M Is for Mama 2: Quiverfull/Pinterest

[Coconut Flan]

Continued from here:

 

[luv2laugh]

Braggie, I understand this functions like a "mantra" to you, but you may sing it to the moon and no one will ever believe it. While you may repeat one thing daily, evidence of your actions as well as your behavior have proven otherwise. Not enough red lipstick, Anthropologie scored look-alike rags, edited photos, nor words of yours will ever change your evil, cold-blooded heart. If you truly want to love your life and change your behavior to a healthy one, only therapy along with words of affirmations (and prayer), will. Tragically, from I know about Cluster B personality disorders (narcissism included), they are not privy to change. The longer she refuses help, the more trouble under her roof will brew. Unfortunately, she is influencing the lives of vulnerable, little children and the sad part is, if any of them grow up damaged, she will not care as long as no one in her social circle nor community find out about it, much unlike poor Pa & Ma Duggar (NOT to say damaged like Josh Duggar but possible damage from a multitude of other tragedies and I pray to God not).

The poor thing. Abbie must spend her nights praying the gullible make up a certain percentage of the population so that her book will be a profitable one.

"I not only love these people. I like them. #motherhoodishard #motherhoodissanctifying #motherhoodisagift"

Spoiler

No. Love these people nor like you do not. Yes, motherhood is very hard and sanctifying is the mantra you tell yourself to get out of bed to face your kids each day. Motherhood is so hard for you that you force your oldest sons to be Mom #2 and #3 as well as SUPERMOMs when you invite the moms of the community and their 30+ kids over for your them to babysit 3x a week because you are too selfish and unloving to continue your shopping habits rather than hire a babysitter and maid in their place.

Meanwhile, you continue to buy only the best and shiniest clothes and toys for yourself and BRAG they have none of THAT.  You BRAG that they are trained as ANIMALS and punished in ways that are (sadly) similar.

You also continue to BRAG that they do all of the cleaning and SMILE while taking a picture of the children's daily laundry folding sessions as you keep your feet up.

You BRAG they are not allowed to express their feelings, emotions, and dare not tell you they are bored, want a different color cup, or complain while doing all of the household duties. In fact, you even BRAG, multiple times, that despite being a mom of many, you are NOT a nurturer, unemotional, and a "non-crier" (your own words).

Perhaps Motherhood is even EASY for YOU because you do not even have the LIFE of a Mother?! You're even too evil to outsource your mothering duties as you'd rather leave that to the oldest sons and the household cleaning, dishes, laundry, and cooking to the them & the rest of the children rather than hire a maid and put your OWN effort (or husband's) in! At least Lori A. did- you are actually WORSE than her. 

Braggie, you are ONLY worthy of a title that consists of a description of baby birthing, obsessed shopaholic, gym instructor, thrifting grifter, and an amateur interior designer. Jesus-loving MY ever loving behind. Jesus, as well as "Mother" you are NOTHING like! You are more of a "surrogate" than a mother as you do not truly raise them nor take care of them physically & mentally. Homeschool instructor? You've admitted the oldest sons & an at-home employed (and periodically, self-employed *2nd job*) Shaun, as well as YOUR MOTHER, do that as well. You must have the entire family working around the clock to pick up your slack you lazy lady, Braggie? I'm glad those kids have a VERY actively involved Grandma rather than be left to someone as repulsive and harmful as you.

[Marly]

8 hours ago, luv2laugh said:

At least Lori A. did- you are actually WORSE than her. 

 

 

I've wondered for a long time now what Lori would think of Abby and vice versa. I think Lori would applaud Abby's "fuzz juice" method. 

Also, when your horrible method gets Lori A.'s approval, you know it's especially vile.

[luv2laugh]

These are the type of (gullible) yet suffering fellow Mothers Braggie is influencing. People that are gullible look at the facade Braggie spends time on for hours a day. This is exactly why it's important to keep calling Braggie, and the people like her, out for what they are and point out the truth.

