Lori Alexander 33: Counting Everyone's Calories

[usmcmom]

59 minutes ago, smittykins said:

I could be wrong, but I think Lori fixed Emma a smoothie for breakfast.

I think you are right. I think there was something else too. Lori's meal was different (I think) and she would not let Emma have a bite. 

Poor Emma. With all the food games the adults in her life play with her, she probably doesn't know if she is hungry or not. Or, she's hungry and will teach herself to ignore that feeling because it seems to always get her into trouble. 

 

[TeddyBonkers]

Yeah, Lori, tell us more about how you have enjoyed your married life. Tell us about how you enjoyed your children. Tell us about how you enjoy your grandchildren.

You had (and still have) a miserable marriage. Your kids were abandoned as newborns to 'cry it out' for hours, then passed off to a nanny. You terrorize your grandkids with stories of snakes who kill people who complain.

My grandma has a passel of grandkids and almost 10 great grands. She's the sweetest lady you could ever meet. When I was growing up and would stay with her and Grandpa, we would bake cookies together, color pictures, dye Easter eggs, read stories, build blanket forts.

I really hope that there are grandparents on the other side of the family that can give the Alexander grandkids some happy memories.

Spoiler

 

[EowynW]

Having kids just doesn't seem to scream "enjoy life" to me, to be honest. Atleast when you are barely staying a half a step ahead of bills and stuff. And we live verrrry simply. 

Mr. EW & I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  We don't want to end up like either of our parents, who are still only halfway through paying off a mortgage, still scared and having to work full time with no retirement or lessoning (is that a word?) of the burden in sight.  Not even "comfortable" in the basic sense.  Most people are a "slave to the system" simply because that's how it works for the poor/lower/middle (?) income people in this country, IMO. To get out from under it you have to really change a lot of things. Mr. & I love homesteading. We are frugal. We love to grow in our self sufficiency. We are country bumpkins, we've always been super out of the box by nature. We've been having a lot of hard conversations lately about how we can get out from under best we can, and honestly, in this economy and for us in our situation, kids just might not fit in. It sounds selfish I guess, but we are thinking of us first. We saw our fundie parents stress themselves emotionally, mentally, and hurt their bodies physically just barely getting by. We don't want that for ourselves or our marriage. I don't want to stay home and raise kids while Mr EW works two jobs and half kills himself.

 

If we are going to be on the lower income side, then we are going to make it work for us. We aren't even planning to be rich. Quite the opposite, lol. We are saving for a few acres, and to build a bigger sister to a "tiny" house and just live as frugal & self sufficient and "free" as possible with what little money we've got, to make the most of ourselves and what we have. 

I hope I don't sound like we are crazy. This is the first time I've told this to anyone. 

[smittykins]

Nope, not crazy at all, @EowynW.

[Emilycharlotte]

On 11/19/2017 at 10:06 AM, fluffy said:

Today's post addresses how her views are nothing like those in Atwood's _The Handmaid's Tale_. Naturally, she hasn't read the book and read only a summary of the movie. I guess it's not a commentary of old.

I'm pretty sure she didn't know it was a book until someone mentioned it in the comments.

[delphinium65]

1 hour ago, EowynW said:

I hope I don't sound like we are crazy. This is the first time I've told this to anyone. 

 

Doesn't sound crazy at all to me. You're thinking ahead and making plans based on what works for you two, not just popping babies out like Lori commands. Have kids, don't have kids...either way, you're making a deliberate, thought-out choice, and for that I think you should be congratulated, not told that you're crazy, or selfish, or any of the other crap fundies are so fond of spewing forth. 

[TeddyBonkers]

Quote

If we are going to be on the lower income side, then we are going to make it work for us. We aren't even planning to be rich. Quite the opposite, lol. We are saving for a few acres, and to build a bigger sister to a "tiny" house and just live as frugal & self sufficient and "free" as possible with what little money we've got, to make the most of ourselves and what we have. 

That sounds like a whole lot of heaven to me right there! You do you (and Mr. E) @EowynW. Live your dream.

[SuperNova]

From today's post about being a keeper at home:

"Food needs to be fixed three times a day if you have children in the home."

Here is an example of Lori excusing herself from cooking. Nicely done, Lori!

Then there's this:

"Children being sexually abused is rampant these days and it was probably not so common when mothers were home full time watching over their children. "

Lori is building herself an out if needs it. She only says "probably", not definitively. 

[Sarah92]

14 minutes ago, SuperNova said:

From today's post about being a keeper at home:

"Food needs to be fixed three times a day if you have children in the home."

Here is an example of Lori excusing herself from cooking. Nicely done, Lori!

Then there's this:

"Children being sexually abused is rampant these days and it was probably not so common when mothers were home full time watching over their children. "

Lori is building herself an out if needs it. She only says "probably", not definitively. 

Statistically sexual abuse is more commonly perpetuated by someone the child knows. This means parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even siblings (looking at you Duggars). These are people you'd normally trust your child with. It's sad and devastating but that's unfortunately what it is. And it might seem like it's running rampant but it's probably just more visible. I've run into a lot of cases, especially in churches, where it was hush up and forgive your attacker because they didn't hurt you to bad.

