Abigail got a Birthday Present Guess What

[countressrascal]

She finally got a new refrigerator, normal size one, for her birthday. Plus they painted the inside of their house. It looks cute. Still complaining about being poor.

[singsingsing]

So let's get this straight: she threw away the perfectly good full-sized refrigerator that she got for free with the house. Then she bought a new mini fridge. Now they've bought a new full sized fridge. They may as well have just taken a wad of money and flushed it down the toilet. Oh, and 'someday soon' she thinks she's going to Paris with her husband. And how many pets does she have? Wow, it must be SO HARD to be SO poor.

[anjulibai]

There's also a lot of new furniture in their living room. And a new wood stove.

[lilwriter85]

So let's get this straight: she threw away the perfectly good full-sized refrigerator that she got for free with the house. Then she bought a new mini fridge. Now they've bought a new full sized fridge. They may as well have just taken a wad of money and flushed it down the toilet. Oh, and 'someday soon' she thinks she's going to Paris with her husband. And how many pets does she have? Wow, it must be SO HARD to be SO poor.

I thought she was an idiot for getting rid that fridge and her excuse about how it would lead to food hoarding was also stupid. I find it odd that they got a full size fridge again.

[Arete]

I am starting to lean to "wanted new appliance and could not justify it. Pitches appliance in the name of not allowing it to be an occasion of gluttony. Patiently wait until parents crack and buy new appliance...."

[nausicaa]

So let's get this straight: she threw away the perfectly good full-sized refrigerator that she got for free with the house. Then she bought a new mini fridge. Now they've bought a new full sized fridge. They may as well have just taken a wad of money and flushed it down the toilet. Oh, and 'someday soon' she thinks she's going to Paris with her husband. And how many pets does she have? Wow, it must be SO HARD to be SO poor.

It's a special thin width full size fridge that fits into the nook. Completely different.

Completely different. :roll:

[Mela99]

She has no idea what poor means if she throws away anything or replaces anything before it is absolutely necessary.

[Arete]

She has no idea what poor means if she throws away anything or replaces anything before it is absolutely necessary.

I actually don't know any people who replace a large appliance like a fridge or washer unless they are well and truly dead.

She is a spoiled brat and a lousy Catholic.

[Stephanie66]

I still don't understand the deal with the refrigerators, but I am glad she is no longer trying to keep food for seven people in a mini-fridge.

I go back and forth with Abigail. There are so many positives with her (compared to other fundies), but I don't think she realizes what a disservice she is doing to her children by homeschooling. I read somewhere (maybe here?) that the home-schooled kids lose a year of education for every pregnancy, so it's all downhill unless she doesn't have any more.

[Arete]

I still don't understand the deal with the refrigerators, but I am glad she is no longer trying to keep food for seven people in a mini-fridge.

I go back and forth with Abigail. There are so many positives with her (compared to other fundies), but I don't think she realizes what a disservice she is doing to her children by homeschooling. I read somewhere (maybe here?) that the home-schooled kids lose a year of education for every pregnancy, so it's all downhill unless she doesn't have any more.

The reason 7 people were using a mini fridge is because Abigail threw out their full sized, working like a charm fridge. She wrote that she threw the larger fridge away so that she would not hoard food, which is not consistent with the poverty a lay Carmelite should embrace.

[Minijumb]

I actually don't know any people who replace a large appliance like a fridge or washer unless they are well and truly dead.

She is a spoiled brat and a lousy Catholic.

We are not living in poverty, though we are certainly not rolling in the dough. Our 5-year-old piece of crap LG fridge has just died, Mr MJ has tried rearranging the items in the freezer trying to improve airflow from the vents or some nonsense. Either the freezer responds to his magical thinking voodoo by tomorrow morning, or we buy a new fridge. We had not planned to replace this one until we bought a house, which is not on the cards for AT LEAST 3 years, so it's inconvenient but necessary. Replacing a fridge on a whim? Twice? And then having the gall to blog about it while blogging about being poor, does she have no insight?

[latraviata]

She finally got a new refrigerator, normal size one, for her birthday. Plus they painted the inside of their house. It looks cute. Still complaining about being poor.

A fridge for a birthday present? What happened to perfume, jewelry, a handbag or a good book?

[Mela99]

Being wasteful, not appreciating what you have, refusing to exercise good judgement and self control (if a FRIDGE is going to set you off) isn't in line with being a good Catholic

[ILoveJellybeans]

Abigail isn't poor if she can afford to replace a fridge so often. Fridges are the sort of thing that don't get replaced until they die.

Mine died recently, it started smelling like something had died inside it (even taking everything out and scrubbing it multiple times with various things that apparently are meant to stop fridges smelling like dead skunk crammed into a bottle of gone off milk), and then it stopped being cold and turned all my milk to foul smelling cottage cheese.

The food lived in a sealed box outside the back door (good job its winter) for about a week, until someone gave us another one. It didn't fit in the space the old one would, but that didn't matter, we rearranged the kitchen til it fit. When its a fridge, and youre poor, you cant afford to be picky. As long as it keeps your food cold, it will do.

[Iokaste]

I haven't really been reading Abigail's blog, but she has several newer posts whit pictures that are helping her "heal", I don't feel like going through umpteen pages to dig out this story, can someone give me the quick version? Is this another self-pity thing or did something happen to her?

[nausicaa]

I haven't really been reading Abigail's blog, but she has several newer posts whit pictures that are helping her "heal", I don't feel like going through umpteen pages to dig out this story, can someone give me the quick version? Is this another self-pity thing or did something happen to her?

She had a miscarriage, of her son Leo. I believe she was five months along? They had a funeral for him and put an obituary in the newspaper.

