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Haven't done one of these in years, but it's National German Chocolate Cake Day. https://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-german-chocolate-cake-day-june-11/ Fun fact, the cake isn't German like my father was German (i.e. being born in Germany to German people) but rather Sometimes I miss sugar more than I miss men. And that's saying something. Chocolate and coconut is by far my favorite flavor combo, followed by chocolate and black cherry (when is Black Forest Cake Day?), and Italian dressing and cottage cheese. That last one may be specific to me, though. I feel like this week has already being going on for 19 days and I'm so ready for the weekend. Last weekend I organized my storage area and put away my winter clothes and this weekend I plan to...shower and brush my teeth. That's pretty much it unless someone on @Kailash 's status cares enough about productivity to post to do list motivation. I know, Friday memes are trite and overdone and so true they aren't even funny...yet they still speak to me.

I'm a big weirdo ... no shock to anyone reading here, I'm sure. Sometimes when I'm cleaning or doing laundry I look at my things and think, "Would I be happy if this was sent to me in Reverend Alden's Christmas barrel?" Those of you LHOP fans surely remember in The Long Winter when they finally got their Christmas barrel* in May they were thrilled with it's contents after a winter of such deprivation had I been alive and in those circumstances your children would know my name for my whining would gone down through the ages as a cautionary tale. I don't even remember what was in there besides some embroidery thread, a shawl for Ma? And a frozen turkey. I remember as a little girl telling my mom it was terrible they wasted present space on food ... much like it was a waste when kids used to get fruit and nuts in their Christmas stockings when they can just go in the kitchen for those. Don't worry, she schooled my privileged little ass on food scarcity. But back to my current weirdness ... so I was folding sheets and blankets today and thinking of how lovely they would have been to receive in a Christmas barrel. How soft they are, how back in the 1800's the variety of color and patterns on my bed linens would have been remarkable. Like the Ingalls I had people also settling the prairie in the day and luxuries were scarce at that time. It made me grateful for what I have. I did the same with my cookware, books, and toiletries. Based on nothing I think my ancestors would have most appreciated body wash and other personal care items, indoor plumbing, and terry cloth. That's a tragedy of the prairie no one speaks about ... even when you could get the rare proper bath there was nothing absorbent with which to dry off. And all their moisturizers were made with animal fat. I have dry skin and I am so thankful I never had to choose between turning into buff jerky or smelling like old pot roast. I think St. Ives coconut body lotion in a Christmas barrel would have seemed like a miracle. And toe nail clippers. When were they invented? What did they do before them? We take so much for granted in our day to day lives. And Crest toothpaste ... and mouthwash. Along with a fresh new toothbrush would be a delightful treat in my barrel for 19th century fictional me. I sometimes think of how cool it would be to get a time machine and bring some of my great-whatever-grandma's from that era and see what they'd think of life today. But then once they see how easy it is to do laundry and shower they'll never go back and once the novelty wore off it would just be a bunch of strangers asking me why I never speak to my cousins. *This barrel left such an impact on me I kept capitalizing it and had to go back and fix every time. Stupid self important container.

I know this is a boring blog, but I don't have an Instagram with which to be publicly annoying. Today was okay. I did not do the new terrifying/exciting thing I was going to try, but I will. Today had other plans. The tire pressure light lit up on the car so had to figure out what to do about that. Between google, @Destiny, my son, and a new tire gauge* got that squared away. I paid a couple bills and instead of despair remembering how much easier this used to be, I was filled with a sense of gratitude that I was able to do so and that for right now, today, we're okay. Thanks to my buddy Marcus Aurelius. I tried to deposit money with a withdrawal slip and took me way too long to figure out why she was asking me what I wanted to do. Thanks to my buddy ADHD. I used a public bathroom and didn't die. Yet. I opened my glove box and found my prescription sunglasses I thought I lost months ago...they are my most favorite thing in the world and there was much rejoicing. Thanks to my buddy St. Anthony. Did some laundry, some dishes. I'm on my own for dinner so I'm making Rice-A-Roni (chicken, in case you were wondering) ...my boys don't like it so it's a nice treat for me when I'm alone. And might make a burger and eat it plain with A-1...because I am nothing if not a gourmet. But the best part of today was no tears. No moments of self loathing, no anxiety. Days like this are few and far between lately and they are a much needed respite when I get them. I didn't accomplish what I wanted to, but that's okay. I will. After dinner, a shower, and getting into some snuggy pajamas. Speaking of dinner...I have to go check on it but I'm currently in the middle of a cuddle puddle of two dogs and two cats lying on me and each other on half of a queen size bed. But go I must because Rice-A-Roni won't turn itself down to simmer. (*actually two. Read the package before buying something new is a lesson I've yet to learn, apparently.)

