Abigail got a Birthday Present Guess What

[singsingsing]

I'm not saying she doesn't love her children, or that she wasn't genuinely devastated by her loss. But I think Abigail uses babies like she uses "poverty", to prove how Catholic she is. I think she's really disappointed that she didn't get started earlier so she could have 12 kids by now. After her last baby she made a big point about how she and her husband weren't even using NFP. I'm going to go ahead and guess that they're not using NFP now either and that she's hoping to be pregnant again every month.

[nausicaa]

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

Sorry about that. I couldn't quite remember and couldn't find it on the blog. I thought it was an early miscarriage, but then thought she looked quite far along in her brother's wedding pictures (more like six or seven months) so I split the difference. The obituary seemed a bit over the top.

[slickcat79]

Sorry about that. I couldn't quite remember and couldn't find it on the blog. I thought it was an early miscarriage, but then thought she looked quite far along in her brother's wedding pictures (more like six or seven months) so I split the difference. The obituary seemed a bit over the top.

Yeah, I think anyone skimming through her blog would get the impression she was near to term when it happened because of the level of dramatics. It took me awhile to find the entries because, given how she still talks about it, I thought it was much more recent instead of ~3 months ago.

[singsingsing]

The other thing is that when she's talking about 'let the healing continue' in some of her latest posts, she's not even really talking about the miscarriage. She's talking about being part of a 'co-dependents' support group, which has something to do with the lingering psychological problems supposedly caused by her upbringing.

[Tesseract]

Abigail,

"Poor" is the family who's only means to a fridge is to be grateful for the one you threw away.

[lilwriter85]

I'm not saying she doesn't love her children, or that she wasn't genuinely devastated by her loss. But I think Abigail uses babies like she uses "poverty", to prove how Catholic she is. I think she's really disappointed that she didn't get started earlier so she could have 12 kids by now. After her last baby she made a big point about how she and her husband weren't even using NFP. I'm going to go ahead and guess that they're not using NFP now either and that she's hoping to be pregnant again every month.

I agree with this. Some converts to Catholicism become extreme more than some people that were born into Catholicism. Abigail is a prime example of that and she uses her kids to show that. My parents are lifelong Catholics and they get turned off quite by people like Abigail. Another blogger who is similar to Abigail is Brianna Heldt who lives in Denver. She is also a convert and she has four adopted kids and four biological children. Brianna doesn't seem as a crazy as Abigail, but she does her children to show how Catholic she is.

I can't remember if it was before the Leo miscarriage, but I recall Abigial making a comment that her family size was making up for China's policies. I thought that comment was a bit awful.

[ILoveJellybeans]

For every comment where Abigail complains she is poor and then in the same sentence talks about something unnecessary she has bought, she should have to spend one hour doing something for real poor people, like volunteering in a homeless shelter.

[salex]

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

I will admit that in 2012, hubs and I got ourselves a top of the line garbage disposal, installed as our Christmas gift to each other. And we were, and continue to be, delighted with it.

I suspect that she, like we, can and does buy herself purses and perfume as desired/needed.

[Eater of Worlds]

If I understand correctly, her husband works in DC and they live in WV, and used to live in Silver Spring or somewhere near there? What was the reason for moving to WV?

[singsingsing]

They had to leave their apartment because they had too many children to legally continue living there, and they couldn't find another apartment that was big enough in the area. Of course Abigail made it sound like she was being persecuted by the state for having children.

[Minijumb]

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.

Thanks for the info- I read this post this morning and headed straight to google then called a fridge repairer. Through the process of elimination we know the fans etc. are ok, it could be the thermistor (though the repair guy and DIY fix your broken freezer sites tell me that the thermistor is not usually the problem in this model) but maybe the compressor or capacitors or blah blah blah. Only the freezer is broken (the fridge itself is holding temp fine), so we can probably hold out another couple of days while Mr MJ tinkers with thermistors as I think they are the easiest thing to replace. We've had a quick look around and we can get a cheap fridge for more or less what we would pay to fix this one (though it kills me, I don't think whitegoods should be 'throwaway items'). One of the many times I regret not marrying a handyman!

Koala- I'm glad yours was easily fixed! I know what you mean about bad timing. Right after Christmas is the worst possible time for us, but it's what the emergency credit card is for (unfortunately not paid off by my dad!).

[Eater of Worlds]

They had to leave their apartment because they had too many children to legally continue living there, and they couldn't find another apartment that was big enough in the area. Of course Abigail made it sound like she was being persecuted by the state for having children.

I don't know that that quite makes sense. She could have rented a house with a much closer commute for her husband for the same price as renting a house in the towns in WV that make sense to commute from. His commute could have been 45 min, if that, instead of 2 hours. There are almost no apartments that are big enough in either places but there are townhouses, plus 4 and 5 and 6 bed houses in safe neighborhoods of MD that they could have chosen. Prices would have been even better years ago when they moved compared to now. Hell, I just saw a 6 bed house for 1500 a month in MD, in a safe neighborhood that was a half hour from DC. For me, making my husband be on the road for 4 hours a day, plus missing that much family life would be unconscionable.