[nausicaa]

I still don't understand the deal with the refrigerators, but I am glad she is no longer trying to keep food for seven people in a mini-fridge.

I go back and forth with Abigail. There are so many positives with her (compared to other fundies), but I don't think she realizes what a disservice she is doing to her children by homeschooling. I read somewhere (maybe here?) that the home-schooled kids lose a year of education for every pregnancy, so it's all downhill unless she doesn't have any more.

As much as I crap on Abigail, I have mixed feelings about her as well. She doesn't hit her kids (that we know of), she lets them have fun (trick or treating, Christmas trees, birthday parties), and she doesn't spew the hatred of a Zsu or PP. I'd much rather be a Benjamin than a Maxwell. In some ways I think the reason I read her blog the most is because I can actually process it, versus some of the others which just get my blood pressure up too high.

I think my sticking point is her talk of poverty and devotion as a cover for her poor decisions. She and John want to convince themselves that they are these maverick Carmelites fighting a great spiritual battle for the world. They're suburbanite parents who spent a few weekends renovating their house. And it looks great. But it wasn't a sacrifice or a display for Jesus.

And the title to her new fridge picture? "Jesus Gave Me This." No Abigail, your financially literate father and Mastercard gave you that.

[Marianne]

I want to be poor like Abigail. Currently, I don't consider myself as poor (I have an apartment, I can afford to eat, clothes, things for my dogs), and I do not yet have the money to go to Paris (and I live 40 minute by plane from Paris).

[Koala]

We are not living in poverty, though we are certainly not rolling in the dough. Our 5-year-old piece of crap LG fridge has just died, Mr MJ has tried rearranging the items in the freezer trying to improve airflow from the vents or some nonsense. Either the freezer responds to his magical thinking voodoo by tomorrow morning, or we buy a new fridge. We had not planned to replace this one until we bought a house, which is not on the cards for AT LEAST 3 years, so it's inconvenient but necessary. Replacing a fridge on a whim? Twice? And then having the gall to blog about it while blogging about being poor, does she have no insight?

This exact same thing happened to us on New Years Eve. We have a 2 year old double door Maytag. Some little vent on the fridge side had frozen over and needed to be thawed. What my husband did:

~Emptied both fridge and freezer...yes, we had to throw everything away. Yes, I was sick.

~Husband unplugged the fridge and then thawed the frozen vent with my hair dryer.

Took him two hours and I never believed it would work, but I am happy to report that it did. We even bought a thermometer just to be sure and the damn thing is at 32 (fridge side :o ) right now. :D

Hope it works out for you guys too! I can't tell you how happy I was not to have to buy a new fridge right after Christmas.

[crawfishgirl]

Preventing food hoarding for a family of seven by giving away a working full-size fridge? Ridiculous. We bought a larger fridge last year after years of struggling with problems with our old one (aka 'lemon'). We bought it at a great sale price. It has helped to save money on food - I can buy more food on sale and store it until we are ready to use it. It also holds more leftovers. These are money saving (and convenience) features, not food hoarding. With a mini-fridge, she wouldn't be able to store many condiments - it would cost more money in the long run by buying the smaller bottles and having to frequently replenish them. And she probably has to drive to a grocery store, so she would be going more often and using more gas, putting more wear and tear on her car, taking time away from homeschooling, etc.

[Koala]

Abigail needs to hoard some damn food. I can think of several times she's talked about not knowing what they'd eat the following week.

[lizzielouwho]

This exact same thing happened to us on New Years Eve. We have a 2 year old double door Maytag. Some little vent on the fridge side had frozen over and needed to be thawed. What my husband did:

~Emptied both fridge and freezer...yes, we had to throw everything away. Yes, I was sick.

~Husband unplugged the fridge and then thawed the frozen vent with my hair dryer.

Took him two hours and I never believed it would work, but I am happy to report that it did. We even bought a thermometer just to be sure and the damn thing is at 32 (fridge side :o ) right now. :D

Hope it works out for you guys too! I can't tell you how happy I was not to have to buy a new fridge right after Christmas.

Minijumb & Koala. The same thing happened here a few months back. My DH replaced a part called the thermistor. He found the diagram for the fridge online and put the part in. I think the thermistor cost all of 10.00. Just thought i would let you know so you can check into it. It was much cheaper than a new unit.

[slickcat79]

She had a miscarriage, of her son Leo. I believe she was five months along? They had a funeral for him and put an obituary in the newspaper.

She was 14 weeks. She just acted like she was much further along.

[constantgardener]

We are not living in poverty, though we are certainly not rolling in the dough. Our 5-year-old piece of crap LG fridge has just died, Mr MJ has tried rearranging the items in the freezer trying to improve airflow from the vents or some nonsense. Either the freezer responds to his magical thinking voodoo by tomorrow morning, or we buy a new fridge. We had not planned to replace this one until we bought a house, which is not on the cards for AT LEAST 3 years, so it's inconvenient but necessary. Replacing a fridge on a whim? Twice? And then having the gall to blog about it while blogging about being poor, does she have no insight?

This. I would never consider myself poor, but I wouldn't dream of replacing appliances unless absolutely necessary, and certainly not on the spur of the moment. We recently had to replace our 12-year-old fridge and we still could only afford a basic under-counter one. Our second-hand TV finally gave up just before Christmas as well and we spent days trying to find a good deal on a new one. The thing is, most people I know live like this. We don't do it as a grand gesture of self-imposed poverty. It's just living sensibly on a limited budget.

[chaotic life]

14 weeks, fwiw is three months--if that, often it is classified as 2.5 months since it's borderline between first and second trimester. It is not five months. It is too early for both an obituary and a funeral under ordinary circumstances, but Abigail is not ordinary circumstances. She's *special.*