Brandy's downward spiral beginning

[prairiemuffin]

Also, without a car, Jason brings home the food from work

Yeesh, I forgot that. So they live in bumf**k Wyoming in a trailer*, no friends, no car, no social life, really no interaction with anyone. What fun. Jealous.

*I have nothing against Wyoming or trailers, but theirs is pretty dang dismal from the pics that she's posted*

[Mommy22alyns]

Mirele- the thing is, she was raised agnostic, or atheist. I think she just adopted religion because she looooooves having kids, and thought that was the only way to validate her choice. Had her first at 16 and now has 7 at 26. I like her because she's mostly honest through her swings, but I feel sorry for the kids with all the back and forth- moving a lot, being sent to public school only to be pulled out again a few weeks later, being unschooled by a mom who spells 'voila' w-a-l-a, mom going through very difficult risky pregnancies. Hopefully she'll start swinging less and less to the extremes and find an equilibrium.

Yeah, she's not doing those kids any favors. :(

[skankbiscuit]

Janis also says that she is Bi and has had girlfriends while married to her husband. (her husband knows and supposedly approves, he is not involved though)

[cjsmom]

I have lost 16 lbs in 1 week. When you start out with a lot of weight to lose, it's not so shocking. That said, the first week is usually water weight.

I hear you. I lost 10lbs in the first week. Probably all water and salt. But it was really good for my psyche - made me really want to keep going! I hope Brandy keeps going and doesn't get discouraged when it slows down.

[onlyorganic]

I think she is setting her goals too high, wants to do a complete 180 and I'm worried for her that if she fails she's feel like junk about herself as a human being. That Pepsi Throwback is always on sale here and I never buy it, I don't care how good a deal it is. It's better to just drink tap water and you can save that way too! I shop once a week for my husband and me. I never spend more than 50 dollars and our fridge looks similar to this... and we don't have two little girls. I agree they probably buy what they can carry rather than do a good ole' pantry-poundin' with every trip to the store. It also looks from their freezer that maybe they do AFM, which is a huge money-saver. I'm curious what her husband does?

[prairiemuffin]

I'm curious what her husband does?

quote]

As far as I know, he works in a grocery store.

[fundiefun]

Janis also says that she is Bi and has had girlfriends while married to her husband. (her husband knows and supposedly approves, he is not involved though)

Who is Janis?

[skankbiscuit]

Janis is the mom of 7 from lil peas in my pod from god. She is another one that changes her religions and other standards constantly.

[prairiemuffin]

New post up.

Wow, big surprises here.

1. She starts out by fully admitting she's been spending most of her time on fb, chatting. Well, I'm guessing that hasn't really helped her in getting much done on her other 520 goals.

2. She's now thinking that unschooling is the way to go. Because that's really what all parents do, y'know? Like, when you teach them their colors and shapes?

3. Oh, but wait! Maybe un-schooling isn't the way to go. So we'll look at Charlotte Mason now, because even if it's not for them, then she'll be able to pass on all she's learned by reading the free e-book she found on the interwebz; she's REALLY learning a lot.

4. Boy, taking all the girls' jeans and ripping them out to convert them to skirts sure is a lot of work! Hope she left them something to wear in a pinch when she actually doesn't finish them, and her children are left pantsless.

5. She's made a great stack of art index cards by taking some stickers she got, sticking them to index cards, and laminating them. Why? "Now we can look through them and appreciate some fine art, very cheaply, and learn a thing or three." Except she skipped the artists she wasn't familiar with.

Yikes.

[demgirl]

I wanted to stick with stuff I’m vaguely familiar with {cuz I have no idea who Cezanne or Klimt are}

Oh, dear God.

[defrauding]

Oh, dear God.

If only there was a way to look up famous painters online!

[fundiefan]

And so it begins, yet again. Going to skirts only, no more ebil jeans. Take...two thousand?

Again, a fundie makes me grateful for the life I've lived, regardless of its imperfections and craziness. Learning about art based only on what the teacher/mom has heard of, using laminated card stock & stickers, isn't learning.

Oh well, I suppose if her kids spend these next weeks wearing clothes their mother tore apart to make 'appropriate' they don't need no stinkin' art education. They will be mom's perfect Christian kids in their makeshift 'skirts only' phase. Again. If, of course, she actually finishes ripping the jeans apart and making them into skirts before god tells her something different.

Those poor kids. I've totally lost count of how many times she has gone skirts only then done her usual 180 and gone off defending jeans. Those girls of hers are going to be very confused; hell, I have no doubt they already are.

[Kaylee]

Janis is the mom of 7 from lil peas in my pod from god. She is another one that changes her religions and other standards constantly.

lilpeasinmypodfromgod.blogspot.com/

She just started a new blog because she doesn't believe in God now and wanted a different URL, but she's changed before and may be back to this one. The archives are still in Google Reader if you subscribe and are pretty interesting in a trainwreck sort of way.

[MrsYoungie]

Oh, dear God.

Yeah. This is exactly the type of thing that makes me figure that in 2 more generations the (fundy) homeschooled will be illiterate. If the parents don't know it, how can they teach it to their children? Answer: they won't bother.

Or instead of all that work to make "art" flash cards - you could, you know go to the evil library and borrown one of their amazing books of art masterpieces. But then, I guess, you would run the risk of seeing defrauding nudie ladies etc.

sigh.

[fundiefan]

I wonder what the kids are actually going to learn from the flashcards? If they're only gonna' learn the artist's names, they may as well skip art education entirely. Learning about art means putting things in context, learning about techniques, styles, influences, the culture of the artist and his/her motives, their lives - success and failures alike - and so very much more. Like, the speculation, based on his writings and and much of his work, that Michaelangelo was gay? Will that be covered?

