Counting On: Season Four Part 3

[MoonFace]

21 hours ago, Screamapillar said:

We're going to the beach the week of my daughter's first birthday, partly because I don't want to throw her a big elaborate party that she won't remember. We'll have the cake smash and some balloons and gifts and of course a lot of "YAY!!!!! It's your birthday!!!!!" but no party. The grandparents will probably join us at the beach for the celebration, and that's it. By the time she's 2 or 3 and has made actual friends and knows what's going on I know I'll have to throw her parties, but even then I'm still thinking just casual backyard things. (Snip)

This makes SO much sense.  At this age the party is for the adults.   Other than immediate family no one else really cares. 

 Give the kid a cupcake to 'smash' and let the parents and grands take a few pictures.   Tell the baby "YAY!" and let him or her clap hands.   Call it good.   

I've seen people spend hundreds of dollars on a baby's first birthday.  I was even invited to a 1st Birthday party that was catered!   For about 30 people!  I didn't go.  I'm told that the kid didn't have a clue, was cranky because of all the strangers.    Then the parents complained about the cheap gifts people brought after having spent a fortune on the party.   Save the $$$ for the kid's college fund.   

 

 

[Nikedagain?]

On 6/20/2017 at 9:07 AM, Dandruff said:

Is there a Planned Parenthood near Laredo?

I suspect that neither Jim Bob nor Gil is willing to give up authority over his daughter to the other family.

Hmm. I disagree. I think JB and Grifter Gil would be positively orgasmic at such a match.

Because $$$$$

[OyToTheVey]

3 hours ago, MoonFace said:

This makes SO much sense.  At this age the party is for the adults.   Other than immediate family no one else really cares.

Well culturally it's different for everyone. I'm Eastern European Jewish. First birthday parties are alwaaaaaays huge. If I ever decide to reproduce, there's going to be like 200 people( from different countries) calling trying to find out when the party is. When my nephew was born, the party had like 150 people. Would have been more if a family friends daughters wedding wasn't the same day. We go all out. Tons of food and booze. Dancing. To me having a 20 people party is literally inviting a few of my aunts, uncles and a cousins. 

[Lizzybet]

16 hours ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

At the same time, Spurge is named after an extreme Catholic hater. It's on par with naming your kid Hitler and overlooking the part where he hated Jewish people. I'm not sure why people don't find the name Spurgeon to be inherently offensive and bigoted. 

 

Catholic here, lapsed, but that's immaterial. I find it very offensive that they pay homage to that emeffer by naming their child, their first born no less which is very significant/symbolic after him.

It tells me a LOT about your view of a large proportion of Christians. Yes, Bingerman and Jessa, they believe in and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. You know, the whole 'love thy neighbor' stuff, you cretins.

[HarryPotterFan]

1 hour ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

HAHAHA - my cat's name is Matthew, but I call him Ping... (Matthew/Matt/Matty/MattyBatty/MattyBattyWingWang/WingWangPingPang/Ping.

 

Long progression, but that's how we got there...

My family cats have so many nicknames, they must get really confused. Sometimes I call the fluffy one Flufflepuff because he is SUCH a fluffy Hufflepuff. When he was a kitten I attached a little plush snitch toy to a string and tried to get him to catch it. He just stared at it as it went round and round his head and accidentally bopped him on the nose.

1 hour ago, mpheels said:

My granddad had a nickname he used interchangeably for my grandmother, mom, and me. We generally could figure out who he was talking to/about based on context and intonation, but he also would use the one name to address all three of us at once. He was a man of few words.

My dad keeps calling one of the family cats by my childhood nicknames (and my given name). I never know who he's talking to.

[Four is Enough]

Mr. Four is of Polish descent. On One's first birthday,. we were to place a rosary and a shot glass in front of him. The one he chose was supposed to predict "how he'd turn out" in life... needless to say, we didn't do THAT "tradition" same as I didn't replace my wedding hat with a babushka (triangular shaped bandanna) over my head, nor did I allow them to put necklaces of little plastic babies around us at the wedding reception. 

 

One had a small birthday party with his five cousins. Cousins made crowns with glitter and gems, and we all had cake, and One liked that just fine.

[Irene]

Ah, okay Rufiüs the reinder. thank yiou!

[joy2world]

Counting on - Consignment, flipping, and RUFUS' DAY (part 2)

Joy thinks she's ready to get engaged... on the flood she wrote "I love you sooo much."

Did anyone notice that she wrote, "Love, Ethyl" above "Joy-Anna Duggar"? (I have a bad habit of pausing to see if I can read written things in the background because I find it interesting to see what people actually say when they're not planning for it to get caught.) That seemed like a weird nickname/inside joke to me and I would love to know the backstory. Especially because she spelled it like "ethyl" like the group in organic chemistry...

[Nikedagain?]

2 minutes ago, joy2world said:

Did anyone notice that she wrote, "Love, Ethyl" above "Joy-Anna Duggar"? (I have a bad habit of pausing to see if I can read written things in the background because I find it interesting to see what people actually say when they're not planning for it to get caught.) That seemed like a weird nickname/inside joke to me and I would love to know the backstory. Especially because she spelled it like "ethyl" like the group in organic chemistry...

