Dillards 55: Selling the High Life

[nastyhobbitses]

D'aww, Izzy is darned cute. Happy birthday, Izzy. You're a great kid and don't let anyone try to stomp out the things that make you great. 

[freethemall]

15 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

Has Uber or Lyft not invaded Co Springs yet?!

Ok I will give her one pass on this - she has two kids in car seats, that can be a challenge with uber/lyft. The infant car seat in the stroller can easily go into any car, but the convertible car seat Izzy is (hopefully) in can't just be moved around. So if they had one rental car for all of them and Derrick took it, she's carless and possibly carseat-less. Maybe that's what she means by "you know you're a mom...."? That she has to find another option than driving? I otherwise have no idea what she means by that, unless Izzy was begging to go to Chik-fil-A.

I also seriously doubt any of the Duggars have ever ridden in an uber or lyft, taxis in New York are probably exotic enough for them.

[NakedKnees]

I'm starting to get Jenny vibes from Izzy. I know he's so young and I sound crazy, but right now I have a hunch that he won't be the type to buy into this mess hook, line, and sinker.

I can't believe how much Pickles is bothering me. Pressuring a trans teenager to "educate" their bully is just so wrong. So many well-meaning people don't understand this, so it drives me crazy that Pickles is pushing that narrative on her platform rather than listening to the criticisms. It's very self-centered of her.

[HarleyQuinn]

7 minutes ago, NakedKnees said:

is bothering me. Pressuring a trans teenager to "educate" their bully is just so wrong. So many well-meaning people don't understand this, so it drives me crazy that Pickles is pushing that narrative on her platform rather than listening to the criticisms. It's very self-centered of her.

It's bothering me too. Since we now know how obsessed she is with likes and comments, I hope she drastically gets less now. 

[Georgiana]

I think Jill feels like she HAS to go with Derick.  After all, if he goes alone and he's unfaithful, that's not something HE will be held accountable for.  The blame will be placed on Jill.  On some level, yes, she does have a choice...but on another level, she really doesn't.  If she doesn't want to be blamed for his actions on the trip, she has to go.  

Jill is starting to remind me of Narcissa Whitman: wanted to be a missionary since childhood, married a man specifically to follow him on his missions, but ended up absolutely being terrible at it.  She doesn't have a knack for studying or languages, immersion terrifies her, and she doesn't seem to be able to view the people she is supposed to be serving as equals.  To further the similarities, both Jill and Narcissa have had the family life they always dreamed of taken from them (Jill because she will likely never be able to pop out babies like Michelle, Narcissa because her child dies).  Also like Narcissa, Jill is having trouble backing out of the life she thought she wanted. 

Evangelicals always talk about the missionaries who were really good at being missionaries.  But the truth is, those people were the exceptions.  Many missionaries were closer to Jill: they had a dream, couldn't hack it, and had to give up the missions.

But what is Jill going to do now? Her husband is determined to go, refuses to entertain the idea of having a stationary job, and she MUST go too, or be blamed for everything that goes wrong in their marriage.  But eventually, something has to give.  

For those of you not familiar with how Narcissa Whitman ended, she and nearly her entire mission were killed after they stopped ministering to the Cayuse people, started spending all their energies helping white settlers, refused to fairly compensate the tribe, ignored the requests of the Cayuse to leave their lands, and were unable to prevent a smallpox outbreak from devastating the tribe.  She was a dumpster fire of a human, that mission was garbage, and not sorry, but the Cayuse weren't wrong: the mission was directly enabling in the absolute decimation of their people, the people the mission was claiming to "serve".  Bad missions have bad endings.  

Where will Jill end?

[Joyfully_Unavailable]

3 hours ago, BabyBottlePop said:

Me thinks she wouldn't have spent the money on a Uber. Not that they're that expensive but I bet D-Wreck wouldn't like her spending it.

I think the fact she's hawking DIY baby wipes tells us all we need to know about their financial situation, unfortunately.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Just now, Joyfully_Unavailable said:

I think the fact she's hawking DIY baby wipes tells us all we need to know about their financial situation, unfortunately.

Nah. Not at all. She was raised to be frugal and is just continuing that. 

I have zero reason to make my own laundry detergent or clean my own house, financially speaking, but I do it anyway.

[Joyfully_Unavailable]

3 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Nah. Not at all. She was raised to be frugal and is just continuing that. 

I have zero reason to make my own laundry detergent or clean my own house, financially speaking, but I do it anyway.

