Michelle and JimBob aka J'Chelle and Boob

[NEGirl]

It has always pissed me off that JB thought he should get things for free because he had a huge family. I came from a big family family - my parents both wanted a lot of kid. My Dad worked two jobs and we were well provided for and taken care of. My parents never expected anything to be handed to them, they would have been embarassed to take hand outs like JB did/does. If you are going to have 19 kids than support them yourself,  don't expect free hand outs.  JB's cheapness has never ceased to amaze me.

 

Where I live most electrical work has to be done by a licensed person or company to pass inspection.  However, I do know a couple of guys who are electricians/plumbers who do side jobs in people's homes and are not licensed. I don't think they can do work for a business though.

Edited June 17, 2015 by NEGirl

[Lemur]

I have never understood how people don't see that having that many kids is neglect. It's not "God's will". It's the will of selfish and ignorant people.

 

As one of my old high school priests said, "Hey, you know what else is God's Will?  You having free will and self control."

 

Then again, I don't know if the Duggars are dogmatic on free will.  

[Lemur]

Where I live most electrical work has to be done by a licensed person or company to pass inspection.  However, I do know a couple of guys who are electricians/plumbers who do side jobs in people's homes and are not licensed. I don't think they can do work for a business though.

 

It depends on the job.  Running a new circuit into a breaker box does not require a permit.  Switching out light fixtures does not require a permit.  Wiring a new house, re-wiring an old house, upgrading an electrical panel or running new exterior lights requires a permit.  Installing electrical for a swimming pool requires a permit (trust me on this one, I'm currently in permit limbo and it's held me up a week and I'm seriously not happy).  An apprentice can do the work under a licensed electrician's license.  Even if someone is doing a side-job, a lot of times a handy-man will have his licensed electrician friend put the permits in under his name and check the work over before firing up the circuit.  

 

Point being, as relating back to our old friends Jim Boob and Clown Car, is that this that if you can hook the kids up with someone with a license to "apprentice" under who will correct or supervise their work on some level, the chances of your kids frying some poor person with faulty electric or crushing them to death with under-supported construction is reduced greatly.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Lemur

[Vaysh]

Then again, I don't know if the Duggars are dogmatic on free will.

 

 

From the way they talk I've always wondered if they consider themselves (and other people) as some sort of puppets rather than people of free will. Like their god is micro-managing not only every miniscule aspect of their lives, but how they react and feel as well (unless it's something bad, then it's the devil of course ;). Jill said something to that effect after Iz's birth, that God made her grateful for her contractions, which I thought was an odd turn of phrase. Isn't gratitude something that comes from within? And if God has to turn it on, is it real?

Edited June 17, 2015 by Vaysh

[GEML]

Eh, I took Jill's comment to mean when you have a pregnant that wasn't running true to course, having contractions became something to be grateful about. She's religious, so she adds a spiritual side to it. Something she had perhaps been afraid about, she was now more fearful to be without.

Or, to put it this way - think of it this way. Were you ever a young woman who prayed for her period to come? And then, years later, were you perhaps an older women who prayed that it would not? In reality, your body was doing what it was doing, but you might use language such as "I thanked God for..." Because your point of view had changed.

[Satchels of gold]

My husband is a physician in a very complicated sub specality, after being board cerified in internal medicine he had a three year followship in his sub specality. I wonder how the Duggars would view having their dialysis or transplant done by someone who spent an afternoon looking over someone's elses shoulder ? They shun education but if not for modern medicine ( vaccinations, c sections, antibiotics, etc) half of the "blessings" wouldn't be here.

My husband is a physician in a very complicated sub specality, after being board verified in internal medicine he had a three year followship in his sub specality. I wonder how the Duggars would view having their dialysis or transplant done by someone who spent an afternoon looking over someone's elses shoulder ? They shun education but if not for modern medicine ( vaccinations, c sections, antibiotics, etc) half of the "blessings" wouldn't be here.

Eta there is a difference between verified and cerified!

