S09.E05: Duggars Decorate & Diet

[JerseyGirl]

Josh gets a surprise visit from Steve Conley, his former trainer, who assesses Josh's  current eating and exercising habits.  Meanwhile, Jinger takes engagement photos of Jill and Derrick.

Edited September 17, 2014 by JerseyGirl

[TigerLily20]

what bugged me most about this episode, Makenzie (not sure how to spell her name) had one pigtail and one braid......kept seeing it at the farmers market.....don't know why but it bugged me so much lol

[BitterApple]

Oooh, when Jill was taking her engagement photos, did you hear Jessa say "awww it's so friggin cute!" before she was cut-off?! I'm clutching my pearls right now after hearing a Duggar utter a semi-swear!

 

Overall I think these episodes are dragging. We're given five minutes of Jill recapping the fact that she's engaged, followed by twenty minutes of filler regarding purity and courtship standards mixed with a couple minutes of new material. Yawn.

 

The scenes with the trainer were so staged, and I have to say that is one expensive farmer's market! Three dollars a pound for peaches?! Yikes. 

[Katydid]

OK Duggars, we get it. You don't hold hands before engagement and don't do anything else until marriage. Oh, & you have chaperones as well. Clearly you are better than the rest of us heathens. You win. Now let's move on.

[ginger90]

The re-capping and re-capping every freaking episode is beyond annoying. It is now obnoxious beyond the definition. Filling time, that's all it is.

Edited September 17, 2014 by ginger90

[Lillybee]

That nasty breakfast must have been staged for this episode. Anna has been shown to want to feed her family healthy food at least the kids.

[bigskygirl]

First of all, the trainer going to visit Josh and Anna was so staged. And thank you Jill for waiting fifteen minutes before mentioning your engagement. I think there may have been one viewer who forgot. *rolling eyes* And yes Jim Bob and Michelle, you will rot in hell for kissing before marriage. I am sure Satan has a room all ready for you. Taking pictures near a busy highway. Whose bright idea was that. Michelle kept saying about how excited she was to have grandbabies. Funny thing is her first three grandchildren cannot stand her.

[BitterApple]

That nasty breakfast must have been staged for this episode. Anna has been shown to want to feed her family healthy food at least the kids.

 

I think it was as well, or they only indulge once or twice a week like Anna claimed. Josh is a little pudgy, but his trainer acts like he's morbidly obese or something. I thought he looked far from being 25 lbs heavier the way Steve claimed.

[woodscommaelle]

I like the relationship they have with Steve.  They seemed to be having fun, joking around....with people OUTSIDE of their family. It was nice.

 

And if you're going to take the time to re-upholster (is that the right word???) the stools, why not pick a cool fabric?  That shit was ugly but I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else.

Edited September 17, 2014 by woodscommaelle

[Barb23]

I had to laugh when the trainer found the expired can in their pantry. He would have a field day in my cabinets. Its a running joke between my husband & me when I clean out the cabinets what's the oldest box/can I find. In my defense, my pantry cabinets are deep & things get pushed to the back.

As someone said last week, what's the deal with painting the derby cars in the house?

When Boob & Michelle constantly talk about the courting rules, saving kiss till wedding, etc, they say it is to "keep pure" & "saving your heart". I'd like to ask them why is it so important? Do you need to be pure to get in heaven? Are God & St Peter standing at the pearly gates letting the Duggars & other Gothardites in but not letting us heathens in cuz our first kiss was when we were 12 & didn't wait til our wedding. I can think of one (if not more) Gothardites who shouldn't be let in to Heaven.....and yes, I am a Christian.

[Sew Sumi]

Regarding this endless talk about purity, it's ironic that Pa Seewald's latest blog post talks about not having to necessarily take these extreme measures to "prove" what a good Christian you are. So no Jill (or Jessa), not impressed. Frankly, save yourselves for the wedding night, although no one displays the sheets any longer. I guess it depends on one's definition of "pure." As far as the Bible goes, I think it only pertains to virginity.

