Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[happy atheist]

3 new posts up. Hot springs with bored-looking children, singing with a group of "socially disadvantaged" people (seemingly without the girls), and how to make a bell drum out of a propane tank.

Tell me again how this is a blog for the kids. :?

[happy atheist]

You're terrible, Muriel.

ETA, just read the backstory, not snatking on you, Muriel, I just have to compulsively say that line. It won't show an edit if no-one else has viewed the original post.

EETA see, this is my second edit, but noone else is viewing right now.

It doesn't matter if anyone has looked at it. It won't show an edit if you don't fill in the blank at the bottom.

[August]

It doesn't matter if anyone has looked at it. It won't show an edit if you don't fill in the blank at the bottom.

i never fill in the blank, ever, and it often shows I've edited, but not always.

[Alice_Fraggle]

I just looked at the new posts, and I'm a little shocked by how enlarged Lana's pupils are. Is that normal? The room doesn't look very bright, so that could be why, but I have no idea.

Also - that poor, dirty little girl.

[church_of_dog]

You're terrible, Muriel.

ETA, just read the backstory, not snatking on you, Muriel, I just have to compulsively say that line. It won't show an edit if no-one else has viewed the original post.

EETA see, this is my second edit, but noone else is viewing right now.

Aha, this is good to know! I'm still pretty new around here and I had noticed that sometimes when I edit a post it doesn't show as edited. I tend to re-read my posts as soon as I send them, and often find a glitch to fix -- in many cases no one else would have seen it yet. So that explains that, thanks!

[jingerissaved]

Fucking Lauren. Basking in the "joy" of the homeless and dispossessed. Cause homeless people are just props for her to sparkle in front of........

Sounds like that guy who was throwing clothes at the homeless (whether they wanted them or not) as a form of protest against a major designer. I think some people see homeless/poor=/=lacking in all human dignity, and as a prop against which they can give any meaning to, since to them these people have no value until someone gives them one. Nice.

[jingerissaved]

I had a friend that read Roots every day on the bus when we were in the 4th grade... She'd carefully wrap the book up and hide it in her bookbag since she'd been caught reading other things that the adults at school found upsetting.

Awesome! A lot of kids are capable of comprehending and doing so much more than the adults around them will let them do. I enjoyed reading Angelou. It helped me deal with trauma I was experiencing at the time, and somewhat process it.

[jingerissaved]

My reading was never censored either, but the school library had this weirdness about not letting me check out books above my grade level. I figured there were some AWESOME fifth grade books I was completely missing out on! So imagine my disappointment when I finally got to fifth grade, only do discover nothing awesome.

Thankfully, although we lived in a small town, there was a bookmobile from the local public library. They didn't care what I checked out, although I was usually there with my dad, so he would discussed any objections

By sixth grade, I was heavily into Stephen King. He did an interview with Playboy that I really wanted to read, but had no way of getting my hands on a Playboy. My dad got it for me, but he did cut out the interview and left it at that. So, I guess they did censor somewhat. :)

I <3 Stephen King too. My mom was good friends with the local librarians so I was able to bypass the school censorship and get whatever I wanted. Anything that seemed questionable (no romance novels, sorry) was run past her first, but otherwise, I read what I wanted. I had a very high reading level (college by grade 8) so they tried not to limit me too much. I think my teachers hated me for completing their textbooks by the end of first semester. That was so cool of your dad!

[CheeseDeprived]

3 new posts up. Hot springs with bored-looking children, singing with a group of "socially disadvantaged" people (seemingly without the girls), and how to make a bell drum out of a propane tank.

Tell me again how this is a blog for the kids. :?

Oh come on now... making a bell drum out of a propane tank is essential knowledge and will come in handy throughout the girls' lives. :mrgreen:

Seriously... I don't know how she ever managed to convince anyone that she was giving those girls a reasonable sort of education... unless there is a whole lot of school work going on that never gets a mention or a picture because it's too mundane. But I highly doubt it - there has never been any indication of that and she's all about unschooling.

I guess that's another loophole - if she's registered as a home educating parent in Qld but hardly ever spends time in that state, it's going to be very hard for the education authorities to keep tabs on her. Makes me cranky because it's the kind of conduct that gives other homeschoolers a bad name. :x

[Artemis]

There's been no mention of the 'work' they do on the i-pads either, for a while. Wonder what's happened to those?

[ThatSnark]

There's been no mention of the 'work' they do on the i-pads either, for a while. Wonder what's happened to those?

I read this and thought, "I-Pads? Oh, Artemis means their kipis!: :lol:

[Cerdwin]

Delaney's eyes are so puffy in the last couple of pictures, on the blog and today's instagram. I hope the poor kiddo doesn't have allergies. My allergic kids have similar puffiness when they are having an attack. Even if it's just tiredness, that's a whole lotta tired.

[Blahblah]

She's probably allergic to rats.

[lilith]

Lauren has a new post up about the Gifted Gypsy. Some serious cash has gone into that vehicle.

