Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[PikaScrewChu]

1 hour ago, GeeGolly said:

Funny how Jessa has been quiet on SM since breaking her "season of quarantine".

Bloody well $tupid. I would be cranking out any content while I knew there were people $tuck at home and more likely to watch my videos than they would normally. Moneti$e!

[JoanArc]

33 minutes ago, PikaScrewChu said:

Bloody well $tupid. I would be cranking out any content while I knew there were people $tuck at home and more likely to watch my videos than they would normally. Moneti$e!

Fun things to do at home - Jessa should know since they isolate anyway. Money saving tips. ANYTHING. But yeah, crickets. I feel like the coming recession might end Counting On's run.

[Westiepeach]

8 minutes ago, JoanArc said:

Fun things to do at home - Jessa should know since they isolate anyway. Money saving tips. ANYTHING. But yeah, crickets. I feel like the coming recession might end Counting On's run.

One can only hope...

[galaxychaser]

1 hour ago, JoanArc said:

Fun things to do at home - Jessa should know since they isolate anyway. Money saving tips. ANYTHING. But yeah, crickets. I feel like the coming recession might end Counting On's run.

Please Jesus let the show be canceled so the Duggar offspring can get jobs or bankrupt Jim Bob. Amen and thank you.

[PikaScrewChu]

3 hours ago, JoanArc said:

Fun things to do at home - Jessa should know since they isolate anyway. Money saving tips. ANYTHING. But yeah, crickets. I feel like the coming recession might end Counting On's run.

TLC filmed a bit but probably didn't film enough for an 8 episode season due to the current circumstances. I imagine they could get the Duggars to film something but who knows what. Are they going to show a Howler and the next brood mare on a date over Zoom?

If you are smart, you can make decent money as a content creator. Jessa lucked out with the Z-list celebrity status by virtue of being put out on the TV show as a kid. Not to mention Benessa were the highest profile couple on the show. Jessa already has the built in audience. She needs to churn out content and especially content people will pay for (and people will...).

[Temperance]

3 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

Please Jesus let the show be canceled so the Duggar offspring can get jobs or bankrupt Jim Bob. Amen and thank you.

Even if the show is cancelled, they can live off the money they have squirreled away for a long time. 

[GeeGolly]

6 hours ago, Temperance said:

Even if the show is cancelled, they can live off the money they have squirreled away for a long time. 

If they have money squirreled away.

The Seawalds seemed to have scaled back their travel somewhat, have a small home and one car. With no mortgage, I'm guessing they would need over $20,000 a year to live a frugal lifestyle. I would guess they're spending over $50,000 a year the way they're living now.

I don't think Jessa and Ben have had enough earnings to have enough savings to last them beyond a couple of years without additional income.

[DangerousMinds]

6 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

If they have money squirreled away.

The Seawalds seemed to have scaled back their travel somewhat, have a small home and one car. With no mortgage, I'm guessing they would need over $20,000 a year to live a frugal lifestyle. I would guess they're spending over $50,000 a year the way they're living now.

I don't think Jessa and Ben have had enough earnings to have enough savings to last them beyond a couple of years without additional income.

And I’m sure they will continue to pump out “blessings” every couple years.

[leighdear]

6 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I don't think Jessa and Ben have had enough earnings to have enough savings to last them beyond a couple of years without additional income.

I've heard that Grub Hub is hiring......

Edited May 1, 2020 by leighdear

[GeeGolly]

I feel Michelle took being "joyfully available" very seriously, just because they were trying to stay relevant to TLC and produce more "blessings". I wonder if Jessa feels the same way after TLC told her "they were too boring", prior to Ivy's birth. If she gets pregnant now the baby would be born when (hopefully) this virus is under control.

[VioletWitch]

 

[PikaScrewChu]

I strongly believe that JB and Meech wouldn't have hit 19 kids without TLC. 

I've said it before and I will say it again. I never pictured Jessa churning out child after child. Having children to stay relevant is not a good reason to have one. 

[Temperance]

I think JB and Michelle were close enough to 19 without TLC. She was pregnant with number 15 when then the specials started. They were able to have 4/5 more kids while filming. 5 if you count the baby already gestating at the very beginning. By the time they had an actual show (instead of just specials) they were at 17. When you have 15 kids, what's 4 more? When you have 17 kids, what's 2 more? 

I believe JB and Michelle are self-centered addicts who were already addicted to pregnancy when TLC showed up. 

As for Jessa, I was wondering if she was already pregnant before the crisis. She tends to announce (officially; to the world) very late (around 3/4 months).  I could see people delaying announcements more than ever now, because they want to hear about possible corona complications. 

