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

[Lisafer]

55 minutes ago, usedbicycle said:

The failed dating has just strengthened their "bros penguins before hoes" mentality, and they find comfort in their current lifestyle. 

FTFY. 

I think you're at least partially right about the fratboy mentality though. There also may be a crabs-in-a-bucket issue, where somebody seeking to change their lifestyle is consciously or unconsciously sabotaged by the others. 

[usedbicycle]

4 hours ago, Lisafer said:

I think you're at least partially right about the fratboy mentality though. There also may be a crabs-in-a-bucket issue, where somebody seeking to change their lifestyle is consciously or unconsciously sabotaged by the others. 

I have no idea if I'm right at all but it's fun to speculate and read everyone's different theories! The Arndts are the greatest mystery on FreeJinger followed closely by Erika Shupe's great 360 and how Derick and Ben make any money, lol.

[Lisafer]

Just now, usedbicycle said:

I have no idea if I'm right at all but it's fun to speculate and read everyone's different theories! The Arndts are the greatest mystery on FreeJinger followed closely by Erika Shupe's great 360 and how Derick and Ben make any money, lol.

I knew a real-life fundie who has done a 180 in his beliefs. I'm tempted to message him on FB and ask what drew him in to those beliefs and how he got out.

[anjulibai]

I would love to ask one of the Arndt boys to do an AMA. Just to satisfy the curiosity. 

[JenniferJuniper]

The only problem with the frat boy theory is that they don't act much like frat boys.

Sure, they are immature and often very silly. But the comparison ends there.  No sex, beer and rock and roll for these boys.  No crazy stunts involving potential risk, unless that risk is to a stuffed penguin.  No parties that don't involve Mom and Dad, and they must be sure to keep everything very tidy as Cathy will have it no other way.  April to October they are playing softball every night and the rest of the year they are involved with Dad's other vanity projects.

I understand some young adults not liking the idea of transitioning to a world where they have to be responsible for themselves.  But for most it's a phase as the pull of adulthood's freedoms and the desire for independence usually win out.  

There are 13 grown ass adult offspring in that house right now.  Paul is 39 this year. Something very strange has happened here.

With that said, Rick, please, Vine Valley update?

 

 

[anjulibai]

Mary is 22 today. I wonder if they'll post anything. 

[Markie]

I keep coming back to this topic to see if ANYTHING has happened in Arndt world. I keep hoping for two or three of the guys to marry sisters in a joint ceremony and the honeymooning couples go on a South American cruise where they get to interact with penguins down by the South Pole. 

[Dandruff]

I still wonder if there's a family history of being from another planet.  What we think of as adulthood in earth years might not apply.

[Tatar-tot]

Thank God the man boys are all safe at home Saturdsy night tucker into bed.  I hope Mommy read them a good bedtime story.  Do you thing she read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel or Make Way for the Ducklings?

[Elegant Mess]

13 hours ago, anjulibai said:

Mary is 22 today. I wonder if they'll post anything. 

They posted a few photos of her at different ages, along with a simple "Happy Birthday", on Facebook.  They are also visible on the Famteam website.

[Tatar-tot]

1 hour ago, Elegant Mess said:

They posted a few photos of her at different ages, along with a simple "Happy Birthday", on Facebook.  They are also visible on the Famteam website.

So special!  ??????????

[nokidsmom]

I am loving reading the various theories by everyone.   As someone whose FOO was similar in some ways in trying to keep adult kids at home, I can't help but watch this bunch.

On 12/29/2018 at 6:57 PM, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I'm not comfortable with the implication of him being dangerous, but physical health notwithstanding I think Rick has seemed to struggle with mental health issues for years which likely prevented him from holding a job.

I honestly don't think it very likely that Rick is dangerous but then with again the nice Dad who I watched flip out, nobody thought he would do it either.   And the family keeps it well under wraps that it happened, even from extended family, much less friends and neighbors, because it's not in keeping with the nice, loving family image.  

If there's known mental issues with Rick, guaranteed they will keep that one well under wraps, more than posting updates on the eternal project Vine Valley. 

I agree that possible mental health issues may have led to difficulties with working and to his early retirement.  He seems to be someone who spends way too much time in his own head, between his rambling online posts, extreme focus on his family (keeping them safe and all that) and his eternal project.  It's possible that it's really up to Cathy and the adult kids to hold things together because dear old Dad just ain't all there. 

On 12/31/2018 at 9:06 PM, Carm_88 said:

I don't think he's dangerous in the sense of physical violence, but I think that he may use a lot of guilt to keep the boys at home.

I suspect this is the case, except that both Rick and Cathy have employed a lot of subtle amounts of guilt over time to keep their kids at home, meaning it's been happening for years and not just more recently when Daddy retired.  The fact that all are at home, many at ages where they should have moved out a long time ago has me thinking that whatever Rick and Cathy's special brand of "voodoo", guilt has to be a strong component of it and over time.  Because IME guilt is one of the best tools to keep one from living their own life.   Keeping going at it and eventually it becomes entrenched even in those who initially resist.

On 1/1/2019 at 9:52 PM, JenniferJuniper said:

While I think Cathy is deeply complicit, my sense is that Rick rules the roost while Cathy enforces his rules. Too much is controlled by him, and she's too damn busy with everything else. 

