Sierra - Return of the Strawberries and New Babies

[speller24]

On July 7, 2017 at 0:56 AM, Million Children For Jesus said:

Edit: Sierra isn't looking so shabby 

She really isn't! It's amazing how some women can just bounce back even after 5 kids! Kudos to her for that. Serious, no snark.

[HereticHick]

I don't know how Sierra can peddle  choco strawberries/jarred cupcakes/overpriced lip gloss/etc etc without a smart phone. Maybe she wasn't make enough money at any of these side hustles to justify continuing them, or maybe she realize that she no longer has to the time to homeschool and parent a gaggle of blessings, or maybe she never has Joy-Joy around to help her.

Hey Sierra, want more time in your life? How about sending your oldest kids off to **gasp** public school in the fall? Believe it or not, I went to public secular schools ALLLLL the way thru grad school, and I'm not a deranged kitten murderer or child molester [unlike some guys named Josh that you know], and I bet I make more $$ that your Mark ever will. : )

[OyToTheVey]

How old is Sierra oldest? Why is he still wearing floaties? At his age, he should be able to swim.

 

[MargaretElliott]

I'm on my cell phone constantly, looking at social media and reddit....... when I'm alone. If I'm with someone else, even if it's just my boyfriend, I put it down (unless I'm trying to organize our plans or it's my mother or something). It really bothers me when people are glued to their cell phones when they're supposed to be hanging out with me. I feel quite ignored.

I also view her lack of smart phone as kind of... I don't know, like some of her freedom is being taken away? Because her husband can still enjoy all the benefits of a smartphone and she can't. It's a smart budget move and perhaps it is best for her life, and maybe she did make this choice independently, but once again, women are limited while men have more freedoms. Just kind of rubs me the wrong way, yaknow?

[nastyhobbitses]

On 7/9/2017 at 11:15 AM, Lurky said:

Meh, people said the same thing about mothers using walkmans, and I'm sure there are people who complain about mothers walking down the road talking to each other too, or sitting on a bench in the park reading a book.

I think you shouldn't worry about them so much.  Just because a mother is looking at her phone for this 5 minutes, doesn't mean she's not a really good engaged mother the rest of the time, or that her child will suffer.  

The idea that mothers should be communicating "nonstop" with their children, like you suggest she should, is pretty scary to me.   No baby manual on earth says it's important to be giving the baby stimulation and communication 100% of the time they're awake.  One of the most important things for healthy child development is that the parents are happy and relaxed, and if staying in touch with friends, or keeping up to date with the world, makes the mother of a baby feel more like herself, then that's brilliant. 

 

Linguistics student hat on: talking to and engaging with your kids is very beneficial for their cognitive development and language acquisition, and parents should endeavor to do it.

THAT BEING SAID, no, your kid won't become a drooling idiot destined to die in the gutter at 19 with eyeballs full of heroin if you look at your smartphone occasionally while caring for him. And there are cultures where parents do not speak to infants as much as we in the West do, but they do involve their children more in household tasks (through babywearing and the like).

Is your kid loved, fed, and involved in your world in whatever way that works for you culturally/economically/emotionally? Then you're doing just fine.

Also, lord knows how many generations have said that such-and-such technological advancement will doom babies forever and are marks of terrible parenting. I'm sure that this hysteria about iPhones is no different from when Neanderthals fretted that letting Little Ug look at cave paintings for too long would weaken his eyesight and ruin his chances at hunting mammoths.

[Bethella]

8 hours ago, OyToTheVey said:

How old is Sierra oldest? Why is he still wearing floaties? At his age, he should be able to swim.

He will be 7 at the end of the month.

[Fun Undies]

8 hours ago, OyToTheVey said:

How old is Sierra oldest? Why is he still wearing floaties? At his age, he should be able to swim.

 

Eek, I couldn't swim till I was 11.  Was scared shitless of water @_@

7 hours ago, MargaretElliott said:

I'm on my cell phone constantly, looking at social media and reddit....... when I'm alone. If I'm with someone else, even if it's just my boyfriend, I put it down (unless I'm trying to organize our plans or it's my mother or something). It really bothers me when people are glued to their cell phones when they're supposed to be hanging out with me. I feel quite ignored.

-snip-

THIS.  It's a huge pet peeve of mine.  And I strongly think next time I'm hosting a family get together, I'm confiscating all devices for the hour we are together (though I'd tell them beforehand of course). 

