ChristmasJones

What stood out to me this season was Michael Buble's personality. No digs against the guy, he has a great voice, but he struck me as someone who isn't great at articulating himself when speaking impromptu. He's also a bit more quirky than I would have expected. I don't think its too surprising though. He is famous because of his singing, not because of his speaking and personality. It reminds me of an actor I used to love- Benicio del Toro. I loved him in the movie Traffic. Then at some point I saw him on a late night talk show. He was SO dull and boring! OMG. My crush instantly went poof and I could never see him the same after that. The "real" him was not anywhere nearly as appealing as how he came across when acting.

If you'd like to read about the status of the farm, here is a recent blog post about it: https://taedafarms.com/blogs/news/patience-parenting-and-permits-lessons-from-building-a-farm

One moment in this episode had me laughing so hard I rewound it several times. Shakina gave Corona-Virus and James each a stick of butter, after talking about how it was an aphrodisiac. James took a bite and someone asked him, "how do you feel?" He turned to Tata and said, "good luck tonight." IDK I just found it hilarious for some reason.

I assume when someone pays alimony/spousal support, it is only a portion of their income. What kind of career does someone have where $4.2 million per year is a portion of their income?

Was anyone surprised the chicks in the van broke up? Anyone, anyone? I really wanted to see them at the tell-all...just to hear what they both had to say.. kind of disappointed they chickened-out.

The chick with the parents who are pastors is seriously unhinged. I was thinking she needs to book a therapy session and bring this episode in to show the therapist (and herself). I would enjoy an episode where they show clips like this and have the folks react to them.

I stumbled onto this little gem today.... thought folks here might find it interesting. I'm only 7 episodes in ... not sure where the story will go.. but it starts with a Mormon family with a bunch of kids who get approached to do a reality show about their family. I'm finding a bunch of interesting nuggets of information about the Mormon church, reality tv, how the church (doesn't) handle abuse, huge families and other stuff. No polygamy though.

I had a dream last night and the Browns were in it! A bunch of crazy stuff happened (as is common in dreams), but the highlight was I was using a computer to update the podcasts on my phone and Janelle was standing next to me. She could see my phone and after I pushed the update button on it, a podcast I had never listened to suddenly appeared on the app. It was Janelle's podcast. She asked me if I had listened to it and I said no. Christine was also in the dream. Apparently we all lived together in this huge home.

Is there a large group of people who a) want to look at other men's butt cracks and/or b) want to show off theirs? It seems um... different... than seeing a woman's cleavage ....?

But will there be flowers on the t-shirts? Inquiring minds want to know.

I have to admit when they showed the two blue kitchens next to each other (Mary and Bronwyn) I did really like Bronwyn's! Surprised me.

The false narrative of how broke they are has never aligned with the real estate and rental properties they've bought/lived in over the years, IMO. Yes, they may carry a lot of debt, and not make the best choices with how to spend money, but there had to be a strong cashflow somewhere, as we are no longer in the pre-2008 subprime lending world. I think folks underestimate how much they get paid from this show. No one has ever produced a verifiable document about their income. There is the often cited claim that they "took a big pay cut" to continue the series at some point. But, again, where is the basis? Contrast this to the Teen Mom world, where we did see from court records that Amber was pulling in $500K per year at one point. Now of course everyone will say that TLC is nothing like Teen Mom, but on what actual facts are these ideas based on? I just went to the Wiki and they have done a total of 196 episodes and 36 specials as of Dec 2023.

I have a proposal for the show when this ends. I would call it "Sister Wives Rewind" and it would feature Christine, Janelle, and Meri reacting to selected clips over the years - starting from the beginning. They would have to be together in the same physical space while doing this (or on a joint zoom call), and be prepared to give honest answers. The host would be someone who is very knowledgeable about Mormonism, polygamy, etc. I honestly think ratings would be through the roof for something like this. If they wanted to, they could create their own podcast/Youtube series like this and keep all the money for themselves. There are a ton of podcast hosts out there who are ex-Mormon who they could collaborate with. Folks like this- in this episode they talk about knowing Christine and Robyn when they were in their teens.

Any speculation on what it costs to live in the home they bought? In terms of yearly property taxes and utilities? I'll leave upkeep/repairs off the list because it appears they don't do that.

Its maddening to watch Statler and Dempsey.... how on earth did they think it would work doing this van life thing without any planning of actual details. The core foundation of this plan entails something that I think would make both people very unhappy over time - which is that one person is tasked with working a full-time job (ie, sitting at a laptop), while the other one is somehow supposed to keep themselves occupied. They are confined to this tiny little space. I mean, the bed becomes the desk. There isn't an equivalent amount of "work" for the non-working person to do when living in a tiny space like that. Not to mention how annoying it would be for both the worker and non-worker to be in that space while the worker works all day. The worker would feel constantly distracted and interrupted and the non-worker would feel bored. Not to mention how, over time, the worker would rightfully start to feel resentful and jealous knowing that the partner was out galavanting around enjoying the beautiful areas they've travelled to, while the worker must sit in a cramped space staring at a laptop all day. This entire set-up would require a much higher level of discipline and organization than most people would be able to stick with over time. So I don't fault either of them for "failing" at that. I think the premise was doomed from the start. Its one of those things that sounds great on paper - we'll have an awesome van and travel all over europe, and you can keep your job and work remote - but in actual day-to-day reality, its a completely different thing.