Meow25

My mother rejected me. Raised me coldly, openly disliked me and loved my young sister. Everyone saw it, my dad did nothing to stop it. She literally dumped me the day I graduated from high school, lives 5 miles away and has never met my children and has never acknowledged me in public. There was also something that happened to me sexually around age 4/5 that I've never been able to uncover, but it's there. I've been in therapy for 21 years. with real therapists. I can't shake it. Sometimes you don't get what you want which is healing. PTSD is an asshole, and it's real. Jill may never shake it, or she will be just fine. There's no schedule of healing.

IMO this is unfair. I am not in the Duggar cult, but I am a Christian. Our church refers its members to a "Christian counselor" who graduated with a masters from PennState. All it means is that she can counsel Christians with an understanding of their religion, and can weave their religion into their sessons. Jill isn't in the cult anymore, and there is a good chance that her church also has a legitimate counselor that they refer to. Most mainline and even most evangelical churches have real counselors that the refer people to. I believe Jill is seeing an actual counselor that her church referred her to.

My FIL was in child welfare in Pennsylvania for 30 years, and dealt almost exclusively in sexual abuse. We had a conversation about the Josh Duggar case yesterday, and he said that the children would be interviewed, and IF the warehouse they were living in was ON the main house grounds any minor child living on the property would be interviewed as well. Now, that is in PA, so Arkansas could be totally different. He was absolutely shocked that the judge gave him unlimited visitation with just the wife present. In the cases he saw around here the accused would be granted visits only with a case worker present. He's been retired for about 5-6 years, so idk how much has changed.

"Teach Me Tonight" is effing cringe. Seriously, a mother could be so blessed that the worst thing that ever happened to her daughter was a fractured wrist. Lor and Chris are complete assholes in this episode. The way she treated Luke was unforgivable. My daughter is a junior in high school and has epilepsy since age 6. This really pissed me off, what a damn drama queen.

On top of this look at how well other historical drama have done recently. People like this genre. a lot. From Bridgerton to Downton Abbey, the Tudors...Victoria, people are hungry for it. I'm an anglophile and search for documentaries and movies to watch constantly. I've watched the entire "Monarchy" documentary by David Starky several times. I, even being the nerd I am, can let go of the anachronisms, and rewriting of history (Thomas on Downton...I feel horrible for gays of the time, but there is no way the Earl would've continued his employment; the colorblind casting on Bridgerton...I wish it would've really been that way!) because it really is the BEST escapism. I hope they catch on.

I know this has been discussed to death, but Pen was an immature teenager in love. Obsessive love. Penelope is also smart, and creative, and likely had very vivid daydreams of the possibility of Colin...even though in reality she knew it was unlikely. Colin is also very young to marry, so I am sure that she thought she had years to prepare to "lose" him. Obsessive love and unrequited love is very strong. I was a teenager 24 + years ago and I still remember how it felt. She may be smart and clever, but when the heart is involved it all comes out in idiot to quote Lorelai Gilmore. This is why I highly disliked Marina's character...she was only there to add unnecessary drama. So no. I don't think that Pen is evil. I think she is an immature girl, lowest on the rung of her own family, the ugly duckling at parties, sweet friend to Eloise and Marina, and she was pushed to her emotional limit. Was it the best way to handle it? NO. Was it typical of something a teenage girl in love, who is desperate to keep her man would do? Yes. Absolutely. Hell, I'm personally dealing with bitchy 14 year old girls and their bitchier mothers who pick on my daughter relentlessly trying to get her to quit her softball team. Jealousy, ambition, greed, and obsession make otherwise nice people do desperate and ugly things.

I actually enjoyed the book. I am not a fan of Eloise, but the book was a fresh change of pace from the other books IMO. It was nice to see something more "normal" for the time where the elusive love match wasn't the norm. It was a slow burn for Julia Quinn in contrast to the other books. From being ready to be a spinster, to ready to get married to a suitable man who she could grow to like, to wanting to help and love her step children, to falling in love....I thought it was pretty fantastic. Anthony's story was my favorite, but the Eloise story is right up there too. I felt Phillip's issues were realistic considering what he's been through, he's polite, and the banter with the Bridgerton boys was great.

I actually think Sophie's story would be a great way to show some racial issues. The evil step mother doesn't end up conceiving with Sophie's father. It would be interesting/sad to see Sophie's step-people treat her badly and use her race as one of the reasons especially when explaining to the daughters why they're better than she is. There haven't been many asian actors in the show. I'm down for Sophie being Asian, and exploring some race issues through her story. It would give that much more satisfaction seeing the step mother getting her just desserts at the end of their season. jmo I think it's easy enough to hire a stand in for Simon and only show him playing with the children from a distance so we don't see his face.

