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Sister Wives


Alecto

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In the follow-up, I thought it was revealing that Janelle and Christine were on one sofa on one side of the room, and Kody in the middle of Meri and Robyn on the other. I think that accurately reflects the dynamics of that family. Meri tried to dominate and play the matriarch, and she and Janelle made no secret of their animosity. Janelle was to the point when asked about loving her sister wives and all that... to her, "together" means that they cooperate in raising the children. She also said she wouldn't leave because she wouldn't do that to her children.

I think she's out of there as soon as her last biological child leaves home.

The only good thing I see about this family is that they do assume that the children will leave home at 18 and forge their own futures. So unlike fundiedom.

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I watched the season finale last night. Mari went over her house budget on the basic structure due to the wet bar/hobby room/5th bedroom issue, and didn't have any remaining money for the internal upgrades such as carpeting, washer/dryers, etc. She became upset, got Robyn involved, and Cody allowed her some additional upgrades that he liked. The rest of the wives were able to stay in their budget. Meri mentioned that she wanted the wet bar because of the additional counter space, that she didn't drink alcohol, and that she needed the extra space because it would be convenient when entertaining the family. However, they showed what the wet bar would look like, and it was a sink surrounded by just a little extra counter space - it didn't appear to be enough room to put more than an extra plate or two. It would probably be more practical to have a nice buffet table, or even a moveable butcher block table to use when entertaining, instead of spending many extra thousands of dollars on the building structure. I don't think that this family has any concept of being realistic and practical with money.

In addition, they were talking about wanting to have the houses so that the older kids would have a place to go back to while at college. It may be more practical to spend less on the houses, and set aside the money to actually be able to help send all of those kids to college... they don't seem to plan for the future very well.

Agree and agree. It must drive Janelle up a wall. She deserves an Academy Award for Keeping Her Cool.

I'd like to know if Kody's dad is any better at managing life and money than his son is. Kody's complete ineptitude and self-entitledness don't appear to be anything new.

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Meri has again proven that she's both a control-freak and a bit of a nitwit.

If she truly wanted surface space for holidays, buy a table. It's cheaper and provides a lot more surface area than that tiny wetbar. I think it was all a power play for her to have the largest house and she's been manufacturing excuses for it. Even in the rentals she had her excuses to get a much larger house than she needed.

In that particular development, all of the house plans that the builder had gotten approved were similar two story houses. They couldn't go outside the approved plans in that development.

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In the follow-up, I thought it was revealing that Janelle and Christine were on one sofa on one side of the room, and Kody in the middle of Meri and Robyn on the other. I think that accurately reflects the dynamics of that family. Meri tried to dominate and play the matriarch, and she and Janelle made no secret of their animosity. Janelle was to the point when asked about loving her sister wives and all that... to her, "together" means that they cooperate in raising the children. She also said she wouldn't leave because she wouldn't do that to her children.

I think she's out of there as soon as her last biological child leaves home.

The only good thing I see about this family is that they do assume that the children will leave home at 18 and forge their own futures. So unlike fundiedom.

When the show first started, I'll confess I had some fears about them making their lifestyle seem attractive to vulnerable or naive women. No more fears. Kody is so over his head and so much a child himself, he can't get his family to dilute the dysfunction for a moment even with cameras rolling. One can only imagine what goes on when the film crews aren't around. TLC could not have found a more inept "patriarch" if they'd searched the globe for him.

As they spend almost no time on the younger children, (a very good thing for the sake of the kids) I had to look up Janelle's kids and it appears her youngest is only 7. Still, I think she'll leave as soon as the show ends and she finds a job. She doesn't appear to be getting anything but aggravation out of her relationships with Kody or the other wives. Meri's weeping and wailing alone would drive me absolutely insane. She may fancy herself a matriarch, but she comes across as the world's oldest teenager.

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I guess the fact that they will be moving into their own houses soon means that there will not be another wife. Where would they put a fifth wife?

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I wonder what it would be like if one of the wives left and sold her house... Imagine being the family living on a private cul de sac with 3 polygamist households like that.

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I wonder what it would be like if one of the wives left and sold her house... Imagine being the family living on a private cul de sac with 3 polygamist households like that.