 

Duggars: Doing it extra-biblically since they encountered the teachings of Bill Gothard c.1989 (the fundie "birth control is abortion" doctor was a Gothardite). No Boob, you didn't make "mistakes" and Mullet isn't a Jezebel because she kissed guys before she met him. I hate it when Boob implies that....over and over and over again.

 

I really hate filler episodes. At this rate, Jessa will be pregnant with her 5th kid before they marry Jill off on teevee.

[BitterApple]

I really hate filler episodes. At this rate, Jessa will be pregnant with her 5th kid before they marry Jill off on teevee.

 

I agree. The pacing of this season is way too slow. Especially since real time is light years ahead of tv time. We haven't even gotten to Jill's wedding shower yet, meanwhile she and Derick are already married and pregnant and Jessa is engaged. It just makes Michelle look even more stupid every time she says "we're hoping for an engagement soooooon!" 

 

I think they should have done a VSE with the wedding over the summer and worked like hell with the editing to get reasonably recent footage for the current season.

[jcbrown]

I did love Anna saying the candy bar was not hers because she would have already eaten it. I think Anna may still have potential for breaking away from the Kool-Aid at least a little bit.

[Mariva]

I agree. The pacing of this season is way too slow. Especially since real time is light years ahead of tv time. We haven't even gotten to Jill's wedding shower yet, meanwhile she and Derick are already married and pregnant and Jessa is engaged. It just makes Michelle look even more stupid every time she says "we're hoping for an engagement soooooon!" 

 

I think they should have done a VSE with the wedding over the summer and worked like hell with the editing to get reasonably recent footage for the current season.

The irony is that there's photo evidence that the scenes with Steve the trainer was filmed fairly recently - I'm almost positive it was after Jill and Derick got married.  So it's not an issue of the editors working with footage under a tight deadline, TLC really just wants to drag out Dilly's wedding as much as possible, ugh.

[flyingdi]

My brother walked in the room while they were discussing the courtship rules and said, "No kissing or hand holding? So their just having sex then?"

He doesn't really watch the show but I thought that was funny.

[JerseyGirl]

I thought it was funny how Anna and Josh were fawning all over Steve as if he were God.  Everything he said or did, Anna was smiling and laughing.  Oh please.

 

In the meantime, the kids are sitting at the dining table, bewildered as to who this stranger is in their house.  I don't think Mac blinked for a second.

[SusieQZie]

Major kudos to Joy Anna for saying out loud that her mom misses being pregnant. I love that Joy still has a hint of spark.

 

Michelle sounds so creepy each time she talks about grandbabies. She gets a weird look in her eyes.

Edited September 17, 2014 by SusieQZie

[ghoulina]

I love how Michelle is claiming now that she's in her new "season" of life, she can get her baby fix through the grandkids Jill and possibly Jessa will give her. Ummmm, why did we never see that with Josh's kids? We rarely saw you interact with them, and when you did they looked at you like you were a stranger.

 

I also loved Jill basically admitting their engagements are so quick so they can hurry up and bone. 

 

Suuuuure, am I really supposed to believe that the trainer just randomly showed up when Anna had just happened to make a super unhealthy breakfast? The trainer is right about portion sizes, though. It's not uncommon for people to "cheat" and go all out on weekends, but damn....Josh looked like he was eating for 19!

 

Joy Anna has gotten so pretty.

[truthtalk2014]

Did anyone notice how MEchelle kept talking about saving money by doing those tacky stools.  As if she was teaching Jessa how to do it.  That's really comical.  If Jessa wants new stools, she will just put them on a baby registry.  

 

And I agree that the fabric was tacky.  The legs looked rusty.  If they wanted them to look nice, they should have painted the legs and bought some decent fabric.  It was all show so that MEchelle can talk about how thrifty she is.  

[VioletNevermind]

Oh, Duggars.  First of all, can I just say that I'm sick and tired of feeling judged by these people?  They act like anyone who kisses someone before marriage or holds hands before getting engaged is some filthy, back alley whore.  "We don't want our kids to make the same mistakes we did."  They claim to not judge, but come on.  The sanctimony drips from them when they say things like that.

