Sister Wives

[BoomerLynn]

Are you fucking kidding me??? I'm bawling all night because we're making that final trip to the vet tomorrow with our 12 1/2 year old german shepard/akita mix. We've been doing palliative care for about 6 months now, and he took a turn for the worse last night.

Then I turn on SW...ugh...like I needed to see that.

My husband can't be with us tomorrow. I'm sad, but we're at peace. We've wondered for awhile now, he's had good days and bad. We knew that we would "know" when it was time, and it's time. We knew last night. I spent most of the night on the floor with him petting and rubbing him. Finally, I remembered that we had benadryl in the house and we've been keeping him sleepy with that since. He's getting good rest.

We just had a check up a few weeks ago and we found out his liver is failing. It's a side effect of his pain meds, but we can't back off on the pain meds. We voted for quality over quantity of life. So tonight we snuggled the heck out of him, gave him lots of treats, and made sure we didn't regret a second of this last night with him. He's asleep now next to my husband for the night, with a couple of towels under him in case of accidents and a bowl of water close by.

Of course, Kody starts babbling about the house right away again.

I'm so sorry...... :cry:

[patsymae]

"On occasion, Owen Allred provided his followers with detailed instructions regarding their polygamous marriage relationships: “The minute a man turns over the finances to his wife and lets her handle the checking account, lets her keep track of the bookkeeping, he is lamed... No woman should ever handle the finances in a celestial family. This must be solely the responsibility of the man, the head of the family... Never discuss private problems between him and a wife with another wife... Don’t accuse a wife of not loving you, and a wife must never tell her husband that he doesn’t love her... A man cannot allow privileges to one wife that he does not allow to the other wives...â€[24] "

Sounds like Kody isn't following the strictures of the UAB very well.

[Eternalbluepearl]

I've missed Sister Wives recently but I caught last night's episode. I thought the dog being put down was so sad and I am really sick of hearing about those 4 homes they are getting. It is so boring and I think most viewers have a hard time sympathizing with them and their problems. I worry about ever being able to afford a house, I certainly don't care about people who abandonned their home in Utah, got new homes in Vegas, and are desperately worried they won't be able to build 4 brand new homes together. Cry me a river.

[Buzzard]

I'm so sorry...... :cry:

Sorry about your fur baby. I second that he'll be waiting at the rainbow bridge. You did all that you could to give him a good life and I'm sure he appreciates that.

Fuck the browns.

[SunnyAndrsn]

Thanks everyone. It's not my first time going through this, but even our vet had remarked several times on what a unique, special dog we had. His vein blew about 3/4 of the way through, and I knew he was still with me, asleep, but the light was still in his eyes. He had such soulful eyes. The vet listened, his heart was still beating, and apologized as he had to get a vein in the other leg. I just held him and looked into his eyes the entire time.

The vet told me to take my time, and I looked into those eyes one last time, without his beautiful soul, and knew I was ready to leave. He'll be cremated, and we'll bury his ashes in the spring.

We got him three weeks before we moved into this house, which we built. I've never spent a night here without him, except for an overnight surgery he had on a torn tendon. Our other dog is not quite sure what to do with himself. Palmer raised Porter, who was only 4 weeks old when we got him.

Porter's in trouble though. I've already spent about 20 minutes brushing him, and decided he needs a bath :-) Lot of tears today, but we have perspective. He was old, he was ready to go, he gave us an amazing 11 years, 8 months, and 17 days of love and devotion. We have many, many wonderful memories with him. He was also a dog, not a person, and while we'll never forget our fabulous fur baby, I feel a little shallow about whining a dog when 20 families are burying their young children this week.

[Fargood]

I've missed Sister Wives recently but I caught last night's episode. I thought the dog being put down was so sad and I am really sick of hearing about those 4 homes they are getting. It is so boring and I think most viewers have a hard time sympathizing with them and their problems. I worry about ever being able to afford a house, I certainly don't care about people who abandonned their home in Utah, got new homes in Vegas, and are desperately worried they won't be able to build 4 brand new homes together. Cry me a river.