Edited June 17, 2015 by nc socialworker

[Vaysh]

Or, to put it this way - think of it this way. Were you ever a young woman who prayed for her period to come? And then, years later, were you perhaps an older women who prayed that it would not? In reality, your body was doing what it was doing, but you might use language such as "I thanked God for..." Because your point of view had changed.

 

Well, I'm an atheist so no. I get what you mean though.

 

But what Jill was doing wasn't thanking God for her contractions, she was thanking God for making her grateful for getting contractions, which sounds like she thinks God controls her emotions. It could just be a strange use of words or maybe she was misquoted, but it would be interesting to know how the Duggars view the concept of free will and how much autonomy and power over their emotions and thoughts they believe they have. We already know that the menfolk aren't fully responsible for any lustful thoughts (or deeds).

[GEML]

I think she was saying that God was telling her he was in control of her body. It was, in her own weird Gothard/Jill/Fundy way, as close to an, "I'm sorry I thought I could control this" sentence that we are ever likely to hear. I'm pretty sure she's saying that God humbled her. She had likely prayed for an easy birth with few contractions. Well, she got the few contractions and the Caesarian which meant "easy" in a sense, but not the way she meant it.

That's just how I would interpret it if another Fundy woman were telling me this story, and I have to say, when I did research for my novel, I talked to quite a few, as Fundy women were least likely to have used medicated births. But that's me.

[SometimesBites]

Actually, it's not a place as large as Texas. The Gothard party line has the world population inside the city limits of Jacksonville. :D

So even more hideously ignorant than first imagined. How...surprising?

[SometimesBites]

Jim Bob and Michelle believing that abandoning the management of their reproductive parts naturally results in "God's will" being done is just as illogical as abandoning brushing their teeth and believing that they won't get cavities unless it's God's will. If your god gave you the body parts, then your god likely expects you to manage those parts with a scrim of intelligence and personal accountability.

 

Edited for keyboard mangling.

Edited June 18, 2015 by SometimesBites

[Beth64]

Oh happfatchick, I feel ya. My sister and her husband have turned fundie and it's the same with them. They make all these terrible financial decesions and say "God will provide". God always turns out to be me and my 80 year old mother. I've paid her mortgage on many occasions, bought her clothes, taken them on vacation, and paid thousands of dollars in vet bills so her beloved dog could get surgery and not have to be put down. Never a thank you but lots of praise the Lord. I've made a promise to myself not to rescue her anymore but it's so hard. Thank God they don't have children.

So, he HAS provided. Through you. Working well for your sister. ;)

[Happyfatchick]

Jim Bob and Michelle believing that abandoning the management of their reproductive parts naturally results in "God's will" being done is just as illogical as abandoning brushing their teeth and believing that they won't get cavities unless it's God's will. If your god gave you the body parts, then your god likely expects you to manage those parts with a scrim of intelligence and personal accountability.

BUT: JB/M did NOT abandon the "management" of their reproductive systems. (Well, hers anyway). As much as I am able to understand, her reproductive system was discussed, maintained, charted and watched eagerly. Admittedly, I wasn't THERE (thank God), but I think it's been noted that they AIMED at her most fertile times, hoping for another, um, blessing.

I guess God needs a boost sometimes.

And the analogy using the teeth and cavities is dead on. That's an argument I've worn out completely (like a holey, buttery soft, tattered old sheet, that argument for me). I wanted to shout "EXACTLY!!!!" when I read that.

As in: WHYYYYY do you think God gave you a BRAIN, and a conscious thought process??? Otherwise, he would have made generations and generations of Stepford wives and we'd never have to figure out a thing our whole lives.

[bluebonnet]

Exactly.  It makes no sense.  If god is in charge of creating their wonderful bodies, then that means he also gifted women with a reproductive system that has a fairly predictable rhythm.  Using that rhythm to prevent pregnancies seems to make a lot more sense than using it to have pregnancy after pregnancy after pregnancy, with each one slowly destroying the body and endangering future pregnancies.  

[GreyBunny]

As far as "God working through people to get things done" (which is indistinguishable from a god not existing at all), any self-respecting god can do its own work.  If it has to work through humans then it's a crappy god.