I hope you're right. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being frugal! I firmly believe in saving as much money as possible. I just worry since she no longer appears on the show, she has less of a say in how the money is spent. 

[karen77]

Making homemade wipes is along the lines of the cloth diapering, crunchy and such. That's why she's doing it. 

 

FTR: I cloth diapered for the better for baby and environmental side of things, but I used a service because I work and I could.

[Joyfully_Unavailable]

3 minutes ago, karen77 said:

Making homemade wipes is along the lines of the cloth diapering, crunchy and such. That's why she's doing it. 

 

FTR: I cloth diapered for the better for baby and environmental side of things, but I used a service because I work and I could.

I completely forgot about her re-branding. With all of their traveling out of the country, I think it was easier for her to use the cloth diapering system as well so that she wasn't using up as much luggage space with disposable ones. If she's found a way that works best for her, I won't knock her for it. 

[HarleyQuinn]

Didn't she try cloth diapering with Israel before a photo leaked of a bunch of disposable diapers they had?

[Nikedagain?]

1 hour ago, NakedKnees said:

I can't believe how much Pickles is bothering me. Pressuring a trans teenager to "educate" their bully is just so wrong. So many well-meaning people don't understand this, so it drives me crazy that Pickles is pushing that narrative on her platform rather than listening to the criticisms. It's very self-centered of her.

Pickles is a GD B. 

[Daisy0322]

11 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Didn't she try cloth diapering with Israel before a photo leaked of a bunch of disposable diapers they had?

When I was a nanny I a few families that cloth diapers during the day and used disposable at night.

[karen77]

9 minutes ago, Daisy0322 said:

When I was a nanny I a few families that cloth diapers during the day and used disposable at night.

We did the cloth full time until about a year on both kids, then I just couldn't get them to go all night without changing them and that wasn't going to happen, so, we switch to sposies at night and that got us through year 2. Then I switched to disposables full time until they were day potty trained (around 2.5)

[Georgiana]

11 minutes ago, karen77 said:

We did the cloth full time until about a year on both kids, then I just couldn't get them to go all night without changing them and that wasn't going to happen, so, we switch to sposies at night and that got us through year 2. Then I switched to disposables full time until they were day potty trained (around 2.5)

Most people I've known who cloth diapered used disposables from time to time, especially when going out of the house.  At least in my limited, anecdotal knowledge, it's not uncommon.  

But given the Dillards' reaction to being outed for using disposables, I've always suspected that they weren't REALLY cloth diapering and were just pretending to for "brand" reasons.  Otherwise, they probably would have just said the same thing other people say: "Oh yeah, we keep disposables on hand for times when cloth is a real hassle.  Like when we're travelling or when someone else is watching the kids."

I wouldn't say they're the fakest Duggars, because I think ALL the Duggars try to project an image and a brand the way the Dillards do.  I think the Dillards are just the clumsiest about it, so it's much easier to see through their attempts to brand.  Jessa is probably just as fake, but she adds enough of what seem to be truly genuine on-brand posts that it makes it much harder to tell which posts are genuine peeks into her life that happen to support her brand or are spun to support her brand and which ones are purely brand posts.  

[karen77]

1 minute ago, Georgiana said:

Most people I've known who cloth diapered used disposables from time to time, especially when going out of the house.  At least in my limited, anecdotal knowledge, it's not uncommon.  

 

I only used disposables when on trips and the aforementioned times. I found going around town it was ok to use the cloth. 

[SassyPants]

1 hour ago, Georgiana said:

I think Jill feels like she HAS to go with Derick.  After all, if he goes alone and he's unfaithful, that's not something HE will be held accountable for.  The blame will be placed on Jill.  On some level, yes, she does have a choice...but on another level, she really doesn't.  If she doesn't want to be blamed for his actions on the trip, she has to go.  

Jill is starting to remind me of Narcissa Whitman: wanted to be a missionary since childhood, married a man specifically to follow him on his missions, but ended up absolutely being terrible at it.  She doesn't have a knack for studying or languages, immersion terrifies her, and she doesn't seem to be able to view the people she is supposed to be serving as equals.  To further the similarities, both Jill and Narcissa have had the family life they always dreamed of taken from them (Jill because she will likely never be able to pop out babies like Michelle, Narcissa because her child dies).  Also like Narcissa, Jill is having trouble backing out of the life she thought she wanted. 

Evangelicals always talk about the missionaries who were really good at being missionaries.  But the truth is, those people were the exceptions.  Many missionaries were closer to Jill: they had a dream, couldn't hack it, and had to give up the missions.