Ok, I admit I'm a little jealous of bloggers. Specifically, the fashion bloggers who have designer purses full of designer makeup, which they carry while wearing designer outfits, and the Mormon mommy bloggers, with their clean and pretty homes, shiny hair, and uncluttered lives . That is, the opposite of me. But then I learned about how much money they earn by blogging and/or vlogging. And then I saw a segment on CBS Sunday Morning about kids and toys; apparently there's a four-year-old named Everleigh who supports her parents by making Youtube videos (mostly opening up boxes and LOL -- I know I'm old, but I had no idea people earned money doing this!). I'm far too private to do Youtube. Has anyone started a blog and made money from it? Even enough to quit their day-to-day job?

Paul Swenson, husband of a minor lifestyle- and mommy-blogger Ashlee Swenson has gone missing under strange circumstances. Something seems off about the way the family is acting, but that may just be part of the "keeping up appearances" aspect of their community: They are at least somewhat Mormon (He went on a mission.) Anyway, the alcohol and drug paraphernalia found in the car is definitely not his. Ashlee is 24 and Paul is 30. They married when she was 18. Last month, Ashlee posted a blog where she alluded to Paul cheating on her. The family has a heavily moderated Facebook page and a GoFundMe (even though they appear to be quite wealthy.) Here's a Reddit discussion thread about the disappearance. Bonus WTFery: They're just a wholesome family that enjoys some occasional blackface. Adorable. My gut is telling me he just ran off like some men do when shit gets real. But with possible drug and marriage issues... Who knows? Please note, it might take 23 years or more to find out the truth. Hopefully all those links are kosher. THE END.

I'm looking for some good blogs to read (that aren't Fundie-related.) I'm not picky about the topic. I like cooking blogs, book blogs, life blogs, travel blogs, Mommy blogs or blogs that are a combination of topics. A lot of the blogs I currently follow are getting boring (or the people aren't updating much anymore.)

I sometimes check in on Samantha, the blogger who writes Virtuous Daughters. A quick summary: She is older than 30, no marriage and no children. She is probably like this because her parents have a 170-point questionnaire to give to all potential suitors. She is a Fake Jew. She celebrates Jewish holidays using the Gregorian calendar (Passover in January, Sukkot in July, etc.) http://www.virtuousdaughters.com/ She is now in Israel, volunteering at an assisted living facility run by Messianics. http://onegirlsjourney.virtuousdaughters.com/ On the one hand, I had been feeling very sorry for her. She was assisting a midwife in the US, and had written some very emotional posts that revealed how depressed she is at not being married or having children at this point in her life. This trip has given her something to be excited about and given her goals to work towards. On the other hand, the thought of her and other Fake Jews preying on elderly Holocaust survivors makes me stabby. She thinks that them finding "Yeshua" makes their suffering all better. I think that it is finishing up Hitler's work and trivializing everything they suffered for. On the other other hand, I am tickled by the idea of her being totally confused over holidays being celebrated all over the country, you know, on the days they are supposed to be celebrated.

