Sierra - Return of the Strawberries and New Babies

[MadeItOut]

12 minutes ago, PainfullyAware said:

To me, $200 seems like a crazy amount to pay for your cell phone bill. I pay about $50 for unlimited data and text + calls. I really didn't take it though that she can't afford the bill. 

Yup. I feel a heckuva lot better with my €5-15 a month. Still gonna switch from my carrier though (too many niggles and horrible customer care. Having worked for a major competitor, I know how much better they should be). I might well go with Vomino. We already use them for home phone - tenner a month includes international calling.

[wikinggirl]

9 hours ago, HereticHick said:

And I this is total BEC, but I had a super hard time reading Sierra's wood grained background post on my computer.

I had the same problem, but then I saw that the link that was posted here had an M in the link (for mobile) and when I removed that it looked more normal with a white background. 

[candygirl200413]

So like as a family of 5, we pay $200 our bill so yeah what are they doing for 2 people to be having such a high bill?! Ours includes unlimited everything.

[JesusCampSongs]

I can see a $200/month bill if they had one of the more expensive carriers (Verizon), an unlimited plan, and device payments for two smartphones. 

[FleeJanaFree]

Something's been bothering me and I wasn't sure what. I went and reread her post three times. And I think I know what's it is now- It's the way Sierra phrases her husbands reactions to getting the phone.  She says they equally ignored their kids, yet only she is giving up the smartphone.

"Hey babe, I don't want you to think that I made you get that phone. Just know that if you decide to go back to your iPhone, I won't judge you, or think less of you in any way." He says after the fact. Sooooo it sounds like he's had conversations with her about giving up her smart phone, despite it totes being her decision between her and God. And Sierra if you read here, you're going to have to edit your 'book' better, this one blog post alone is contradicting itself, he sounded quite taken back just a minute earlier in your post. It was  a nice creative writing exercise though, you made me giggle describing his 'furrowed eyebrows' and 'I chuckled, as I nestled into the spot I fit perfectly in, when laying next to him'.

And then the employee complains about his wife on the phone nonstop too. Silly womenz. "Pray for her". I don't know, this just bothers me. 

side note, are ALL fundies obsessed with 'babe'?

[quirkygirlgabbing]

First post as a long time lurker

As someone who works for one of the major carriers her blog post has BS written all over it.  Yes, it is possible for someone to have a $200 bill with just two people, even on Sprint.  Unlimited everything is $60 for the first line and $40 for the second.  Iphone leasing is about $25 a pop for the lowest storage and if she had 12,000 (only part I believe whole heartedly) she probably has a larger capacity, which pushes her into $30 payment.  Add another $25-30 for hubby's phone and possibly insurance at $9-$11 a phone since she admits breaking them.  Easily over $200.

Payment on her new phone is $9/month so no way is her overall bill down to $60.  Carrier I work for has a single line smartphone plan starting at $60 for service, $20 for a basic phone addon, plus phone payments.  So either she is in for a surprise on her bill or she's lying.

No way would an employee offer to transfer her pictures from a smart phone to a flip phone because the capacity on it won't allow it.  We sell flip phones all the time, no one is going to gather around her flip phone "oohinng" and "ahhing" over it like it's so weird.  I easily sell a couple dozen flip phones a month.

I like most of the customers I deal with, don't get me wrong, but I hate when her type comes in.  Sanctimonious jerkoffs who think they're doing something no one's ever thought of before and want to talk about how great they are for doing it when you just want to finish the transaction and move on.

[Jessie E]

I read Sierra's most recent blog post. Personally, I feel that sometimes she really overloads the lovey dovey crap between herself and Mark. I am glad that they are still in love and she feels that things are going well between them, but sometimes I feel like she is really laying it on thick.  

[HarleyQuinn]

I find most of the people that go overboard on social media with how much they love each other are trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong. 

[Chewing Gum]

53 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I find most of the people that go overboard on social media with how much they love each other are trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong. 

Yup! Keep on repeatimg it to yourself, maybe it'll be true someday. 

[Jessie E]

58 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I find most of the people that go overboard on social media with how much they love each other are trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong. 

 

4 minutes ago, Chewing Gum said:

Yup! Keep on repeatimg it to yourself, maybe it'll be true someday. 

Lots of overcompensating!!

[NakedKnees]

The conversations in that blog post sounded so unrealistic. I know she's not taking Comey memos of her interactions so I want to let it slide somewhat, but it'd be nice if she presented it in a way that was more fictionalized. Just my opinion.