Maybe a play on Martyn? Is he named for someone, I wonder? 

I picture some famous fundie vaudevillian type preachers named Martyn and Ethyl. With megaphones and vast quantities of ragamuffin children. 

There is no telling with these folks. 

[imnewhere]

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting...

So this is majorly after the fact because it took me a little while to get my account set up, but regarding grocery stores: when Josh and Anna were still living in DC, there's an episode where Anna goes to a grocery store to get food for a party (birthday? Thanksgiving? I can't remember). The grocery store featured was really close to where I lived at the time (edit:  I sound like a stalker so I want to clarify that there were outdoor shots that made it apparent, to a local, where they were, it wasn't that I knew just by the inside of the store), and was nowhere near where Josh and Anna actually lived. Like they would have had to drive past at least 3 other grocery stores to get to it. 

Considering people were confused by the grocery store Jinger and Jeremy went to as well, I wonder if they/TLC intentionally pick grocery stores they don't go to regularly to protect their privacy? Or maybe only certain grocery stores allow filming?

Either way, since the topic of grocery stores came up I wanted to bring up that experience because I was so confused to see my grocery store on TV when I knew they didn't live near me! Back to lurking

[marmalade]

12 hours ago, Jane M. said:

About Spurgeon's birthday, where was grandpa Seewald? 

Probably working. Guinn mentioned that they'd moved from the country (outside of Hot Springs) to the City, which she ID'ed as West Little Rock. I have to assume it was due to a job opportunity that Mike Seewald couldn't pass up. At any rate, it's about a 3 hour drive one-way, so I can see why he couldn't make it. I also assume that they had this party on a weekday; the Duggars are known for throwing their parties any old day they feel like. 

[front hugs > duggs]

My dad still calls me bear. I'm 27. I don't mind, even when he calls me it in front of family, friends, or my husband. My dad and I have a rocky relationship and I had a somewhat difficult childhood, so I find it really endearing that he'll still call me bear.  

Plus bears can be both ferocious and badass, and also very lazy, slow, and sleepy. I'm proud to identify as one 

[cascarones]

On the silver lining for unusual names, they'll be able to get their actual name for email addresses and such. 

I've got a cookie cutter name, but would have had quite a pretty name had I showed up when they were still stationed in Hawaii. They didn't because my older cousin has a very southern name (Jamal Lamar) and when he wanted to move up north and out west had a really hard time with apartments not wanting people "like him" in 80s/early 90s. He just started including headshots from his Tom Selleck look alike gigs on applications and that fixed it, but It still gets his goat to this day.

I'm going through a background check for a new job, which is reminding me quite often of this because the company keeps getting confused as to who I am and calling me about other cookie cutters and I have to tell them repeatedly to search off identifying numbers. When your work history includes companies that have gone out of business, background checks suck.

[ViolaSebastian]

14 minutes ago, cascarones said:

On the silver lining for unusual names, they'll be able to get their actual name for email addresses and such. 

I too, have a cookie cutter name, so I feel your pain. It's so bad that there is a person at my current place of employment with the exact same first and last name, so we both always have to sign papers with our middle initials. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

I envy those of you with cookie cutter names. You were always able to find your name on random keychains, coffee cups, license plates, tacky souvenirs....

 

[ViolaSebastian]

2 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I envy those of you with cookie cutter names. You were always able to find your name on random keychains, coffee cups, license plates, tacky souvenirs....

 

 

[SapphireSlytherin]

Hell, even JESUS gets a souvenir license plate in NYC. Me? Nope.

[ViolaSebastian]

7 hours ago, MoonFace said:

Give the kid a cupcake to 'smash' and let the parents and grands take a few pictures.   Tell the baby "YAY!" and let him or her clap hands.   Call it good.  

I think the rise of social media has a lot to do with the increasingly elaborate first birthday parties. It used to be that the only people who saw them were grandparents and maybe an auntie or uncle or two, if they could find the time. Now it's an extravaganza because it involves photographing it for instagram and facebook, with dozens of strangers or near-strangers oggling the festivities. So now it's a status symbol, whereas prior to social media it was purely for the kid him or herself and a few interested family members. 

[VineHeart137]

3 hours ago, imnewhere said:

Considering people were confused by the grocery store Jinger and Jeremy went to as well, I wonder if they/TLC intentionally pick grocery stores they don't go to regularly to protect their privacy? Or maybe only certain grocery stores allow filming?

Huh. I wonder if you're right. There was an episode of Bringing Up Bates that featured Alyssa's baby sprinkle at a park that I immediately recognized. The park is near where I live, but not particularly close to the town Alyssa lives in. Maybe that was done for a similar reason.

And welcome!