I don't know how people like Braggie can continue to go onto a blog and put out only their very best images and edit out the imperfections and desperately try to pass it off as the truth, even resorting to lying if they must. There are so many suffering people with mental illness out there and the audience Braggie markets her blog to is some of the most VULNERABLE being that they are either pregnant or already mothers. Post-partum depression and hormones are rampant among her audience and she shamelessly posts instagram pic or blog post after another with her edited phony baloney images and long-winded brag-athons. Braggie is not only a phony, cold-hearted person. She is dangerous to the gullible ones following her.

See below:

Poster titles the thread as "Really Struggling, need help from other WMs" in The Bump forums back around 2014 and a (gullible) poster offers MisForMama's blog, OF ALL PEOPLE, as a motivator. Does Braggie feel sorry for her followers, whom are ridden with post-birth hormones, balancing it all, and possible PPD, when they come across her narcissistic posts? No, she FEEDs off making people feel below her. OH, she does know ALL about the fan girls that fawn over her and begging for her advice (surprise, Braggie does NOT respond to them). Braggie LIVES for these comments which is one explanation for her behavior.

"She works part time.... home schools her kids..."
"...whenever I feel bad I just look at how put together she is and that makes me feel bad about bitching about my life and throwing a pity party which I have been doing a lot lately (note to self I need to read up some more on her blog) and  gets me in the I CAN DO IT vibe"

Yes, Braggie is a sick-minded person that eats up the fact that she makes other mothers "feel bad" and that, my friends, is dangerous. With celebrities, everyday mothers are encouraged that "People like Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, and Gisele have an entire team of people helping them look that good! Don't compare yourself to them!" Rather than celebrities today, Mothers DO compare themselves to mommy bloggers like Braggie. These mommy bloggers serve as a dangerous comparison because unlike celebrities, Mothers think these people are honest and another fellow Mom filled with oodles of tips. It's exactly why it's even more important to call out people like Braggie for what they are: fake and explain why.

[luv2laugh]

Some odd tidbits:

Braggie's a fan of words like "ghetto" and will even feature it in a title of a blog post: “Recovering Your Car Seat Cover, Ghetto-style.”

She reads here, passive-aggressively calls us "friends" as she refers to hostile comments she's seen about her online multiple times throughout her blog over the years, and mentioned googling her name (LOL) and finding a forum discussing her blog in a post dated back around ~2016. 

She admits she's competitive. I think she words it as "competitive" to make herself feel better. The true word is more like narcissistic, vain, and selfish. She's even admitted that too, on multiple blog posts. In my armchair diagnostic opinion, I would not call her competitive. I’d call her a narcissist  (or on the spectrum of Cluster B Personality Disorders) with sadistic & masochistic behavior and possible OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder "Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder that's characterized by extreme perfectionism, order, and neatness. People with OCPD will also feel a severe need to impose their own standards on their outside environment" and also, "frugality" is part of OCPD as well). After Trump took office, I've been keeping armchair diagnoses much to myself or within forums.

"To put it a bit more succinctly, I am a trichotillomaniac." This is the ONE time Braggie has ever revealed something honest. She detailed a post way back in 2012 on how she has suffered from Trichotillomania. Braggie might've received help on this post because this is the only blog post where she's expressed any sympathy for other people and she admits she's not one for sympathy herself. http://misformama.net/2012/02/5-things-thursday-15the-ugly-bad-and.html  I summed it up here. It's long but worth the read to understand how she thinks. The tone in her writing is strikingly different from any of her other ones and I feel really sorry for her. The key thing though is that narcissists do not want you to feel sorry for them. Similar to Trump, being seen as "weak" is a phobia of theirs. I am really surprised that she admitted to editing her pictures and admitted to essentially, being a fake. In sum, Braggie says she will never be cured of this and I really hope she is getting help. The longer Braggie goes without professional help, the more issues will brew under her roof. Her condition can be managed but it takes a humble heart to get professional help and a diligent one to learn new, health behaviors. Braggie can sing to the moon how productive she is but it's not reality. In fact, she has admitted to being selective on what she's focusing on. Making your children, husband, and mother pick up your slack in priorities of child-rearing, homeschooling, cooking, etc. so that you have time to blog, edit pictures, go shopping, and bring MORE children into this environment is not only lazy, but selfish.

Spoiler

"So, why in the name of peanut butter sandwiches and chick flicks am I telling you guys all of this?