 

Jim Boob and MEchelle are terrible people, terrible parents, lazy, self-righteous, grifting con-artists.

[zenme]

Quote

    I've thought the same.  They could have a huuuuuge vegetable garden and tons of fruit trees. They certainly have enough hands to pick the vegetables and cut them up.  Such a contrast to Kate Gosselin who never lets a day go by without feeding her kids veggies and fruits at each meal.  She'd never in a million years give them tater tot casserole.  (I can't believe I just said something nice about Kate Gosselin.)

 

I always thought it would have been wise of them to take up extreme couponing.  I'm surprised they never had a child assigned to that task.  Actually, Kate Gosselin uses coupons too, although I don't think she does it in the same vein as Mama June's extreme style of coupon clipping.

[Churchhoney]

As in: WHYYYYY do you think God gave you a BRAIN, and a conscious thought process???

 

Just one question: Are you sure JimBob and Michelle actually have these?

 

Couldn't resist.

[JenCarroll]

Prayer Closet, young lady! I'll, uh, see you there.

[3 is enough]

You have to wonder if all the licensed tradesmen around Tontitown actually dread getting a call from JB, or if many of them say they are too booked up to take the job.  It's probably common knowledge in that community that any job will involve lots of unruly kids hanging around "so they can learn".  Wouldn't be surprised if JB is number one on a list unacceptable clients for many contractors and tradesmen in that area.

[Jamiesmum]

I never understood WHY the kids have to have "accountability partners" every damn time they leave the house...if they were "raised right", then the kids would keep to the morals and values mommy and daddy instilled in them. And...if not...so? it's a control thing. My kids were/are no angels...but they're independent (well, mostly independent) individuals who are making their own way in life. I don't have to like it or agree with it...they're over 18 and as long as its legal, it's none of my business!

I was gob smacked when Jill and Derek went to pray together after their first look but before the actual wedding, when JB asked who was going with them. When they said James (I think it was him, not sure, but not verifying by watching the episode), JB then said, oh good, he's a good one, or words to that effect. They were in a church with so many people buzzing around, in their wedding clothes, and would be married in the blink of an eye, what could possibly happen? Especially with a film crew on hand. JB still had to show he was in charge and would not trust 2 grown, about to be married adults while they prayed. Or perhaps he was thinking about what he would have done had it been him and M on their wedding day. Eeeewwww!!!!!!

[Sew Sumi]

Yeah, JB seems to project. A lot. And know that he also projects Smuggar's molestation onto young men as well. Sorry Boob, but most men are NOT preverts or creeps like you and your son. You guys are the exception, not the rule!

[Happyfatchick]

You have to wonder if all the licensed tradesmen around Tontitown actually dread getting a call from JB, or if many of them say they are too booked up to take the job.  It's probably common knowledge in that community that any job will involve lots of unruly kids hanging around "so they can learn".  Wouldn't be surprised if JB is number one on a list unacceptable clients for many contractors and tradesmen in that area.

additionally, I bet JB is quite well known in the community for looking for a "deal". I bet they have to argue and quote and figure out how to cut corners and refigure - I imagine they all HATE when he contacts them about any kind of job.

[silverspoons]

e

I always thought it would have been wise of them to take up extreme couponing.  I'm surprised they never had a child assigned to that task.  Actually, Kate Gosselin uses coupons too, although I don't think she does it in the same vein as Mama June's extreme style of coupon clipping.

Jim Bob and Michelle had been asked why they don't coupon on one of those Q&A shows and their answer showed how stuck in 1989 Jim Bob is(the time when he was a stocker at a grocery store). He said, it takes so much time to clip a coupon to save .15 of a can of food, and that he just buys cases at a low cost grocery store (Aldi). Coupons haven't been .15 for years Jim Bob!  Lets forget about extreme couponing. There are coupons that you can print for $1 off of milk or cheese, 2 per computer.. Very conservative estimate lets say they buy 4 gallons of milk and 2 lbs of cheese every week , that saves them $5 a week or $250+ a year for having one the their kids print off a few coupons every week. Then there are products they use all the time, the grands rolls, canned soup, and frozen pizza. These all have regular coupons online and in papers.

