FamTeam Update

[church_of_dog]

2 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

One of the famteam episodes includes Jude filming Rick in a canoe talking about the Safe at Home series and how they'd been working on it for a while but were never able to make progress at home.  I'll see if I can find the clip.

or maybe Rick explains it in the first Safe at Home episode?  Idk but would make sense...not sure I can check that one since those have some kind of sedative effect for me.

re the bolded -- you might have just identified what's going on in that family -- maybe Vine Valley hypnotizes the manboys as well!  Can't go off and have your own life unless you are able to hold the idea in your head long enough to make a plan of action.  Which doesn't happen when -- time for another editing session!  and then -- you are getting slleeeeeeeeppyyyyyyy.......

[HerNameIsBuffy]

5 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

re the bolded -- you might have just identified what's going on in that family -- maybe Vine Valley hypnotizes the manboys as well!  Can't go off and have your own life unless you are able to hold the idea in your head long enough to make a plan of action.  Which doesn't happen when -- time for another editing session!  and then -- you are getting slleeeeeeeeppyyyyyyy.......

you may have something there!  There is also something supernatural about the accent ...it has a hypnotic quality.  I had one of the episodes in earlier when I was checking for that clip and had to ask my son something...he asked me why I was talking like that.  It's contagious and soothing and now I need to watch some baseball while I take a nap...

[Chicken bones]

I wonder if the man boys celebrated yesterday...

http://www.wfaa.com/videos/features/2016/01/20/dallas-zoo-celebrates-penguin-awareness-day/79048546/

[MatthewDuggar]

Cathy had quite a birthday yesterday!  Free lunch at Denny's, dinner with Rick at Red Lobster and a yogurt treat later with the Manboys.  Oh, and it was David's birthday too. 

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

25 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

Cathy had quite a birthday yesterday!  Free lunch at Denny's, dinner with Rick at Red Lobster and a yogurt treat later with the Manboys.  Oh, and it was David's birthday too. 

Where is the best place to get the latest and greatest on the Arndts?  FamTeam blog, site, & fb seem pretty hit and miss these days with the exception of Rick's ramblings.

[MamaJunebug]

If my overwrought memory serves, Cathy's family was entrepreneurial and so Famteam may have a comfy trust-fund-baby financial foundation. Still & all, I wonder if Rick & Cathy own their considerable acreage and house free & clear, or if the Arndtsons' incomes  are crucial to making the mortgage payments?

[MatthewDuggar]

6 hours ago, Tim-Tom Biblethumper said:

Where is the best place to get the latest and greatest on the Arndts?  FamTeam blog, site, & fb seem pretty hit and miss these days with the exception of Rick's ramblings.

On Famteam.com, click on Dad's Diary.  You have to register, but Rick keeps a daily diary.  It's pretty one-sided and repetitive, but at least it's a constant source of their daily activities.

[JenniferJuniper]

20 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

If my overwrought memory serves, Cathy's family was entrepreneurial and so Famteam may have a comfy trust-fund-baby financial foundation. Still & all, I wonder if Rick & Cathy own their considerable acreage and house free & clear, or if the Arndtsons' incomes  are crucial to making the mortgage payments?

Cathy's parents owned a tool and die company in Belleville that is still in business today run by her brothers.  One of her sisters is the CFO.   Her parents are both dead, but she has nine siblings, so I'm not sure it's the source of any great wealth for the Arndts.  Rick's parents are still alive.

Over the years, Rick talked about money problems, but not now.  He doesn't work anymore, hasn't for years (Vine Valley is his sole focus), but he has his sons making money for him.  It sounds like several are fairly busy court reporters, and the wedding photography business appears to be doing well.

One wonders what would happen if the sons who are bringing in the bacon all up and decided to move out.  For some reason, it doesn't appear that the middle sons have been trained in much more than filming and editing. (James the handy man being one exception, and I'm guessing he's self-taught).  This doesn't seem to be a smart move, but Rick is nearly 60 and I think he's banking on the oldest sons supporting him and Cathy for the rest of their lives.   I really think this is his prime motivation for keeping them around.  He appears not to give a damn what happens to his family once he and Cathy are gone. 

 

[socalrules]

I wonder what they will do about the girl. Is it Wizzy? Is she just going to be a stay at home daughter forever? Will she become a court reporter? You have to go to a real court reporting school to become certified, you can't just learn it at home. So I wonder if they would trust her to go to school to learn it and actually do the job. She can't bring a brother with her to sit in on depositions. I wonder if she would be allowed to go out alone? I am guessing she is in line to take over running the household when Cathy is gone.

