Safe at Home 4: Where the thread names change, but the Arndts stay the same

[Jigsaw3]

Several of the older Arndt boys are quite good-looking. As a single woman in their age range, I'd ride those bicycles, even if they aren't used (I'm used and proud of it.) Heck, I'd even buy one of those bicycles, train it up, and be in for a couple of kids. He'd have to deal with me wearing the pants in the family: not tighty-whity pants, sorry Cathy, and not camera-friendly pants either, but I'm sure he'd adapt to going from his parents' headship to my headship.

I define myself as a radical feminist but a Christian. So if I'm willing to take on an Arndt boy, why aren't the fundy maiden spinsters lining up out the door and around the block? Rick and Cathy must be nightmares.

(hat tip to @usedbicycle for all the bike references!)

 

 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Jigsaw3
typo

[JenniferJuniper]

5 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I finally watched the Vine Valley trailer. Has anyone told them that the purpose of a trailer is to demonstrate what the movie is about? There’s a lot of going back and forth between seasons, multiple people fall down in the woods, there’s some softball, and a barn is part of it. Also, washing a pumpkin in the bathtub and drying it tenderly. 

Well, that's what the movie is probably about.  Wandering in the deep woods and falling repeatedly in the snow while random people in lawn chairs sit and watch silently, sweet pumpkin love, Cathy and the empty food basket for the elderly and, of course, softball.  Seinfeld and David Lynch got nothing on Rick Arndt. 

[LurkerOverThePond]

10 hours ago, Alice in Fundieland said:

I happened upon the Arndts over the summer. I was reading one of the Jeub threads which lead me to check out Kids by the Dozen which lead me to the Arndts. In their episode, it seemed as though one of the older boys might be interested in one of the young women who was helping with the softball tournament. I can’t remember who she was but they were in the Arndt kitchen and one of them did a TH about how their families had been friends for a long time or something like that. I foolishly thought by the time I got caught up on them in the present day those two might be married. I figured they were laying the groundwork for an emerging courtship. Haha. Hahahaha. Silly me. 

I'm no Arndt expert, but I remember someone mentioning that here at FJ. I think it was John (the second oldest) who was dating a girl, but when it started getting serious they called it off. Cold feet?

[gustava]

2 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

Cold feet?

Cold Cathy.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

13 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Do you mind if i submit this to be  thread count title?  I can't stop laughing

 

Sure! I haven’t coined a thread count title yet.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

7 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

I'm no Arndt expert, but I remember someone mentioning that here at FJ. I think it was John (the second oldest) who was dating a girl, but when it started getting serious they called it off. Cold feet?

This is the first I've heard of that.  

If they aren't going to release VV I wish they would make more Safe at Home.

No snark, I found those videos very soothing...comforting in a way I can't explain.  ASMR triggers.

[Suz8710]

I sort of remember that @LurkerOverThePond - someone posted here and said they knew the family back in the day. I want to say it was when John was hs age.

And @HerNameIsBuffy I too would enjoy some more of those tv shows, esp over VV- at least we could see a bit more about what they do these days.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Suz8710

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Is it weird that I have the urge to celebrate Halloween by tenderly washing a pumpkin?

[treemom]

Of all the families I snarked on, this one was the easiest to catch up on after a two year hiatus.  Literally nothing has changed but ages.

Edited October 31, 2018 by treemom
Because I’m spelling and typing challenged.

[LurkerOverThePond]

12 hours ago, treemom said:

Of all the families I snarked on, this one was the easiest to catch up on after a two year hiatus.  Literally nothing has changed but ages.

This.

Even the Maxwells have seen more change: John has gotten married and at least one new grandbaby is born each year. If FJ will ever explode, the reason will be either Sarah Maxwell or an Arndt manboy getting hitched.

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

This.

Even the Maxwells have seen more change: John has gotten married and at least one new grandbaby is born each year. If FJ will ever explode, the reason will be either Sarah Maxwell or an Arndt manboy getting hitched.

To each other! 

