Jump to content
IGNORED

Safe at Home (Arndts) 3: No penguins were harmed in the making of this thread


samurai_sarah

Recommended Posts

Be still my heart.  The Ardnt-marrieds are filming yet more scenes for VV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 554
  • Created
  • Last Reply
On 3/3/2018 at 11:02 AM, Carm_88 said:

James Arndt would be perfect for Jana. I've said it a million times! He's a jack of all trades, "works with his hands" type and he's only a couple of years older. But really Jana could have her pick, none of the man boys are hard on the eyes! Paul, John, Mark, Luke, Jude, and James are all older than her. I think Philip was born in 1990 but is a bit younger than Jana who was born in January. Which is nothing. So 7! :P Come on Jana!

So, I get it when folks think (as do I) that there is no possible way that Steve Maxwell would ever consider any of the Ardnt boys for his daughters - but dang it, yeah, what about an Ardnt and Duggar union? 

I mean, the Ardnts aren't actually Catholic any more, right? Jeremy's latest sermon notwithstanding, do you think JimBob and Michelle really disapprove of Catholics to the extent that it would rule out the former-Catholic Ardnts? (I believe Stevehovah is that ridiculous, but are the Duggars?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, MarblesMom said:

Be still my heart.  The Ardnt-marrieds are filming yet more scenes for VV.

:pb_lol:

Yes, they're like penguins in shit this year with all the snow in upstate NY.   So many more opportunities for the boys to capture footage of Dad's pratfalls in the woods!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 6:46 PM, scoutsadie said:

So, I get it when folks think (as do I) that there is no possible way that Steve Maxwell would ever consider any of the Ardnt boys for his daughters - but dang it, yeah, what about an Ardnt and Duggar union? 

I mean, the Ardnts aren't actually Catholic any more, right? Jeremy's latest sermon notwithstanding, do you think JimBob and Michelle really disapprove of Catholics to the extent that it would rule out the former-Catholic Ardnts? (I believe Stevehovah is that ridiculous, but are the Duggars?)

I doubt an Arndt would be okay with Jim Bob. Not only are they former Catholics, but there are other objectionable points here. The Arndt family already allows females to wear shorts! This isn't a case of Jeremy allowing Jinger to dress differently than JB did, this would be knowing it in advance and being okay with it. Cathy and Whizzy both show their thighs!

Don't the guys enjoy an occasional beer? That's not okay. Plus, what about pork? Do the Arndts eat it?

The Arndt children also seemed to have more freedom growing up than the Duggars had, AND the Arndts do not have clear gender roles, probably because there is only one daughter.

Are the Arndts as well educated as the Duggars? Do any Arndts speak-o Español as JB does?  Also, none of the Arndts have gone on missions that I can recall. Of course, we might be able to count Vine Valley as mission work. Continual, never-ending, perpetual, incessant mission work.

Just way too many really serious issues for JB to consider an Arndt as husband material.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure about freedom and blurred gender roles.   At the core, the Arndts are still very much isolationist and Rick is a total misogynist.  But Rick (and Cathy?) have such total control of their offspring, they don't seem to need to concern themselves too much with accountability buddies or low necklines or too much thigh.

It's obvious what the Duggars are, and it's creepy that there is a whole slew of freaks in their world than can serve as partners for their kids.  The Arndts look and sound way more normal, but in a weird way this makes them even creepier.  And this is probably why partners will never fit in their world.  Normal women are probably attracted to them but back off when they pick up on what's going on.  Fundie women would probably consider them way too worldly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First post ever had to be about my fave Arndts! ;) I find the fact that they were all allowed their own bedrooms while in a vacation house to be the biggest difference from most fundies. The Duggars, Bates', etc., they're never allowed to sleep alone, for "obvious" reasons. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
42 minutes ago, ven said:

Is anyone a member of their group ? Is it like a prayer group? 

Not me.  I miss them, but that's a bridge too far. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/22/2018 at 1:58 PM, Carm_88 said:

Guys, come on! It's a double birthday. :P I think if they ever started taking pictures at the table like normal people, we'd all start looking for the aliens. :P

Have we ever given serious consideration to the possibility that the Arndts ARE the Aliens?

I'm getting a mental picture of them all getting completely sexually fulfilled like this:

On 3/2/2018 at 9:43 AM, MamaJunebug said:

Yes and a few years ago, the family’s vacation drama centered around Wizzy’s apparent loss of a stuffed penguin. All very professionally videotaped at a huge vacation home they rented. I think Wiz was 14 or 15 at the time.

The back porch penguin delivery by drone was most intriguing to me in that Cathy pulled the thing from Wizzy’s arms and hugged it like it was her own. This was last year, if memory serves.

Then there was the time when 2 of the older boys (Paul and Mark? I get them confused) pretended poor Benjie has been destroyed in the laundry.  The younger kids wept! 

On inter-Fundie marriage possibilities suggested here, I think them all highly unlikely.  The Arndts are exposed to non-Fundies but I don't think we have ever caught them running in Duggar, Maxwell, or VF circles, have we?  They are their own odd little family cult.

