Tedious, Complicated, and Particular: Erika Shupe, Part 8

[princessmahina]

21 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I'm sorry for the double post:

In the current facebook/blog re-post that discusses birthdays, I think that picture of Anne Marie and her pudding "cake" is so sweet. What a great idea as I've never really liked cake. I do like that the kids get to choose their birthday treat. 

I thought it was adorable/hilarious myself. How many adults would come up with a legit "pudding cake?" Kids can be so creative.

[lauraloralara]

Their Fourth of July pictures look cute. According to Erika, Karen did the face painting, which is pretty impressive IMO. I wish she could get actual art lessons at the community college or a rec center or something. Also, Erika's kids generally look genuinely happy, which is a far cry from what we see in pics of the Rods or the Anderson kids. I do feel like she is loosening the reins.

[19 cats and counting]

13 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

There's been a repost. As usual, it's the exact same material with minimum editing. There's a photo of Bob and Erika with Brandon on his birthday, some years ago, and Erika mentions that Bob is doing a silly face. He isn't. It's more like the sort of face he does usually with Erika around, or like he's not feeling 100% but still attempts to smile, but can't quite hide the fact that he's not quite 100%.

I hate to bring politics into this but Bob looks like Chris Christie's long lost brother in this pic.  I can't unsee it.

[slickcat79]

On 7/4/2016 at 11:29 AM, wikinggirl said:

Back to poor Lilly and Lacey for a second (well, kind of)

I found a Norwegian blog called speiltvillingene, which means mirror twins, and the mother color codes her daughters. One is purple and the other one is pink. (they also part their hair on different sides, hence the mirroring) I don't know, it just rubs me the wrong way. The girls are alway dressed in matching outfits, ALWAYS. They claim it makes it easier for everyone around, because they know that A is always pink and B is always purple, but I think it's sad that that's all they are. And of course that the colors are pink and purple...yay patriarchy! 

Maybe it's just because their expressions are different, but those 2 don't really look identical to me. It just seems like the shapes of their eyes and noses and faces are different. I've thought the same about Lacey and Lilly. I just don't see how it would be hard to tell them apart if you looked at them literally every single day.

[sta_sha]

On 7/4/2016 at 11:29 AM, wikinggirl said:

Back to poor Lilly and Lacey for a second (well, kind of)

I found a Norwegian blog called speiltvillingene, which means mirror twins, and the mother color codes her daughters. One is purple and the other one is pink. (they also part their hair on different sides, hence the mirroring) 

I went to elementary school with twin boys who were coded by colour. One always wore red and the other always wore blue. I'm not sure if this was a choice that the parents made or if it was suggested by the school as the boys were in the same class (I went to a really small school so splitting them up wasn't an option). It can't be good to teach kids that the only way anyone can know them as an individual is by their clothing.

[mango_fandango]

Erika's removed the photo of Riley's scratched arm. It was weird to put the photo up in the first place.

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

From Erika's 4th of July post:
 

Quote

Disappointingly our big van had a problem, so Erika took the 5 oldest kids to the party and Bob stayed home with the youngest 4. =(

Who is writing this?

[mango_fandango]

20 minutes ago, Tim-Tom Biblethumper said:

From Erika's 4th of July post:
 

Who is writing this?

Hmm. That is odd.

[Eternalbluepearl]

Erika could have just said I took the older kids to the party, while Bob stayed home with the younger kids. Oh well. Erika writing strangely is par for the course here. Same crap, different day. 

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

2 hours ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

Erika could have just said I took the older kids to the party, while Bob stayed home with the younger kids. Oh well. Erika writing strangely is par for the course here. Same crap, different day. 

But she's writing in the third-person.  As if she's not the one writing it.  

ETA:  Or maybe that's what you meant...I'm confused.  

[odalisque]

It's crazy how she treats the twins. I've known several sets of identical twins, and have always been able to tell them apart after being around them for a while.

[Shiny]

I don't like the way she treats the twins, but she's not unusual based on the twin moms I know. I know one that has her girls so intertwined they will respond to either girls name. And the names are not even remotely close to each other. I know another whose twins are not identical and yet the mom dresses them in coordinating colors. It's weird. 

I really hope Erika has loosened up. It appears she has from recents post, and I SO hope it continues. 

 

[Eternalbluepearl]

12 hours ago, Tim-Tom Biblethumper said:

But she's writing in the third-person.  As if she's not the one writing it.  

ETA:  Or maybe that's what you meant...I'm confused.  

Yeah, that's what I meant. No worries, Erika's writing style is sometimes confusing and I'm not always clear either. 