I think they missed a huge homeschool math opportunity. It has been shown several kids in the family are behind in math so with all Jim Bob's talk about the practical skills homeschool teaches , why not try coupon/price checking charts and skills. It also might help tame the younger kids behavior in stores. My kids when they were little wanted whatever cereal or fruit snack had the character they liked. I just had them look at a sale ad or cut one coupon of one item they wanted and we played scavenger hunt for it in the store. It kept my kids occupied, they got one special item and I got it on sale or with a coupon. With all those boys just running around the house or outside shooting guns, one could spend an hour a week checking ads online and printing coupons. If one of the Duggar kids was smart they would ask  Jim Bob to keep the money they saved. I bet it would be way more then .03 a chore!

Edited June 18, 2015 by silverspoons

[Wellfleet]

This is all so very true! (I would have quoted the whole post, but it's long).

 

People love their kids. I'm sure that the Duggars love their kids, too, in their way, but they should not have ANY kids. 

 

Children aren't simply a "blessing," they are a responsibility. They require mountains of physical things like food, clothing, shoes, toys, books, etc. and an even greater quantity of intangibles: attention, affection, encouragement, etc. And, they are individual human beings with different needs: some need structure and discipline while others need a gentler hand; some have talents in intellectual fields, while others have great talent in art, or in working with their hands. They need guidance and supervision, but they also need space to make their own decisions and their own mistakes.

 

So much of the stuff that the Duggars portray as adorable adaptations to having so many kids are simply horrifying: The kids schedule appointments with Mom and Dad! We have a buddy system where the older girls raise the younger children! We can't afford all our kids, but the members of our church give us stuff!

 

I know that their fans think that they are a wonderful Christian family, but I don't think that there is anything Christian about them -- simply talking about Jesus all the time doesn't make you a good Christian. Jesus never said "Blessed are the people who have children and don't care for them." He never said "Blessed are the people who don't work and expect free stuff from their neighbors." There no verse in the Bible "Blessed are those who try to dictate how others should live."

 

When J'chelle says that she "doesn't have a heart for children," and JB admits that he "didn't have an anger problem until they started having kids," why didn't they listen? They think that God is micro-managing every aspect of their lives, but when God did actually "lay something on their hearts" why didn't they listen?

 

OMG. You have nailed it, cmr2014. One of the best posts I've read on this forum. Thank you for summing up the Duggars so perfectly - at least in my book - and for saying it much more coherently than I ever could.

[Wellfleet]

Sure, Josh got a taste of life on his own in DC, but let's face it, there was usually one of his family members at his place, or he flew home for long weekends twice a month. On balance, he really did NOT have the breathing room that some have given him credit for. And that's all on his parents. 

 

Yes indeed. To me, it was very significant that Josh actually cried when Boob and Me-chelle were boarding the stinkbus to leave him in Maryland at his big new house and FRC job. He was a 25-year old married man with 3 kids at the time - and he was crying? And on-camera to boot? I mean, it wasn't a death in the family. They were just - basically - separating as parents and adult children have done for 1000s of years. But he wasn't ready for it because of the unnatural and unhealthy way he was raised.

[flyingdi]

Extreme coupling takes like lots of like organizational skills and stuff. You` d think they'd have like one kid this would come natural to.

[fireice13]

Yes indeed. To me, it was very significant that Josh actually cried when Boob and Me-chelle were boarding the stinkbus to leave him in Maryland at his big new house and FRC job. He was a 25-year old married man with 3 kids at the time - and he was crying? And on-camera to boot? I mean, it wasn't a death in the family. They were just - basically - separating as parents and adult children have done for 1000s of years. But he wasn't ready for it because of the unnatural and unhealthy way he was raised.

 

 

I would knock Josh and his family for a lot of things, but not this. I went to Europe by myself at 16, I went 2000 miles away to college, I then moved back near my parents for 8 years. When I moved away again, 1500 miles at the age of 30, and my parents drove away I cried. It's because my parents are two of my best friends and I was going to miss being around them and being able to hang out with them. Crying when you move away from your family is not a sign of a unhealthy childhood. There are plenty of signs that it was unhealthy for Josh and the other kids, but that's not one of them in my opinion.