Kody would probably try to find a new wife to replace her asap. Preferably some fertile young woman with an actual job.

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I'm confused. Do the wives use their own money to buy these houses? Is Kody on the purchase agreement only for Meri's (his only legal spouse) house? Can a wife buy a house on her own and not put her husband on the deed? Where is all this money coming from? Even with prices depressed, these look like pretty pricey homes. Is it common in polygamous relationships for the wives to live separately rather than in one big house?

Enough questions. Happy New Year one and all!

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I guess the fact that they will be moving into their own houses soon means that there will not be another wife. Where would they put a fifth wife?

Put her in Meri's house LOL Drama!

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If Utah dropped the investigation why not move back to the house that worked?

This is the part that I don't understand. I've only watched through season 2, and the entire time I kept asking myself what the big whoop was about being investigated in Utah. Is it possible that they agreed to do a television show and didn't realize that prosecuting attorneys of Utah might watch it? Did they really not contemplate that likelihood and come up with contingency plans? The Browns had so many options open to them other than moving to LV. They fed off of each other's fear and (likely) the producers whipping them into a frenzy. Now they are in such a pickle it makes my head spin. No money and in over your heads in every way imaginable. I can only think that they are a tribe of dimwits. Why anyone would voluntarily marry into this clan is beyond me.

Someday after this all fades away we will read about the children of these miserable unions in their adult lives. I can't wait to hear what they have to say once the cameras are turned off.

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I'm confused. Do the wives use their own money to buy these houses? Is Kody on the purchase agreement only for Meri's (his only legal spouse) house? Can a wife buy a house on her own and not put her husband on the deed? Where is all this money coming from? Even with prices depressed, these look like pretty pricey homes. Is it common in polygamous relationships for the wives to live separately rather than in one big house?

I'm not sure about some of this, but I think polygamists have a variety of housing situations. The family was originally living in one big house in UT, before Robyn was added and they supposedly had to flee b/c of the polygamy investigation.

Others keep separate houses to keep it on the down low. FLDS members usually have big houses (IIRC).

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I guess the fact that they will be moving into their own houses soon means that there will not be another wife. Where would they put a fifth wife?

I predict he will court and eventually marry (ala Dargers) Robun's sister, who appears to be living with her now.

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I'm confused. Do the wives use their own money to buy these houses? Is Kody on the purchase agreement only for Meri's (his only legal spouse) house? Can a wife buy a house on her own and not put her husband on the deed? Where is all this money coming from? Even with prices depressed, these look like pretty pricey homes. Is it common in polygamous relationships for the wives to live separately rather than in one big house?

The homes are almost certainly being subsidized in part or in full by TLC. They are receiving incomes from TLC and TLC may also have helped them directly with down payment money for the sake of the story line.

Yes, a wife can buy a house without her husband on the deed the same way a husband can not put his wife on the deed. In this case, as you point out, only Meri is a legal wife so only they can get divorced. In the event of a divorce, their property would be divided according to the rules of the state, regardless of whether only one of their names is on the deed. Meri and Kody are probably getting separate incomes from TLC and it sounds like there is a mortgage involved, so my guess is that they would both be on the deed to Meri's house. But it could be in Kody's name only.

It gets more complicated with the other three because they don't have Meri's legal status. Couple this with the fact that they are also likely getting their own money from TLC and my guess is that all three of the other women would be on the deeds of their individual homes, with or without Kody. Otherwise, Kody could just kick them out at will and they'd have no recourse. Besides, Kody wouldn't likely qualify for that many mortgages on his own and we learned last night that the women do manage separate household finances.

I can't get into Kody's head about these houses (nor is his head a place I'd like to get into), but they only make sense to me if he is planning on having more children with Robyn (who is in her early 30's)and perhaps an additional wife or two. Only 5 children are under the age of 10 and there are 8 teenagers. Unlike some of our fundie friends, Kody et al seem to have no desire to hold any of their kids back once they turn 18, and I don't see any potential SAHDs among the older girls. So in just a few years, they'll have four huge, half-empty homes that will need to be maintained. Kody's pretty dim, but even he must understand this. So the only other possibility is that he plans on filling those houses with another large passel of offspring, which would have to be with younger wives. And in his mind he might believe, like Josh Duggar seems to, that TLC will always be interested in him.