I thought the same thing. It was a rough weekend for everyone in the country and I know the Browns don't have any control over the episodes that get aired, but I couldn't take them last night. I flipped to the show for just a few minutes before going to sleep. I saw just enough to hear Kody complain that "regular" people only have to worry about one house and he had it sooooo bad because he has to worry about financing four houses. I just couldn't.

My husband and I have three children. We both have good jobs. We don't overspend. We scrimp, we save, we budget. And it's still hella hard to find a way to pay for even one modest home. Seems like one kid always needs braces or a furnace needs to be replaced or a fence needs repair. To hear Kody practically begging for viewers to shop at sister wife's closet or whatever so that they could pay for the four houses was nauseating.

This morning I was thinking to myself, "who is the target demographic for their store?" Las Vegas has a lot of alternative lifestyles, but there's a huge Mormon/conservative contingent that lives in Vegas. I don't see the Mormons/conservatives rushing to buy jewelry from the Browns. The other alternative folks wouldn't necessarily object philosophically to the Browns' lifestyle, but the fundie-religious bent probably doesn't sit well with them either. People watch the show out of curiousity, not necessarily because the Browns or their lifestyle is enticing to them. It seems to me that the show and the lifestyle alienate most of the population. I think they overestimated that fame = $$$. You have to leverage your brand to get money. Their brand is a hard sell.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Big *hugs* to everyone who's gone through losing a pet, especially recently. I couldn't watch the second half of that episode and it's been awhile since I've lost a dog.

Did we ever even see this poor dog before?!?! I've seen most of the episodes and I don't recall the dog being mentioned at all. Where was he when they were moving? What had they been doing with him when they're out traveling? I'm also confused as to why he needed put down. But I do agree with Meri having all of the children over to say goodbye. My dad took our beloved German Shepherd mix to be put down when I was 12 (they got him when I was an infant and we celebrated his bday with mine), and even though we all knew it was coming because he was in awful shape, it hurt so badly not being able to say goodbye to him.

Our dalmatian turns 13 this week and aside from losing most of his hearing and needing let out to potty every couple of hours (even through the night) and obviously not being very spry anymore, he's doing really well and I hope he still has a year or two left in him. We got a younger dog in January and I honestly think it's extended his life a bit. He's more active than he used to be. Sure, he's a lot more work than he used to be, and yeah he may dribble on the carpet when he gets excited now, but he's still my baby and it'll take an actual decline in his quality of life before I'd let him go.

[SunnyAndrsn]

I thought the same thing. It was a rough weekend for everyone in the country and I know the Browns don't have any control over the episodes that get aired, but I couldn't take them last night. I flipped to the show for just a few minutes before going to sleep. I saw just enough to hear Kody complain that "regular" people only have to worry about one house and he had it sooooo bad because he has to worry about financing four houses. I just couldn't.

My husband and I have three children. We both have good jobs. We don't overspend. We scrimp, we save, we budget. And it's still hella hard to find a way to pay for even one modest home. Seems like one kid always needs braces or a furnace needs to be replaced or a fence needs repair. To hear Kody practically begging for viewers to shop at sister wife's closet or whatever so that they could pay for the four houses was nauseating.

This morning I was thinking to myself, "who is the target demographic for their store?" Las Vegas has a lot of alternative lifestyles, but there's a huge Mormon/conservative contingent that lives in Vegas. I don't see the Mormons/conservatives rushing to buy jewelry from the Browns. The other alternative folks wouldn't necessarily object philosophically to the Browns' lifestyle, but the fundie-religious bent probably doesn't sit well with them either. People watch the show out of curiousity, not necessarily because the Browns or their lifestyle is enticing to them. It seems to me that the show and the lifestyle alienate most of the population. I think they overestimated that fame = $$$. You have to leverage your brand to get money. Their brand is a hard sell.

ITA. We all know about their bankruptcies too. We live in a very modest home. We built it, but it's modest. Just a standard 3-bedroom house, and we did the work to finish the basement ourselves. It looks like amateurs did it too, but we're proud of it. A lot of sweat equity went into it to bring it up to a grand total of 1800 sq feet of living space. The second bathroom was done by us too. No wet bar or hobby room. At one point, we had 5 kids living here (our son, two foster sons that were brothers, and a foster son who asked to move back in with us after he turned 18) and we were SQUISHED. The bedrooms are not that big. My kitchen is 8 x 8! The fenced in back yard was done by us, as was the deck.

