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

[Howl]

On 4/1/2019 at 1:33 PM, actionsub said:

That said, when did Rick become "Pastor" Rick?  I thought they were Catholics!

Rick is the abbot of the Arndt monastery.  No, seriously.  Well a married abbot who has sex with a woman who wears little white shorts, but yes, he's the abbot and his sons are the monks.  

Is there a set date in the spring/early summer when Cathy transitions from pants to little white shorts?  

[JenniferJuniper]

21 minutes ago, Howl said:

Is there a set date in the spring/early summer when Cathy transitions from pants to little white shorts?  

I'm not sure of the date, but I reasonably sure it's the same day she has Peter put up the hanging flower baskets on the porch. 

I'm serious. 

[SolomonFundy]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Rick is the abbot of the Arndt monastery.  No, seriously.  Well a married abbot who has sex with a woman who wears little white shorts, but yes, he's the abbot and his sons are the monks.  

Is there a set date in the spring/early summer when Cathy transitions from pants to little white shorts?  

 

4 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I'm not sure of the date, but I reasonably sure it's the same day she has Peter put up the hanging flower baskets on the porch. 

I'm serious. 

Also serious: I think it may be the first day following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. 

i.e., the day after Easter. Makes sense, especially if they get put away on Labor Day (being WHITE shorts) as would be tradition among the blue hairs here in the southern US.

[Howl]

Ah, yes.  The not wearing white after Labor Day thing. 

However, here in Texas it's brain fry hot until the end of October, so people tend to ignore that particular stipulation.  

[HereticHick]

On 4/1/2019 at 3:42 PM, Georgiana said:

. I don't know that they openly identify as anything now, except "Christian", and Rick is evidently a Pastor in this sect of Unidentified Arndt Christianity.  

So, to keep my denominational acronyms straight:

UU = Unitarian Universalist

UCC = United Church of Christ

UAC = Unidentified Arndt Christianity

[Suz8710]

Adding to the “what do they do” discussion: on the Arndt Reporting & Legal Video website (https://arndtreporting.com/meet-the-team/) the court reporters are John, Mark and Jude. The court videographers are Luke, James and interestingly, Jacob. Also interesting is how Paul is the only one from the oldest group who isn’t doing that.

They don’t post much about their lives so we have a limited view, but with the wedding photography posts I’ve seen it’s almost always one of the “top 4”  (Mark, Paul, Luke, John) shooting and then filled in with miscellaneous others as a second shooter or videographer. I feel bad for the middle to youngest boys, who seem primarily tasked with yard work. So far I’ve never seen an wedding where, for example, Nathan and Seth are the only photographers.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Suz8710

[JenniferJuniper]

1 hour ago, Suz8710 said:

Adding to the “what do they do” discussion: on the Arndt Reporting & Legal Video website (https://arndtreporting.com/meet-the-team/) the court reporters are John, Mark and Jude. The court videographers are Luke, James and interestingly, Jacob. Also interesting is how Paul is the only one from the oldest group who isn’t doing that.

My guess is they only need three of each to keep the business running.  Paul did do court reporting, maybe he wanted out or -  maybe more likely - the other three are just better at it.  Or maybe Paul does editing? I wonder if the videographers are as consistently busy as the court reporters.

So we have Paul, Philip, Seth, Nathan, Caleb, Peter and of course, Mary, who are adults who appear to have no work outside the home, with the exception of the wedding photography.  In addition to yard and house work, editing Vine Valley must fill up their time.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

36 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

My guess is they only need three of each to keep the business running.  Paul did do court reporting, maybe he wanted out or -  maybe more likely - the other three are just better at it.  Or maybe Paul does editing? I wonder if the videographers are as consistently busy as the court reporters.

So we have Paul, Philip, Seth, Nathan, Caleb, Peter and of course, Mary, who are adults who appear to have no work outside the home, with the exception of the wedding photography.  In addition to yard and house work, editing Vine Valley must fill up their time.

It was years ago but one of the eps That had Jude wearing the cam and checking in on the family around the house they spoke about Paul editing the ending vids.  But the extent idk.

the ep where James and Nathan were fixing the player piano.

why do I know these things?!

[SolomonFundy]

For a while there, some of the middle-ish boys were tasked with converting all of the family videos to newer formats. This entailed organizing, watching, saving, and then editing what had to be thousands of hours of old reel-to-reel, VHS, and early cassette camera footage, in addition to the newer stuff just for consistency.

This was filmed and included in one of the family posts a few years ago.

Ergo, there is video footage of Arndtlings watching and editing video footage. Eventually, they'll get to that footage too. This will create a continuous loop of Arndt video editing that will never, ever end.

[socalrules]

Do we know if they even still do court reporting? They might just be keeping their licenses active. I do wonder how they are even keeping the court reporting business alive. Court reporting is a big business and they now come with facilities you can use to have the deposition taken, rather than in your office, will provide food and coffee and they offer depository services (physical and online) that have to be open during the week even if no deposition is taking place. The Arndt can’t offer all that without having a very large office space with multiple rooms. No lawyer is going out to their house. The only way I could see them still having regular business is if they just do depositions for small firms where the cases aren’t huge or require the above. So many insurance companies paying for a client’s defense insist on certain court reporting agencies because they have a deal with them. The Arndts aren’t big enough to get that kind of deal. I don’t know about doing court reporting in Court as some counties, not all, still provide a court reporter so you don’t have to hire one for your case. 