Just kidding. Steve would take one look at Cathy’s tiny white shorts and faint dead away. 

[anjulibai]

Caleb turns 20 today. I wonder if he will be treated to a cake in parental boudoir and a picture with his mom grasping his stomach. 

[Carm_88]

5 hours ago, anjulibai said:

Caleb turns 20 today. I wonder if he will be treated to a cake in parental boudoir and a picture with his mom grasping his stomach. 

I turned 30! I think I would go crazy if I were an Arndt and that's all I had to look forward to.

[Lisafer]

On 10/30/2018 at 8:55 PM, Jigsaw3 said:

Several of the older Arndt boys are quite good-looking. As a single woman in their age range, I'd ride those bicycles, even if they aren't used (I'm used and proud of it.) Heck, I'd even buy one of those bicycles, train it up, and be in for a couple of kids. He'd have to deal with me wearing the pants in the family: not tighty-whity pants, sorry Cathy, and not camera-friendly pants either, but I'm sure he'd adapt to going from his parents' headship to my headship.

I define myself as a radical feminist but a Christian. So if I'm willing to take on an Arndt boy, why aren't the fundy maiden spinsters lining up out the door and around the block? Rick and Cathy must be nightmares.

(hat tip to @usedbicycle for all the bike references!)

 

 

Perhaps you could send one of the manboys a proposal? Like a mail-order bride in reverse? 

Also, the pumpkin thing has been my location for a while, because it's seriously such a WTF moment. 

[nokidsmom]

46 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

Perhaps you could send one of the manboys a proposal? Like a mail-order bride in reverse? 

I remember reading sometime back that there was a young lady who attended a Softball Classic, become enamored of one of the manboys (maybe Luke?) but he got scared by it.  She went back to her hometown and later married someone else.

I can imagine that there have been similar scenarios where someone has taken a liking to a manboy and said so.  What seems weird that nothing comes of it, and with 13 males in the family who are reasonably attractive it seems that something is really going wrong here.  Rick? Cathy? Something in the water?  The whole family having such a level of family togetherness that even a manboy dating is a major threat?   Something is going on there.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

6 minutes ago, nokidsmom said:

I remember reading sometime back that there was a young lady who attended a Softball Classic, become enamored of one of the manboys (maybe Luke?) but he got scared by it.  She went back to her hometown and later married someone else.

I can imagine that there have been similar scenarios where someone has taken a liking to a manboy and said so.  What seems weird that nothing comes of it, and with 13 males in the family who are reasonably attractive it seems that something is really going wrong here.  Rick? Cathy? Something in the water?  The whole family having such a level of family togetherness that even a manboy dating is a major threat?   Something is going on there.

It's weird that they used to talk about how when Wizzie started dating how protective everyone would be...but who knows if that ever happened.

Tbf I think it would be creepy for Rick to post about his kids' dating lives, but with soooo many and so many over 30 and not a word over the years of a serious relationship is what makes it odd.

Any one of them not having serious involvement or not choosing marriage?  Totally normal.  But none of them make it a statistical anomaly.

6 hours ago, anjulibai said:

Caleb turns 20 today. I wonder if he will be treated to a cake in parental boudoir and a picture with his mom grasping his stomach. 

My youngest was coming in the door the other day and I gave him a side hug and put my hand on his stomach...so I've decided it's not weird.  

Seriously, it was an awkward angle and didn't know what to do with my hand.

 

8 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

This.

Even the Maxwells have seen more change: John has gotten married and at least one new grandbaby is born each year. If FJ will ever explode, the reason will be either Sarah Maxwell or an Arndt manboy getting hitched.

That would be tragic for the poor Arndt boy.  Imagine spending the rest of your life explaining the concept of fun to a Maxwell.  And unforced smiles.  And playful banter.  And edible food.

[nokidsmom]

5 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Any one of them not having serious involvement or not choosing marriage?  Totally normal.  But none of them make it a statistical anomaly.

Exactly.   One or even several would not be strange.  But all of them?  That's what has me making there's some serious f**ked up family dynamics voodoo Rick and Cathy have cast over their kids.