It does look like a very cool space, but I can't imagine it not getting claustrophobic as a full time home for four energetic kids, one adult and three rats.

At least the girls have proper seats now instead of just rattling round in the back like they used to.

[Blahblah]

You know what is sad? She writes with more feeling about that damn bus than she ever does about her girls.

[lilith]

You know what is sad? She writes with more feeling about that damn bus than she ever does about her girls.

Very true. And takes much better care of it. It's cleaner than her children, and she's obviously put far more thought into designing the bus than she does into designing her children's education.

[Trudestar]

I had to laugh at this from Lauren....

"In evaluating the storage needs in a tiny space, I’m thankful that early on I designated a space for our shoes (they’re in a large drawer under the cabinets) and a place for the dirty laundry to go (in a tub at the back of the bus). Having these two sorted does a lot towards keeping the bus tidy."

Pretty sure THAT drawer doesn't get opened much.

The bus looks very clean, freshly mopped. I bet it doesn't always look like that.

It is a very cool bus I reckon.

[LadyBlue]

She has yet another post up. Shilling for her friend's Thermomix business.

[Blahblah]

She has yet another post up. Shilling for her friend's Thermomix business.

I assume she's getting a cut of sales. Because it doesn't seem very authentic to pimp a consumer society pyramid selling scheme now, does it.

[happy atheist]

Where the hell are they all going to sleep when the girls get bigger? I can't imagine a herd of teenage girls wanting to snuggle with Mummy in the giant hammock every night.

[lilith]

Where the hell are they all going to sleep when the girls get bigger? I can't imagine a herd of teenage girls wanting to snuggle with Mummy in the giant hammock every night.

They'll all be off on their own sparkling adventures by the time they are teenagers. The elder two especially I see running off with the first man who shows interest in them, and Lauren will endorse it as them adding love to the universe and pursuing their own journeys.

Its worrying, and not too far off for Aisha. They will be intensely vulnerable, with a disengaged mother with no fixed abode for them to run back to and without the skills to navigate mainstream society or find employment. Aisha will meet a guy and decide to stay behind when Lauren moves on, and Lauren will just bless her new path and drive off into the sunset.

[lemonhead]

You know what really scares me about people like Lauren and Zsuzsanna? They have some really normal, thoughtful, coherent, intelligent things to say. Like "Oh, I just wired my bus with these USB outlets so we can use solar energy, and I'm learning engine maintenance" and "My husband and I got to go out and have a nice dinner on his birthday and we bought a cool bumblebee walker toy for the baby" and I'm all like, good on her for learning self-sufficiency; and awww, what a cute (large) family they make.

And then you find out Lauren KEEPS RATS IN THE BACK OF THE BUS AND HER HUSBAND MURDERED THEIR BABY and Zsuzsanna DRIVES A SWAT VAN AND TEFLON IS EVIL and omg it makes for craziness in my head. I just want to put people in the crazy bucket or the not-crazy bucket, and these people mess with my universe.

[heidi]

They'll all be off on their own sparkling adventures by the time they are teenagers. The elder two especially I see running off with the first man who shows interest in them, and Lauren will endorse it as them adding love to the universe and pursuing their own journeys.

Its worrying, and not too far off for Aisha. They will be intensely vulnerable, with a disengaged mother with no fixed abode for them to run back to and without the skills to navigate mainstream society or find employment. Aisha will meet a guy and decide to stay behind when Lauren moves on, and Lauren will just bless her new path and drive off into the sunset.

If one of the girls leaves with someone who promises them love, when things fall apart, how will they find Lauren again? Those poor girls will have to read the blog and try to guess where their mother is. :(

[church_of_dog]

You know what really scares me about people like Lauren and Zsuzsanna? They have some really normal, thoughtful, coherent, intelligent things to say. Like "Oh, I just wired my bus with these USB outlets so we can use solar energy, and I'm learning engine maintenance" and "My husband and I got to go out and have a nice dinner on his birthday and we bought a cool bumblebee walker toy for the baby" and I'm all like, good on her for learning self-sufficiency; and awww, what a cute (large) family they make.

And then you find out Lauren KEEPS RATS IN THE BACK OF THE BUS AND HER HUSBAND MURDERED THEIR BABY and Zsuzsanna DRIVES A SWAT VAN AND TEFLON IS EVIL and omg it makes for craziness in my head. I just want to put people in the crazy bucket or the not-crazy bucket, and these people mess with my universe.

I agree. Except that teflon IS evil. :stir-pot:

[August]

Lauren has a new post up about the Gifted Gypsy. Some serious cash has gone into that vehicle.

It does look like a very cool space, but I can't imagine it not getting claustrophobic as a full time home for four energetic kids, one adult and three rats.

At least the girls have proper seats now instead of just rattling round in the back like they used to.

Do you really think they sit in them? Just because CPS made her buy the seats doesn't mean the girls sit in them. Remember those pics early on, when they were all unbuckled?