We gardened to save money on food. We bought 1/2 side of beef at a time to save money. When ever I spent a weekend at my family's (300 miles away) they'd load me back up on food from the farm. My dad raised chickens, so I got eggs, chicken, and usually some pork from the pigs he raised too.

We're at the point where we can afford a decent vacation every year or so, but we also now have 2 incomes (and DH's is as an intern, very poor pay) and not kids at home. We drive our vehicles into the ground--my van is almost 10 years old, and dh's car is a few years older than that. Very little credit card debt left, some was accumulated d/t grad school. No $2K on a Victoria's Secret card here.

TLC must screen specifically for stupid to generate controversy.

[SunnyAndrsn]

Big *hugs* to everyone who's gone through losing a pet, especially recently. I couldn't watch the second half of that episode and it's been awhile since I've lost a dog.

Did we ever even see this poor dog before?!?! I've seen most of the episodes and I don't recall the dog being mentioned at all. Where was he when they were moving? What had they been doing with him when they're out traveling? I'm also confused as to why he needed put down. But I do agree with Meri having all of the children over to say goodbye. My dad took our beloved German Shepherd mix to be put down when I was 12 (they got him when I was an infant and we celebrated his bday with mine), and even though we all knew it was coming because he was in awful shape, it hurt so badly not being able to say goodbye to him.

Our dalmatian turns 13 this week and aside from losing most of his hearing and needing let out to potty every couple of hours (even through the night) and obviously not being very spry anymore, he's doing really well and I hope he still has a year or two left in him. We got a younger dog in January and I honestly think it's extended his life a bit. He's more active than he used to be. Sure, he's a lot more work than he used to be, and yeah he may dribble on the carpet when he gets excited now, but he's still my baby and it'll take an actual decline in his quality of life before I'd let him go.

I also agree with having the kids say goodbye. Our son was not able to say goodbye last night/today, and it's really hard on him today. He'll be here Saturday to celebrate his son's first Christmas with us, which stinks that we had to say goodbye to our furbaby this morning.

[bccka]

Hello from a newbie to this site!

I watch Sister Wives and am so happy that we live in a country that celebrates the craziest of the crazy!! I can't believe that these women sit around an bicker about who gets more money or who gets more space. I know a lot of people don't like Meri but, I told my husband that I keep waiting for her to throw out a big f you and leave. Divorcing Kody would put a BIG dent in the other wives "budgets." I get that she has less children, but no one except Kody and their ridiculous religion told the other wives to have tons of kids. Robin only has four kids. So shouldn't she get less of the budget too? Or does she get to have as much as the others so that she will stay? I feel like Kristine and Jenelle had to have all those kids to cement themselves into the family and into their marriage with Kody. Kody needs to step up and be a man. When the wives are all bickering and fighting he sits there and acts like he is wounded and hurt by it all. Isn't poligamy about having a strong male figure in the household? The Brown family is definitley missing that. Kody is like a teenage boy who enjoys having all the wives and playing daddy when it suits him. But like a kid, he doesn't want to deal with any of the realities of being married to four women. I also feel like the women are looking for a more traditional polig family then the one they have. It's like they are trying to modify the religion and it just isn't working. Kody wants all the wives but he just wants them to play nice. Thanks for reading my rant and I am happy to have found this site! :)

[Mommy22alyns]

I have only been to their jewelry website once and all the jewelry is ugly to me. It is geared to one population and that is polygamists.

I went there and either side-eyed or laughed at everything. Who is really going to buy that crap? SW stands for Strong Woman - BULL SHIT!

[Buzzard]

The Irish Claddagh ring is a universal symbol of Love, Loyalty and Friendship. The Claddagh ring is hands holding a heart with a crown on it. All of the adults and some of the older children in the Brown family wear one. It it is very important to our family. The idea of this design was to take the three symbols of the Claddagh ring, (the heart-Love, the crown-Loyalty, the hands-Friendship), and make them into a beautiful necklace. This chain and charm holder ring is designed to hang the six Claddagh Charms. It has the words Love, Loyalty and Friendship engraved on it.