[JoanArc]

 

Extreme coupling takes like lots of like organizational skills and stuff.

Well, Michelle and Jim Bob are an extreme couple. ;)

[GEML]

I LOVE the "extreme coupling" auto correct! Internet post of the day!!

[MrsMommy]

I would knock Josh and his family for a lot of things, but not this. I went to Europe by myself at 16, I went 2000 miles away to college, I then moved back near my parents for 8 years. When I moved away again, 1500 miles at the age of 30, and my parents drove away I cried. It's because my parents are two of my best friends and I was going to miss being around them and being able to hang out with them. Crying when you move away from your family is not a sign of a unhealthy childhood. There are plenty of signs that it was unhealthy for Josh and the other kids, but that's not one of them in my opinion.

I can see Josh crying as well, when I was 24 I moved to indiana leaving my whole family in sc, I cried for the first month after I moved. It's been 3 years since the move and every once in awhile I still cry because I miss my mom, sisters, and brothers. Even my crazy grandma :(

[Wellfleet]

I would knock Josh and his family for a lot of things, but not this. I went to Europe by myself at 16, I went 2000 miles away to college, I then moved back near my parents for 8 years. When I moved away again, 1500 miles at the age of 30, and my parents drove away I cried. It's because my parents are two of my best friends and I was going to miss being around them and being able to hang out with them. Crying when you move away from your family is not a sign of a unhealthy childhood. There are plenty of signs that it was unhealthy for Josh and the other kids, but that's not one of them in my opinion.

 

I completely understand. I'd have been teary too, watching my parents drive away. Regardless of my age. But I'm a girl, and I'm willing to bet you are too. It's sociably-acceptable for females to cry - in public or private. And whether it's sexist or not [another argument], crying in public is still not something most American males are comfortable doing. I wouldn't have seen it as significant if Josh had been 18 and going off to college for the first time. But I felt it was very telling that he did as a 25-year old married male. Especially on-camera.

[Happyfatchick]

MrsMommy, speaking strictly as someone who's from the south (but has several friends and relatives in Indiana...), I'd cry for months and even years too, if I had to move from SC to IN. Just an observation that probably belongs in the prayer closet. Probably my brain is baked from the HEAT.

[dillpickles]

I completely understand. I'd have been teary too, watching my parents drive away. Regardless of my age. But I'm a girl, and I'm willing to bet you are too. It's sociably-acceptable for females to cry - in public or private. And whether it's sexist or not [another argument], crying in public is still not something most American males are comfortable doing. I wouldn't have seen it as significant if Josh had been 18 and going off to college for the first time. But I felt it was very telling that he did as a 25-year old married male. Especially on-camera.

I still wouldn't knock him for crying. I'm sure a lot of men cry for things other than their daughters getting married, leaving the nest could be one of them.

[flyingdi]

I LOVE the "extreme coupling" auto correct! Internet post of the day!!

Oops.

[mbutterfly]

MrsMommy, speaking strictly as someone who's from the south (but has several friends and relatives in Indiana...), I'd cry for months and even years too, if I had to move from SC to IN. Just an observation that probably belongs in the prayer closet. Probably my brain is baked from the HEAT.

Happyfatchick, you just hurt my Hoosier feelings. 

[SoSueMe]

This is all so very true! (I would have quoted the whole post, but it's long).

 

When J'chelle says that she "doesn't have a heart for children," and JB admits that he "didn't have an anger problem until they started having kids," why didn't they listen? They think that God is micro-managing every aspect of their lives, but when God did actually "lay something on their hearts" why didn't they listen?

Respectfully snipped.

I came late to the Duggar show but I am pretty well caught up thanks to reruns and marathons. I do want to ask about these quotes, are they actual or pretty much what is displayed behavior-wise? I don't remember ever seeing that on the episodes I've viewed, although I agree 100% that is how they come across. Maybe this came from magazine speculation? I would love to hear that JB and M actually said this.