[IrishCarrie]

Erica was my gateway fundie - I found her on Facebook and googling the crazy eventually led me to Free Jinger. So she's always been a teeny bit special to me.

And now she appears to be changing and loosening the reins a little. And I know I should celebrate (and I do for her kids!!!) but I actually feel...oddly bereft. Like, if Erica can change, how am I supposed to believe that anything in the world is fixed and unchanging? 

[Queen Of Hearts]

11 minutes ago, IrishCarrie said:

Erica was my gateway fundie - I found her on Facebook and googling the crazy eventually led me to Free Jinger. So she's always been a teeny bit special to me.

 

She was one of my gateway fundies, too (along with Life in a Shoe).  I don't mind her changing, I just wish she'd write more home organization posts.  I find that aspect of her life fascinating, and now that she has older kids there has to be changes with how she organizes her home.

[CreationMuseumCurator]

15 hours ago, odalisque said:

It's crazy how she treats the twins. I've known several sets of identical twins, and have always been able to tell them apart after being around them for a while.

I don't get it, either. There was a set of identical twins in my class from sixth grade on. I rarely interacted with them (they weren't particularly nice, and I was a pretty sensitive at that age), but I could still tell them apart.

[December]

34 minutes ago, Queen Of Hearts said:

She was one of my gateway fundies, too (along with Life in a Shoe).  I don't mind her changing, I just wish she'd write more home organization posts.  I find that aspect of her life fascinating, and now that she has older kids there has to be changes with how she organizes her home.

Agreed! It's definitely some of the more interesting stuff on her blog... I mean, I still think it's too many people crammed into one tiny house. But it's fascinating and I wonder too how things are working as the children are all physically bigger and probably less comfortable sleeping in bunks, less justification for stuff like a playroom as they age up, etc. I remember earlier posts didn't sound like they were completely opposed to changing the setup if it didn't work as well later, unlike Duggars seem to live in the same setup forever.

Then again, if they're moving in a different direction with some lifestyle changes, maybe they won't want to share that info (not saying that's a bad thing!). 

[princessmahina]

4 hours ago, December said:

Agreed! It's definitely some of the more interesting stuff on her blog... I mean, I still think it's too many people crammed into one tiny house. But it's fascinating and I wonder too how things are working as the children are all physically bigger and probably less comfortable sleeping in bunks, less justification for stuff like a playroom as they age up, etc. I remember earlier posts didn't sound like they were completely opposed to changing the setup if it didn't work as well later, unlike Duggars seem to live in the same setup forever.

Then again, if they're moving in a different direction with some lifestyle changes, maybe they won't want to share that info (not saying that's a bad thing!). 

I think they'd want to share it because Erika would want to be an example to all of us heathens who are still doing it wrong. She wouldn't see it as a failure of her lifestyle- merely something God has encouraged 

[mango_fandango]

Karen will be turning 18 next month, and then Melanie next year. Erika might secretly hope that they marry off fairly soon so they have a little more space. After that there'll be a long gap till Brandon turns 18 (he only turned 13 this year) and Karen would be 22 by then. Or, of course, Karen and Melanie will likely be kept on a while to help with homeschooling, especially as both twins will be learning to read next academic year. I think I've seen that both Karen and Melanie are in the same grade as they're close in age (even though in public school they'd be a grade apart) but that's homeschool for you. 

Who knows, though...

[alexandracabot]

I think Melanie and Karen are going to move out fast. Erika has five girls jammed in a single, tiny bedroom that would be a stretch for three kids.  At least the Maxwells have an ounce of personal space. I cannot imagine any 19-year-old willing to put up with that when they could get a job and have their own apartment.

[Coy Koi]

4 hours ago, alexandracabot said:

I think Melanie and Karen are going to move out fast. Erika has five girls jammed in a single, tiny bedroom that would be a stretch for three kids.  At least the Maxwells have an ounce of personal space. I cannot imagine any 19-year-old willing to put up with that when they could get a job and have their own apartment.

I hope they do, but I also wouldn't blame them or be surprised if it took them a while. The logistics of moving out on your own when you have very little real-world experience would be daunting to a lot of people. I moved out at 19 and it was kind of scary at first, and I'd been working for years, went to real school, and had help from my parents to cosign a lease and move my stuff and my mom would even buy me groceries sometimes at first. If Erika doesn't want them to move out, I doubt she'd help with any of that kind of thing. Not to say it would be impossible without her help, but it just might not happen immediately.

On the plus (?) side, they wouldn't need an expensive place for it to be a huge improvement over their present situation. Karen and Melanie could share a tiny studio apartment and still have tons more space and privacy than they do now.

[FundieFarmer]

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