Erika Shupe *grim rictus* Large Families on Purpose Part 3

[pnwgypsy]

If the Shupe kids barely leave the house outside of church, where are the magical fundie husbands supposed to come from? Do eligible fundie bachelors even know these girls exist?

[iweartanktops]

Random, but I noticed that Erika shared a Spurgeon quote on the LFOP Facebook page. 

[Antimony]

Erika has shared with us yet another recycled post about how to best optimize your bedroom for a good night's sleep. 

Erika gives some statistics about people who make their beds sleeping better at night. Now, I'm no expert but I'm sure this has more to do with people who are of the bed making personality (I am not, I was not raised to be) being in general more regimented and orderly and probably better about going to bed on time (I am not good about this.) My boyfriend, however, makes his bed and goes to sleep the same time every night. (what a good influence on me he is...)

Erika's other point is the MESSINESS OF THE ROOM and honestly my thoughts are, "Look, lady, when I turn off the lights to go to sleep I can't see the damn clutter." Problem fricking solved. (Also, there is no way in hell I'm cutting into sleep time by being worried about unfinished chores. It can wait. Chores are low on the priority list when school and work are in full-force. What the hell am  I gonna do, stay up and go wash all my clothes in the middle of the danged night when I want to be in bed? No. )

[Eternalbluepearl]

I completely agree with Erika on bed-making, room cleanliness, no clutter and the like. However, I will say I am sick of seeing pictures of Bob and Erika's house in general and their gosh-darn "this is how WE do things" crap. They have over-the-top pride about things like their orderly linen closet. My linen closet is orderly too and I'm a heathen with no children. I believe their house is becoming an idol. *tsk tsk* *wink* *smile* *vomit*

[LadyCrow1313]

I need a new hobby; I had another Erika Shupe dream last night. I dreamt that we were sitting @ a kitchen table, & she had made what I thought were sugar cookies. I'd eaten one (& it hadn't been that bad, really), but I found out after that she'd added a tshirt-like substance to the cookies. She @ first denied it, but I gave her the hairy eyeball & said her name in a stern, why-did-you-do-that voice, "Erika." She gave one of her trademark :smiles:, & that ended that part of the dream.

 

[Koala]

43 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I completely agree with Erika on bed-making, room cleanliness, no clutter and the like. However, I will say I am sick of seeing pictures of Bob and Erika's house in general and their gosh-darn "this is how WE do things" crap. They have over-the-top pride about things like their orderly linen closet. My linen closet is orderly too and I'm a heathen with no children. I believe their house is becoming an idol. *tsk tsk* *wink* *smile* *vomit*

I agree.  I wander through life assuming that most people don't give a tinker's damn how I run my home/life.
My assumption is that not everything works for everyone, and most people (left to themselves) will figure out what works for their family and implement it.

[elliha]

I am neither a neat person nor much into cleaning in general (Erika would probably have stroke if she saw our apartment even when I feel it is clean and neat enough to have company over) but I have to admit that the less clutter I have in my bedroom the easier I fall asleep. It has made me prioritize the bedrooms a bit more than before when I felt that the general areas were more important because those are what we use most of the time. 

I don't really mind people, Erika or other people saying "this is how we do it", but I really don't like that Erika presents it as there is absolutely no other way of doing things than the way she does them. That is annoying!

[defraudingjezebel]

Ugh. Has Erika written a new post (beside the single granola recipe post) in the last year? These recycled posts are starting to feel really redundant. It'd be interesting if she had a new or innovated piece of advice but "make your bed everyday" is far from new or innovated. 

I do have to admit that I am amused by her snarky little end note about feng shui:

Quote

As a side note:  I agree with the author's suggestions to close bedroom and closet doors at night, to create a sense of calm and order, although her suggestion at the end of the article that we follow these habits out of feng shui inspiration (Chinese mysticism) are NOT what I would encourage of course.  *laugh*  There is only one, true source of peace - the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love her statements she uses to cover her own ass. 

[Eternalbluepearl]

4 minutes ago, defraudingjezebel said:

I love her statements she uses to cover her own ass. 

It is kind of sad that christians like Erika can't seem to really enjoy anything. She can't post a christmas song video without a disclaimer that she doesn't approve of this singing group outside of this one christmas song. The inconvenience of the constant ass-covering would drive me nuts. Christians like Erika don't need to worry about hell, they are already there. And you know who they are doing all of this ass-covering for? OTHER christians. It makes no sense. All just trying to out-holy each other about the reason for which they shut their closet doors. 

[princessmahina]

11 hours ago, pnwgypsy said:

If the Shupe kids barely leave the house outside of church, where are the magical fundie husbands supposed to come from? Do eligible fundie bachelors even know these girls exist?

They'll come from church, of course! The Shupes go to church functions like picnics- surely some nice young man will step in and offer for Karen. It's obviously not an option for her to work at a summer camp to meet her future spouse like Bob and Erika did. 

[desertvixen]

Personally, I find the whole closed-bedroom-door thing to be claustrophobic.  This may also be due to the fact that my daughter's father and I did not use a baby monitor, but just left our door open (apartment life).

 

[defraudingjezebel]

3 hours ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

It is kind of sad that christians like Erika can't seem to really enjoy anything. She can't post a christmas song video without a disclaimer that she doesn't approve of this singing group outside of this one christmas song. The inconvenience of the constant ass-covering would drive me nuts. Christians like Erika don't need to worry about hell, they are already there. And you know who they are doing all of this ass-covering for? OTHER christians. It makes no sense. All just trying to out-holy each other about the reason for which they shut their closet doors. 