Why not just go on posting cute little DIY projects and wowing you with my we-built-an-entire-house-with-nothing-but-our-bare-hands-and-some-boot-straps posts?

Because, although it is the nature of a blog to only show the good stuff…the impressive stuff…the finished product stuff…

The truth of the matter is that I am very much a work in progress, and there’s a lot of that process that isn’t terribly pretty....

I love that some of you think so highly of me.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m as vain as the next girl.

And I have a pretty good idea of my strengths and weaknesses.

I don’t think I’m a loser.

I know that God has gifted me in certain areas.

Please, please don’t read this post and think that this is a cry for validity or a case of I-hate-myself-itis.

Contrary to what most of the research shows about trich-sufferers, I have robust self-esteem, and I have family and friends who build it up by showing me how much they value and love me on a regular basis.

But when I occasionally get comments about my being “gorgeous” (I’m not) or “amazing” (far from it…although I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the sweetness behind such incredible compliments), I want to climb on top of my roof and holler “Oh yeah?!? Well, look at THIS!...
 

I’m guessing I know what you’re thinking about now: “But Abbie, you post pictures of yourself all the time. And I’ve never noticed a thing.”

That might be because I’ve never wanted you to notice.

For the most part, I’m just really good with make-up and camera angles, but there has been the time or two when I really wanted a certain shot but couldn’t bring myself to post the untouched-up version.

Not without an explanation, anyway, and I wasn’t quite ready to give it....
 

So, what are my triggers?

Well, stress, definitely.

The more pressure I feel or put on myself to accomplish something, meet a deadline, try to do too many things…the more likely I am to pull.

But it’s not that cut-and-dried.

Sometimes, good things will set me off too.

One time, an editor contacted me about my book, wanting to see more, and I, after busting my tail for months to get a full set of eyelashes and almost succeeding, spent hours upon hours revising my manuscript.

And pulling.

And pulling.

(Writing is a major trigger for me because, as I worry about choosing the right words, I use my fingers to literally worry my eyelashes or hair out).

She ended up passing on the manuscript.

And I ended up starting from scratch.

Again.

It’s quite literally the story of my life.

I won’t say it’s what defines me, but it has played a role in the story of my entire life as I remember it.

Great, Abbie. You've admitted you have triggers to pull and that stress is one of them. How about making plans to eliminate excessive amounts of stress? No, you have not done anything to manage your issues responsibly. You've continued to Instagram, blog, and parade your family out around. You've continued to birth more children. You have 8 children to care for now and part of the responsibility of being a mother is making changes you might not want to make in order to be a better parent. Jesus would want you to get your mental health issues resolved before bringing more children into this environment. Step up.

Below, Braggie discusses her narcissism slightly and admits to it, to a degree. The blog serves as another "accountability partner" for Braggie to live up to the false sense of perfection she that idolizes in her mind. She has admitted that besides some extra money and free gym perks, part of being a gym instructor makes her accountable to her weight and working out (or risk embarrassment). The blog keeps Braggie accountable to a clean, decorated house, stay in shape, make everything try to to appear "perfect".  

Spoiler

In case you’ve ever (mistakenly) believed that I have “it all” together…

 I rarely write a post in under 2 hours (and that usually doesn’t include photo-taking/editing, etc.), and there are plenty of other things that go along with blogging that have nothing to do with the “finished product” that you guys see (those of you with blogs of your own are nodding your heads right now).

I’m still learning more about all of those “other things” as I go…

But mostly, I’m learning to let go.

Blogging is hard for my personality.

I’m what I like to call a selective perfectionist. Which means I like things to be just so…in some areas.

And then I’m perfectly capable of letting others slide in ways that would horrify and mystify some of you.

I’m also competitive—used to be to a fault but now only to a sometimes annoying degree.

And above all with myself.

Sure, I compare myself with others just like everybody else does, and it never comes to any good since I either end up feeling woefully inadequate or full of ugly pride as a result.

But mostly, I compare myself to my own standards—what I think I could/should be accomplishing.

And I’m kind of hard on myself if I don’t measure up…to myself. (Confused yet?)

So, yeah.