Edited April 8, 2019 by socalrules

[PrayingMantis]

I used to be in the court reporting business and I vaguely remember the Arndts. In fact I believe I spoke to Rick once on the phone. (This would have been early 2000s.) He was very, very, almost painfully, nice. 

I remember one of my coworkers saying she thought they had a lot of kids, like 7 or 8, and that seemed like such a huge number of kids to me. Little did I know 

[MarblesMom]

Today, the Arndts announced the first softball game of the season.

[MamaJunebug]

On 4/5/2019 at 1:48 PM, HereticHick said:

So, to keep my denominational acronyms straight:

UU = Unitarian Universalist

UCC = United Church of Christ

UAC = Unidentified Arndt Christianity

Actually, in the old days in Lutheranism “AUC”=“Unaltered Augsburg Confession” — with “confession” defined as “a statement of  doctrinal beliefs,” far from anything anything juicy, so, sorry to raise false hopes. Hee.  

On 4/5/2019 at 1:28 PM, Howl said:

Ah, yes.  The not wearing white after Labor Day thing. 

However, here in Texas it's brain fry hot until the end of October, so people tend to ignore that particular stipulation.  

I’m still mostly chuckling at “brain-fry hot.”  Well, chuckling when I’m not dreading its return. 

2 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

Today, the Arndts announced the first softball game of the season.

Did the shorty-shorts also make an appearance,  That right there would be good timing.  

[johnhugh]

Wasn’t there a situation a few years ago when one of the manboys was getting itchy feet or feeling fed up, so they all spent the evening praying over him?

[nelliebelle1197]

17 hours ago, socalrules said:

Do we know if they even still do court reporting? They might just be keeping their licenses active. I do wonder how they are even keeping the court reporting business alive. Court reporting is a big business and they now come with facilities you can use to have the deposition taken, rather than in your office, will provide food and coffee and they offer depository services (physical and online) that have to be open during the week even if no deposition is taking place. The Arndt can’t offer all that without having a very large office space with multiple rooms. No lawyer is going out to their house. The only way I could see them still having regular business is if they just do depositions for small firms where the cases aren’t huge or require the above. So many insurance companies paying for a client’s defense insist on certain court reporting agencies because they have a deal with them. The Arndts aren’t big enough to get that kind of deal. I don’t know about doing court reporting in Court as some counties, not all, still provide a court reporter so you don’t have to hire one for your case. 

There are plenty of small court reporting companies still afloat.  Big Law and larger mid-sized firms are really the clients the big fish seek! And honestly, they may have some sort of contract with some sort of specialized firm that is older than Mary. They have to be doing okay or some cracks would have appeared in the Arndt firmament. RIGHT?????

Edited April 9, 2019 by nelliebelle1197

[JenniferJuniper]

28 minutes ago, nelliebelle1197 said:

There are plenty of small court reporting companies still afloat.  Big Law and larger mid-sized firms are really the clients the big fish seek! And honestly, they may have some sort of contract with some sort of specialized firm that is older than Mary. They have to be doing okay or some cracks would have appeared in the Arndt firmament. RIGHT?????

I think they use  the big family/hyper religious crap to market to certain attorneys who lean fundie.  I am a little bit surprised there are only three court reporters, but I suspect those three are fairly busy.   

On the plus side for Rick, they don't have a mortgage and they have plenty of free help.  The wedding business must do very well in season also.   So while I doubt they are wealthy, they probably are able to make ends meet every month.  For now at least.

But if we look at Paul and consider he's 39 in a few months, aside from the obvious limited social life what about retirement?    It's not likely he savings, never mind a 401k.  Social Security even? He may never have a family to support but what can he be thinking about his own financial solvency as he approaches 40?  Speaking for myself, the thought of relying on younger siblings in my old age is terrifying.

 

[nelliebelle1197]

2 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I think they use  the big family/hyper religious crap to market to certain attorneys who lean fundie.  I am a little bit surprised there are only three court reporters, but I suspect those three are fairly busy.   

On the plus side for Rick, they don't have a mortgage and they have plenty of free help.  The wedding business must do very well in season also.   So while I doubt they are wealthy, they probably are able to make ends meet every month.  For now at least.

But if we look at Paul and consider he's 39 in a few months, aside from the obvious limited social life what about retirement?    It's not likely he savings, never mind a 401k.  Social Security even? He may never have a family to support but what can he be thinking about his own financial solvency as he approaches 40?  Speaking for myself, the thought of relying on younger siblings in my old age is terrifying.

 

I still cannot believe that the Arndts are still in this groundhog day of a life.  It is well and truly sad.