Oh the fun you shall have! Congratulations! Today is your day! You’re now on Free Jinger, You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. To articulate well thought out views. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. To the Pray Closet, banned, or Journey to the Heart It’s your fault really, if you are not very smart The rules are quite simple, so read them with care. Make sure you don’t break them, to stay welcome here. Read them and learn them, make sure to adhere And ask clarification if you think they’re unclear. FJ is forever Make sure you take note No deletion for you If you end up a turncoat If you’re a lightweight FJ may not be your soulmate A username is constant, Don’t make a sock Or else someone will have to hit IP block An avatar you are free to have But not one that moves, NSFW or spews hate Those are removed OH! THE FUN YOU SHALL HAVE! [AND THE SHIT YOU WILL SEE!] You’ll be posting so soon! If you want to take a rest Deactivation is possible If that suits you best If you’re 18 we love you, or older that too just ensure you’re that or older to continue. On the FJ forum, you may use words of curse No doubt someone out there has heard much, much worse Except if you haven’t But that sure takes snowflake talent Threatening people Is dicky to do Don’t be a dick, that’s completely sick Or you’ll get banned too People at work log on here as well So note your NSFW links if you’re not without moral If you start losing your moral Please do think twice first Before disrupting the forum Like an attack of the cursed It doesn’t matter if you’re cursed Take care not to write Fan fiction of all sorts Til deep in the night Hate speech is hate speech, we will not argue there If you don’t understand it, then make sure you’re aware There are links and resources on the forum as well! We’ve made it quite easy to avoid your farewell Will you take it or leave it? I guess time will tell! If you write in a thread, please keep it in English So it’s easy for us to establish If you’re being a good rule keeper And not just a weird creeper So we don’t need to be a jail keeper You can get really annoying If you forget to delete Your Tapa signature, that is always on repeat Or any other signature that you wish to secrete You’ll end up with warnings that aren’t meant as a treat, so NOT a treat… …because you must show respect For the powers that be And other readers that be and the guests that may be and the rules that rule Without being all cruel Please don’t be a fool Everyone wants respect. YES! Respect for you too! The internet is forever FJ is that too If you later have post regrets You’ll cry and cry, oh, boo hoo Helpmeets shall organize renaming, tagging, moving, Merging things, it’s all constantly improving without a single hint of you all disapproving! Oh, there is fun to be had, there’s lots here to read Just follow the rules, which is all we do plead! Speculating on minors’ sexuality puts you definitely in, a place of marginality Under minors we will also understand Adults living under their parent’s hand Keep it in mind And we’ll have no need to remind! Speculation busses depart from here But not with unidentified victims named, No, oh no, That shall not be proclaimed Not Proclaimed! Whether you like it or not, Victims are victims Not some big story plot. Privacy of others is theirs to protect Information from public sources- that you may collect If you are already friends with them and logged in Then paraphrase well or it’ll go bye-bye in the bin But post as you will Within the boundaries defined Post as you will But “text speak” is not good for the mind Post as you will but try to not be BEC unkind Post as much as you want but no one-word replies, Though your fingers may get tired it’ll save you from demise On and on you can type and follow our rules let us discuss things as adults and not as damn fools. You may post gifs, yeah sure, in a spoiler you know If you forget way to often Into the prayer closet you’ll go Don’t tell us to ban you That’s annoying as fuck If your opinion is different We won’t be awestruck Just remember to write posts clear and precise And you too can find a place in this paradise. And will you write posts? Yes! You are there almost! (All you need to do is follow the signpost) FJ, IS AWAITING YOU! So… St Alan Rickman (RIP) is our FJ patron saint And with the intelligence of St Rachel Maddow we do acquaint You’re now on Free Jinger! Today is your day! FJ is ready for you So… join in the fray! Disclaimer: This will never replace the beautifully legally worded ToU. If you haven't read through that yet, you should probably deactivate your account until you have done so. Nor was it meant to replace the Rules...

I just read about this woman on BBC Trending. I searched but couldn't find her talked about here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-35813994 I find the doxing and the fact that people may have lost their jobs by confronting her online very worrying. Even the journalist who wrote the article seems to have experienced a backlash.

amanhiswifethebible.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/closed-for-business/ It begins: Of note: In other words, FJ has done nothing illegal, therefore, my lawyer advised me to stop airing my dirty laundry on the webz if I don't want evil feminist bitches commenting on it. In other news, they're contemplating a move to Alaska As a side note, I think it's tragic that they've chosen to frighten those poor children and involve them in this nonsense.

amanhiswifethebible.wordpress.com/ Found it through Lori's blog. His wife is guest posting there today: lorialexander.blogspot.com/2014/06/pride-almost-destroyed-her-marriage.html

I know we have an FJ personal blogs thread. Let's talk about blogging itself, though. How often do you update yours? Are they well-viewed? Any tips on writing, marketing or assorted blog things?

So, Jingers... apparently it's the start of Valentine's week (or, as Nie refers to it, "Lovers Holiday") and the MMB-army are slathering their blogs with Valentine's Day perfection. I know it's a total farce - that these gals work very hard to keep up with the (CJane) Joneses and its a show but WOW does it hit me at a sensitive spot! I have an internal dialogue that tells me I should do more to make my home more, uh, "homey" and to make sure my spouse feels more loved (etc etc etc) and reading this crap on their blogs stirs up a lot of inadequacy. I bring this up for two reasons -- 1) I am insecure and need some validation (sob!) and 2) if exposure to these blogs makes ME feel inadequate, my heart aches for all of those women within the culture who feel an even stronger (more "eternal") need to keep up.

Mrs. Mari! Haven't seen her for awhile there. Ever since she was outed here, I think Take a look at the 12/28/12 entry. http://www.titus2.com/blog/ ETA: She also commented on the police cookie post. I don't believe she's commented in months, has she?