 

As for Josh, he's not as "obese" as the trainer made him out to be.  The boy likes his food, I get it.  I'm in the same boat, having the same struggles.  I just think I would have been a little insulted if I were Josh.  He comes from a Southern background of tater tot casserole and nary a vegetable or piece of fruit in sight.  Those habits take a serious effort to unlearn, if they ever can be.  It's entirely possible to have those "naughty" foods, just in moderation and not as often.

 

Prediction: Over the course of the next year, J'Chelle is going to morph from a baby-obsessed "mother" into a grandbaby-obsessed menopausal woman, constantly nagging the crap out of her kids to give her (more, more, more!)  grandchildren.  Someone needs to take J'Chelle to the side and remind her that she has THREE "grandbabies" already.  I understand that it's harder to see them now that Josh and Anna moved, but when they are in the same room, I don't see very much interaction and cuddling going on.  For someone who supposedly adores children as much as she says she does, she sure is casual about showing that love.  Kids' faces don't lie.  Josh's three kids can't seem to keep the apathy off their faces when their loving Grandma Duggar is around.

[JerseyGirl]

It was super creepy to listen to MEchelle go on and on about wanting grandbabies to Jessa.  The girl isn't even ENGAGED yet and you are pushing her for grandbabies???

[Libby96]

It was super creepy to listen to MEchelle go on and on about wanting grandbabies to Jessa.  The girl isn't even ENGAGED yet and you are pushing her for grandbabies???

Amen to that! I have no patience with parents who try to cajole their adult children into having babies. Having a baby is a highly personal decision that is influenced by a multitude of factors and should be entirely left up to the couple. My mom adores her grandkids, but I am so grateful that she and my dad never even teased me and my husband about when we'd get pregnant.

Of course, if you don't believe in birth control, marriage often equals pregnant (see Dillard, Jill Duggar), so their whole perspective on this differs from mine.

[flyingdi]

Did anyone else hear Jessa say, "In a couple of years when Ben and I have babies"? A couple of years? Really, I hope so.

[VioletNevermind]

Amen to that! I have no patience with parents who try to cajole their adult children into having babies. Having a baby is a highly personal decision that is influenced by a multitude of factors and should be entirely left up to the couple. My mom adores her grandkids, but I am so grateful that she and my dad never even teased me and my husband about when we'd get pregnant.

 

Same here.  It's such bad form to nag people about having kids, regardless of the family relationship.  I listened to one of my siblings constantly nag and tease another sibling for years about when they were going to "finally have kids."   Turns out they were struggling with some serious, emotionally painful fertility issues and trying different solutions that tend to take a long time.  My policy is, if you're not one of the people creating the baby or committing to getting up at 3 a.m. to feed the baby every single night, you don't nag, ask, or tease.  J'Chelle will spend the next three decades of her life encouraging her spawn to follow in her increasingly ridiculous footsteps regardless of their desire to give birth to two baseball teams of children.

[mimionthebeach]

I found MEchelle particularly creepy in this episode.  This professed love for grandbabies sounds like she's trying to convince herself. She had to keep remembering to tack on something about living nearby as she'd remember she already has 3. Some of her 'therapy' should involve coming to the realization that she still has an over-sized passel of kids to raise. Maybe this is the 'season of life' when you learn being a mother goes beyond bring the kids into the world.

 

While they had the seats off, the should have painted those stools. The fabric wasn't great but I guess the vinyl cleans easily and wears pretty well. The colour fit with their neutrals. I'm all for repairing and restoring but why not do the whole job? 

 

Steve the trainer. Total setup. *rolling eyes*  But what's with their FRIDGE! What family of 5 has a practically empty fridge?! For the love of god, where do they keep the pickles?!?!

[Jynnan tonnix]

Did anyone else hear Jessa say, "In a couple of years when Ben and I have babies"? A couple of years? Really, I hope so.

Sadly, I suspect that it's the part where she says "babies" (plural) that equals the couple of years. She was looking ahead to when there are already at least two of them.

[BradyWooWoo]

Michelle's voice-overs and talking heads are becoming unbearable.  Her exaggerated "vocal fry" is getting worse with each episode. in previous seasons she had a fairly clear, albeit annoying, speaking voice.  Now she sounds like a really old lady with laryngitis. 