[quiversR4hunting]

1 hour ago, JenniferJuniper said:

But if we look at Paul and consider he's 39 in a few months, aside from the obvious limited social life what about retirement?    It's not likely he savings, never mind a 401k.  Social Security even? He may never have a family to support but what can he be thinking about his own financial solvency as he approaches 40?  Speaking for myself, the thought of relying on younger siblings in my old age is terrifying.

He can still get into a company (pay into social security) and work 20-25 years. The sad thing it doesn't look like he will ever do that. Nor will he tap into his own dreams, I am sure those were snuffed out long ago. What if he is the one that really loved (or loves) baseball? He could have built a baseball/softball training facility. 

It is so sad, so many potential gifts wasted. 

Maybe they should reflect on Romans 12:4-8 (NIV)

Quote

 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a]faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

 

[nokidsmom]

2 hours ago, nelliebelle1197 said:

I still cannot believe that the Arndts are still in this groundhog day of a life.  It is well and truly sad.

I really don't know how they, and the older ones in particular, can stand it.  The same thing every day and the older ones must notice how life has been the same for not just years but decades (thinking of Paul here).   And here they are still in the homestead nowhere closer to any hopes and goals they may have had for themselves.  

As others have mentioned, some of them may have given up and are resigned.    Maybe they have convinced themselves it's OK but if I found myself in that sort of life, it would be hell.  I personally knew someone who, in their 30s, was living a similar sort of life and she was nearly suicidal.  

[VVV]

5 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I think they use  the big family/hyper religious crap to market to certain attorneys who lean fundie.  I am a little bit surprised there are only three court reporters, but I suspect those three are fairly busy.   

On the plus side for Rick, they don't have a mortgage and they have plenty of free help.  The wedding business must do very well in season also.   So while I doubt they are wealthy, they probably are able to make ends meet every month.  For now at least.

But if we look at Paul and consider he's 39 in a few months, aside from the obvious limited social life what about retirement?    It's not likely he savings, never mind a 401k.  Social Security even? He may never have a family to support but what can he be thinking about his own financial solvency as he approaches 40?  Speaking for myself, the thought of relying on younger siblings in my old age is terrifying.

 

If Paul or any of the others are following the law, they are required to report all of their self-employment income and pay social security on it--both halves of FICA, the employer as well as the employee half. This is in addition to federal and state income taxes.

[JenniferJuniper]

4 minutes ago, VVV said:

If Paul or any of the others are following the law, they are required to report all of their self-employment income and pay social security on it--both halves of FICA, the employer as well as the employee half. This is in addition to federal and state income taxes.

Yes, but it doesn't appear Paul is an employee of the court reporting company.  At least not presently.

[VVV]

1 hour ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Yes, but it doesn't appear Paul is an employee of the court reporting company.  At least not presently.

Doesn't matter. If he earns more than $600 (might be $700 now) in a year from his court reporting, he needs to be reporting it as self-employment income. That's the point of the Schedule C--it's for people reporting income who are NOT employees.

I teach a lot of violin lessons as a self-employed independent contractor. I report every dime from those lessons as self-employment income to the IRS, and pay federal income tax and both halves of FICA on that money. (No state income tax in Texas.) My eventual social security will be calculated including that income as well as my W-2 income. Failure to report that income and/or pay the FICA as well as Federal income tax is against the law. It is tax fraud.

The point for this discussion is, the question has been raised about whether the man children are even going to be able to collect social security and the answer is, they should definitely be eligible for social security unless they've been systematically committing tax fraud.

[SIngingforsupper]

I joined the conversations with Dad group yesterday, I was curious. What the actual heck was I listening to?? I feel like Pastor Rick has gone around the bend and is not coming back. He did say that maybe Vine Valley would be a television show. That is all I could take will unsubscribe from that hot mess.

 

[nelliebelle1197]

4 hours ago, nokidsmom said:

I really don't know how they, and the older ones in particular, can stand it.  The same thing every day and the older ones must notice how life has been the same for not just years but decades (thinking of Paul here).   And here they are still in the homestead nowhere closer to any hopes and goals they may have had for themselves.  

As others have mentioned, some of them may have given up and are resigned.    Maybe they have convinced themselves it's OK but if I found myself in that sort of life, it would be hell.  I personally knew someone who, in their 30s, was living a similar sort of life and she was nearly suicidal.  

And those boys would have definitely been easily marriageable. Some of them are decent looking and Luke is awfully cute...

[lilith]

1 hour ago, SIngingforsupper said:

I joined the conversations with Dad group yesterday, I was curious. What the actual heck was I listening to?? I feel like Pastor Rick has gone around the bend and is not coming back. He did say that maybe Vine Valley would be a television show. That is all I could take will unsubscribe from that hot mess.

 

Yeah, I can’t listen to Rick, even for snark purposes (and I am capable of listening to whole Steven Anderson sermons). He just rambles and rambles in that odd voice..... does he even have an audience apart from us and his family? They put so many hours into recording and editing their various productions, but I really doubt anyone is even aware of them.

And it’s so sad that we are speculating about RETIREMENT plans for these men who have never lived an adult life. Realising the oldest is my age is confronting - I’m raising teenagers and they’re still living as teens.