I actually hate Lorelai's hair at Rory's graduation in S3. I really dislike LG's hair when it's too curly.

Rewatch: As a now 40 year old woman I LOVE Luke's rant at Jess. "I'm employee of the month, the year, the century, of the UNIVERSE! You should be so lucky to have a job like mine!" GG has a tendency to be so shallow...ONLY Ivy League schools matter, Public schools are for morons.... I was just so glad Luke got his "Mike Rowe" moment. He should be proud of the business he built on his own, and Jess constantly shitting on him was foul. I like Jess after S6, but he was a jackhole to Luke.

I like Rory until she goes to Yale. She's annoying and so breathy, but isn't an absolute brat until the Yale years. She has her moments, but Chilton Rory wasn't as despicable as Yale Rory.

Tell that to CPS. They've been investigated.

I agree with this. I happen to know a LOT of fundie families. I live in rural PA/OH (border) and I probably personally know 10-12 families who fit the large family, denim skirt, homeschool box. Out of ALL the families, only one was led into fundamentalism by the husband. The women I know in this cult are VERY controlling, but always appear to be super submissive. The one husband used to skateboard with my husband (back in the 90's) and they still go running together. He told DH that their 12 year old daughter can't read, and that he wanted to send her to public school (where our kids go) and her reply was, "No. The Lord will help us educate her. Read your BIble." She used religious abuse to shame him out of having a say. I see it ALL the time. They always appear prim, proper, and silent in public and at church...but the opposite is usually always true. It's kind of like FB. When you see a couple loving all over each other online, there's usually problems at home they're trying to hide. I'm not saying that JB is an innocent. He is for sure a small dicked asshole trying to constantly prove his manhood...and maybe that's why. Michelle really is in control. I will ALSO add that among these fundie cults I've noticed that many of these women have a baby hoarding mentality. Most of them LOVE LOVE LOVE babies, but lose interest when the baby is about 12-24 months old...so time for a new one. Another friend (the husband of the family) desperately wants to have a vasectomy. His wife will cry and cry and say "Just 1 more!!! God wants us to have another!" ...they're pregnant with their 7th. 😞 He always gives in.

Maybe a "like father like daughter" ending instead of the opposite. I've always thought that Lorelai is more like Richard than Emily. Business sense, witty...much more common sense. It'd be a very interesting twist to see Rory end up being a Christopher.

I really, really think it's clear that Rory is done with Logan by the end of "Fall". The thing that bugs me is that we are still getting a season 7 reboot. I'm sorry, but what 30-something that is sexually active isn't on birth control...AND backing it up with condom use? I mean...seriously, I'm married and I do not want anymore kids so I am making SURE it doesn't happen until DH gets the big V. Rory isn't a kid. This is a typical mistake when you are in your early 20's, but by the time you've lived some life you KNOW to use protection. BC failure is rare especially when you have been using it for a while. ALL of these type of shows act like it's so damn easy to have an oops pregnancy. It happens, but lets be honest...this isn't the case with Rory. She was being a dipshit. Logan, man-whore of Connecticut, knows how to put on a rubber. Grey's Anatomy was always pulling this crap with DOCTORS. So effing annoying. So let's be real. Rory, in the eyes of ASP, is 22. All of this "failure" is to excuse the last 10 years. She is absolutely pulling this crap on us...the circle of life. Rory is Lorelai is Rory. Rory is pregnant. She has communication issues (great journalist) and won't tell Logan. She will have the baby and great funny wit will ensue with Emily telling Logan and Mitchum, Lorelai freaking out about her "butting in", and Rory raising baby Rory...and flirting with Jess who moves back to Star's Hollow to write with Rory. I love the story. I love GG so much, but ASP can't finish a story. Seriously. She's doing the whole "like mother like daughter" thing...which is absurd because Lorelai is just like her father. Rory is Emily. It's just sad that the amazing show that we all loved for the first 3-4 seasons is a pile of (to quote Emily in the best part of the whole series): "BULLSHIT!" P.S. Dean was an ass in high school, Jess was an ass in high school, Logan was an ass forever, Chris was an ass in high school, Jason was an ass in high school....I wonder how ASP feels about high school boys? Dean and Jess grew into nice young men. Logan is still a cheating ass, and Rory is a douche.

Michelle deserved better. Natalie is a beast, but EoE sucks. Michelle probably wasn't ever going to win, but being friendless on the island and being able to stay to the end is pretty incredible. I liked this season, but I could go a few seasons without any returning champions, mentors, or anything resembling it. No more EoE, and no fire tokens. No more themes. I just want to see a game of old school survivor with no gimmicks. Tony played a great game, but so did Michelle. I feel bad that she didn't get any props for what she accomplished.