 So because it seems like Lori reads here, Lori, I beg that you do real research and look up statistics. Remaining unaware of the plight of victims of abuse only perpetuates abuse. Read stories and listen to people.

Also placing the blame on mothers for somehow not protecting their children is inappropriate. Normally they deal with enough guilt and shame. Some of your readers are probably dealing with the "if only I did this or did that it wouldn't have happened". Often abuse happens at the hands of people you trust most. So to prevent that would mean no trips to grandparents (which your grandchildren enjoy), no stays at the cousins for play dates, no family friends babysitting when you want date nights, etc. Unless there are obvious signs, those things are beyond a mother's control and the only thing she can do is help pick up the pieces.

[Frog99]

@EowynW I think that sounds like a beautiful and peaceful life. My younger sisters are married and have no children- and they don’t want any. They never have. They and their husbands are wonderful to my kids and my one sister is a kindergarten teacher. I don’t know that they have specific reasons for not having children. I don’t think that someone who doesn’t want children should have them simply because that’s what they feel they are supposed to do. 

@SuperNova statistically generally 30% of sexual abuse perpetrators are family members. I suspect it’s underreported because of stigma and other family dynamics. In my 19 years in public child welfare, the vast majority of sex abuse cases involved parents, close relatives, and paramours as the perpetrators. We also had a number of perpetrators under age 18. She’s simply feeding stereotypes and promoting the low information tendencies of her fangirls. 

Regarding her grandchildren, I seriously question the parental judgement of anyone that allows their children regular unsupervised contact with LoriKen. That would be my hill to die on. 

@Sarah92 I won’t lie- my spidey sense goes off when it comes to Ken. I can’t put my finger on it but it’s there...

[AuntKrazy]

I looked at the Greek at Titus 2:5 - specifically the word "oikourgous" - (the KJV used the word "oikourous" - again, what I believe is an inferior beginning text) 

this is the compound word which has been translated as "Keepers at home" in the KJV that Lori goes on about.  There is evidence that the very word used in the KJV is a mistake.

Some random observation: (1) There is no "AT" in the Greek, despite Lori's misinterpretation and yelling that "at means at".  Well, actually, here it does not.  It's a supplied word for translation equivalency purposes.

(2)  Whichever word is used in either text, it is a hapax legomena, that is, a word that occurs only one time in all of Scripture.  So it is normally not something which is central to teaching/ideas of the entire Bible/a passage that core tenets or doctrine are built around. 

(3)  The better text has a meaning of simply "handling one's housework' - it would be something like this"  be self-controlled, pure, handling one's housework, kind."  This cannot be said often enough:  the KJV introduces the idea of "keepers at home" because it used a different Greek word. 

(4)  Whatever else it is, it is certainly not a command for all women to stay at home which overshadows the rest of Scripture.  To be a main point of Scripture, it needs to be a main point of Scripture!  Ideas that are the most important are repeated.  

Lori is majoring on very minor things taken out of context, and likely based on a human error in transcribing the original text.  

Out of curiosity: has anyone here ever seen Lori share or explain the gospel?

 

[louisa05]

How the hell long does basic housekeeping take these people? I worked four days last week and took care of my mother's stuff one day. So I was out of the house over 40 hours during the work week. 

Yesterday (just yesterday--not Saturday), I cleaned the guest room, cleaned the living room, made plans for hosting Thanksgiving next weekend, did the grocery shopping, cleaned our bedroom, cooked dinner from scratch, did three loads of laundry and still had time to watch a stupid movie on television in the afternoon, read the news with a cup of coffee in the morning, and spend time with Mr. 05. 

If I spread all of those chores over the work week, it would be less than 30 minutes a day.  What exactly are these fundie "keepers at home" doing that makes housework such a chore that one must never leave the house or hold a job in order to get it done? 

Of course, I guess I should remember that Lori doesn't actually know how long basic cleaning takes as she is able to pay someone come in to do it for her. So there is that. 

[Frog99]

10 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

How the hell long does basic housekeeping take these people? I worked four days last week and took care of my mother's stuff one day. So I was out of the house over 40 hours during the work week. 

Yesterday (just yesterday--not Saturday), I cleaned the guest room, cleaned the living room, made plans for hosting Thanksgiving next weekend, did the grocery shopping, cleaned our bedroom, cooked dinner from scratch, did three loads of laundry and still had time to watch a stupid movie on television in the afternoon, read the news with a cup of coffee in the morning, and spend time with Mr. 05. 

If I spread all of those chores over the work week, it would be less than 30 minutes a day.  What exactly are these fundie "keepers at home" doing that makes housework such a chore that one must never leave the house or hold a job in order to get it done? 

Of course, I guess I should remember that Lori doesn't actually know how long basic cleaning takes as she is able to pay someone come in to do it for her. So there is that. 

I have tried to figure that out. I seriously don’t get it. I usually do a handful of things in the evenings so weekends are free. I have some catching up to do- was out of town last week for a few days- but I’m off until next Monday so we will be back on track. 

I also can’t figure out why running a few errands around town is exhausting. 

