The Return of Sparkling Adventures - Merge

[Big_Miffy]

Does it appear as though Calista is wearing lipstick in the tractor ride photo? I seem to remember Lauren going on and on about "authentic appearances" and judging women who do their hair/face each morning.

Also I am a city kid myself and have been to many of these farms (in the US) something that I remember from years of going was signs that said "do not pick the plants/flowers." I would imagine some of the same signage at this farm yet there is a picture of Aisha with a geranium flower.

I really hope that Lauren addresses the no shoes issue that was brought up in the comment section because there are some instances where social decorum and common sense dictate that shoes should be worn. A dirty, poop filled farm being one of those instances.

[acheronbeach]

Oh no, someone whose first language isn't English misspelled a word and the message still came across! Shocking.

I'd amend it for your viewing pleasure; sadly, the time for editing has passed and you'll just have to put up with it. There there.

Jesus Christ. Why are you getting all cranked up because someone pointed out your ridiculous/amusing spelling mistake? If you're that concerned about how others perceive your English skills, use spell check.

[ladyaudley]

Jesus Christ. Why are you getting all cranked up because someone pointed out your ridiculous/amusing spelling mistake? If you're that concerned about how others perceive your English skills, use spell check.

I'm not concerned about how others perceive my English skills; I'm getting all cranked up by a tangential, unnecessary post because frankly it came across as pretty condescending. I know intention doesn't come across well in written text; maybe defuse things with a smiley next time, unless the intention was to be condescending. In that case carry on, it's working.

Edit: my bad, thought you were LilMissMetaphor. Statement still stands.

[August]

I'm not concerned about how others perceive my English skills; I'm getting all cranked up by a tangential, unnecessary post because frankly it came across as pretty condescending. I know intention doesn't come across well in written text; maybe defuse things with a smiley next time, unless the intention was to be condescending. In that case carry on, it's working.

Edit: my bad, thought you were LilMissMetaphor. Statement still stands.

Would you prefer people spent the next however many years laughing at you telling people they're a rapper?

[ladyaudley]

Would you prefer people spent the next however many years laughing at you telling people they're a rapper?

to be fair the idea of running around the bush barefoot as a rapper is pretty funny ^^

[Dinger]

I imagine that bus smells disgusting; what with the lack of proper washing facilities and no proper toilet for 5 of them plus an assortment of animal crap dragged in on bare feet it must be minging in there.

[Guest Anonymous]

I imagine that bus smells disgusting; what with the lack of proper washing facilities and no proper toilet for 5 of them plus an assortment of animal crap dragged in on bare feet it must be minging in there.

I know! It's really not vaguely surprising that one of the first things Lauren is offered, on entering a new "friend's" house, is the use of the washing machine and bathroom. They must absolutely stink when they rock up at a new house to stay for the night. :shock:

[pastaswife]

Just look at how many outfits you see Lauren in, a combo of about ten pieces of clothing max. She must wear them over and over. Ick. And when do you see the girls in something other than the princess dress? Not often.

[Isis]

I grew up on a farm myself. Well, sorta - we lived in a 125 year old + farmhouse in the country and kept chickens, rabbits, and a few cows but my dad worked in the city. My siblings and I were mostly barefoot thru the summer but never would have dreamed of not wearing shoes for church, school, stores, other peoples houses and never, ever would have gone (or been allowed) to go barefoot in the barn/chicken coop/pasture areas.

I'm curious - do the kids even have shoes?

Latest tweet....

The further away I get from the mainstream, the greater my perspective on the possibilities available for my life.

WTF does that even mean? Gee, that's great - more possibilities for Lauren, for her girls - not so much

[AVENues]

I always read "Spanking Adventures". Always, without an exception. I guess over here I expect to read about fundy "fun" like blanket training *shiver* all the time.

[Guest Anonymous]

I always read "Spanking Adventures". Always, without an exception. I guess over here I expect to read about fundy "fun" like blanket training *shiver* all the time.

It's funny, I had to read your post about 4 times to realise what you were on about; I didn't process that you wrote "spanking" instead of "sparkling" and was thinking, "yup, obviously was all read "Sparkling Adventures" all the time, or we'd not be on Part 3 of a discussion thread already". :lol:

[truthseeker]

I imagine that bus smells disgusting; what with the lack of proper washing facilities and no proper toilet for 5 of them plus an assortment of animal crap dragged in on bare feet it must be minging in there.

Especially as we're in the middle of a heatwave in Melbourne! Hope they don't show up at my house.

[tankgirl]

I grew up on a farm myself. Well, sorta - we lived in a 125 year old + farmhouse in the country and kept chickens, rabbits, and a few cows but my dad worked in the city. My siblings and I were mostly barefoot thru the summer but never would have dreamed of not wearing shoes for church, school, stores, other peoples houses and never, ever would have gone (or been allowed) to go barefoot in the barn/chicken coop/pasture areas.

I'm curious - do the kids even have shoes?

Latest tweet....

WTF does that even mean? Gee, that's great - more possibilities for Lauren, for her girls - not so much

That quote of her's reminds me of a line from a song, "The further I get from the things that I care about, the less I care about, how much further away I get" it's Fear of Ghosts, by The Cure. It seems oddly fitting since we all know she is running like hell to get away from her "ghosts" and will do everything fucking possible to pretend she has no ghosts at all, everything is just fucking Sparkling Rainbows and Ponies. Lauren is going to crash and burn in the most insane way one day, I just hope some one can save those kids before they are little more together then damaged feral kids, with no educations and very damaged souls/soles (cause damn there poor little feet :( ).

[sassyNoz47]

Sparkling Adventures

Hold your babies close, for you never know how long they'll be within arms' reach. #cosleeping #gentleparenting

[ILoveJellybeans]

Sparkling Adventures

Hold your babies close, for you never know how long they'll be within arms' reach. #cosleeping #gentleparenting

Theyd be in arms reach for longer if you supervised them and made an effort not to kill them Lauren.