[feministxtian]

Nicknames: Oh boy...my oldest only had one and that was the typical nickname for her "real" name. #1 son couldn't pronounce his name...what he called himself turned into his nickname, for a little while. Now he gets positively livid when someone mentions it. The only one who does is his sister (my oldest). #2 son has a very typical name. However, when he was born, he was the UGLIEST baby in the nursery. He looked like a cross between ET and a Klingon...I mean the kid was downright FUGLY! So...his nickname became "Uggy". Not used anymore except by said older sister. I never had any nicknames. Quite possibly because my father chose my name, vetoing the very long Spanish name my mother wanted (you know, a bunch of names and "Maria" is always one of them). 

[FascinatedAtheist]

A bit late to the topic of the episode but I was finally inspired out of lurking.

Anna, Jill and Jessa made a big deal about going shopping with their kids and then Jessa being left alone with 5 young kids. However this seems to be another Duggar lie / TLC edit. If you watch the scenes where Jessa is alone, there is a girl matching Johannah's size and has bare feet. I did not spot her face but when they return to the house Johannah has the exact same top, skirt and bag.

Did anyone else notice this or am I just seeing things?

[singsingsing]

16 hours ago, FascinatedAtheist said:

A bit late to the topic of the episode but I was finally inspired out of lurking.

Anna, Jill and Jessa made a big deal about going shopping with their kids and then Jessa being left alone with 5 young kids. However this seems to be another Duggar lie / TLC edit. If you watch the scenes where Jessa is alone, there is a girl matching Johannah's size and has bare feet. I did not spot her face but when they return to the house Johannah has the exact same top, skirt and bag.

Did anyone else notice this or am I just seeing things?

I haven't watched the episode, but that wouldn't surprise me at all. This is a reality TV show, and reality TV shows are usually pretty light on reality. They don't just have cameras following them as they go about their normal, day-to-day activities. TLC comes up with scenarios, then films and edits in a way to fit their story line for that particular episode. If something doesn't fit their narrative, they edit it out. Remember the episode where Josh and Anna went on a road trip with their kids 'alone'? But we discovered from various photos shared on social media that Jana had tagged along with them? Jana's being there did not fit TLC's pet 'young parents overwhelmed by [small number of] children! How will they handle it?!' plot so she simply wasn't filmed and they pretended she was never there.

Seriously, whenever you see a scenario on this show where one of the young parents seems overwhelmed by their child(ren), or confused by cooking for one, TAKE IT WITH A HUGE GRAIN OF SALT. These are two of TLC's most beloved, stupid plot points. They just rehash the same shit over and over again, so be expecting an episode in a season or so where Joy has trouble dealing with a bunch of kids and nervously speculates that she might have 10 of her own kids one day, then attempts to cook for just herself and Austin and bashfully admits that she's never had to cook for just two people before.

(I want to add the caveat that I don't believe that TLC orchestrates or invents actual major life events for the Duggars, such as courtships. But they most definitely invent trips to the grocery store, even trips across the country, parties, conversations, "drama", etc., as well as liberally editing footage to fit whatever narrative they want. And it's TLC who does it, not the Duggars. The Duggars are merely complicit.)

[backyard sylph]

Hearkening back to discussions from Tuesday, I have a few thoughts to share. First, this "eyetalian" business. Jeremy has one grandfather of Italian descent. That's all. Where he grew up, sure, they'd cook the food, though, but they'd also eat whatever, and the reason this annoys me is that there is a teen romance from the 80s I love called The Summer Jenny Fell in Love. A boy and his mom rent space in her house, and the boy has never heard of burritos, which they are having for dinner, there in California where burritos are special, because he is from Philadelphia. I love that book, but also that is nonsense.

My mother was Italian, family moved to Kansas City from New York when she was a child, and still was an old pro at burritos, etc., when I asked for them for my 7th birthday in 1972. And so anyway, he didn't grow up Italian, because his mom wasn't, and his grandma told us she had to learn to cook the food for Grandpa's sake. He mostly just has the name and the beautiful nose and smile.

Also, Jer's been in Texas for awhile, so he probably really grooves on that stuff. Hearty and spicy, just what a lot of guys love.

And also I had six kids. That was more than just about everybody, it seems, two from one marriage and four from the next. I told people my brothers didn't have kids, so I was having their share, because having six kids is kind of crazy. I loved taking them out shopping, though, and sometimes we'd go to Taco Bell for a treat (yes, that's funny, but you know,) and it was great because three of those big value meals would feed all six of them.

Finally, consignment shops. Things shrink, so you can't always go by the tag size. And their act about how special they are by buying thrift is super annoying, but I like when people buy used instead of new. There could be less waste in our world.

[Daisy0322]

8 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I envy those of you with cookie cutter names. You were always able to find your name on random keychains, coffee cups, license plates, tacky souvenirs....

 

A thousand times yes! My name is more common now, but in the 90's NO ONE had heard of it. I was dying to be named Emily or Ashley haha.

[Jana814]

1 hour ago, Daisy0322 said:

A thousand times yes! My name is more common now, but in the 90's NO ONE had heard of it. I was dying to be named Emily or Ashley haha.

Me too. I just wanted a name where the teachers were able to pronounce. Even now people have an issue with my name.