I have a prepaid Android smartphone that cost about $300 US up-front, and I put $30 or less on it per month. Most of that goes to data, but phone calls add up too. I do get a little irked when friends get "dumbphones" just because it costs so much to SMS them, and the culture where I live is really Whatsapp-reliant.

There are a lot of cheap smart phones that seem to have just the space for a few apps, and I would probably go in that direction if downsized someday. I really like Sierra's goal of watching her social media consumption. Even if the reality is more budget-oriented, I do relate to it and I wish she wrote about it in a more humble tone, not a humblebrag tone. Totally different tones.

[season of life]

3 hours ago, NakedKnees said:

The conversations in that blog post sounded so unrealistic. I know she's not taking Comey memos of her interactions so I want to let it slide somewhat, but it'd be nice if she presented it in a way that was more fictionalized. Just my opinion.

Comey memos?! I gotta start using that.

[bananabread]

8 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I find most of the people that go overboard on social media with how much they love each other are trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong. 

Yes. Incidentally, I find Sierra and Mark's interactions to be lukewarm at best when shown on tv or her Instagram. Their story of how they met is pretty weird too. I hope they're happy and all, they just seem like an off couple to me. Maybe Mark's just an awkward guy on camera...?

[HarleyQuinn]

Their meeting story was weird AF.

[Beermeet]

21 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Their meeting story was weird AF.

Kinda sounds like that awful Christian romcom we were discussing recently.   Not as bad but similar.  " you know what your tat means?"  She didn't and he was right.  

I can't hate on her, I just think she's really dramatic and tries to hard.  Hard to tell if she is being authentic.

[picklepizzas]

Holy eyeroll, sierra. "I'm just trying to be obedient to a god-ordained resolution."  (But it's totes cool if y'all want to ignore this revelation and burn in hell! No judgements from me!)

also I am so curious about all the relationships god so kindly cut out of her life. Who was she hanging out with all the time away from home? What did they have a falling out about? Was it her "tribe"? (Ps so sad when I read about how she thinks god is pruning her friendships bc "I needed to be at home more")

[Fluffy14]

Personally, after raising 4 children, the youngest being just 23 I find the overuse of iPhones etc by young mothers very disconcerting. 

I see mums walking with babies in strollers glued to the phone, no communication between mum and babe.  When outside walking you can talk nonstop about trees, bees, birds, cats, the sky, anything really. 

It can be such a good learning time for babe and bonding time for mum. 

I just wonder what will happen to this new generation who will suffer the consequences of a very distracted parents . Lack of general communication about everyday things, and constantly having the feeling of interrupting mum. 

I fear the child might feel second fiddle , in competition with a phone.

So I am glad she chose to ditch the iPhone.  Childhood races by so fast they are born and suddenly they are gone.

As far as her huge post?  Drop the God said, tree trimming parable. It reeks of arrogance. 

if she had an ounce of humilty, she would have just let her followers know her intent to spend uninterrupted, time with her young growing family and disappear.

As far as the book dropping idea? Just another glimpse of her huge ego.

Sierra's desperation to be noticed, liked and accepted, is nauseating. It reaks of insecurity.

Ive seen a few overly zealous, self seeking Christians trying to prove how spiritual they are before. They usually crash and burn. You can only keep up that pace for so long until you burn out , or something happens that changes everything you think you know.

In my opinion, everything she does and says proves she's missing the point entirely . Focusing purely on what people see or read about her while claiming such inner change. 

Most people who actually have some inner transformation don't mention the process or results. You just witness the change in them and marvel at what has transpired.

These are just my observations over 30 yrs of watching.

 

 

[Jessie E]

12 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Their meeting story was weird AF.

Yup!! Mark was all, "I must save this poor soul and bring her to Jesus" or whatever. In their meeting story she tried to make herself sound all broken and lost.  I think she was young, impressionable, and looking for somewhere too belong. Mark saw that and recruited her. 

[ThunderRolls]

Sierra is definitely a "try-hard," but after reading her post about how she was sexually abused as a child, I have a hard time snarking on her these days. It seems like a lot of her attraction to the fundie stuff is a way to make sense and gain control of her life. She wrote that she felt relief when her abuser died (she implies this person was a family member) and how she had to tell her father it was ok he wasn't able to protect her - when she was 10. That post really changed my perspective of her from someone who wanted the attention of the Duggan-Train to a person who really struggles to feel like she belongs somewhere and a person who is still trying to work out the horrible things that happened to her. Maybe she feels a connection to the Duggar girls because of the abuse?  