And the 7 Farmgirl Sisters are way too good for the Arndts even if they could meet them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice, a whole 3-minute video of my fundie crush Luke doing the plank!! :56247955dd693_32(12):

Too bad Rick pulls up at some point and Luke proclaims "Dad's arriving so we'll probably have to cut this short". Nothing sexy about a guy in his 30's who obeys his father like a child. 

Screen Shot 2018-03-22 at 4.37.37 PM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that with exposure to the non-fundie types, there wouldn't probably be a desire to go for a fundie... though they are looking for someone just like their mom of course!

The penguin thing - I think it's cute until you realize how old the kids are. During that prank there were a couple of kids that bawled and if I'm not mistaken they were 10/11 and 13/14 years old... not exactly a "typical" age for crying over a stuffed animal. Yet sometimes you see Mary like, seemingly very mature and sort of being a mini-mom... 

I find myself conflicted over my thoughts with this family.... Although their home/living situation is very strange, I feel like they're raised to be on a much more equal level to the rest of society compared to the duggars, and (according to their YouTube videos) they seem to actually be very loved and appreciated by their parents and family and I don't know that I always feel that from the duggars because they're always like "god loves your soul, god thinks you're lovely". Like yes, cool. Can't you just show genuine love to your kid without bringing up Jesus for 5 entire seconds? Good lord. Anyway, this is random and on a tangent now. AND it seems like in the Arndt family, the parents do the parenting... however they treat their 35 year old the same way as their 15 year old.... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/22/2018 at 6:08 PM, Palimpsest said:

Have we ever given serious consideration to the possibility that the Arndts ARE the Aliens?

That would explain a lot! Rick isn't a part of this world. ;) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/22/2018 at 11:05 PM, Eastcoastn said:

I find myself conflicted over my thoughts with this family.... Although their home/living situation is very strange, I feel like they're raised to be on a much more equal level to the rest of society compared to the duggars, and (according to their YouTube videos) they seem to actually be very loved and appreciated by their parents ....snip.... AND it seems like in the Arndt family, the parents do the parenting... however they treat their 35 year old the same way as their 15 year old.... 

My bold.  Excellent way to describe the situation.  It's almost as if they don't see any of their kids as any older than mid-teens.  Old enough to know a lot about the world, but still needing a good amount of parental attention and direction.  The "why" of this is an unanswered question.

I suspect there may be some answers in Vine Valley, Rick's endless vanity project.  The main character is raised in a good Christian home but in his teens experiences peer pressure that put him on a path to reject religion.  And horrors of horrors, he grows up to be a liberal, atheist college professor.  A bumbling, idiotic, liberal, atheist college professor, of course, who gets lost in the woods and has trouble staying upright in the snow.

Maybe this is all fantasy, or maybe it's biographical in the sense that Rick may have lost his religion for a time in his teens.  But it does seem that Rick (and Cathy?) have been terrified that once their kids get to that normal stage when they begin to question their parents and the things they've taught that they will lose them to liberalism, and Jesus forbid, atheism.    

The "how" question is a much bigger unanswered one, and the one that makes the Arndt parents equal parts scary and fascinating.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find them to be very mysterious, but I also wonder if they're not mysterious at all. Maybe they are actually as they appear. And I have to wonder if their parents are actually doing anything to hold them back, or if they've just been raised to only wait for THE perfect woman to walk into their lives by chance and that hasn't happened.  Or if they just make it so easy to live at home,  and at the moment they live with basically all of their friends...   that moving out feels pointless? I'm not saying that's a good thing,  because most parents want their kids to grow up and spread their wings before they're 40 LOL.  And if they were on their own they will be forced to make new friends and be involved with things outside of their home (instead of only work).  People become what their peers are right? For the most part?

however I remember when one of the boys was like 15 and Kathy was taking him to driving lessons or something, she was asking him if he saw any girls he liked. So it's not like they don't openly talk about these things ....  

Sorry I just have so many thoughts and theories LOL!! I guess the real mystery is, how are they all happy being in their 30's and living at home with no, um, physical stuff in their lives that most men are allowed to do frequently?? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like Jana and her friend Laura to meet the Arndts and get together with two of the brothers. Then Jana would have someone she knew in the family. She also has been around filming all her life and could be of service to their Vine Valley thing. A double wedding might start things moving for the Arndts. Esther Staddon might be a good match, too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eastcoastn said:

however I remember when one of the boys was like 15 and Kathy was taking him to driving lessons or something, she was asking him if he saw any girls he liked. So it's not like they don't openly talk about these things ....  

And then mama said to him,

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

And then mama said to him,

 

Totally! But as others have mentioned in this thread... how does she not want grandchildren....?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Eastcoastn said:

Totally! But as others have mentioned in this thread... how does she not want grandchildren....?

If you saw Cathy's claw hand on some of those birthday pictures, she looks like she would be the possessive mother in law straight from hell. I'm not sure she wants to share her boys with any other female.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

If you saw Cathy's claw hand on some of those birthday pictures, she looks like she would be the possessive mother in law straight from hell. I'm not sure she wants to share her boys with any other female.