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I have the most respect for Janelle. I really hope she kicks Kody to the curb.

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I have the most respect for Janelle. I really hope she kicks Kody to the curb.

OT fun fact... Do you like blue pearls? They come out of the oyster blue (not dyed), and they get their color by adding magnesium to the water the mollusk is cultured in.

This is not a great representation of the color.

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I could understand Meri having the house that she picked out if it felt like her house actually *was* the main house that the family functioned in for family time, but it doesn't. The longer they're in separate houses the more it appears that they're just four families with a man that rotates his nights with each of them.

If I thought that the Brown family was at all capable of rational thought about the needs of their family I could see Meri's house being the "main" place for entertaining the family, the family office for Kody and their overpriced jewelry store, and the "adult-child" house.

They have a pack of kids all reaching college age at the same time and it would be nice if they could give those older kids a place to retreat to when they're home from school. Going out on your own in an apartment or dorm means having your own schedule and patterns and the older kids could find it hard going from dorms of 18-21 year olds back to a house with screaming kids. Even if they picked a room in Meri's house that had a few futons and a tv it would be good enough.

But of course that would require the collective group sitting down and addressing the different needs the kids have across a wide range of age groups.

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I could see Meri's house being the main entertaining home. She is the one with the available money and time to do all the necessary preparations. Even though Christine doesn't work, she has 6 kids, one still a baby/toddler. Trying to cook, clean/clean up after 6 kids, and watching the kids at the same time is a lot of work. Especially cooking for a crowd like the Browns. Even though Meri doesn't have as many hands to help, her daughter is almost an adult. Their house probably never gets destroyed the way the other wives houses do. So the initial clean is already halfway done.

This still doesn't mean she needs a wet bar, hobby room, and five bedrooms. If anything, make the kitchen/great room bigger and eliminate the study for more downstairs floor space, if that really is the reason. The office, hobby room, mariah's room, the master, and the spare bedroom would all fit in the five bedrooms upstairs. And the wet bar is just ridiculous. It's completely not necessary.

I'm pretty relieved that it seems Meri doesn't want another baby. I think Robyn carrying Meri's child would completely kill their family. It already has an "us vs them" feel to me (Janelle, Christine vs Meri, Kody, Robyn). With Robyn having a baby for Meri and Kody, it would almost bond the three of them into their own family unit. One that Janelle and Christine can never share in. The child born would also be the only one in the family to truly have multiple mothers. With the surrogate being that close to the actual mother, I can't believe that Robyn wouldn't have an emotional attachment to that sisterwife child stronger than to the other children. I think it would drive Christine and especially Janelle right out of the family.

Now that I think about it, that's a fantastic plan. Let's get Robyn done!

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OT fun fact... Do you like blue pearls? They come out of the oyster blue (not dyed), and they get their color by adding magnesium to the water the mollusk is cultured in.

This is not a great representation of the color.

No, my name is not because I like pearls. Oddly enough, It's the name of the color of my car. :)

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I predict he will court and eventually marry (ala Dargers) Robun's sister, who appears to be living with her now.

I've been wondering about her story. Is she hanging around hoping to catch Kody's eye? And how awful do the rest of the men in their faith must be, if Kody is the catch? eww

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I am not sure about anywhere else but in Ontario you certainly do not have to be married to both be named on the deed. When my husband and I bought a house there was specific legal language to define what each person would get in case of death (or divorce I suppose). We had to choice if we were joint tenants or tenants in common. Our next door neighbors are a group of three people (two men and a woman) who each have their name on the deed to their house. One of the neighbors told me it was easy to get the proper legal papers drawn up to address the issue of one or more people wanting to leave. So I can't imagine that there would be any real issue in having Kody + sister wife name on the deed to each house. They might need a lawyer to address what would be Mari's share if she splits from Kody and Kody splits from another sister wife split but I imagine that there are lawyers who would be able to handle that sort of thing.

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Anybody else get a kick out of the "virginity quilt" they gave the oldest boy?

I loved his "no fucking way is that going on my bed" reaction.

Did anyone else notice his brother Hunter's reaction to the question about drinking? If that boy hasn't broken every rule in the Brown's Book of Whatever yet, he will soon.

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