Blogging, with all its built-in horn-tooting and numbers-counting is a dangerous thing for a girl who likes to set/achieve personal goals and then break her own records.

And there have definitely been times that I’ve gotten sucked into the blogging vortex of “have-to-itis.”

You have to do Twitter, or you won’t succeed.

You have to do lots of giveaways, or no one will like you (in the blog-world or on Facebook…Oh, for the days when liking someone meant you wanted to go to a movie with them).

You have to have amazing photos, or no one will even look at your posts.

You have to have a big week-long, blogiversary celebration, or no one will be impressed by your achievements (don’t get me wrong; I would have LOVED to have done that, but it just wasn’t a good use of my time right now, and I accepted that…that’s progress, right there, folks).

There have been times when I have stayed up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late, ignored my children and husband, fretted over blog-traffic, counted links, done projects that I have no use for except to post them on the blog, and just generally worried way too much about this whole blogging business.

And that’s the bad.

The ugly.

The stuff I would love to pretend I’m above and way too mature for but totally am not when I let my perspective get skewed.

But it’s getting better.

In fact, I pretty much never check my blog stats anymore, (even though it’s very sound advice to know where your traffic is coming from so you can optimize those avenues and not expend effort on areas that don’t “grow your blog”).

And I genuinely don’t care too much if my “numbers” stall out (although I love getting new readers…not a single blogger in the world could say they don’t and tell the truth).

But it doesn’t rule me like it could (and has a times) if I’m not careful.

I know I’m not alone in these struggles because I’ve read a lot of posts in which the blogger bemoans his/her attachment to the instant gratification of increased numbers, social media interaction, and, perhaps most importantly of all, comments.

Apparently, it’s a human nature thing.

Which makes me even more grateful that I have a God who cares about me and my character enough that He sometimes reaches down and forces me to take a step back and reassess.

That’s what this pregnancy with twins has done for me.

Forced me to slow down, reevaluate where my limited energy can be best spent, and look ahead to an even busier time in my life when blogging will simply have to play second (or seventh) fiddle to the need for sleep, food, snuggles, and other aspects of real life (the twins are jumping around in my belly even as I write this, so apparently they agree).

And that, folks, is pretty much where I stand after a year of blogging.

And it feels like a good place to be.

Because there are so many incredible things about blogging too.

Like the opportunity I get each and every day to connect with people like you whom I wouldn’t ever get to “meet” otherwise.

Like the chance to use my blog for good to help out PCM orphans in Uganda.

Like the platform it gives me to share my faith when sometimes, I feel like the only people I ever share the gospel with are my own children (not that they don’t need to hear it).

Like the motivation to get dressed in decent clothes (my husband always notices when I do) and get projects finished.

Like the fact that I get to write—which I love and hadn’t done regularly in over a year before I started this blog.

Like the incredible response I receive when I share a personal struggle and so many of you say you get it and are encouraged by knowing that you’re not alone, and that, by the grace of God, there’s hope.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Blogging is good.

And bad.

Mostly, it’s what you make of it.

It’s a constant struggle for balance (but isn’t that “real life” too?), and it’s a struggle that me and my competitive self are determined to continue…at least for now.

I don’t know the future that God has planned for me (outside of a 40% increase in the number of children entrusted to my care), but I do know that I want everything I do—and that definitely includes blogging—to glorify and honor the One who gives me the ability to make even one single keystroke.

Have I always been successful in carrying out this desire?

No.

I’d be lying if I said that every post that I’ve ever written has glorified God.

So many of them have mostly glorified me.

Because it’s actually almost impossible to blog without being a little bit narcissistic.

And that’s yet another facet of balance that I am striving to get just right.

But I will say this: I have tried, to the best of my ability, to be as honest with you as possible without compromising the integrity of my family or turning this blog into a tale of woe and negativity.

I’ve (literally) shown you my dirty laundry, confessed my weaknesses, and shared my failings as well as my successes, and I will continue to do so as long as I feel led to blog.

http://misformama.net/2015/07/in-case-youve-ever-mistakenly-believed-that-i-have-it-all-together.html

This blog and instagram is ridiculously self-serving and actually seriously unhealthy for Braggie Abbie. Her precious time could be better spent elsewhere. How about parenting your kids (instead of your mom or older kids)? Allowing your children to be children instead of pick up your slack? Get help for your issues? It would be healthy to engage in exercise and parenting without binding yourself to your blog keeping you in accountability to what your thoughts are telling you is "perfect". It's disordered reality. In fact, you're giving a platform of disordered reality and influencing other Moms to "feel bad". Is that what Jesus would do, Abbie?