Okay, the Maxwells never go this long without posting something new on their blog. I'm ready to put money on a courtship announcement. Anyone with me?

Don't know if anyone reads Jenny The Bloggess, but she made a post about a site called gizoogle.net You can put the url to any site in and it translates it into Snoop Dog's slang. I put the Maxwell blog in and this was the translation. Then I laughed very hard. Da Auntie’s Park Posted on November 26, 2012 by Sarah A week ago Saturday, our crazy-ass asses decided ta set up tha play set. It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, n' there was nuff willin helpers. Our thugged-out asses carried tha pieces, a shitload of which was mad heavy, from tha back corna of tha yard ta tha mo' central location Anna n' Dad had chosen. Then tha procesz of boltin thangs together fuckin started. Occasionizzlely, Anna consulted pictures her ass took when they dismantled tha ta help her peep how tha fuck it needed ta be reconstructed. There is still a few final touches ta be completed yo, but it aint nuthin but mainly done fo' realz. Anna prayed fo' nuff months fo' a play set, n' tha Lord brought dis one along fo' a incredible deal yo. Happily, our crazy-ass asses gotz a welcome addizzle ta our backyard. Delightin up in Jizzy, Sarah

Single room? Previous tenants didn't leave it clean? Shade? Nice view? Has that girl been smoking something????

The Maxwells are my newest addiction thanks to the imprisonment of Sarah. I'm beyond bored with the Duggars, who were my gateway drug and Jinger leaves me cold. Anyway, the traffic at the Maxwell website is rather sparse and they are only making $15 per day with the blog ($464 a month). I wonder how much of that traffic comes from us? Is there a way to access their blog another way so they don't get paid for our visits? I'm new to all of this so I dk. titus2.com Titus2.com - Official Titus2.com: homeschool information by Steve and Teri Maxwell Added: 2012-05-30 16:34:32 774 Daily Visits $15 Daily Revenue $464 Monthly Revenue $5,573 Website Value On average, titus2.com is ranked #618,217 across major traffic ranking services such as Alexa. This metric shows the popularity of this site compared to other sites around the web. It domain created on 1999-02-16. It gets 774 internet visitors per day. Visitors to the site view an average of 3 unique pages per day. Estimated daily time on site 03:52 seconds. It has an average of 4,930 pages indexed in major search engines like Google™. It has 487 backlinks according to Alexa. With the daily ads revenue: $15 USD. If the site was up for sale, it would be worth approximately $5,573 USD. Out of the 30 unique keywords found on titus2.com, "family blog" was the most dense. The website's IP address is 208.110.69.251, which tells us that the geographical location of its server is in Kansas City, United States. This site has Google PageRank™ 4 of 10.

I broke my wrist so, I haven't been posting much. I thought you all would like to discuss this blog topic. Sorry if this was discussed already. I broke the link since it is a blog change dot to . http://rethinkingvisionforumDOTwordpres ... e-duggars/

I was reading one of Zsu's latest posts about miscarriage. She writes that someone had commented on her blog asking what Zsu felt about miscarriage. I've also read comments on other blogs that basically ask the blogger if X is okay, as if the blogger had some sort of divine knowledge, education and/or extensive experience in a particular area, or is somehow considered an expert on sensitive subjects. My question is, why do people ask these women for approval - almost permission (for) - of their choices? There's quite a contingency of followers who elevate these bloggers to a level of perceived authority, from homeschooling to bedroom issues to controversial personal dilemmas. I understand discussing topics to people who can relate to problems, but this goes so much further than "I have ten kids like you do and I wanted to know how you keep up on laundry?". Is it insecurity due to the appearance of perfection or Godliness? Is it naivete? Is it lack of a personal support system or access to actual professionals who could guide them in making choices? I guess I'm just kind of thinking out loud here. It just breaks my heart that so many women look up to people for wisdom and guidance when all they've done is make their personal lives and "convictions" public.

What are those trucks doing? Power outage? Water main break? Cement pouring? Whatever it is, she's using it in her book.

The Maxwell has a new post up which was kind of exist, even amongst fundie families. It fails to even acknowledge the women who fought and died for this country. Even among many conservatives, there is acknowledgement that women have been killed in the line of duty. Sarah Maxwell was the poster. I'm not sure if this indicative of the state of her (un)awareness of the world, or perhaps the state of her (outdated) education. However, her father and her grandfather (as they like to point out) was in the military, so you'd think they'd be aware that females are joining the military and making sacrifices for their country, some offering up their lives in the name of duty. I guess even that bit of female achievement would be too much to acknowledge from the Maxwells, huh?