Here is the post where she discusses her abuse: 

http://dojosdesigns.blogspot.com/2017/01/finding-joy-in-season-of-loneliness.html

[speller24]

On 7/4/2017 at 11:32 AM, Jessie E said:

I read Sierra's most recent blog post. Personally, I feel that sometimes she really overloads the lovey dovey crap between herself and Mark. I am glad that they are still in love and she feels that things are going well between them, but sometimes I feel like she is really laying it on thick.  

I get the sense from all the bragging she does about how in love they are, either he's not into the quiverfull movement as much as he thought he would be, and she's just trying her best to look like a copy of the Duggars. Or they are mutually unhappy but need to appear so #blessed by God and Jesus, and any slight indication that it's not going well would be too much for them to handle (think Michelle's laundry room meltdown). Just a lot of denial on both ends. Maybe why she throws herself into party planning and making weird cupcakes. 

[Shadoewolf]

My teenage daughter has a prepaid AT&T smartphone (Samsung Galaxy...Prime or Grand Prime?) and it's $45 a month for 1gig, but if we put it on auto-pay it's $40 and she gets 6gig. Hubby and I have a major carrier, each have a Samsung Galaxy 6 (phone payment and insurance for each), each have a tablet through said carrier, and 10 gig to share. Even with all that, my bill last month with a late fee was $163. 

So a bill over $200 for just 2 people, ugh!!

[catlady]

we have AT&T, too.  we pay $108/month for 2 iPhone plans (both phones are paid off), a landline, and a basic insurance plan.  i don't remember how much data we have; it's a lot, but not unlimited and we've never gone over.  we switched from Verizon because we were paying about $160 for the same service and less data.

[Fluffy14]

6 hours ago, ThunderRolls said:

That post really changed my perspective of her from someone who wanted the attention of the Duggan-Train to a person who really struggles to feel like she belongs somewhere and a person who is still trying to work out the horrible things that happened to her.

I was sexually abused basically from toddlerhood to age 18. By multiple people. I like that you are trying to give her the benefit of the doubt here, but for me it just doesn't cut it. 

She just isn't trying to belong or fit into a lifestyle or belief system (all cozy and safe) .....she wants to be at the top of the pile. She wants to be up front and noticed.  She wants to be the queen.( Somewhere that I cannot remember, I read that she sought out the Duggar's , she pursued them relentlessly.) You don't just come from obscurity , not being fundy to rising to the top of the fundy friend world and be on TV without some serious effort.   For heavens sake she wants to write a book. About what???  Now that, Marjorie Jackson has written one and received recognition , what now she wants to write a book?  I smell a rat. 

This woman has serious narcissistic tendencies.  Is it was because she was abused? I am not sure to be honest. Everyone I know who shared  a history  of sexual abuse wanted to run from any sort of attention including myself.  So I am not sure about that. 

She has issues. 

 

[FleeJanaFree]

I'm sorry that happened to you, fluffy14. Horrifying.

i get a lot of 'martyrism' type personalities from the fundies in the shows. Sierra, the Dullards, etc. it gives them attention in a 'godly' way. They can't come right out and say yeah, I like attention, and I like money. Like JRod, they find ways to skirt around their perimeters to get what  they truly seek.

i may have made up the word 'martyrism'; got a spelling error squiggly line anyway. Let me see if I can explain myself on a smaller scale: my mom INSISTS on cooking HUGE family meals. She bitches about it, but always insists again the next holiday to do it by herself, she won't allow us to help. Then she wants us to heap on compliments for her being so selfless, and so talented. That's the sense I get when I read these stories. They want to be praised, but they have to showcase it, in their minds, a 'humble' way.

[ThunderRolls]

I'm very sorry @Fluffy14 - no child should have to go through those kind of experiences.

 

I understand how you would have that perspective about Sierra. I'm honestly not sure what to truly think about her. I do feel like she doesn't have to be "either/or" -  it's possible she can be a person who is struggling to belong/make sense of her life as well as have a strong need for recognition within the fundie community/blogosphere. I think before the Josh scandal broke, the Duggars probably attracted a lot of lost souls. People who saw the show, read the books, and thought, "Wow, they look so happy and wholesome and not lonely! I wish my family was like that." Being so public but not "real" celebrities would definitely make it easier for a person to gain access to them versus someone like Angelina Jolie who has body guards. And if someone volunteers to help the Duggars out, I'm pretty sure they'll take advantage of the offer. 

I will say, I don't know how she has the damn time to blog, instagram, dip strawberries, etc. while running a household of 5 little children.