I just did a rewatch. Probably unpopular opinions: 1. Dean in the first episodes was Jess. Leather jacket, slightly dangerous looking, slight attitude... I don't know why ASP changed him into "Hometown Dean" by the end of S1, but the character changed drastically. I liked the first version of Dean. 2. Richard becomes less and less endearing with each re-watch. Interestingly I see more father/daughter similarities with each re-watch. Whenever Richard lets his guard down with Lorelai (Like after Trix was found kissing the man in the track suit) you can absolutely see where she gets her sense of humor. 3. I LOVED Luke during the first watch through, and I like him less and less each time. I see no compatibility between Luke and Lorelai at all anymore. In fact, I find his treatment of Lorelai during the April scandal so outrageous that it really ruins any chance of them being together again. I hate that Lorelai went back to him after that. 4. I also loved Logan during the first run through, and he also should have been ditched FOREVER after the way he acted when meeting Jess. FOREVER. I hate that Rory didn't completely get rid of him. 5. Out of all the boyfriends, I think Jason and Lorelai deserve each other. I don't particularly like Jason, but he gets Lorelai...and she understands him. They were raised the same way, and have the same family dynamics. 6. I don't like Dean, Jess, OR Logan for Rory. If forced to pick it would probably be Jess. 7. Emily wasn't redeemable until the revival. Emily without Richard and the DAR is a much better mother.

I agree with EVERYTHING except the bedroom set. LOL. Especially Dean, and Jason. I STILL think that Jason and Lorelai deserve each other. Just saying.

THIS. I've said it before and I'll say it again...I was SO hoping that the scene where Rory gets her PSAT scores was a prelude to her changing her eventual major. "I'm higher in Math than Verbal? How am I higher in math? Verbal is my thing!" The first time I watched that I thought to myself, GOOD! Rory might be realizing that she would be awesome in medical research, or something like that. I truly believed that ASP would eventually have a coming to Jesus moment where Rory realized that she is not cut out for journalism. I'll say...she may have made a kick ass literature professor or something like that. When she couldn't even call the weird family for the dinner I was flabbergasted. SURLY at this point she will switch gears....but nope. I really think that most of the blame lays with Lorelai. SHE KNOWS RORY! Have a sit down with her and tell her that changing her mind isn't the worst thing in the world and she needs to use her strengths. When Rory even suggests changing her major because of a lack of funds, L completely freaks out, I'd have been like....Engineering? OK sounds like a plan." LOL.

I just did a season 1-6 rewatch. Season 1 is interesting. I’m glad I was a Netflixer GG fan. If I’d have caught the first few episodes of GG I don’t think I’d have kept watching. Rory/Lorelei had no onscreen chemistry at alllllllll. I know Alexis was a green actress, but it was pretty cringe. Actually the first time Rory seemed like RORY was during Kill Me Now with Richard. In fact, it wasn’t until Rory & Dean broke up the first time that I felt that mother/daughter thing between them (though I never felt that the two of them had some extra special bond? Maybe it’s just me 🤷🏻‍♀️) I really did like Max in season 1. It’s funny because the closer they got to the wedding in season 2 the less I liked him. ...but season 1 Max is pretty great. I loathe Dean, and actually used him as a boyfriend chat with my daughter. “Signs your boyfriend is a creeper.” I liked Rachel. She was so much better than Nicole in S3/4. She deserved better than the crap treatment she got from Luke & Lorelei. The episode where she went shopping for Rachel’s birthday gift was so over the top inappropriate. I’d rather get cat potholders that meow from my guy than get a gift bought by another woman. Even “just a friend”. Emily in Wonderland was sad. I left home at 18 because my mother & I spoke two different emotional languages (mental illness was in play) and we never spoke again (her choice) so I’m harder on Lorelei than I should be. At least Emily IS well intentioned, bitchy & elitist, but she loves both Rory and Lorelei. I’d give anything for that.

I agree, and Lorelei had her motives for sure (close proximity) but Rory was conflicted and obviously wanted to go to Yale. She was making it easier on Rory by accepting the decision by diving in head first. It’s the Lorelei way...over the top. Rory beefing her mother to coddle her into making the Yale decision is yet another reason why she didn’t have the spine to be a journalist. It HAD to be hard for Lorelei to admit defeat after the several fights over Harvard/Yale.