I can't help but think they need to skip art as a subject in their version of school. It won't be an education, it will be superficial randomness from the mind of someone who knows nothing and apparently doesn't know how to find or use accessible sources.

I agree completely, MrsYoungie; another couple of generations and the number of illiterate, uneducated fundies will become a very real problem.

[skankbiscuit]

lilpeasinmypodfromgod.blogspot.com/

She just started a new blog because she doesn't believe in God now and wanted a different URL, but she's changed before and may be back to this one. The archives are still in Google Reader if you subscribe and are pretty interesting in a trainwreck sort of way.

Here she goes again - a skirt only modest homeschooling fundy to an athiest public schooling bisexual. Wow. That took, what a week?

[synchroswimr]

I've thought about homeschooling if I ever have kids, and one thing that appeals to me about it is getting to learn some new things along with the children. She is so... Not curious! It makes me mad.

[Witsec6]

New post up.

Wow, big surprises here.

1. She starts out by fully admitting she's been spending most of her time on fb, chatting. Well, I'm guessing that hasn't really helped her in getting much done on her other 520 goals.

2. She's now thinking that unschooling is the way to go. Because that's really what all parents do, y'know? Like, when you teach them their colors and shapes?

3. Oh, but wait! Maybe un-schooling isn't the way to go. So we'll look at Charlotte Mason now, because even if it's not for them, then she'll be able to pass on all she's learned by reading the free e-book she found on the interwebz; she's REALLY learning a lot.

4. Boy, taking all the girls' jeans and ripping them out to convert them to skirts sure is a lot of work! Hope she left them something to wear in a pinch when she actually doesn't finish them, and her children are left pantsless.

5. She's made a great stack of art index cards by taking some stickers she got, sticking them to index cards, and laminating them. Why? "Now we can look through them and appreciate some fine art, very cheaply, and learn a thing or three." Except she skipped the artists she wasn't familiar with.

Yikes.

When I first started following Brandy about a year ago (maybe a bit before that), she was REALLY learning a lot about unschooling. This is part of her pattern: She and Jason decide that their previous religious convictions (headcovering, organic food, home churching, etc.) were really a result of influences from other bloggers, but now that they have figured out their TRUE path she sets herself a million goals, she doesn't acheive the goals but "it's oKAY everybody because nobody's perfect", she goes all gung-ho on teaching her girls the true path, cooking nutritious meals, and cleaning her house, then she gets totally overwhelmed by the responsibility of parenting, teaching, and housekeeping and decides that unschooling is the way to go (besides, both of her daughters are so intelligent that they already know what she has been teaching them-- homeschool curriculum is for chumps and idiots), and they're going to eat Oreos and drink Pepsi if they want to because, HECK, Brandy and Jason both grew up eating kraft dinner and drinking water straight from the tap and they turned out OK!

This seems like a very accelerated cycle though. I love watching the drama unfold.

[skankbiscuit]

Ok, I am not a medical professional or therapist (I have a psych degree but that doesn't really count :lol: ) Does she come off as bipolar to anyone else? Maybe bipolar II?

[fundiefan]

Ok, I am not a medical professional or therapist (I have a psych degree but that doesn't really count :lol: ) Does she come off as bipolar to anyone else? Maybe bipolar II?

I know next to nothing about bipolar disorder. I do, however, think something is wrong. Mental, emotional, circumstantial - I have no clue. She's been like this for years; at least as long as I've known of her and that's maybe 4 years? or somewhere near that.

Her husband is just as bad. They feed off each other. It's crazy making to watch - I can't even imagine living a life like that.

[acutexenophobia]

I recently went to her facebook. She sure has been busy "liking" new things. This one is my favorite: https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-HATE-HALLOWEEN/132670148902

[dianapavelovna]

Although in many ways it doesn't fit (and there are problems with the diagnosis in general), Brandy's wild swings from one lifestyle to another make me curious about the possibility of borderline.

[fundiefan]

Oh crap. It's that time of year again. The next 3.5 months will be full of fundie rants about how evil society is and they know best and we should all live like them. First, Halloween. Then Christmas. For some, even Thanksgiving isn't safe from being evil incarnate for the perfect Christian.

[prairiemuffin]

Oh crap. It's that time of year again. The next 3.5 months will be full of fundie rants about how evil society is and they know best and we should all live like them. First, Halloween. Then Christmas. For some, even Thanksgiving isn't safe from being evil incarnate for the perfect Christian.

Oh, GOODY.

In other news, Brandy now has a bunch of bible verses up to prove her point that, hey, it's OK if you can't get everything on your housekeeping list done! Which, hell, I agree with, but honestly. It's harder and harder for me to feel sorry for her. If it's constantly that big of an issue for you, then get off your damn fbook chats and just frickin' do it. She's so damn busy trying to figure out the perfect combo of how to homeschool, how to cook, how to dress, how to eat, what they should be doing in their free time, blahblahblah, that she never gets ANY of it done.

It's not rocket science, chickie. Try taking a project and seeing it through start to finish, see how it feels. You'd probably be pleasantly surprised.

[JesusFightClub]

Heck, I don't like net diagnoses but I'd go with bipolar. I haz it and this could totally be me. Huge list of goals to be achieved straight away? Check! Finding it impossible to focus? Check! Ascribing bizarre importance to things? Check! Setting unachievable targets which will be No Problem? Check!

Add to the above brief bouts of weeping in the corner of the room and you have JFC, rapid cycling mode. I feel sorry for her and hope she can see a doc who says "Quit with the fundie, take some meds."