[MatthewDuggar]

53 minutes ago, socalrules said:

I wonder what they will do about the girl. Is it Wizzy? Is she just going to be a stay at home daughter forever? Will she become a court reporter? You have to go to a real court reporting school to become certified, you can't just learn it at home. So I wonder if they would trust her to go to school to learn it and actually do the job. She can't bring a brother with her to sit in on depositions. I wonder if she would be allowed to go out alone? I am guessing she is in line to take over running the household when Cathy is gone.

I'm pretty sure the Manboys that got certified in court reporting did the majority of the studying and practicing at home.  I know for a few it took years before they passed the test(s).  As far as Wizzy, she seems to be more involved in the Photography side of the business.  They are not like the Duggars where anyone and everyone needs a chaperone, so they might just let her go to a community college.

[JenniferJuniper]

20 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I'm pretty sure the Manboys that got certified in court reporting did the majority of the studying and practicing at home.  I know for a few it took years before they passed the test(s).  As far as Wizzy, she seems to be more involved in the Photography side of the business.  They are not like the Duggars where anyone and everyone needs a chaperone, so they might just let her go to a community college.

Education outside the home seems to be out for all of them.  Only the oldest sons briefly attended Catholic high school.  You're right - all studying for court reporting took place at home, and none have taken photography courses.  They appear to have learned as they went along, maybe with some on-line studying, and then the older ones trained the younger ones. 

One would think Rick would like the idea of some of the "kids" learning more skills to help support the family. The fear of "bad" outside influences must be the reason it's not allowed.  Yet they can photograph non-fundie weddings, no doubt with people drinking and partying hard during receptions and sit through depositions that probably involve some seriously unsavory stuff at times.  

It's all so mysterious, but I guess they can witness worldly things as long as they don't partake.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

2 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Cathy's parents owned a tool and die company in Belleville that is still in business today run by her brothers.  One of her sisters is the CFO.   Her parents are both dead, but she has nine siblings, so I'm not sure it's the source of any great wealth for the Arndts.  Rick's parents are still alive.

Over the years, Rick talked about money problems, but not now.  He doesn't work anymore, hasn't for years (Vine Valley is his sole focus), but he has his sons making money for him.  It sounds like several are fairly busy court reporters, and the wedding photography business appears to be doing well.

One wonders what would happen if the sons who are bringing in the bacon all up and decided to move out.  For some reason, it doesn't appear that the middle sons have been trained in much more than filming and editing. (James the handy man being one exception, and I'm guessing he's self-taught).  This doesn't seem to be a smart move, but Rick is nearly 60 and I think he's banking on the oldest sons supporting him and Cathy for the rest of their lives.   I really think this is his prime motivation for keeping them around.  He appears not to give a damn what happens to his family once he and Cathy are gone. 

 

I have extensive real life knowledge of the financials of similar businesses in both size and type (from the info when we discussed it here before) and if they are doing well it can certainly turn a nice profit.  But if you aren't working there and drawing a salary it would be very unusual for the dividends to be anywhere near never having to work money - especially split 9 ways.  

Thats another big mystery for me.  I've worked in these types of family business for almost my whole career - it's very odd that none of the kids have worked there (if they haven't) even if just to pick up skills and gain experience.  They could learn cad/cam engineering with no college and that's a skill that's in demand.  Maintenance and repair of production machines pays really well, they've got some computer guys and trust me knowing production software isn't something on everyone's resume.

Im just an employee, not family, and I was able to bring my kids in to work when they were in highschool/college on school breaks where they learned basic office stuff like phones, processing invoices, spreadsheets, data entry, etc.

its entirely possible they have and Rick never mentioned it - but if not its a big wtf why for me.  I cannot tell you how many relatives come throguh family business temporarily besides the ones that stay on.

None of the kids wanted to join the family business?  I guess, but unusual.

we know they aren't estranged from Cathy's family because they go to the picnic things andnwhen do holidays - but it doesn't seem from the Fam team series that they are that close.  In one of the episodes Mark was talking about how his grandparents on that side have over 50 grand children - iirc he seemed to be struggling to come up with the exact number and I just remember thinking his phrasing was odd.  

maybe it's just me but I have a huge passel of cousins with whom I have had no relationship for years and I can still tell you how many there are and their names.  He just seemed...detached in a way.

 

[JenniferJuniper]

Cathy's father's obit said he had 54 grandchildren and I recall Mark commented that they were split evenly between grandsons and granddaughters.  So there may not have been enough room for the Arndts at the tool and die company even if they were interested.  

They clearly have close relationships with some cousins (Rick's siblings have a fair number of kids as well) but it doesn't strike me as too odd that they aren't close or know much about all of them.  If you have 70 - 75 first cousins, I'm sure it's hard to keep track of them all.