I mean, what's the point of getting together in person to have some fellowship, if there's no verbal communication, or even eye contact??

[kachuu]

20 hours ago, MargaretElliott said:

I also view her lack of smart phone as kind of... I don't know, like some of her freedom is being taken away? Because her husband can still enjoy all the benefits of a smartphone and she can't. It's a smart budget move and perhaps it is best for her life, and maybe she did make this choice independently, but once again, women are limited while men have more freedoms. Just kind of rubs me the wrong way, yaknow?

 

Agreed. I think if you give up something for whatever reason, you shouldn't feel the need to go search for praise.

 

Especially in her case, she's giving up this smartphone to focus on her family. Then she jumps on her husband's phone to seek praise for it. Doesn't make sense.

[nastyhobbitses]

6 hours ago, kachuu said:

 

Agreed. I think if you give up something for whatever reason, you shouldn't feel the need to go search for praise.

 

Especially in her case, she's giving up this smartphone to focus on her family. Then she jumps on her husband's phone to seek praise for it. Doesn't make sense.

Sierra craves validation the way most people crave oxygen.

[HereticHick]

On 7/11/2017 at 9:42 PM, nastyhobbitses said:

Sierra craves validation the way most people crave oxygen.

She's gone--how many days now? 9?--without any social media validation. she must be about to burst

[speller24]

On 7/10/2017 at 5:53 PM, MargaretElliott said:

I also view her lack of smart phone as kind of... I don't know, like some of her freedom is being taken away? Because her husband can still enjoy all the benefits of a smartphone and she can't. It's a smart budget move and perhaps it is best for her life, and maybe she did make this choice independently, but once again, women are limited while men have more freedoms. Just kind of rubs me the wrong way, yaknow?

^ this. I mean she has maybe 1/10th of the freedoms I have because of this cult-choosing how many kids she wants, taking charge of her health, having a career, doing anything without the permission of her headship, and she gets rid of the thing that connects her to the outside world. Maybe it's because I am a survivor of an abusive relationship, but yikes control seems to be all in Mark's hands and that's wrong. Or maybe it has nothing to do with it but yikes....

[FleeJanaFree]

In her blog post, Sierra first claimed the Mark seemed shocked about the flip phone, and  was encouraging of a nicer phone. (You know, because despite being a one income family with a metric shitton of kids, impulsively  deciding to get a nicer phone for no good reason without discussing the finances  is no biggie deal) but then if you keep reading, she talks about laying in bed with her so sweet and understanding husband and he tells her something like he feels like he guilted her into it and she can totes return to a smart phone whenever, revealing that they have previously discussed it and he seemed to be pressuring her into it. Her story (blog) falls apart.

i agree, it seems icky to me.

but what's stopping Sierra from using her old iPhone at home when she's connected to wifi? (It'd be throwing money away to get rid of that phone for no reason). She could easily just be using her flip phone when she leaves the house.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Just got a notification that Sierra started a live Instagram......

[nst]

10 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Just got a notification that Sierra started a live Instagram......

and this apparently gets them paid or something when it uses your data. be forewarned. 

I was following the guy from MDLNY and my bill all of a sudden was huge 

won't be following Sierra to make her rich. 

[HereticHick]

11 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Just got a notification that Sierra started a live Instagram......

I knew the Sierra Social Media fast wouldn't last forever!

[SapphireSlytherin]

4 hours ago, nst said:

and this apparently gets them paid or something when it uses your data. be forewarned. 

(on wifi here)

It probably gets them paid based on number of viewers. She said something about "trending" and being a "top live" event.

[meowfundiecatz]

10 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

(on wifi here)

It probably gets them paid based on number of viewers. She said something about "trending" and being a "top live" event.

Her live got featured on "top live" because it gained viewers quickly. It also attracts spam commenters like crazy so she shut it down. I only got in on the end. You don't make money from being a "top live" video but streaming live videos eats data like crazy if you aren't on wifi. Probably why the bill was high.

[patsymae]

OK I don't follow Sierra much but from what I've seen when I (rarely( watch Duggars and what I read here she really seems almost like the women Betty Friedan described half a century ago. Tons of pent-up energy coupled with the belief that she needs to be a helpmeet, SAHM, homeschooler, breeder for Jesus (OK, Friedan didn't mention that one.) Plus she's kind of a fame whore. So she hooked herself up with the Duggars hoping for--fame? Started businesses such as party planning and artisan foods that she is totally clueless about. Like about eleventy billion other SAHMs, and probably half a billion fundamentalist ones she knows or knows of, she's trying to make a go of a blog. IF she were truly happy being a good little helpmeet we wouldn't even know her name.