Design by Robyn Brown

Sterling Silver, 30" chain, logo charm included on clasp.

Hand crafted and made in the USA.

Whats their obsession with the claddagh? My understanding is that its a symbol of Irish (ebil catholiks!) pride. Thats a far cry from their fundamentalist mormon faith. Many of the items on their page (which sucks) are designed by all 4 of them but this one is all Robyn. Its overpriced at $81.50 plus shipping - and you can only return it within 7 days OF SHIPPING (not receipt), with their permission, plus you pay return shipping and a 15% restocking fee.

[Morton Fan]

Whats their obsession with the claddagh? My understanding is that its a symbol of Irish (ebil catholiks!) pride. Thats a far cry from their fundamentalist mormon faith. Many of the items on their page (which sucks) are designed by all 4 of them but this one is all Robyn. Its overpriced at $81.50 plus shipping - and you can only return it within 7 days OF SHIPPING (not receipt), with their permission, plus you pay return shipping and a 15% restocking fee.

Their "shop" is atrocious and the prices are so hilariously high. ("BUT IT'S STERLING SILVER!").

I agree with the PP who asked who their demographic would be. They made the wrong assumption that all of their "fans" would immediately shell out their hard-earned money to a bunch of duds without jobs (who REALLY want french doors and a wetbar).

It would have been so perfect ... Robyn puts in about an hour of "work" into the design, hires someone to design a really hideous website, name drops their store on TV, and WHAM! Mortgage money comes rolling in.

Kody & Ko., it's a tough lesson to learn, but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[veron1que]

Their "shop" is atrocious and the prices are so hilariously high. ("BUT IT'S STERLING SILVER!").

I agree with the PP who asked who their demographic would be. They made the wrong assumption that all of their "fans" would immediately shell out their hard-earned money to a bunch of duds without jobs (who REALLY want french doors and a wetbar).

It would have been so perfect ... Robyn puts in about an hour of "work" into the design, hires someone to design a really hideous website, name drops their store on TV, and WHAM! Mortgage money comes rolling in.

Kody & Ko., it's a tough lesson to learn, but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

They are just idiots for not capitalizing on it correctly. If it was nice stuff priced reasonably I think they could have made money, alas, they have overpriced shit and who wants that?

[SisiL78]

They have "coming soon" links for clothes and bags too.... I can't wait to see what they manufacture for that. I'm sure it will be tacky and matchy matchy.....

Its an interesting idea, some of their stuff is definately on the "different" side which might appeal to a certain audience. Me thinks they need to get themselves on QVC or HSN if they want to make real money.

Heck, their stuff is only a tiny fraction of the hideous that is Quacker Factory http://www.quackerfactory.com/ (warning, the sit plays music). And the woman behind that has cleaned up off of 50 dollar capri pants and watches with jingle bells glued to them....

[Eternalbluepearl]

The Quacker factory reference quacks me up. Sorry for the ridiculous pun. Seriously that jingle bell watch is something. I can't get the sister wife closet website to load, there must be too much traffic. *snicker*

[patsymae]

Considering you can get a Tiffany's sterling silver bracelet designed by Paloma Picasso for $155, I'd say the Browns have overestimated the value of their ugly crap--also probably, as someone else said, the appeal of their "brand." None of the women seem to have any background in art or design and circles with stuff written on them aren't exactly innovative--or attractive to anyone except maybe tweens. If they are depending on the success of this venture to finance their houses--well, there goes the wetbar.

[Eternalbluepearl]

If they are depending on the success of this venture to finance their houses--well, there goes the wetbar.

Poor Meri. She NEEDS that wetbar damn it. NEEDS it!