[ghoulina]

Prediction: Over the course of the next year, J'Chelle is going to morph from a baby-obsessed "mother" into a grandbaby-obsessed menopausal woman, constantly nagging the crap out of her kids to give her (more, more, more!)  grandchildren.  Someone needs to take J'Chelle to the side and remind her that she has THREE "grandbabies" already.  I understand that it's harder to see them now that Josh and Anna moved, but when they are in the same room, I don't see very much interaction and cuddling going on.  For someone who supposedly adores children as much as she says she does, she sure is casual about showing that love.  Kids' faces don't lie.  Josh's three kids can't seem to keep the apathy off their faces when their loving Grandma Duggar is around.

 

Honestly, with all her talk about grandbabies I don't believe she wants them so she can cuddle them and play with them and watch them grow. I think that just as she is the woman known for having 19 kids, she wants to be known as the woman who has 400 grandkids. 

[mimionthebeach]

Honestly, with all her talk about grandbabies I don't believe she wants them so she can cuddle them and play with them and watch them grow. I think that just as she is the woman known for having 19 kids, she wants to be known as the woman who has 400 grandkids. 

 

She was talking, too, about the kids having really large families and went totally bug-eyed when she suggested they might even have MORE than 19. Yeah, THEN she'd be givin' them respect.

[BitterApple]

As for Josh, he's not as "obese" as the trainer made him out to be.  The boy likes his food, I get it.  I'm in the same boat, having the same struggles.  I just think I would have been a little insulted if I were Josh.  He comes from a Southern background of tater tot casserole and nary a vegetable or piece of fruit in sight.  Those habits take a serious effort to unlearn, if they ever can be.  It's entirely possible to have those "naughty" foods, just in moderation and not as often.

 

 

I agree. Yeah, he could probably stand to lose ten pounds but he's hardly on death's doorstep the way Steve makes him out to be. There was really no reason to fat-shame him.

[truthtalk2014]

I agree. Yeah, he could probably stand to lose ten pounds but he's hardly on death's doorstep the way Steve makes him out to be. There was really no reason to fat-shame him.

I totally agree.  And why is it always about Boob and Joshy?  Why does he never get on MEchelle?  It's not like she's the queen of health or perfection. After all, she is the scheduler - so why doesn't she schedule some healthy meals.  I gotta find the nutritional info on that tater tot casserole.  Steve never said one damn thing to her!  What is up with that?

 

Edit- I did find the nutritional info on Food Network- it is 51% fat- enough said.  STEVE???? oh STEVE????

Edited September 17, 2014 by truthtalk2014

[andromeda331]

She was talking, too, about the kids having really large families and went totally bug-eyed when she suggested they might even have MORE than 19. Yeah, THEN she'd be givin' them respect.

 

 

 I think she would be pissed because there goes all of her attention. All of the attention she gets comes from having 19 kids if her daughter or daughter-in-law surpassed her in that even by just one she's going to be so pissed and so jealous.

 

I found MEchelle particularly creepy in this episode.

 

So did I. The way she was talking about grandbabies it sounded like she didn't even remember she already has grandbabies.

My first thought was her pretending her daughter's babies were hers. 

[bigskygirl]

Josh does look pale and sickly. Was he the one the doctor thought could be on the way to diabetes or was pre-diabetic. I hope he loses the weight and learns healthier eating habits.

[cereality]

Josh and Anna seem happy on their own in DC. The vibe seemed so relaxed from them -- probably because they aren't getting calls from JB saying "come over now" or "all 22 of us are dropping by in an hr" or "Josh go work on x for my properties." I think it's probably been great for their marriage and for their kids to get away from Arkansas. He's making enough money (or being comped) that they do go back a lot but even spending a week back there a month means they get 3 weeks on their own in DC.

 

And as homogenous as their world is -- I hate to say it -- but I was thrilled when I saw his kids interacting with Steve, a big AA man. When kids are raised so "closed off" from the world, you always wonder what it'll do to them, though I guess little kids gravitate towards anyone who is nice and shows them attention no matter the race/gender etc. so I'm glad his kids get some of that.

