyn has always put on being "a Brown."

I'm amused to think that Meri and Kody only communicate through Twitter now.

Yes, certainly. They are all readily available on Amazon. Anyone could easily acquire them. I scrolled through the textbook requirements for Moody online courses (by course) here: http://www.moody.edu/books/ and it does look like he is taking two courses. I believe I have identified the specific courses he is taking, based on the books in the photo (see screen shots below). "Communication of Biblical Truth" is probably a fancy name for a preaching class. "Reading the NT" appears to be a 1000 (freshman) level survey or introductory course in NT. Probably all students in their undergrad programs are required to take it. So, yes, it does appear from this that he is probably enrolled in one of the undergraduate programs. I'll do some poking around online and see if I can turn up syllabi for either of these courses. Thanks so much for saying that! And thanks to everyone else for the good wishes and kind words. It does kind of get depressing after all those years in grad school to realize that no one in the "real world" values what you do enough to, like, pay you for it., ETA: Sew Sumi, our posts crossed in the mail! :-)

Ok, I haven't had a good reason to put my New Testament Ph.D to work for awhile since I'm currently an out-of-work professor hoping to find something more than adjunct teaching (because adjunct teaching pays approximately enough to allow me to go live in a cave and eat berries and nuts of the forrest). So I'll flex my brain a little here and give you my evaluation of these books and authors, some of which I am very familiar with already, and others I had to look up. For those who care. Those who don't, avert your eyes. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart is a VERY common and standard textbook to introduce students to the basic concepts of biblical interpretation and how to (properly) get an appropriate message from the biblical text without reading your own meaning into it. I've used it in class for years, as do thousands of biblical studies professors around the world. It's a legit scholarly work, generally used in lower-level undergraduate/introductory classes. New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Principles and Methods I am not familiar with. But it is edited by I. Howard Marshall who was one of THE premiere New Testament scholars in the world (he died last December). Long-time professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. And the essays are written by some of the foremost NT scholars of the past 50 years, including Bruce, France and Dunn. The Intro to the NT book by DeSilva is also a solid scholarly introduction to NT studies commonly used in college undergraduate courses. The three books on preaching (Robinson, Koessler and Chapell) I confess I don't know at all, as preaching is neither something I do regularly nor teach. However, I do know that the Robinson book is considered a classic of preaching education and highly regarded. So, to conclude: the texts on the NT itself seem quite solid from a scholarly point of view. I would probably feel comfortable using any of these in a scholarly Bible course. The only thing I would say is 1) it seems like a LOT of books for one undergraduate course. Unless he's in seminary or grad school? It looks more like the amount of reading you'd do for a graduate course; and 2) the theological traditions (and, therefore, viewpoints) of the authors of these books are all over the place: Methodist (which is Wesleyan), Presbyterian and Baptist (which is Calvinist) and some non-denominational general Evangelicals thrown in the mix. If they are wanting to present one cohesive point of view and interpretive method, then this might be confusing. But if the goal is to have them read about several different theological approaches to the biblical text, then the mix is fine. What school is he going to? Because, I have to say, this list of books does not seem out of the mainstream, or like it's from a school that is trying to "brainwash" their students. Addendum: Ok, I just saw that he is going to Moody Bible Institute (online, I presume). I don't know if he's doing an undergraduate or graduate degree, or just a certificate program, but they have all three. In light of my cursory analysis of the texts above, I'm surprised Moody would use some of them, honestly, as they are believers in "biblical inerrancy" even to the point of saying that the Biblical texts are inerrant "in the original autographs," which is about as staunchly inerrantist as you can get. Yet many (most?) of those books listed above do NOT hold to this point of view when it comes to how the biblical texts came to be. So . . . . that's interesting. [Also, shameless plug time: Anyone looking to hire a Bible Ph.D/professor/scholar, former English teacher/professor, professional proofreader/editor, or person to snark on TV (or anything else) for a living, please message me. :-)]