I mean, it's totally normal for a person in their age ranges (20-30s) to want to live their own lives.  And if I were living in a household where nothing every changes from day to day, year to year, that would be extra impetus (among other things) to go out and live my own life.   How these guys and Wizzy are not screaming bored to the point they are climbing the walls is beyond me.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

14 minutes ago, nokidsmom said:

Exactly.   One or even several would not be strange.  But all of them?  That's what has me making there's some serious f**ked up family dynamics voodoo Rick and Cathy have cast over their kids.

I mean, it's totally normal for a person in their age ranges (20-30s) to want to live their own lives.  And if I were living in a household where nothing every changes from day to day, year to year, that would be extra impetus (among other things) to go out and live my own life.   How these guys and Wizzy are not screaming bored to the point they are climbing the walls is beyond me.

Well, tbf they do work.  This is a case of SAHP living off the kids.  I know I've discussed my theory before, but as time goes on I'm not sure it holds.

Back when it was just Paul, John, Luke, and Mark working I could see why no one left.  They were the sole income (to our knowledge) of their parents and siblings on a large property.  If one of them were to leave it would be on the others to work that much harder to support all those people.  I totally get why they wouldn't - as a solidarity thing.  

But that was back when a lot of the kids were still minors.  Now that more of them are working my theory falls apart.

And may never have been accurate since they had a lot of disposable income for travel both in smaller groups and the whole family...none of which is cheap.  Ditto expensive gear for various things.  So either their had to be some other source of income (perhaps from Cathy's share of her family business, etc.), blackmail, or they have a really good printing press in the basement next to the ping pong table.

I really want to believe this is some weird anomaly where they just enjoy living together and sharing expensive and this is a free choice by each of the kids with no coercion or mental fuckery.  If that were the case, more power to them and I will be super jealous.

The odds on that are ...not good...but it's what I hope.

 

 

[nokidsmom]

23 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Well, tbf they do work.  This is a case of SAHP living off the kids.  I know I've discussed my theory before, but as time goes on I'm not sure it holds.

Back when it was just Paul, John, Luke, and Mark working I could see why no one left.  They were the sole income (to our knowledge) of their parents and siblings on a large property.  If one of them were to leave it would be on the others to work that much harder to support all those people.  I totally get why they wouldn't - as a solidarity thing.  

But that was back when a lot of the kids were still minors.  Now that more of them are working my theory falls apart.

And may never have been accurate since they had a lot of disposable income for travel both in smaller groups and the whole family...none of which is cheap.  Ditto expensive gear for various things.  So either their had to be some other source of income (perhaps from Cathy's share of her family business, etc.), blackmail, or they have a really good printing press in the basement next to the ping pong table.

I really want to believe this is some weird anomaly where they just enjoy living together and sharing expensive and this is a free choice by each of the kids with no coercion or mental fuckery.  If that were the case, more power to them and I will be super jealous.

The odds on that are ...not good...but it's what I hope.

I remember you bringing up this theory before and yeah it makes sense back when there just a few siblings working supporting the family but not so much when there are more income sources.    And maybe it is a weird anomaly that they all freely want to be together without any coercion, guilt, fear, obligation, etc. but it would be one in a million (or more probably) sort of thing.   

[Alisamer]

Even the Maxwells have married off some of the boys. The Arndts are looking more and more like they're going to end up in some true-crime horror documentary some day.

Or maybe they've got some sort of arrangement where the oldest must marry first, and he's refusing? Like the daughters in The Pirate Movie - "We'll all be fifty!"

I mean, at some point something HAS to change. They can't just all stay there and keep getting older and older until they die, right? 

OOOH, maybe it's like the Picture of Dorian Gray? Or the Winchester house? As long as they keep filming VV, things will stay the same... but if they do ever finish, some unspeakable horror will come to pass? Or somebody will get a girlfriend? 

[nausicaa]

12 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

This.