[cmr2014]

Respectfully snipped.

I came late to the Duggar show but I am pretty well caught up thanks to reruns and marathons. I do want to ask about these quotes, are they actual or pretty much what is displayed behavior-wise? I don't remember ever seeing that on the episodes I've viewed, although I agree 100% that is how they come across. Maybe this came from magazine speculation? I would love to hear that JB and M actually said this.

 

Here is a reference:

 

http://swbts.edu/campus-news/news-releases/jim-bob-michelle-duggar-share-story-behind-e2809819-kids-countinge28099/

 

It includes these lines, but they have appeared other places as well. This appears to be one of their speeches:

 

“I really never had an anger problem until we had started having children,” Jim Bob said.

‘Father, forgive us and give us a love for children like You love children.’”

 

In this case the "heart for children" line is pretty bland, but there are other places where J'chelle has said more specifically that she, herself, had to "pray for a heart for children."

[HooHooHoo]

Happyfatchick, you just hurt my Hoosier feelings.

Mine too Edited June 19, 2015 by HooHooHoo

[Happyfatchick]

I apologize to all you Happy Hoosiers.  I knew I'd have to eventually.

[Micks Picks]

The Dugger kids must be so tired and bored having to be hauled around the country and put on display, play their instruments so badly, then sit and listen to the same old story about courtship and love, and heart for children and anger, over and over again.  I'm so glad I wasn't one of their kids.

[Love2dance]

I apologize to all you Happy Hoosiers.  I knew I'd have to eventually.

TeeHee.

[roamyn]

When hubby & I moved from OH to IL, even though my brother was in IL, we both still cried a bit.

Of course that was probably because we had to move to IL (since we cheered just leaving there for NC a month ago).

[ChocolateAddict]

Speaking of moving, I just watched the "16 children and moving in" special and I don't think I had ever appreciated how stupid J'Chelle and Boob were before. 17 people in a house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms is beyond ridiculous.  And then to add in another kid when there already aren't enough beds or space is just crazy. 

Equally, that house could have been finished in 6 months, easy.  With qualified contractors, a project home doesn't take that long, mainly because it is almost from a set.  I was in shock when every kid from 8 up got their own drill.  WHY?  It is one thing to give an 8 year old a spanner and a couple of bolts but to actually distribute and name drills is nuts.  To me it said that those kids were spending waayyy too much time building if they were doing so much work that they had their own drills, especially when they were so young.  Seeing Josh, Jana, JD and Jill working didn't bother me all that much (even though I don't think that they should have been doing construction work) but to see some of the little ones like Joy, Jed and Jer using real tools and running around with them was scary.  

It actually wouldn't have worried me so much if Boob had actual qualifications in constructing and they were all being supervised properly.  But it was all over the shop and Boob openly admitted that they were learning as they were going.  In my mind at least, it would be different if it was a builder working on his home with 4 of his sons rather than a completely unqualified father with 15 underage kids making it up as he went along. 

The actual contractor seemed to get pissed with the Duggars. There was a bit of a snarky comment about how "everything is taking twice as long because they keep changing things" and he seemed to be pretty unimpressed that Boob had been working on the house for 3 years already.  Plus who actually was the guy that worked on the TTH house for so long, Chuck or something?  I don't remember seeing him on the show but he had clearly spent plenty of time building that house for Boob who didn't seem to be as appreciative as he should have been. 

And Josh's voice was so creepy now that everything has come out. Seeing him carry Jackson around on his hip gave me chills, especially because he was so smug and there were definitely no self-esteem problems with that ego! 

Question - where the hell were they planning on having Hannie sleep anyway?  There was no room for an extra bed in the girls room and there was nothing prepared for what would happen once she outgrew the crib.  For all the "organisation" talk, there was a distinct lack for foresight with regards to where future children would be staying (because it wouldn't be in J'Chelle and Boob's room!)

[Sew Sumi]

The guy who helped with construction was Gothardite  buddy Clark Wilson. I love how he was totally freaked out by the scary female decorator from New York!  