I'm doing a watch through and then I am swearing off GG for an entire year. I have a bad cycle going on and I can't seem to kick it. Season 3 is probably my 3rd favorite season of the 7. I feel like I feel like Alexis is getting the hang of the acting thing in season 3. Watching the seasons in succession there is an obvious change in her abilities from season 1 to season 3 where I feel she kind of levels out for the remainder. I like Jess. I feel like he's a very layered character which is nice because so many of them are completely one note. Jess and Paris are stand outs in season 3 IMO. I like Lorelai much more than I like Rory throughout the series, but Lorelai had so many obnoxious moments. I forgot how unlikable she is in some of these episodes. Haunted Leg is one of my favorites. I DESPISE Christopher, and while Emily has many many faults...a highlight of this season (for me) was hearing her tell Chris to leave her house. An overall issue I have with Rory's senior year is the college application process, and the plans of Rory's friends. How do you pay so much money to a prep school and NOT know how to write a college essay? How on Earth did Lorelai think that Rory would get away with only applying to Harvard? Why did Chilton allow Rory to only apply to three Ivy's? She didn't really apply to any safe schools at all. What would it have hurt to have her apply somewhere else. Why does this show seem to think that it's either an Ivy or it's community college? I have two high school kids, and another issue I have is how unrealistic they are with Rory. Our *public* school devotes an entire semester in 10th grade to career searching. In fact, I just had a sit down with my son asking him why he wants to be a doctor when he is gifted in reading, writing, and language...and struggles in math/science. It came down to the fact that he's been talking about being a doctor since he had surgery when he was 10 and he just had never given thought about doing anything else. Doesn't anyone see that Rory's personality isn't cut out for journalism? Isn't anyone sitting down with her at school and saying, "Your PSAT math score is really high...have you ever thought about doing medical research?" ...or something like that. I just can't believe that this was her path all along. I can only think that the Pallidino plan all along was to have Rory write a book at the end of the series. Nothing else really makes sense because they wrote Rory as a very quiet and anxious person. Dear Richard and Emily is another favorite of mine. I love seeing Emily and Lorelai on good terms, and I thought the DVD player was so nice. That one moment redeemed the rest of the episode. I enjoyed the flashbacks, but damn is Sherry annoying. A tale of Poes and Fire is a decent episode. It's always fun to see Rory make a decision based on what is right for HER...not based on Lorelai's need to make her parents mad. Worst episodes: Here comes the Son. Such a bore. 8'oclock at the Oasis. I love Jon Hamm but good Lord. This one was just tedious and annoying. The worst episode: Application Anxiety because...really? How are you a HS senior or the parent of a HS senior and NOT know this stuff. And ATTENTION: Rory is NOT that special!

This is why I detest this kind of "faith". As a Christian who believes and follows the words of Jesus having 14 million dollars is not ok. It just isn't. I'm a mainline Methodist and if God blesses abundantly, you GIVE abundantly. Let's say you keep 1M of the 14M...how many people could you feed? The Duggars don't even know how far deep they're into the prosperity gospel...it's all about GETTING God's blessings whether it be in the form of ankle biters, or beautiful homes, or TV time....they think they GET because God LOVES them. God CLEARLY states the opposite. The need to re-read the BEattitudes. UGH. I love Jimmy Carter and Fred Rodgers. They are the modern American icons of our faith, IMO

I love the name Margaret but never used it because of the nicknames (Marge/Peggy). Our good friends just named their baby Elenor. So cute. ❤️ I like the new fad. I blame the Dutchess of Cambridge. 😉 Josh is such a slob. I really just wanted Anna to run away from him. I'm so sad that Josh got everything he wanted. It boils me. I can't even look at his face.

I'm not from the south, but I can state without hesitation that there WAS is a HUGE toward homebirth. It's the whole granola mom thing. I'm a Gen X'er, and I gave birth in the early to mid 2000s...and that is really when things like natural homebirth, anti-vax, anti-doctor, anti- circ, cloth diapering, all natural cleaning products, exclusive BF, child-led weaning, anti-eye goop...pretty much ALL things non-interventionist. I'm not saying all of these things are bad, some certainly are, but that was def. the trend. I will say that most of these moms that I knew were either extremely far-left leaning (think Rikki Lake), or extremely far-right leaning (The Duggars). Basically extremists on both sides that believed that either "chemicals and the government are going to poison us". I heard it ALL about how I was poisoning my children, and giving them the autisms, from both my super liberal friends and my super conservative friends. The granola trend. If Jessa thinks she's ON TREND, she isn't. That trend is fading fast. The younger moms (younger millennials) appear to be smarter than the younger Gen X'ers and older millennials. Moms are going back to the hospitals, and back to immunizations. I don't believe that this is religiously motivated due to modesty. If that were true, there wouldn't be cameras. I believe this is a "trend" that has gone out of fashion, but in Arkansas, they are usually behind trends by a few years. In reality, it is hardcore narcissism at it's finest.