[Vex]

On 03/07/2017 at 9:01 PM, Million Children For Jesus said:

I had serious, long-term health problems, and stayed in two Catholic hospitals. They always asked my permission to pray. It's standard protocol. Room to room. They can't exclude anyone or else that's discrimination. They have a script to work off. We notice you are a (insert religion) and is it okay if we pray for you? I'm an introvert. Some people just don't want a group of people in their room. You can say, "sure, but in the hallway, not in my room." Or no. Or yes. Whatever you want. But they can't skip you for being an atheist. It's against their rules of inclusion. 

 

I had to go to a Catholic hospital and it was required that you fill out the 'which religion do you follow?' question. I said 'none' because I'm an atheist and I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about advertising that fact. I don't need to be judged while I'm sick - and I actually would up getting staph during my operation there so I was stuck there for weeks on IV antibiotics. My dad took the crucifix off the wall in my room (the only place in the whole hospital without a crucifix on the wall was the OR) every day and every day it would be replaced by someone. I also shifted the bible from the bedside table to the inside of the drawer and somehow that always wound up back on my bedside table too. I'm fairly sure it was done because I admitted I was an atheist, because I know of other people who have been admitted there and were Christian and when they put away their bibles they weren't replaced every time the room was cleaned or the sheets were changed.

They can't exclude you, but they can make you really uncomfortable.

[cascarones]

I just got a little basic smartphone to tide over until mine gets fixed by insurance, I'd been sharing my Mum's since my coworker accidentally knocked over her yeti drowning several people's electronics.

Sprint was nice and I'll probably never change from them because I've seen them go so far above and beyond. A close friend's father passed away while we were in HS and her mom just refused to give up her old phone, because it had her last photos of them. I'm talking 2005ish phone and eventually the kids dragged her in and Sprint took it away for a week, did wizard phone magic involving other extinct phones and technology evolution. When she went in to get her iPhone, the photos in all their grainy early phone camera quality were there and they didn't charge her anything for it. I like businesses that really do treat their customers as people.

[CorruptionInc.]

On 25/07/2017 at 0:11 AM, cascarones said:

I just got a little basic smartphone to tide over until mine gets fixed by insurance, I'd been sharing my Mum's since my coworker accidentally knocked over her yeti drowning several people's electronics.

Sorry to hear about your phone.

Can I ask what a Yeti is and why it was carrying liquid? I'm assuming it's not of the fluffy bush variety?

[cascarones]

2 hours ago, CorruptionInc. said:

Can I ask what a Yeti is and why it was carrying liquid? I'm assuming it's not of the fluffy bush variety?

That would have made the meeting a lot more interesting! A yeti is a jumbo double insulated steel thermos, I think she has the 64 ounce one. Your stuff stays cold/hot for 24 hours at least. I just prefer calling it a yeti (brand name) over thermos, because it's a bit more fun!

[SapphireSlytherin]

12 hours ago, CorruptionInc. said:

Can I ask what a Yeti is a

We have a Yeti, but it's an actual cooler - it holds food/drink and keeps stuff cold for a WEEK. It's fantastic for road trips.

[flyonthewall]

On 2017-07-11 at 9:42 PM, nastyhobbitses said:

Sierra craves validation the way most people crave oxygen.

I sense her and cousin Amy can relate to one another in a sense.

[nastyhobbitses]

9 hours ago, flyonthewall said:

I sense her and cousin Amy can relate to one another in a sense.

Duggar hanger-ons who are basically trying to be Pinterest made flesh? Yeah. Though I will say that I have slightly more tolerance for Sierra's zany business schemes and shameless self-promotion because she has 5/nearly 6 mouths to feed and a furniture salesman's salary only takes you so far (and even though she could pawn her kids off to any number of willing fundie girl slaves in the area for free childcare if she got a traditional job, I think she's got that convert zeal real hard and wouldn't be willing to get a traditional job even though she's perfectly capable of it...plus being a stay-at-home mom isn't evil or anything). Amy has no excuse for not getting a real job like a responsible adult.