But I am curious about Rick's relationship with Cathy's parents.  I know they were close to the kids, but what did the uber-Catholic Stocks think of Rick's retreat from the Church?  From Cathy's dad's obituary:

Quote

He was ordained a Catholic Deacon at The Cathedral of St. Peter, Belleville, October 18, 1980.  He was honored to have performed the weddings of many of his children and grandchildren and to have baptized many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Joseph also had a devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus, and demonstrated this by leading the weekly Novena at the Cathedral for many years.

Mother of God!  Rick has long since left the Church and apparently taken Cathy with him.  Given this description of Mr. Stock, I can't imagine he was too pleased with Rick, and may have only kept the peace to maintain a relationship with the grandkids; something many a grandparent has had to do.

 

[Jana814]

Does anyone know how many siblings Rick has.  I knew that Cathy came from a large family but I wasn't sure about Rick. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

17 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

Does anyone know how many siblings Rick has.  I knew that Cathy came from a large family but I wasn't sure about Rick. 

Rick is one of five - I believe he has a brother and 3 sisters.  His brother used to play on the team and was in one of the guys silent movies.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Cathy's father's obit said he had 54 grandchildren and I recall Mark commented that they were split evenly between grandsons and granddaughters.  So there may not have been enough room for the Arndts at the tool and die company even if they were interested.  

They clearly have close relationships with some cousins (Rick's siblings have a fair number of kids as well) but it doesn't strike me as too odd that they aren't close or know much about all of them.  If you have 70 - 75 first cousins, I'm sure it's hard to keep track of them all.

But I am curious about Rick's relationship with Cathy's parents.  I know they were close to the kids, but what did the uber-Catholic Stocks think of Rick's retreat from the Church?  From Cathy's dad's obituary:

Mother of God!  Rick has long since left the Church and apparently taken Cathy with him.  Given this description of Mr. Stock, I can't imagine he was too pleased with Rick, and may have only kept the peace to maintain a relationship with the grandkids; something many a grandparent has had to do.

 

I doubt very much he was any near okay with them leaving the church.  

I wonder when they finally made the full break to the church of the family room?  One of their old home movies has Rick filming James and Phillip crying when Cathy left for church with her mom.  The boys were toddlers and they are 6 and 7 in line so if she was still attending mass that far in it makes me wonder when they stopped entirely.

My family is Catholic and I can't imagine a scenario where the kids not being baptized wouldn't be a bfd to someone that devout.  Ime when that happens the grandparent does a surrpetious secret emergency baptism on the baby - I would be shocked if every one of those kids weren't baptized Catholic whether Rick and Cathy know it or not.  

I've only listened to a few of the safe at home because they put me to sleep - but I don't recall anything overtly anti-Catholic or in opposition to the church's teachings.  Anyone more familiar with his beliefs know how far he veered theologically?

[Jana814]

8 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Rick is one of five - I believe he has a brother and 3 sisters.  His brother used to play on the team and was in one of the guys silent movies.

Thanks for the information I didn't realize that Rick had so many siblings. For some reason I thought he only had 1 or 2. 

[JenniferJuniper]

5 hours ago, Jana814 said:

Thanks for the information I didn't realize that Rick had so many siblings. For some reason I thought he only had 1 or 2. 

He only talks about one of his brothers, but he actually has two.  There's a Michael Arndt who is never, ever mentioned by Rick.

Maybe Michael is a godless liberal!

I forget how many sisters he has, but I think he has a total of 4 siblings.

*Edited to add that Rick has two brothers and two sisters.  And curiously, Wizzie and the manboys only have three cousins by Rick's four siblings  

http://www.legacy.com/celebration/belleville/celebrations-announcement.aspx?n=arndt&aid=1752601400  

[Jana814]

3 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

He only talks about one of his brothers, but he actually has two.  There's a Michael Arndt who is never, ever mentioned by Rick.

Maybe Michael is a godless liberal!

I forget how many sisters he has, but I think he has a total of 4 siblings.

*Edited to add that Rick has two brothers and two sisters.  And curiously, Wizzie and the manboys only have three cousins by Rick's four siblings  

http://www.legacy.com/celebration/belleville/celebrations-announcement.aspx?n=arndt&aid=1752601400  

Interesting. Their would be a chance that 1 or more of Rick siblings didn't have kids. 

[JenniferJuniper]

10 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

Interesting. Their would be a chance that 1 or more of Rick siblings didn't have kids. 

Likely, but even if just one couple had three children and the rest none, this would indicate some family planning is probably going on.

Rick doesn't believe in birth control of any kind.