[bigskygirl]

Josh and Anna are still under Jim Bob's control, but in a different way. Josh cannot stand on his own two feet. One of his sisters was or still helping him with his children. Sorry, but he is still under JB's thumb as long as he works (does he really work) at a job he got because of his famewhoring parents decided to parade him and his siblings and takes help from a sister who was sent off to his house because mommy and daddy decided it was okay.

[Mrsjumbo]

I think Michelle will have the same attitude about grandchildren as she had about her own children. It will be all about the numbers, not her relationship with the kids. She will want to be able to brag that she has 100 grandchildren. All she will care about is a high number.

This is it in a nutshell.

[ghoulina]

Josh does look pale and sickly. Was he the one the doctor thought could be on the way to diabetes or was pre-diabetic. I hope he loses the weight and learns healthier eating habits.

 

When the trainer came the first time around, didn't he do some bloodwork and general health tests? I could have sworn Josh was warned about some levels of his - whether it was blood pressure or cholesterol, something....

[BitterApple]

And as homogenous as their world is -- I hate to say it -- but I was thrilled when I saw his kids interacting with Steve, a big AA man. When kids are raised so "closed off" from the world, you always wonder what it'll do to them, though I guess little kids gravitate towards anyone who is nice and shows them attention no matter the race/gender etc. so I'm glad his kids get some of that.

 

A while back Josh had some photos on his Instagram of Michael playing with a little African-American boy at their local playground, so yes, I think he and Anna stepping out of their bubble way more than the Duggars would like to let on. 

[mythoughtis]

Given that Josh is in Arkansas once a month, couldn't he have met with the trainer there?  Jim Bob looks like he is backsliding also.  Bet JB didn't like Steve telling him he didn't eat/exercise properly.

 

Michelle, it's a little late to teach money skills to a 21 year old 3 months before the wedding.  " ' Normally, my nursing schedule would prevent me doing chores'.... darn, darn ,darn',  She has no excuse for not helping now.

 

I guess Michelle is only interested in Jessas' future babies, not Jills'... who also lives nearby.  'I could hold the baby... no offer to help with laundry or housecleaning... the traditional grandmother help during the first few weeks of Motherhood'.

 

Anna cooks 24 biscuits for two adults and 3 small children? 10 would have been plenty.  What does Steve's weight have to do with the youngest Duggar offsprings' weight? He's a grown man. And not overweight.  Stupid pop-ups.

 

What the heck... canned goods stay good for a couple years.  What is .Anna doing with a bunch of expired canned goods?  Did she haul all that up from Arkansas?.  

 

Great, more filler footage of Soap Box Derby cars... in the house.    Jordyn and Josie both need speech therapy.  Jenny reminds me of children that have been taught not to speak unless their parents tell them to. 

 

Now we know why Derick and Jill took so many pictures during the engagement.  That's when they got to stand close to each other., give each other side hugs and so forth. 

Edited September 17, 2014 by mythoughtis

[EtheltoTillie]

That seemed like some super-expensive camera!  I wonder if they bought it used! 

[GEML]

Eh, DC is full of people who get jobs because of who their parents are, but that doesn't mean they don't do their jobs without their parents' help once they get them. I think the move has been extremely beneficial for Josh and Anna, and I'm not fully convinced that JB wanted him to take this job, let alone set it up for him.

[BitterApple]

Eh, DC is full of people who get jobs because of who their parents are, but that doesn't mean they don't do their jobs without their parents' help once they get them. I think the move has been extremely beneficial for Josh and Anna, and I'm not fully convinced that JB wanted him to take this job, let alone set it up for him.

I was about to say, I don't know anyone these days who doesn't get their job through some sort of friend/family/professional connection. 

 

I thought it was funny when Josh and Anna asked Michael what he wanted to do that day and his reply was "go shop." It was such a random, yet funny thing for a little boy to say. 