Anything Braggie "names & claims" is likely a struggle of hers. She frequently claims she loves her life, loves motherhood, etc. Braggie's admitted being into "word-claiming" in this blog: http://misformama.net/2013/01/5-things-thursday-steadfast.html


She discusses her "high-strung, competitive" nature.

Spoiler

"Hello, non-competiton. When I watch my kids play soccer, I wonder where they got their laid back genes. Because as even a very young child, I was anything but relaxed, especially when it came to anything competitive. I would get genuinely upset with myself for missing a fly-ball (there’s footage of me as a 6-year-old playing tee ball, for the love, and I’m pounding my 4-sizes-too-big man’s glove in frustration because of some error I made on the field) or for making lower than a 96 on a test. High-strung, much? Mmm-hmm. But more and more, I just don’t care. Let someone else freak out about a less-than-perfect score or get bent out of shape over losing at a board game. I think I’ll go take a nap instead."

Discussing her "cool $150k cash profit" from what they'd expect to make of the first DIY house:

Spoiler

Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably dying to know numbers.

So, here they are:

Our house is approximately 2,800 square feet and features many nice touches such as hardwood floors, crown molding, custom cabinets, custom shelving, upstairs/downstairs laundry chutes, name-brand appliances and bathroom fixtures, built-in shelving, a walk-in pantry and master closet, and much more.

And the entire thing (minus home décor) ran us about $100,000.

Of course, that doesn’t factor in the effort and hassle of doing everything yourself, but the satisfaction of a job well done and beaucoups of money saved more than makes up for it for us.

Plus, we had an appraisal done after completion, and the value of the house came in at just under $250,000.

Yep, you read that right.

If we ever sell it, we can expect to make a cool $150K in cash profit.

And you can’t beat that with a stick…or anything else you might have in your DIY toolbox for that matter.

http://misformama.net/2012/01/try-it-tuesday-how-to-build-house-from.html

Discusses her "ridiculously healthy body" in a classic humble-brag post here: http://misformama.net/2012/03/wardrobe-wednesday-do-these-pants-make.html

Her classic 3 part "Get To Know Me: ARE YOU FOR REAL?" post is a heaping stench full of narcissism: 
http://misformama.net/2012/01/5-things-thursday-14getting-to-know-you_26.html

Spoiler

I went to college at 15 and…

Graduated with a double-major in English and Spanish at 19…after which

I started teaching high-school Spanish (also at 19).

I speak fluent Spanish and have been to Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Spain.

Braggie doesn’t buy anything at Anthropologie. She's got ya fooled. One thing Abbie is good at is hiding reality online. In a blog post from a long time ago, she admitted to stalking the store and obsessive over interior design blogs to get “the look” for less. Braggie said she really never bought anything there. She must spend HOURS thrifting.... Also, she does DIY “like a boss”, guys:

Spoiler

Braggie has been blogging since 2011. It has even been a bit earlier. She used to have a different, separate fashion blog (I can't remember the name of it) that she posted on in 2009. She was engaged to a different man at 19 and told him that despite only having one other sibling, she didn't believe in birth control. I think that Braggie adopted this idea from being a Duggar fangirl and fangirling over other women she met at blog conferences. Braggie frequently attended Declare blog conferences back in the day.  I'm guessing that's where she met Mandy Ballard of the blog, Biblical Homemaking who also has 7+ kids. Here Braggie is pictured with a nametag on at a conference:

Spoiler

Mandy used to be a frequent speaker of these blog conferences. Creepy enough, in Single White Female fashion, Braggie started to copy Mandy in basically EVERY WAY she could think of. Sadly, Mandy shut down her blog for unknown reasons. Here is a sample of what Mandy is about below. She wrote a guest post on hospitality. I also followed Mandy B way back around 2009 and her and her friend, Courtney of Women Living Well were some of the first fundie bloggers I read about.