I can't tell with Jessa what's going on. At first she seemed to go along with things, because she couldn't picture a different way of doing things. Now she seems more sincere in her beliefs. She certainly enjoys motherhood more than anyone would have guessed. I do think she's also trying to stay relevant for their fans, TLC, the brand, etc. 

As for their finances, the whole family can live off JB and his LLCs for a long time as long as they're frugal. 

 

[VioletWitch]

I can’t  imagine Ben is happy working for JB. At this point for sure I thought he would have his own job. There is no way JB will ever prioritize Ben over his own sons, so I think they are probably in the worst shape financially along with Josh and Anna. 

[Zella]

12 minutes ago, VioletWitch said:

I can’t  imagine Ben is happy working for JB. At this point for sure I thought he would have his own job. There is no way JB will ever prioritize Ben over his own sons, so I think they are probably in the worst shape financially along with Josh and Anna. 

I think Josh is probably in the best shape financially, though I doubt anything is in his name. He seems to still have golden child status, despite everything. I agree, though, that Ben is going to be further down the list of priorities than the other Duggar boys. 

[galaxygirl76]

23 hours ago, JoanArc said:

Fun things to do at home - Jessa should know since they isolate anyway. Money saving tips. ANYTHING. But yeah, crickets. I feel like the coming recession might end Counting On's run.

The Sex Pest molesting his sisters news should have ended any kind of show they had. 

[JoanArc]

20 hours ago, PikaScrewChu said:

TLC filmed a bit but probably didn't film enough for an 8 episode season due to the current circumstances. I imagine they could get the Duggars to film something but who knows what. Are they going to show a Howler and the next brood mare on a date over Zoom?

If you are smart, you can make decent money as a content creator. Jessa lucked out with the Z-list celebrity status by virtue of being put out on the TV show as a kid. Not to mention Benessa were the highest profile couple on the show. Jessa already has the built in audience. She needs to churn out content and especially content people will pay for (and people will...).

"THAT'S TOO MUCH LIKE WORK!" - Jessa

[andromeda331]

8 hours ago, Temperance said:

I think JB and Michelle were close enough to 19 without TLC. She was pregnant with number 15 when then the specials started. They were able to have 4/5 more kids while filming. 5 if you count the baby already gestating at the very beginning. By the time they had an actual show (instead of just specials) they were at 17. When you have 15 kids, what's 4 more? When you have 17 kids, what's 2 more? 

I believe JB and Michelle are self-centered addicts who were already addicted to pregnancy when TLC showed up. 

As for Jessa, I was wondering if she was already pregnant before the crisis. She tends to announce (officially; to the world) very late (around 3/4 months).  I could see people delaying announcements more than ever now, because they want to hear about possible corona complications. 

I can't tell with Jessa what's going on. At first she seemed to go along with things, because she couldn't picture a different way of doing things. Now she seems more sincere in her beliefs. She certainly enjoys motherhood more than anyone would have guessed. I do think she's also trying to stay relevant for their fans, TLC, the brand, etc. 

As for their finances, the whole family can live off JB and his LLCs for a long time as long as they're frugal. 

 

Oh, definitely, now if they actually had to raise their kids instead of hand them off to the girls  (or boys if that had been the case) they would have had a lot less kids. Michelle had a meltdown and the only thing that changed was she handed off all the work to the girls. Had she and JB actually been had to raise their kids themselves. He'd been snipped and they would have sent all the kids to public school. 

[JAYJAY1979]

When watching the show when the girls were still.single, Jessa was the one to make sure the kids did their own work, disciplined them, etc.  If she had been raised differently, I could have seen her as a teacher.

She does need to crank out the videos during this time..build your audience because people will still watch you when things start getting back to.normal.  If she and Ben lived in LA...she would be much more natural as an influencer than Jinger.  Influencer usually have egos, overly confident, etc...and we all know Jessa thinks she knows best lol

[VioletWitch]

 

[Future Cat Lady]

The kids are standing barefoot on the table and she doesn’t even wipe it before putting the food on the table! Ivy is eating directly off the table.

She only puts a cup of peas and no more veggies. That dish is a fail.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Future Cat Lady

[madpsych78]

Interesting seating arrangements, with Jessa and Spurge at each head of the table rather than Ben.

Jessa's wearing black runners this time. 

[graefin]

I'm waiting for Jessa's hair to catch on fire at the stove.

[BitterApple]

10 eggs, 8 slices of bacon and a whopping 1/2 cup of veggies. 

[Absolom]

2 hours ago, Future Cat Lady said:

The kids are standing barefoot on the table and she doesn’t even wipe it before putting the food on the table! Ivy is eating directly off the table.