ITA.  While I have to come to think that keeping all the children "safe at home" is largely Rick's idea, I don't think Cathy is completely off the hook either.  She's gone along with her husband's crazy ideas.    As the other parent, it was her responsibility to stand up against it, if she didn't agree with it.   Either way, she's gone along with it and has perpetuated it (similar to Teri Maxwell) and at this point in her life, has accepted it as normal though it doesn't seem likely she had any issues with it in the first place (though I guess it's possible).  She may be dependent on her sons given that Rick has checked out of normal life.   

Think about it, they are assuming many of the tasks (earning money, working on or around the house, etc) their father did but ceded to them when he decided to navel gaze full time early retire.   She's looking to them for both material and probably emotional support since Rick's in la la land.   She's normalized all this, perhaps to survive but it's seems so benign that even she doesn't realize that it isn't fucking normal to be this reliant on your adult kids, treating them like teenagers (good point @Eastcoastn) and yet at the same time expecting them to carry on adult responsibilities that should be aimed at forging their own lives.

So in this sense, I think Cathy is just as bad as Rick even if he started the whole thing.   She will see any future daugher-in-law as taking her son away from her.  Even if a manboy actually does get married, she's going to be in their business all the time and needing said manboy to come over and help with something all the time.   Manboy will need a wife who will see that as totally normal and willing to play second fiddle to Mommy.   While it's possible, I suppose, to find someone who is willing to put up with this, the fact that the older ones are in their 30s with the oldest pushing 40 and all are single with nary a girlfriend (or even a date) in sight, I don't think they are having any luck in finding someone like this. 

Between penguins, willing to be treated as teenagers while adults (and more importantly, thinking it's OK), and insane levels of parental focus IMHO they are all doomed to living out their lives this way unless something really gives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Eastcoastn said:

Totally! But as others have mentioned in this thread... how does she not want grandchildren....?

Not all of us do. I was not at all disappointed when it became clear that none of the Jr. Junebugs intend to reproduce.

42 minutes ago, nokidsmom said:

Between penguins, willing to be treated as teenagers while adults (and more importantly, thinking it's OK), and insane levels of parental focus IMHO they are all doomed to living out their lives this way unless something really gives.

I’m not sure they see their prospects as “doom.”  Heck, I’m not sure I see it that way. They’re getting their sexual release somehow and it’s none of my business how; hard to believe (don’t want to believe)  there’s anything illegal about it. 

However! And there’s always a “however” in life:  one of them has (or has had) an apartment on the Missouri side of the river, in a part of St. Louis known for its rehabbed buildings, nightlife and culture, called Soulard. It’s anchored by a farmers’ market that has operated continuously since the mid-1700’s. What I’m saying is, they do not show us everything. Far, far from it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@MamaJunebug if you have any suggestions as to how we can get further information, please advise! ;):) 

But it's true, I'm sure we don't know their whole lives. I just have to wonder with the oldest being 38 this year, and all but one will be over 18... what exactly is the plan for them? I wonder if being non-fundie but non-"average" has been a barrier for it too. They wouldn't fit in with people like JB&Michelle because they're too modern. But they also seem too fundie-lite to fit in with the average person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MamaJunebug said:

However! And there’s always a “however” in life:  one of them has (or has had) an apartment on the Missouri side of the river, in a part of St. Louis known for its rehabbed buildings, nightlife and culture, called Soulard. It’s anchored by a farmers’ market that has operated continuously since the mid-1700’s. What I’m saying is, they do not show us everything. Far, far from it.  

Wait, how is this known? I thought kept pretty good track of the Arndt threads, but this is news to me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MamaJunebug said:

I’m not sure they see their prospects as “doom.”

I was probably being a wee bit dramatic in using the word "doom". :)  However, if any of them are dissatisfied with where they are in their lives, they are indeed doomed keep on living it if they don't make any changes.  Mommy and Daddy are just fine with how things are. 

I agree that they probably don't see their prospects that way, however, but if any of the older ones had expectations of being married and having a family by now, being shown by their father as being "safe at home" (whatever the real situation is), playing along with it not to mention playing with penguins, can't help things.  I mean, what adult really wants to be shown that way?   

Agree we don't know everything and Rick shows what he wants to show.   We do know that some of them have expressed hopes over having their own family someday.  We also know that at least one has expressed some resignation over being a bachelor.  Maybe they are honestly OK with their lives.  But with 14 kids, I think it unlikely they are all on the same page about it.   Even with Rick and Cathy's voodoo, or whatever it is that they keep 14 kids safe at home, there's bound to be a couple who aren't happy about it, even they don't articulate it, even to themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Markie said:

I'd like Jana and her friend Laura to meet the Arndts and get together with two of the brothers. Then Jana would have someone she knew in the family. She also has been around filming all her life and could be of service to their Vine Valley thing. A double wedding might start things moving for the Arndts. Esther Staddon might be a good match, too. 

I think FJ my implode if the Arndts started snapping up all the SAHD old maids. Sarah Maxwell, Sarah Mally, Esther Staddon, the oldest Waller girl, one of the Smith girls in her 30s. There are so many...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HerNameIsBuffy locked this topic

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.