When I first starting reading about the Arndts, I thought that Cathy was the mastermind of this whole business and Rick was the one in her thrall.   The hand over the stomach seemed to me a form of indicating possession.  Over time, I have come to think that actually Rick is the head of the household whom nobody in the family disputes, and Cathy is the family enforcer.    This has probably been true the whole time they have been married: Rick is in charge and Cathy followed his wishes / edicts even to the point of following Rick down his particular twisty rabbit hole and taking the entire family with them. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by nokidsmom

[JenniferJuniper]

14 hours ago, Elegant Mess said:

They posted a few photos of her at different ages, along with a simple "Happy Birthday", on Facebook.  They are also visible on the Famteam website.

While this is more than they've done for the manboys with recent birthdays, still nothing new.  When a fundie family goes from sharing a lot (albeit carefully screened) to next-to-nothing seems a potential flag that something is up.

While we always say nothing ever changes with the Arndts, this alone is a big change.  For them, at least.

[Evangeline]

16 hours ago, Tatar-tot said:

Thank God the man boys are all safe at home Saturdsy night tucker into bed.  I hope Mommy read them a good bedtime story.  Do you thing she read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel or Make Way for the Ducklings?

No, it was definitely  "Love You Forever." ?

[Briefly]

I wonder if any of the Arndts have been to Oklahoma City lately?

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/update-missing-oklahoma-city-purple-penguin-statue-returned-friday/article_cebb1e57-265a-557b-84b3-6579718f3ec1.html

[Petronella]

13 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

When a fundie family goes from sharing a lot (albeit carefully screened) to next-to-nothing seems a potential flag that something is up.

While we always say nothing ever changes with the Arndts, this alone is a big change.  For them, at least.

Maybe. But I could equally see it that people just run out of things to say or just the novelty of blogging fades.

[JenniferJuniper]

4 hours ago, Petronella said:

Maybe. But I could equally see it that people just run out of things to say or just the novelty of blogging fades.

It's hard to imagine Rick running out of things to say.  He went from regular hour or more long rambling "sermons" about absolutely nothing to almost total silence last spring/summer.  His insanely dull diary was uploaded every day for 16 or 17 years.  And then it just stopped.  

They do have a private group of followers, but I can't imagine it's very large.  There must be some reason why he has stopped everything.  Maybe the feedback on his Vine Valley clip made feel like a laughingstock.  It should have, but Rick has seemed pretty much impervious to any criticism and it did seem like he or one of the boys was reading out here for a long time.

I don't know what it could be but there has to be some reason why everything has gone quiet.  Especially Vine Valley.

[Petronella]

1 minute ago, JenniferJuniper said:

His insanely dull diary was uploaded every day for 16 or 17 years.  And then it just stopped.  

That long???????????

Oh my...

[nokidsmom]

2 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

There must be some reason why he has stopped everything.  Maybe the feedback on his Vine Valley clip made feel like a laughingstock.  It should have, but Rick has seemed pretty much impervious to any criticism and it did seem like he or one of the boys was reading out here for a long time.

I can imagine that Rick has been on the receiving end of a fair amount of criticism and not just on Vine Valley.  Between his own ramblings, his grown kids posting about K'nex and penguins and just the overall  family situation that is clearly not normal, he had to have gotten negative feedback before, frankly there's plenty out there for people to say WTF.   He seems the type who would carry on regardless, believing he's right so something happened to make him go silent.

[Fallsview]

I'm new  to Freejinger but not the Arndts. I think the reason Rick isn't updating his diary is that he has shifted to facebook a lot. I think he realized that their family web blog was a ghost town which attracted mostly critics like us, lol. The other day I made a small innocuous comment on one of the christian memes they shared on FB. Within a few hours Phillip sent me an IM inviting me to join a prayer circle on Instant Messenger. They have many of these groups and they spend a lot of time there. I had no interest in the prayer group but I sent Phillip a friend request but he never accepted. It's weird, like they wanna pray for random strangers but yet not get to know any of them. It's like they are so afraid of being corrupted by outsiders and they keep them at arms length.

[JenniferJuniper]

1 hour ago, Fallsview said:

I'm new  to Freejinger but not the Arndts. I think the reason Rick isn't updating his diary is that he has shifted to facebook a lot.

Anything on FB is also posted on the blog.  And aside from old family photos they are only reposting memes on FB.  No new info. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

@Fallsview if you choose to touch the poop, leave FJ out of it.

 

We can't, nor do we want to, control what members choose to do elsewhere but do it on your own and never as a representative of FJ.  

As you're new please reread the tou to which you just agreed.

[Fallsview]

Note to the mods: Sorry for the infraction. I edited my message to Rick Arndt. I wasn't really trolling him, just sincerely asking things. Here is the edited version...

P.S. he was actually nice, but a bit odd. (I assume it was Rick)

 

[Naga Viper]

"We're still filming, because it will run for hours."

WTF. They don't have enough story to create a coherent trailer. Not that I think it'll ever actually be finished, but that sounds like the vanity film equivalent of a John Shrader sermon.

[quiversR4hunting]

@Fallsview it seems like there were a couple different voices for the "famteam - the arndt family" maybe all the answers weren't the same person. 

We have a prayer line at church. Volunteers run it and they pray for the people listed on the prayer line on their own time. A long time ago, my mom was on the prayer line and she would get about 3 calls a week (IIRC) at the most. My mom would make a list of the prayers requested and every day when she was doing her daily readings, she would pray for the people on her list. She also told me sometimes one or more on the prayer list would come to her mind during the day and then she would take a moment and send a prayer to them in that moment (while doing whatever she was doing, she was a high school teacher during the day). My point to my story, how in the hell do 27 messenger prayer rooms take all day, every day? I imagine some of the requests are "pray for me to get a job" (while they aren't applying to jobs) or "pray for my acne to go away" or "pray for me to find my lost coin".