Pepper Mostly

Everyone is appallingly rude. Foreign guests are encircled and grilled before even being offered a glass of water. People who have been traveling for 24 hours are expected to go visiting with "friends" who can't wait to question their life choices and motives for choosing to marry their friend. People arrive and are expected to amuse themselves with nothing but a mattress on the floor, no TV, no computer, no gaming system, no books. Poor Zied rummaging around trying to find some coffee, that was terrible. And why does Rebecca live like a 19 year old boy? No food in the fridge, no furniture. Jesus Christ. No wonder Zied wants to go home.

In some countries I think the custom is to wear the wedding ring on the right hand. I have a friend from Greece who does. Possibly traditional in the Eastern Orthodox religion? Greece and Ukraine are both majority Orthodox.

Agreed. I watch a wonderful show on Amazon Prime called "This Farming Life". Each season they follow half a dozen farm families in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the north of England. There's one couple who retired and bought a croft on the west coast of Scotland. Wild, windy, hilly. Its just the two of them. They have some Highland cows, some sheep, some chickens. They do everything themselves without complaint. One farm is run entirely by a woman who's maybe 50, with her two daughters, on the Shetland islands--the husband died suddenly when the girls were teenagers, and they do all the work. One 60-ish woman in the far north who has something like 800 sheep! She's out on the hills on her ATV, with a few of her dogs, rounding them up in bad weather. Brandon's parents are pikers. If the farm is too much then they should downsize. Its clearly their dream, not Brandon's, anyway. And expecting Julia to be unpaid labor is way out of line.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Cleaver. That certainly is a lovely dress you're wearing!"

Oh, yeah, couple of things: Remember how, way back in the beginning, Brandon gleefully told us that "Julia has a temper" and "she is hard to please"? Meanwhile, Julia has comported herself like a lady, though she is being undermined, mocked, and treated like an indentured servant by Brandon's parents. And gaslighted and thrown under the bus by Brandon! She has never raised her voice, never made an unreasonable demand. She's tried to get along and done her best to cope with livestock, reptiles, live crickets, a controlling and demanding set of inlaws, and a spineless and unsupportive fiance. Brandon's set the stage to try to make himself and his repellent parents look good. Uh, Brandon? Epic fail. And I think Papa Brandon is an abusive monster. Everyone is terrified of him. Betty's hectic grin and non stop chatter is just her way of trying to distract him so he doesn't start breaking the furniture. She's his accomplice and acolyte and thinks if she keeps him to a low simmer no one will get a broken jaw. I'd like to hear from his previous wives. I bet they have some tales to tell.

Natalie just makes no sense. If she wants Big Red to eat healthier, why not have a nice, healthy, appetizing meal on the table waiting for him when he gets home? No wonder her first husband left her. She drove him away with her petty criticism and endless sniping. Brandon and his toxic parents are a shitshow, the end. His mother is practically weeping because Julia is there so she and Papa Brandon never get to spend time with their precious child. Its just icky. Their house, their rules? Julia is their guest. They are practically locking her in at night. Brandon has been forbidden to bring her a cup of tea in the morning! They've pretty much told her she needs to earn her keep (what consequences await if she doesn't toe the line, I hardly dare speculate). This is not "please don't smoke in the house" or "don't sit in Dad's chair" or "separate rooms until you're married". They scolded her for sleeping late (though they were still at the table, enjoying their breakfast), denied her a cup of tea, and ordered her to get outside and start slopping the hogs! Brandon's father is spitting with fury because Julia is there, using hot water and having the audacity to eat food. I noticed that from the beginning. Julia's room was filled with all kinds of stuff. It looked like they just moved a bunch of shit off the bed. There was no effort made to make the room attractive or comfortable. Then the live crickets in the kitchen finished me. I would have run screaming. That house must reek.

The only reason I know mine is because my friends and I broke into the guidance counselor's office and read our files when we were in high school. Its 145 and I have derived no benefit from that data point, being lazy and unambitious. I have no talent for anything except snarking with strangers on the internet. I don't invent time travel devices in my garage. I could never even figure out algebra.

Good night peeps! Stay safe, and may all the gods in the pantheon have mercy on us all in the coming days. Wear your masks!

Good for you Julia. Stick up for yourself. Wait, Natalie is bragging about her IQ? Her slightly above average IQ? Dear lord I'll retire to Bedlam.

I doubted, to be sure. Then I saw him, It was really true! We still laugh about it to this day. He still lives here and Salem's a small town, he sees him around from time to time and always tells me "I saw Fernando today. His head still looks like a piece of toast."

Big Red, buy her a one way ticket back to Kiev. Done and dusted.

My son went to school with a guy whose head was shaped like a piece of toast.

And seriously? She's home all day! She couldn't have a meal on the table for poor old Big Red??

Why does Natalie not allow pasta at night? This chick is weird.

I was just going to say @Frozendiva can give us the skinny on the YSL bag!