But what is Jill going to do now? Her husband is determined to go, refuses to entertain the idea of having a stationary job, and she MUST go too, or be blamed for everything that goes wrong in their marriage.  But eventually, something has to give.  

For those of you not familiar with how Narcissa Whitman ended, she and nearly her entire mission were killed after they stopped ministering to the Cayuse people, started spending all their energies helping white settlers, refused to fairly compensate the tribe, ignored the requests of the Cayuse to leave their lands, and were unable to prevent a smallpox outbreak from devastating the tribe.  She was a dumpster fire of a human, that mission was garbage, and not sorry, but the Cayuse weren't wrong: the mission was directly enabling in the absolute decimation of their people, the people the mission was claiming to "serve".  Bad missions have bad endings.  

Where will Jill end?

But Jill wasn't happy and did not support the stationary WM job that DD had either- 

Jill wants what her parents had after 20 years and 14 children- 2, wealthy SAHPs with oodles of time for sweet, sweet fellowship and a bunch of daughter slaves doing everything at home.

[TeaELSee]

It’s nice to see Israel so excited on his birthday, but why is a 3 year old in a high chair to blow out candles? All of my kids birthday pictures other than age 1 are of them surrounded by a throng of kids hunched over an actual table blowing out the candles.

Poor guy looks giant and restricted in that chair, he’s a big boy now.

[Ivycoveredtower]

40 minutes ago, TeaELSee said:

It’s nice to see Israel so excited on his birthday, but why is a 3 year old in a high chair to blow out candles? All of my kids birthday pictures other than age 1 are of them surrounded by a throng of kids hunched over an actual table blowing out the candles.

Poor guy looks giant and restricted in that chair, he’s a big boy now.

It looks like he probably got the big party over at the TTH. well this was just for Derjill and Cathy. plus it's not even his actual birthday until tomorrow so he'll probably get another cake then where ever they are. 

[Joyfully_Unavailable]

2 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

Pickles is a GD B. 

She has since released a long essay on why she banned people/deleted comments. From what I saw of the comments she deleted yesterday, none of them were uncivil or combative toward her they just seriously questioned her motive and judgment. But she’s claiming that because she’s shared her beliefs, she’s being persecuted and has to block people as the Duggars do. 

[Satan'sFortress]

1 hour ago, TeaELSee said:

It’s nice to see Israel so excited on his birthday, but why is a 3 year old in a high chair to blow out candles? All of my kids birthday pictures other than age 1 are of them surrounded by a throng of kids hunched over an actual table blowing out the candles.

Poor guy looks giant and restricted in that chair, he’s a big boy now.

I thought that, too.  I can't remember when we stopped using a high chair, but it feels like it was WAY before age 3.  I know every kid is different and maybe there is a good reason for it, but in any case, he certainly looks like he needs a bigger chair. 

[gilora]

On the Uber/Lyft issue, maybe they don’t use credit cards?  Even if they pay the balance in full each month, it’s a mini-loan and they can’t have any debt. 

 

[Bad Wolf]

Izzy speaks very clearly. I'm currently watching my almost 5 year old grandson, and his speech isn't that clear. He's been in speech therapy since he was 2, so maybe I'm just not used to "normal".

[Georgiana]

4 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Izzy speaks very clearly. I'm currently watching my almost 5 year old grandson, and his speech isn't that clear. He's been in speech therapy since he was 2, so maybe I'm just not used to "normal".

Izzy comes from a big family that he's probably regularly exposed to.  It's possible his speech has standardized or become more clear earlier than most just because he plays with a lot of older kids regularly.  Speech clarity, enunciation, and more standard pronunciation is something that generally accompanies a child's foray into the "larger world".  This usually happens at school age, but it might have happened earlier for Izzy because the Duggar household resembles a pre-school in a lot of ways.  

If he wants to be understood by his aunts, uncles, and cousins, he has to speak clearly.  And since he probably regularly plays with them, he's learned to speak clearly younger than some other kids might have.  There are some benefits to larger families, and a stimulating and extended early linguistic environment tends to be one of them.

Sadly, the Duggars and ATI folks then lose any advantages by being so insular, creating the weird speech patterns we so often notice with fundies (the Duggars avoidance of adverbs, the Rodrigues everything).

[PennySycamore]

I know your comment was several pages ago @allthegoodnamesrgone but, if I'd just not eaten dinner, your mention of Zaxby's would have had me craving their homemade potato chips.