[MatthewDuggar]

In a recent update from Rick:

We continue to surround our nation in prayer, asking God for an outpouring of renewal and revival.  This is the reason that we are creating Vine Valley; beyond its elements of humor, romance, and drama, we hope and pray that it will draw viewers to Jesus!

Also:

(7:23 PM)  Several of the guys are working out at the YMCA center tonight.  Others (including Cathy and I) will complete our exercise sessions at home.Mark and I had a memorable conversation while on the road today.  I felt as if the Holy Spirit was taking us on a historical tour (my own history) through Belleville.  Without really planning it, we wound up driving past my boyhood home (at 112 South 33rd Street) and the Belle Valley school grounds, where I played (as a seven-or-so-year-old member of a Khoury League team) in my first-ever baseball game.  (My brother, Dave, was also on the team.)

I had just mentioned here that they never go to the YMCA anymore, well apparently they still do!  Ironic!  

I fail to believe that the Holy Spirit guided them past Rick's boyhood home.  It seems like he's in a constant trance of reminiscence.  

[JenniferJuniper]

1 hour ago, MatthewDuggar said:

 

I had just mentioned here that they never go to the YMCA anymore, well apparently they still do!  Ironic!  

I fail to believe that the Holy Spirit guided them past Rick's boyhood home.  It seems like he's in a constant trance of reminiscence.  

It's the YMCA CENTER, MathewDuggar, never just the Y or the YMCA.   Must include that word at all times.

I thought the same thing when he started blathering about bringing a manboy to his elementary school.  This guy can barely tolerate living in the present.  I wonder how it fits into the overall dysfunction in the family.

[MatthewDuggar]

This just got to me:

Luke helped me solve a software (the software that I use to edit Vine Valley)mystery this afternoon. As if he uses his pc for any other reason than VV...   

I was touched by his concern, as he went out of his way to find the answer.  As if the Manboys would blow off their dad

His feat will allow me to mark or flag certain scenes with a blue dot.  The dot will let me find scenes that are in need of special attention or improvement.  This was a "mystery" that needed to be solved?  Seems like a basic feature of editing software

[Cleopatra7]

The Ardnts illustrate why the "safe at home"/stay at home daughter (or son, in this case) model is doomed to failure. If you honestly believe that being at home with your parents and your large number of siblings is the best of all possible worlds, why would you leave? There's no motivation to get married, have children, or even get your own apartment if you've concluded that you're safest at home. I know a lot of people wonder why none of the Ardnts have shown the slightest inclination to leave, but I think it goes back to effective brainwashing done by parents who happen to be the cult leaders for their children. People will do strange things in the name of religion, and even stranger things in the name of family. This also explains why so few of the Duggar kidults or the Maxwell "girls" have left home, because they are convinced that they are in the best place possible against an evil heathen world.

[Sundaymorning]

31 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

The Ardnts illustrate why the "safe at home"/stay at home daughter (or son, in this case) model is doomed to failure. If you honestly believe that being at home with your parents and your large number of siblings is the best of all possible worlds, why would you leave? There's no motivation to get married, have children, or even get your own apartment if you've concluded that you're safest at home. I know a lot of people wonder why none of the Ardnts have shown the slightest inclination to leave, but I think it goes back to effective brainwashing done by parents who happen to be the cult leaders for their children. People will do strange things in the name of religion, and even stranger things in the name of family. This also explains why so few of the Duggar kidults or the Maxwell "girls" have left home, because they are convinced that they are in the best place possible against an evil heathen world.

I agree. Brainwashing in believing that the heathen world is ebil coupled with possible passive-aggressive guilt-tripping is a very effective tool to make the kidults stay at home.

Also, since the parents perpetually made it impossible for their children to learn how to navigate themselves in the "real" world by sheltering them from everything, they made it impossible for their kids to really grow up. Most people get socialised from childhood on and learn through examples of others and simple trial and error how things work, and hopefully, after a few times of falling on your face, you should somehow get the hang of what is considered acceptable behaviour and what not, and how you should deal with people, situations and also disappointments.

Take flirting and dating for example, most people make their first experiences in their teens, and at first, almost everyone is insecure and unsure, and getting rejected can be heartbreaking and the end of the world, but with time, you hopefully know the ropes a bit and learn how to deal with people you are attracted to.

The manboys never had the chance to experience all that and to slowly learn with time. Imagine an Arndt in his 20s trying to ask a woman out and behaving like an insecure 15 year old cause he just doesn't know any better.

Generally, I wouldn't be surprised if those kidults might have made some bad experiences when they tried something as adults and concluded that the world was indeed an ebil and hostile place and their childhood home was the safe haven they felt secure.