Ben said in the video to let him wipe the table down.  He did, but they didn't show him doing it in the video.

I agree with needs more vegetables.

[Nysha]

The basic recipe looks pretty good - scrambled eggs, bacon, rice, and veggies - the proportions are just off. I don't like spicy food, so I would use a different flavoring and increase the veggies, but I would never have thought to add bacon. Mmmmm, bacon.

[Future Cat Lady]

1 hour ago, Absolom said:

Ben said in the video to let him wipe the table down.  He did, but they didn't show him doing it in the video.

I agree with needs more vegetables.

I didn’t hear it the first time. However, Jessa did put the bowls on the table with Henry standing next to it. If Ben had not been there, I bet she would not have cleaned it. I wonder if they are keeping their hands clean.

[GeeGolly]

Interesting - Ivy is wear a Midwestern Seminary shirt.

[Sew Sumi]

I wonder if Ben transferred from Moody. It doesn't appear that they offer post graduate studies online.

[JoanArc]

5 hours ago, Future Cat Lady said:

The kids are standing barefoot on the table and she doesn’t even wipe it before putting the food on the table! Ivy is eating directly off the table.

She only puts a cup of peas and no more veggies. That dish is a fail.

Maybe she's putting forth an effort to keep JB happy, but doesn't really care about youtube fame. She gets her paycheck either way.

[Jynnan tonnix]

4 hours ago, Nysha said:

The basic recipe looks pretty good - scrambled eggs, bacon, rice, and veggies - the proportions are just off. I don't like spicy food, so I would use a different flavoring and increase the veggies, but I would never have thought to add bacon. Mmmmm, bacon.

I don't like spicy food either, but other than that it looked OK-ish...That's an awful lot of eggs for even that heap of rice, but I do love eggs, so that probably wouldn't have bothered me. I like bacon as well, but the thought of it in fried rice just seems off. Not saying it might not taste good, but if I have my choice of what to throw into fried rice, I'd go with shrimp. And while I might not necessarily increase the veggies in the fried rice, I'd make a second dish of stir-fried Chinese vegetables - bok choi, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, pea pods, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and whatnot.

Still, the fried rice did look reasonably tasty.

[leighdear]

3 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

I wonder if Ben transferred from Moody. It doesn't appear that they offer post graduate studies online.

Did he get a Bachelor's Degree when nobody was looking?  I thought he just got an Associates degree a few years back.

[Sew Sumi]

He was attending Moody online, but he took several semesters off to tend to his brood. Nothing has been mentioned about his education in years 

[fonfereksglen]

7 hours ago, BitterApple said:

10 eggs, 8 slices of bacon and a whopping 1/2 cup of veggies. 

That is NOT fried rice!

[GeeGolly]

So Jessa can cook. Jessa can straighten up a house. Jessa can give birth. Jessa can do home improvement. Jessa still hasn't FUed the interwebs with a Jessa can clean video.

 

[Albanyguy]

13 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

He was attending Moody online, but he took several semesters off to tend to his brood. Nothing has been mentioned about his education in years 

Didn't Jessa get very angry and defensive when one of her followers innocently asked her about this? I think he basically just does odd jobs for Jim Bob (probably the ones nobody else wants to tackle) and spends the rest of his time hanging around the house. It's ironic; living in the confines of the family compound with a husband who's constantly available to spend time with her would have been Jill's idea of heaven, but it's probably Jessa's idea of hell. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Albanyguy

[GeeGolly]

Poster: How's Ben?

Jessa: We're happily married.

P: How's Ben's school going?

J: We're happily married.

P: Where's Ben working these days?

J: We're happily married.

P: Isn't That dangerous for Spurgeon to be near the stove when cooking?

J: Thank y'all for your concern. 😠 We've been able to keep him out of the hospital for 5 years now. 🤕🤣 I have 3 kids and 18 siblings and I think I got it handled. 😁

P: Is Ben still planning on becoming a preacher?

J: We're happily married.

[lascuba]

 

On 5/1/2020 at 12:29 PM, GeeGolly said:

I feel Michelle took being "joyfully available" very seriously, just because they were trying to stay relevant to TLC and produce more "blessings". I wonder if Jessa feels the same way after TLC told her "they were too boring", prior to Ivy's birth. If she gets pregnant now the baby would be born when (hopefully) this virus is under control.

Did that really happen? Ha! Though that's rich coming from TLC, since they also obviously told her to stop being such an angry bitch on camera back when the Josh scandals hit. 