I'm sure I'm thinking into this too much. It just seems to fall into the "look at how tough things are, I'm such a martyr" issue, this time because my husband is on the road for four hours a day and he's gone so long. Just like how I don't understand how keeping a full size fridge in her home for her what, 6 kids, 7 kids? leads to food hoarding.

[yetanothermeg]

You don't understand Abigail's logic because it is completely illogical. She is not sane most of the time.

[Stephanie66]

She *only* has five kids.

A two hour commute is unacceptable unless it is out of desperation. Especially if said commute is not on an Amtrak. (Even then...four hours on a train is ridiculous to ME, but people do it. When we were in NJ, it was about 90 minutes on the train to Grand Central. People did it twice a day, five days a week.)

[lilah]

abigails-alcove.blogspot.com/2013/04/shocking-confessions.

Here is the entry about her min fridge. They gave up a regular fridge because they layout of their kitchen was weird and they wanted more counter space but then they couldn't find a cheap 3/4 sized apartment fridge (which seems weird to me but okay) she doesn't talk about food hording or poverty vows. Maybe in annother post.

[nausicaa]

I don't know that that quite makes sense. She could have rented a house with a much closer commute for her husband for the same price as renting a house in the towns in WV that make sense to commute from. His commute could have been 45 min, if that, instead of 2 hours. There are almost no apartments that are big enough in either places but there are townhouses, plus 4 and 5 and 6 bed houses in safe neighborhoods of MD that they could have chosen. Prices would have been even better years ago when they moved compared to now. Hell, I just saw a 6 bed house for 1500 a month in MD, in a safe neighborhood that was a half hour from DC. For me, making my husband be on the road for 4 hours a day, plus missing that much family life would be unconscionable.

I'm sure I'm thinking into this too much. It just seems to fall into the "look at how tough things are, I'm such a martyr" issue, this time because my husband is on the road for four hours a day and he's gone so long. Just like how I don't understand how keeping a full size fridge in her home for her what, 6 kids, 7 kids? leads to food hoarding.

I can't believe I'm about to do this-- but I'm going to defend Abigail (a little bit). I spent last year looking to either rent or buy a place in the same areas John and Abigail were looking at, and I'm a bit of an information freak so I did tons and tons of research. John works in Rockville, where a cheap one bedroom apartment rents for 1,500 a month. The nearby towns are almost equally ridiculous in their rent/morgage payments. The only "cheap" places in Maryland are way out west in the boonies (Jefferson, Brunswick, and then north past Frederick) which are about the same commute as from where the Benjamins live in eastern WV (and 270 South is a parking lot in the mornings). Plus the higher state taxes in MD mean at least an extra $200 month out of pocket, even compared to VA where I live. I cannot believe that there is a liveable 6 bedroom house for 1,500 a month in MD that is half an hour from DC. It may have been half an hour from a MARC station that could then take them into DC. If it is actually half an hour to DC, send me the link so I can buy it!!! :)

I'm sure Abigail and her husband didn't do all the research necessary,and rushed it. But with his and her student loan payments and five kids, they didn't have too many options.

[anjulibai]

I could be wrong, but I think WV has less strict homeschool rules.

I will also agree, housing prices in MD are ridiculous, especially close to DC. Where is this $1,500 a month 6 bedroom, I want to rent it!

[nausicaa]

I could be wrong, but I think WV has less strict homeschool rules.

I will also agree, housing prices in MD are ridiculous, especially close to DC. Where is this $1,500 a month 6 bedroom, I want to rent it!

We can split in anjulibai! Three bedrooms each for $750 a month!!

WV has lax homeschool rules, but so does MD, so that was probably a wash.

[anjulibai]

We can split in anjulibai! Three bedrooms each for $750 a month!!

WV has lax homeschool rules, but so does MD, so that was probably a wash.

$750 a month for 3 bedrooms would be a dream! We're in a $1200 2 bedroom apartment, but then again, we're in North Baltimore.

I'm sure the taxes had something to do with it. WV and VA both have lower taxes. That's why my DH's aunt moved to VA from California, instead of to MD near us.

[lilwriter85]

We can split in anjulibai! Three bedrooms each for $750 a month!!

WV has lax homeschool rules, but so does MD, so that was probably a wash.

Yeah I remember she complained about the MD homeschool rules in a posting. I think it might have been when they were still there.

[lilah]

I thought that in West VA homeschoolers have to take some kind of standardized test. Musings of a Mountain Mama, who lives in West Virginia has mentioned that.

[Stephanie66]

I am assuming Abigail and her family can drink their tap water, or we would have heard about it. And it would have been worth complaining about, with five kids. Heck, with NO kids.

[nausicaa]

I am assuming Abigail and her family can drink their tap water, or we would have heard about it. And it would have been worth complaining about, with five kids. Heck, with NO kids.

The contaminated water issues are much farther west I believe. Abigail is essentially in the DC metro area, right on the border of Maryland.

We can only imagine the self-hagiography written if it had affected her. :roll: We did have five inches of snow though. So she should be able to get some histrionics out of that.

[singsingsing]

She seems to be in one of her posting lulls right now, but expect a dozen posts in a row within the next few days.