[August]

That's the first fucking sensible thing she's said all week. Pity she doesn't actually mean it. She's not bonded to those girls in the slightest, she doesn't give a shit whether they drown or get kicked by a horse.

[Chicken bones]

I see those dirty little feet and recall two things from past posts of hers: one, a picture of little naked Del sleeping on the van seat, exhausted. (I thought, she's possibly not totally toilet-trained!) and two, how when they stayed at a hotel in April or May last year, they were enjoying the comforts and fighting their persistent lice infestation. How many people whose homes they've stayed at were informed ahead of time about the lice?...

[CheeseDeprived]

Latest tweet....

WTF does that even mean? Gee, that's great - more possibilities for Lauren, for her girls - not so much

Like most of her tweets, it doesn't really mean anything. They're just empty phrases. For someone claiming to be so authentic, her writing is anything but.

[August]

Like most of her tweets, it doesn't really mean anything. They're just empty phrases. For someone claiming to be so authentic, her writing is anything but.

Luckily everything else about her is totally authentic. Every action, every choice, every decision is made after deep contrmplation of her values, her ideals, her real life way of functioning, her abilities and aptitudes, her children's abilities, aptitudes and preferences... oh, wait, hang on, that's not right, she actually picks from a prepackaged set of ide... no! Dreads of Authenticity!!!!!! Phew! She's totally authentic.

[Blahblah]

That's the first fucking sensible thing she's said all week. Pity she doesn't actually mean it. She's not bonded to those girls in the slightest, she doesn't give a shit whether they drown or get kicked by a horse.

I think I've said this before, but in Lauren's universe things only exist in as much as they have a purpose or benefit for Lauren. I truly believe that she does not see the girls as anything but satellites of herself, objects to be manipulated and toyed with in her grand sparkly adventures. The girls aren't credited with personalities at all by her.

The girls are interchangeable chess pieces. I honestly can't remember anything I've read that would indicate that Lauren acknowledges that these girls have feelings or emotions or preferences of their own. Even those stupid birthday interviews are manipulated by her.

All I ever see are endless pics of them doing dangerous things while Lauren sits back and observes from a distance so she can write her travel guides.

[tankgirl]

I think I've said this before, but in Lauren's universe things only exist in as much as they have a purpose or benefit for Lauren. I truly believe that she does not see the girls as anything but satellites of herself, objects to be manipulated and toyed with in her grand sparkly adventures. The girls aren't credited with personalities at all by her.

.

Edited cause Nooks hate long posts, but you hit the nail on the head. For a long time I tried to peg what was wrong with Lauren's blog, and you are so right. Those girls are little window dressings, they are a projection of Laurens wishes, a opening to invitations, but certainly not individual people.

Typically with Mommy blogs you would start to know some of the kids personalities, likes/dislikes, anything, but Lauren gives us so little about these kids as individuals.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Thats true. I know nothing about each of the children. Theyre just tools for Lauren to use, she makes every post about then, about her.

I dont know what personality each child has, even though the kids are in the majority of her posts. Its not like theres many of them either, only four, and yet we know less about them than most of the larger families we snark on here. In most families, we know at least something about each kid, even the ones with loads of kids-even if its just one part of their personality-like that one is shy, another likes to read, one looks like shes unhappy at the fundie lifestyle...but with the Fisher kids, theres nothing.

Im sure the girls do have their own personalities, Lauren just doesnt have an interest in finding out about the kids, and doesnt like writing about anything that is not her.

[CheeseDeprived]

Edited cause Nooks hate long posts, but you hit the nail on the head. For a long time I tried to peg what was wrong with Lauren's blog, and you are so right. Those girls are little window dressings, they are a projection of Laurens wishes, a opening to invitations, but certainly not individual people.

Typically with Mommy blogs you would start to know some of the kids personalities, likes/dislikes, anything, but Lauren gives us so little about these kids as individuals.

Exactly. Sad but completely spot on. She seems so detached from them, she might as well be writing about complete strangers she just happened to be observing. And she's admitted she doesn't engage with them much. The few things I might know about their personalities, I've gleaned from photos.

At the same time, I've seen her show such disdain towards some perfectly normal, understandable behaviours and actions of her girls. I have never seen another mummy blogger write that way about their own children. Maybe it's a relic from her fundie days? I don't generally read fundie blogs as they enrage me too much... maybe that's how some fundie mothers see their children - as not being righteous and all that. I'm just not used to that kind of negativity towards one's own offspring.

[August]

I think I've said this before, but in Lauren's universe things only exist in as much as they have a purpose or benefit for Lauren. I truly believe that she does not see the girls as anything but satellites of herself, objects to be manipulated and toyed with in her grand sparkly adventures. The girls aren't credited with personalities at all by her.

The girls are interchangeable chess pieces. I honestly can't remember anything I've read that would indicate that Lauren acknowledges that these girls have feelings or emotions or preferences of their own. Even those stupid birthday interviews are manipulated by her.

All I ever see are endless pics of them doing dangerous things while Lauren sits back and observes from a distance so she can write her travel guides.

Normally I would assume the lack of information about them was for privacy. Unfortunately these kids have no privacy. Remeber that post about Aisha growing up? Horrible thing to write about your child. (5 mar 2010). And about such an awkward time for the child, too.

[truthseeker]

As for this comment ...

"I remember my grandparents telling me about growing up barefoot on the farm. I used to love the story about bringing the cows in for milking on a frosty winter morning and my grandparents would stand in freshly produced cow pats to warm up their frosty bare feet. How times have changed! :)"

Thank God! This is not something to romanticise.