[SometimesBites]

Yes indeed. To me, it was very significant that Josh actually cried when Boob and Me-chelle were boarding the stinkbus to leave him in Maryland at his big new house and FRC job. He was a 25-year old married man with 3 kids at the time - and he was crying? And on-camera to boot? I mean, it wasn't a death in the family. They were just - basically - separating as parents and adult children have done for 1000s of years. But he wasn't ready for it because of the unnatural and unhealthy way he was raised.

Interesting observation. I have five adult kids--four sons and a daughter--and they were all too excited about launching themselves into their new lives to get teary. College, cross-country moves, etc. I was usually teary, and sometimes my husband was a downright weepy mess, but the kids were chomping at the bit, ready to dive into life. (Getting homesick came later, when the realities of laundry, feeding themselves, etc. got real, LOL.)

Not faulting Josh for crying on camera, per se, but he has always been a swaggerer and a self-congratulator in the past, and it does seem a bit much for a grown man with a family of his own. I think it may have also been fear of the bigger pond he was diving into. It's easy to be hot shit on a dinky car lot in rural Arkansas, but quite another to hold down a position on the outskirts of the capitol, where most of the people around you are college graduates, and you were taught at the kitchen table that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time. Yeah, that would make me cry, too.

[kokapetl]

Arkansas Josh didn't have to worry about paying the rent on time, and may not have had to worry about paying rent at all. There's a good chance his house utilities etc were probably in grandmas name, and Jim Bob took care of them. I think Jim Bob owned the car yard, or at the very least, was the source of funding, and I think he owned at least one of the properties the car yard operated out of (they moved like 3 times on the show). Daddy could save him from true failure in Arkansas. DC Josh was solely on the hook for rent bills etc. and his FRC bosses must have expected him to earn his pay. It was the first real "leave and cleave" from his family and their money, and everyone would have understood that to be final.

Of course, he's totally fucked it up for everyone, and he's returned as an unemployable failure. Bet he cried way more on the return.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Kokapetl

[BuddyMom]

I would cry too if I was was cleaning toilets with Ben. What else could josh possibly be doing?

Jim Bob has control over every single child and spouse now.

[Seashell Lover]

I wonder how pissed Boob and Clown Car are that their girls are still going to the events that they were supposed to go to.

[Darknight]

Jim Bob and Michelle had been asked why they don't coupon on one of those Q&A shows and their answer showed how stuck in 1989 Jim Bob is(the time when he was a stocker at a grocery store). He said, it takes so much time to clip a coupon to save .15 of a can of food, and that he just buys cases at a low cost grocery store (Aldi). Coupons haven't been .15 for years Jim Bob! Lets forget about extreme couponing. There are coupons that you can print for $1 off of milk or cheese, 2 per computer.. Very conservative estimate lets say they buy 4 gallons of milk and 2 lbs of cheese every week , that saves them $5 a week or $250+ a year for having one the their kids print off a few coupons every week. Then there are products they use all the time, the grands rolls, canned soup, and frozen pizza. These all have regular coupons online and in papers.

I think they missed a huge homeschool math opportunity. It has been shown several kids in the family are behind in math so with all Jim Bob's talk about the practical skills homeschool teaches , why not try coupon/price checking charts and skills. It also might help tame the younger kids behavior in stores. My kids when they were little wanted whatever cereal or fruit snack had the character they liked. I just had them look at a sale ad or cut one coupon of one item they wanted and we played scavenger hunt for it in the store. It kept my kids occupied, they got one special item and I got it on sale or with a coupon. With all those boys just running around the house or outside shooting guns, one could spend an hour a week checking ads online and printing coupons. If one of the Duggar kids was smart they would ask Jim Bob to keep the money they saved. I bet it would be way more then .03 a chore!

Coupons require work. Which means they're too lazy to do that.

[kokapetl]

Michelle only cooks eggs, and she does so very carefully, one serving at a time. Do you think there's something subconscious going on there?

[zenme]

Of course, he's totally fucked it up for everyone, and he's returned as an unemployable failure. Bet he cried way more on the return

 

The sad thing is I bet he's more sorry about that than about his molesting little girls.