[Fallacy]

I was suprised by how openly these "modest" Duggers are talking about hormones. They are all fully admitted that Jill and Derek are getting married asap so they can fuck asap. Jill said that "physical intimacy" was a "great motivator" to hurry and plan the wedding. Ya think? They throw in the word "love" here and there but really I am bored with the "they really want to fuck but can't" storyline that's being discussed every single freaking episode. I get it. They are pure for God. Why is that the only subject that they can discuss about the upcoming marriage. How about discussing if Jill and Derek are still going to go on mission trips after the marriage? Nope, we can't talk about their actual future together as a married couple; we can only bang the purity drum over and over and over and over.

 

And yes, just like Josh and Anna, Jill and Derek are making love with their hands every chance they get. Gross. Maybe if they were allowed to at least make out once in awhile we wouldn't have to watch them show off their tightly clasped hands in every single shot. I can't wait for Jessa and Ben's finger banging. I wish some brilliant youtuber could edit all the Dugger hand holding film and set it to some classic porn music. Epic.

[bigskygirl]

Josh's job is to be a figure head for an organization trying to push their God's Army agenda onto the masses, and he campaigns for candidates who believe a woman cannot get pregnant while be raped and compares the murder of Jews by the Nazis to abortions. The only difference now is he doing it in D.C. instead of living near his parents. He is paid to spread the beliefs he was taught by Gothard, Jim Bob, and Michelle.

[Barb23]

Josh does look pale and sickly. Was he the one the doctor thought could be on the way to diabetes or was pre-diabetic. I hope he loses the weight and learns healthier eating habits.

I think Boob also looks pasty. At first I thought it was cuz he was sitting next to the girls or MEchelle that are doing the tan/orange thing but he looks pale. Maybe since he has the Ben slave now, he doesn't get out much.

Regarding the weight, super stud John David is looking kind of paunchy too. Maybe Joseph could show him around their exercise room/gym. I wonder if that's in same building as Ben's cell.

Add me to the list about MEchelle's creepiness. Now that she is in her new season of life, she can purpose about the number of grandchildren she'll have.

[GEML]

DC is also filled with people who campaign, lobby and fundraise for lots of causes that at least half of America finds pretty unsavory, which is why as a country we are pretty well divided. What Josh does is no different than what thousands of other people do, some on the issues he champions, others on the issues 180 degrees from where he is, but it's rather pointless to say he or those fighting against him don't have real positions.

And DC does make room for the scrapper - those who don't have connections or money and break in through fighting your way in via top flight credentials and sheer hard effort.

That's not Josh, of course, but it is a more forgiving city to break into than some. That said, once it is decided you are no longer useful, DC spits you out like lukewarm coffee - you can never rest on what you did yesterday in DC. Whether Josh can deal with that or not, I don't know.

[truthtalk2014]

 Nope, we can't talk about their actual future together as a married couple; we can only bang the purity drum over and over and over and over.

 

And yes, just like Josh and Anna, Jill and Derek are making love with their hands every chance they get. Gross. Maybe if they were allowed to at least make out once in awhile we wouldn't have to watch them show off their tightly clasped hands in every single shot. I can't wait for Jessa and Ben's finger banging. I wish some brilliant youtuber could edit all the Dugger hand holding film and set it to some classic porn music. Epic.

Once they are married, could they at least talk about their wonderful sex life- like learning how to hug, kiss, make love, have your breasts touched for the first time and well- we all know the rest.  But, what shock to the system that all has to be in one night.

[charmed1]

A while back Josh had some photos on his Instagram of Michael playing with a little African-American boy at their local playground, so yes, I think he and Anna stepping out of their bubble way more than the Duggars would like to let on.

Josh and Anna live in PG County Maryland which is the wealthiest predominantly African American county in the country. The Duggar kids are very much likely the minority in their neighborhood.

Edited September 18, 2014 by charmed1

[Ripley68]

Michelle is all about babies. Once the kid hits 6 months, or can actually move on its own, she has no interest.  I think she does love babies, but only babies, not children.  Jessa saying she might be a mom in a couple of years made me laugh.  They'll be doing it so often, she'll be pregnant in under 6 months!  I was thinking the same thing about the camera - it's way expensive!

[mimionthebeach]

I hope the camera is Jinger's and was not previously enjoyed. I would be the only thing she's ever had that was only ever hers.