It's entirely possible and even likely that Jessa just naturally mellowed with age, but the timing has always been suspicious to me. And as one of like 3 people online who liked Jessa's outspokenness and inability to keep sweet, I always thought it was a huge mistake for Jessa to tone herself down to play the happy homemaker role. Living the fundie life while not being anything the rules says she's supposed to be is somewhat interesting, and she could make a go at capitalizing that. 

[DangerousMinds]

3 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Poster: How's Ben?

Jessa: We're happily married.

P: How's Ben's school going?

J: We're happily married.

P: Where's Ben working these days?

J: We're happily married.

P: Isn't That dangerous for Spurgeon to be near the stove when cooking?

J: Thank y'all for your concern. 😠 We've been able to keep him out of the hospital for 5 years now. 🤕🤣 I have 3 kids and 18 siblings and I think I got it handled. 😁

P: Is Ben still planning on becoming a preacher?

J: We're happily married.

Except she was also angry and defensive. Tells us all we need to know.

[VioletWitch]

Ben and Jessa talk about parenting tips they’ve taken from Michelle 

https://www.tlcme.com/jessa-and-ben-on-parenting-5453164?soc=fb&sf119613537=1

Edited May 3, 2020 by VioletWitch

[Zella]

19 minutes ago, VioletWitch said:

Ben and Jessa talk about parenting tips they’ve taken from Michelle 

https://www.tlcme.com/jessa-and-ben-on-parenting-5453164?soc=fb&sf119613537=1

They've really been kissing JB's and Michelle's asses even more than usual. I suspect something is afoot, but I am not sure what. 

[BitterApple]

10 minutes ago, Zella said:

They've really been kissing JB's and Michelle's asses even more than usual. I suspect something is afoot, but I am not sure what. 

I wonder if the shit's about to hit the fan with the Feds? If another scandal is brewing, and it has the potential to sink the show, Jessa may be getting a jump-start on sucking up to Boob. With a hundred zillion dependents, there's only so much allowance money to go around.

[Temperance]

4 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

I wonder if the shit's about to hit the fan with the Feds? If another scandal is brewing, and it has the potential to sink the show, Jessa may be getting a jump-start on sucking up to Boob. With a hundred zillion dependents, there's only so much allowance money to go around.

Except if it's the Feds, JB is in it up to his neck. There's no way his sons are doing some financial schenanigans without his guidance.  He may hang them out to dry, but he's definitely involved. Also JB has millions, and the money isn't going to run out soon. 

[Sew Sumi]

13 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

I wonder if the shit's about to hit the fan with the Feds? If another scandal is brewing, and it has the potential to sink the show, Jessa may be getting a jump-start on sucking up to Boob. With a hundred zillion dependents, there's only so much allowance money to go around.

And Jessa's gonna need a new house pretty soon. Of course she's sucking up.

[GeeGolly]

Most of us will spend at least one million dollars in our lifetime. JB's money will run out very quick if he is fully supporting his kids and their families.

[Westiepeach]

Just now, GeeGolly said:

Most of us will spend at least one million dollars in our lifetime. JB's money will run out very quick if he is fully supporting his kids and their families.

I was just going to say this. Even if he has a few million, how long can he support multiple families with homes AND living allowances? Nobody seems to want for anything. The well will run dry sooner than later.

[VioletWitch]

Not to mention they don’t have enough homes with adequate space. Gracie’s nursery is also an office 

[GeeGolly]

Spurgie's room is a spare room and office as well.

Jill's kids share a room because the other two bedrooms are an office and a spare room.

The Duggar adults don't seem to care too much about kids' bedrooms, even more so after the first kid.

[lascuba]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

They've really been kissing JB's and Michelle's asses even more than usual. I suspect something is afoot, but I am not sure what. 

I just read this a little while ago: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/2020/05/is-jim-bob-duggar-and-his-ministry-approaching-the-end/

Personally, I don't think Derick has anything all that shocking on JB, but that might be because I've spent too many years online talking about this family and a lot of what he's "revealed" so far is stuff we've been assuming for years. It's possible it's something most snarkers won't get excited about but it's negative enough that the family is panicking. Though panicking now,  when they managed to get through the molestation scandal with the show intact, could mean that something huge really is coming. I really, REALLY hope it has something to do with that investigation a few months back and that JB ends up in handcuffs for various financial crimes. 

[andromeda331]

2 hours ago, DangerousMinds said:

Except she was also angry and defensive. Tells us all we need to know.

Exactly, and the one who ask her the question hadn't even been mean or ask in a jerky way. Just asking what Ben's been up to. That's it. Jessa got angry and defensive for no reason. But she did.