Oh- and I cooked from scratch tonight (well the crockpot did)- steak fajitas! 

[EowynW]

Tonight we are having jalapeño chicken popper soup, modified a bit to make it gluten free friendly while still creamy. It smells divine in the crockpot. 

[Frog99]

1 hour ago, EowynW said:

Tonight we are having jalapeño chicken popper soup, modified a bit to make it gluten free friendly while still creamy. It smells divine in the crockpot. 

That sounds amazing!! 

[saintmom]

On 11/18/2017 at 4:43 PM, Koala said:

Lori:

Or in Lori's case, not working, and still eating out. 

And, another restaurant picture:

I guess it's okay for them to eat out multiple times a week, just as long as her readers aren't doing it.

Dead in the eyes.  The smiles don't reach their eyes and that completely squicks me out.

 

[desertvixen]

@EowynW that's totally NOT crazy.  I will say that there's never a perfect time to have kids, but there's nothing wrong with wanting to be prepared as possible for kids or life in general.

[Sarah92]

@EowynW that doesn't sound crazy at all! It seems like you're using wisdom and what's best for you and your husband. I think children are really important but I don't think that's all there is in life. Heck, the Bible doesn't even say that children are the end all be all. I'll be praying that you are able to live out your dream of having a house and a few acres because that sounds wonderful. 

@AuntKrazy Love your post on the Greek! Would you mind telling me what you used for the translation or did you use a website? I'd like to see if my school library has it if its a book because that stuff fascinates me. 

[Seahorse Wrangler]

7 hours ago, louisa05 said:

How the hell long does basic housekeeping take these people? I worked four days last week and took care of my mother's stuff one day. So I was out of the house over 40 hours during the work week. 

Yesterday (just yesterday--not Saturday), I cleaned the guest room, cleaned the living room, made plans for hosting Thanksgiving next weekend, did the grocery shopping, cleaned our bedroom, cooked dinner from scratch, did three loads of laundry and still had time to watch a stupid movie on television in the afternoon, read the news with a cup of coffee in the morning, and spend time with Mr. 05. 

If I spread all of those chores over the work week, it would be less than 30 minutes a day.  What exactly are these fundie "keepers at home" doing that makes housework such a chore that one must never leave the house or hold a job in order to get it done? 

Of course, I guess I should remember that Lori doesn't actually know how long basic cleaning takes as she is able to pay someone come in to do it for her. So there is that. 

TBH..I spend around 2 hours a day on house work M-F. Including cooking, cleaning, my laundry.

Week-ends the younger two do their rooms and laundry.

Depending on the weather i spend around 30 mins a day outside, weeding, mowing the lawn in summer. Less than that for the winter, just snow removal when needed.

 

I'm not a neat-freak by any means but I really can't see how any-one can spend 7 or 8 hours a day unless they are renovating or painting.

 

Oh..and I am not bothered about having grand-children. I've spoken to women who seemed to have their children's lives planned from before they were born. Including grand-children. I just want mine to be happy.

 

[onemama]

8 hours ago, AuntKrazy said:

Lori is majoring on very minor things taken out of context, and likely based on a human error in transcribing the original text.  

Out of curiosity: has anyone here ever seen Lori share or explain the gospel?

These are two of my main issues with Lori. Add to that her lack of interest in her readers, and I really don't know why anyone with a few brain cells is still listenin to her repetitive rants. 

She does sort-of share the Gospel, every now and then, when she's accused of legalism. 

[onemama]

This bit from Benson's commentary is priceless, especially because she quotes it!!!! Hahaha! 

Quote

 she spends not her time in gadding abroad to other people’s houses, and in idle discourses about the concerns of other persons, as the manner of many women is, but is wholly intent upon her own house and proper business

Lori, he's telling you to mind your own business and get back into the kitchen!

[Liza]

7 hours ago, saintmom said:

Dead in the eyes.  The smiles don't reach their eyes and that completely squicks me out.

 

You noticed that too?  .  Eye are the windows to the soul ... souless eyes?

[lilith]

I know this would be blasphemous to Lori, but I think Ken would look heaps better if he gained a bit of weight. He has  sharp rodentlike features that could do with a little softening. I’m not a fan of the facial hair either, but I think he’s trying to hide a weak chin.

[TeddyBonkers]

Re: housework. Unless I am doing a deep clean, white-glove, moving out inspection clean, it doesn't take that long to do housework. The kids are in school all day, so they aren't here making a mess. I can get the house up to standard in an hour.

Which leaves me plenty of time for school work, quilting, and browsing Pinterest for fun recipes. You know, like most evil feminists (sarc).

[Sarah92]

Maybe it's harder to keep things clean when they're homeschooling? I know quite a few of them seem to homeschool. But I don't even have children so I wouldn't begin to know. But I can't imagine what it would be like in the winter if you kids are stuck inside and you're not really allowed to teach boys housework to help you clean up and do "women chores".   And if they take after their fathers with leaving stuff all over the place and not cleaning up after themselves I can imagine the house would be difficult to clean. And if the teach their children that women command less respect I wonder if some of them might have behavioral issues.