Oh, totally. I think she brings on to herself, though, somewhat. She's so quick to judge and admonish Christians who dare to give the appearance that they celebrate Halloween. She wouldn't dare give the impression that she "supports" or believes in feng shui, because she knows that someone like her would judge the hell out of someone who cites an article that mentions something "mystical." What's so dumb is that its from an article in a years-old Costco magazine... like someone would happen to see it and call her out for it in the first place! 

[apandaaries]

4 hours ago, desertvixen said:

Personally, I find the whole closed-bedroom-door thing to be claustrophobic.  This may also be due to the fact that my daughter's father and I did not use a baby monitor, but just left our door open (apartment life).

 

I also like to have the door open so I can hear what's happening in the household.  We (now I) never used a baby monitor, so sharp ears were important.  Now I find it beneficial because I want to know when she's up, and when she's having friend/s sleepover, I want to hear how late into the night the giggling goes on.  

Then again, I never slept with ear plugs at night with children in the house.  If someone is up, or sick, or whatever, I want to know about it, not ignore them until they're scheduled to be up and out of bed.

[Foudeb]

She somehow neglects to mention that having a clean tidy bedroom is easier when one has two house-slaves to do the actual work.

[Seven Severn]

Oh, Erika...:

"...during those months we clothes the blinds in our home..."

[apandaaries]

16 minutes ago, Seven Severn said:

Oh, Erika...:

"...during those months we clothes the blinds in our home..."

And Bob's her editor.  Either he gets bored by the walls o' text and doesn't read thoroughly, or he's as clueless as she is about spelling and grammar.  It's a shame those kids aren't allowed to brave the secular world, if only for schooling purposes.   

[Eternalbluepearl]

37 minutes ago, amandaaries said:

Then again, I never slept with ear plugs at night with children in the house.  If someone is up, or sick, or whatever, I want to know about it, not ignore them until they're scheduled to be up and out of bed.

I was kind of shocked by Erika saying that she puts ear plugs in and then relies on God to let her know if her children need her. It was a little wtf... 

[imokit]

2 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I was kind of shocked by Erika saying that she puts ear plugs in and then relies on God to let her know if her children need her. It was a little wtf... 

If Bob doesn't have ear plug in, maybe she relies on her headship to wake up and determine if the noise is hospital now noise or ignore until the older kids deal with it noise 

[apandaaries]

Just now, Eternalbluepearl said:

I was kind of shocked by Erika saying that she puts ear plugs in and then relies on God to let her know if her children need her. It was a little wtf... 

Especially given the way she's sardined those kids in those rooms, with no escape route in case of fire -- or at least that was the case when she originally posted that.  The rooms have been rearranged and there was that rumor of a CPS visit, so at least the windows are now accessible.  Still, there is no way I could sleep at night feeling aurally cut off from my family.  I only have one kid, but we've hosted a lot of sleepovers.  Doesn't anyone get up at night to pee, or have a bad dream and need some comforting, or get thirsty and need a drink?  

I'm sure I'm just doing it wrong, though, and Erika could give me eleventy suggestions about more godly ways to approach childrearing. *vomit*

[Foudeb]

Don't be silly. Dealing with night terrors, through-the-night feedings and other inconveniences are Karen's and Melanie's jobs.

[Guest]

I figured the kids are just told that nightmares are Satan trying to attack them, and they should pray very hard.  And stay in bed. Quietly.

[Jingerbread]

11 hours ago, Antimony said:

Erika has shared with us yet another recycled post about how to best optimize your bedroom for a good night's sleep. 

Erika gives some statistics about people who make their beds sleeping better at night. Now, I'm no expert but I'm sure this has more to do with people who are of the bed making personality (I am not, I was not raised to be) being in general more regimented and orderly and probably better about going to bed on time (I am not good about this.) My boyfriend, however, makes his bed and goes to sleep the same time every night. (what a good influence on me he is...)

Erika's other point is the MESSINESS OF THE ROOM and honestly my thoughts are, "Look, lady, when I turn off the lights to go to sleep I can't see the damn clutter." Problem fricking solved. (Also, there is no way in hell I'm cutting into sleep time by being worried about unfinished chores. It can wait. Chores are low on the priority list when school and work are in full-force. What the hell am  I gonna do, stay up and go wash all my clothes in the middle of the danged night when I want to be in bed? No. )

I actually do sleep better when my room's cleaned up and the bed's made.  Slipping between the sheets instead of yanking randomness over me just plain feels better, and I think the reason the room being clean helps is that it feels fresher.  When I open windows to air is out, it's easier to the room to be freshened up if there isn't clutter everywhere stopping the flow of air.

A lot of people don't care, but for me, if our room's a mess, I'll sleep on the couch.  

[Rubaiyat]

2 hours ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I was kind of shocked by Erika saying that she puts ear plugs in and then relies on God to let her know if her children need her. It was a little wtf... 

So...God has to let her know in a way other than giving her perfectly good ears?  Sound like my favorite joke about the drowning man and the truck, the boat and the helicopter...

 

 

[pnwgypsy]

2 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said: I was kind of shocked by Erika saying that she puts ear plugs in and then relies on God to let her know if her children need her. It was a little wtf... 

If Bob doesn't have ear plug in, maybe she relies on her headship to wake up and determine if the noise is hospital now noise or ignore until the older kids deal with it noise 

Hospital? You mean chiropractor.

[SilverBeach]

On 11/28/2015 at 10:47 AM, elliha said:

Christmas cards only happen every three years or so. 

Me too.  I need to get some after Christmas for next year.