[snarkykitty]

I looked up their domain information and stats and this is what I found:

Web Age: 10 months

Daily Visitors: 84

Daily Pageviews: 151

Daily Revenue: $1 USD

Website Worth: $225 USD

That means the average visitor to the page looks at less than two pages. The average daily sale of $1.00 - which takes into consideration the day that the URL first went live (not the launch shown on tv) - which appears to be 10 months - means that they have sold about $300 worth of merchandise. So even with the big "hit" the servers probably took on Sunday after the show, the number of people who looked didn't stay long, and virtually no one bought. The page that I got all the info from last updated on Tue, 18 Dec 2012 07:09:13 GMT - that is today.

Also, what they showed on the show last night regarding "hits" was bogus. How would so many people know to come to the page at the very moment it launched? Unless it was published the date and time somewhere, there's no way within ten seconds that they would observe over 200 hits on the site. Just no way. I'm guessing they were texting all the kids and their friends to hit the site at that exact moment.

So a lot of this makes NO sense.

[Coconut Flan]

I don't think the value is based on what they've sold, but on the number of daily hits. Those value tracker things don't usually track purchases but put values on all websites based on traffic. That could be different from usual, but that's what I'm used to seeing.

[Fargood]

I'd say the Browns have overestimated the value of their ugly crap--also probably, as someone else said, the appeal of their "brand."

I was thinking about this last night. What the hell is their "brand?" Their brand isn't conservative (mainstream Mormons run the other direction when they see plygs). Their brand isn't liberal (why the hell does everyone have to wear two shirts in that religion? and Patriarchy!) Their brand is trainwreck. People don't watch the show to get parenting tips or emulate their lifestyle. People watch the show to see how these people fumble around in life and then they can laugh at them and feel better about their own lives. Erm, not that I do that or anything.

You have to leverage a brand based on what you can functionally offer the consuming public. Poorly designed jewelry by people who aren't famous and who I don't emulate and don't want to be like? I'm prolly not gonna buy symbolic jewelry to show the public on my body.

On the other hand, if they were even a tiny bit successful in this whole Plyg lifestyle thing, I could see them leveraging their experience to teach others how to do teamwork and all that jazz. They could also maybe launch a line of kitchen or pantry ware that's designed for large families. Well, now I'm just talking out my ass, but you know what I mean. They need to relate their brand to the product.

Not everyone can be George Forman!

[pixydust]

I was thinking about this last night. What the hell is their "brand?" Their brand isn't conservative (mainstream Mormons run the other direction when they see plygs). Their brand isn't liberal (why the hell does everyone have to wear two shirts in that religion? and Patriarchy!) Their brand is trainwreck. People don't watch the show to get parenting tips or emulate their lifestyle. People watch the show to see how these people fumble around in life and then they can laugh at them and feel better about their own lives. Erm, not that I do that or anything.

You have to leverage a brand based on what you can functionally offer the consuming public. Poorly designed jewelry by people who aren't famous and who I don't emulate and don't want to be like? I'm prolly not gonna buy symbolic jewelry to show the public on my body.

On the other hand, if they were even a tiny bit successful in this whole Plyg lifestyle thing, I could see them leveraging their experience to teach others how to do teamwork and all that jazz. They could also maybe launch a line of kitchen or pantry ware that's designed for large families. Well, now I'm just talking out my ass, but you know what I mean. They need to relate their brand to the product.

Not everyone can be George Forman!

I always assumed the two-shirt thing that they do (and the Maxwells) is because of nipples! A bra and 2 shirts, no way anyone is going to show through that!

[snarkykitty]

I don't think the value is based on what they've sold, but on the number of daily hits. Those value tracker things don't usually track purchases but put values on all websites based on traffic. That could be different from usual, but that's what I'm used to seeing.

I didn't say that the value of $255 was the amount of what people bought, but the average DAILY revenue of $1.00 (one dollar) per day (and this is the average of 10 months of time since the site came alive - not since the "launch") is not much. That's 300-odd days x 1.00 = $300.

[HOTW]

I've always thought the name of their store sounded like a second hand clothing store maybe they'd make more money of they'd start selling their clothing castoffs!!

[Buzzard]

Based on the lemmings on the TLC fb page the "fan base" wants to buy their crap. Not that I'm surprised... I'm curious how many will actually make a purchase once they see the prices.