Even the Maxwells have seen more change: John has gotten married and at least one new grandbaby is born each year. If FJ will ever explode, the reason will be either Sarah Maxwell or an Arndt manboy getting hitched.

You know how the code name for the plan for when the queen dies is called "Operation London Bridge"? I've long suspected Destiny's name for her emergency plan for when the server completely explodes is entitled "Operation an Arndt Boy Kissed a Girl."

But seriously, what do you guys think is more likely: Sarah Maxwell getting married or one of the Arndts? All reasonable probability would point to the Arndts. They have the numbers on their side. However, they are such an unknown entity.

Like, I think Steve Maxwell is crazy, but I sort of get him and what he's about, you know? I don't understand what's going on behind the scenes over at Chez Arndt. So, weird as it sounds, I'd actually put my money on Sarah Maxwell before an Arndt son. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

15 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

You know how the code name for the plan for when the queen dies is called "Operation London Bridge"? I've long suspected Destiny's name for her emergency plan for when the server completely explodes is entitled "Operation an Arndt Boy Kissed a Girl."

But seriously, what do you guys think is more likely: Sarah Maxwell getting married or one of the Arndts? All reasonable probability would point to the Arndts. They have the numbers on their side. However, they are such an unknown entity.

Like, I think Steve Maxwell is crazy, but I sort of get him and what he's about, you know? I don't understand what's going on behind the scenes over at Chez Arndt. So, weird as it sounds, I'd actually put my money on Sarah Maxwell before an Arndt son. 

Ha!  I love @Destiny but to let you in on a little secret...I'm her contact for Arndt knowledge.   

I would my money on an Arndt over any of the Maxwell girls, not just Sarah.  But definitely over Sarah...I mean once you can't have babies for Jesus why get married and Steve seems to be deliberately running out the clock on that for her.

Tbh though I think none of the above is the most likely answer.

What will be interesting is how the dynamics will shift in each family once the parents pass on.  

With the Maxwells when Steve and Teri are gone which of the brothers will assume financial responsibility for three dependent adults?  Even if they all kick in who do they live with?  

Sadly, I think if there is enough money for the three unmarried sisters to live alone and they choose to I can see Sarah just becoming a stand in for their parents and nothing changing.

(I feel weird saying unmarried sisters as if they should all be married - imo Mary is too young even if in a normal family.  Idk how old Anna is)

[JenniferJuniper]

On 10/31/2018 at 4:23 AM, LurkerOverThePond said:

I'm no Arndt expert, but I remember someone mentioning that here at FJ. I think it was John (the second oldest) who was dating a girl, but when it started getting serious they called it off. Cold feet?

The only thing I remember hearing is a somewhat sad albeit vague story about one of the manboys being fooled or manipulated in some way (possibly even catfished?) by a woman online some years back.  All Rick said is that this son got too deeply involved in this person's problems and it sounds like Rick decided to pull him back.

When you put yourself out there as some sort of special group of Christians who will pray for you if you just ask (pray for you to become more like them no doubt!) you set yourself up as a crazy magnet.  I'm sorry if the manboy was being sincere and got himself trolled, but that's what happens when you shelter your kids to the point that they don't have even a slightly functioning bullshit detector.

I miss the daily manboy back and forth banter on the old webpage.   They were funny sometimes, often goofy, and hardly ever political. The opposite of now.

 

[Destiny]

2 hours ago, nausicaa said:

You know how the code name for the plan for when the queen dies is called "Operation London Bridge"? I've long suspected Destiny's name for her emergency plan for when the server completely explodes is entitled "Operation an Arndt Boy Kissed a Girl."

Actually, it's Operation Poopistan Got Plumbing.

Jokes aside, I actually do have a plan for that, that should have us back up within 8h at the most. This is what I think of in the shower people!

[JermajestyDuggar]

I think an Arndt will marry and after that, more will follow. I hypothesize that no one wants to be the one to rock the boat. But eventually one of the man boys will do it (hormones people). The younger ones will see that no penguins were hurt in the process and begin to seek out their very own godly woman in white shorts.