Spoiler

"Serving a simple dinner can actually put your guests at ease,
too. A few years ago, I invited our new neighbors over and I
decided to bring a home a take-and-bake pizza for dinner that night
instead of cooking.

After dinner, my sweet neighbor told me she felt so relieved we had
pizza because she wasn’t a cook and she’d been worried that I was
going to make a fancy dinner! The Lord knew exactly what I needed to
serve that night."

"Make your guests comfortable by welcoming them in, and if you’re still
working in the kitchen, invite the ladies to come and chat while you
work. Not being ready is okay, really!

No one expects or even wants perfection. If your friend invited
you to her pristine home and made the most delicious dinner ever, how
would you feel?

When your guests arrive, try to turn off the to-do list and just enjoy
being in their company! Listen to their stories, ask them questions,
and don’t worry about how everything looks and tastes. It’s not about
you, anyway, right?

Be a light to your friends by loving and focusing on them in
your time together.

Keep it simple, allow yourself to be imperfect (we all are!), and have
fun, and chances are, you will be the perfect hostess."

Although Mandy B was always a fundie, she was vocal about her imperfections, was honest and quite humble. Mandy was also always known for a few things: quiverfull, fashionista, thrifter, exercise instructor, and all things DIY. She also wrote a few books. Here is a biography on Mandy detailing exactly from the same link:

Spoiler

 

"Mandy is a follower of Jesus, the wife of one very wonderful man, and
the homeschooling mama of four little ones eight years old and under.

In her “spare” time she loves to shop at thrift stores, teach
kickboxing and weight lifting classes, bake sweets, have friends over
for dinner, and work on all sorts of DIY projects around her 116-year-
old home.

You can find Mandy writing each week about faith, family,
fitness, food, fashion, and more at her blog, Biblical Homemaking."

 

Braggie is and has always been nothing but a "wannabe". A "wannabe" of her mental ideas of perfection. Sadly, obsessed "wannabe's" don't make the best mothers, especially ones of 8+ children.

Many of these posts are from 2011-2013 and written while she was pregnant with twins. The small tidbits of honesty within them are quite frightening. She has been far less honest over the past few years and has focused more on trying hard to be seen as "perfect". She has attempted to justify her lack of honesty with saying things along the lines of the purpose of a blog being only to present the best parts of motherhood, etc. Since she has not hired a maid or a babysitter, it's quite evident that the children, husband, and her own mother are again, working around the clock to pick up her slack.

I could go on but this is just what I've bookmarked on her over the past few months. 







 

[luv2laugh]

1 hour ago, luv2laugh said:

 

Her classic 3 part "Get To Know Me: ARE YOU FOR REAL?" post is a heaping stench full of narcissism: 
http://misformama.net/2012/01/5-things-thursday-14getting-to-know-you_26.html
 

I was timed out from editing the above post (had to take a long break here).

Want to know what I think? Braggie will sing to the moon how smart she & Shaun are. I don't believe Braggie was top of her class and I don't believe Shaun was either. Why?  My turn to be a Braggie. I'll be snarky: If Braggie & Shaun only made A's she'd definitely brag they graduated Summa Cum Laude (FYI: I did, yet I do not brag about it). The ONLY thing Braggie can truthfully brag about is that she graduated college early to become a teacher. Yes, homeschooling allowed her to do this. Big deal. IF Shaun was a genius, he would be working at a hot tech firm in Silicon Valley or a prestigious tech firm somewhere else. I am intimately familiar with software engineers and the brightest students all end up either somewhere at the likes of Google, high frequency trading or programming at a hedge fund ($$$), or going the Romney route via consulting at the MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) with a goal to get into Private Equity ($$$) or the C-Suite (CEO,CIO,CFO,COO) at a Fortune 500 company as they mostly all have consulting backgrounds. He would not be working in East Texas. If he wanted to remain in Texas, he'd most likely be in Houston or Dallas. Again, I don't say this to be mean, unlike Braggie. I'm simply pointing out the falsehoods she enjoys painting in her blog narratives to match up with her disordered reality. My goal here is to help out the Moms see the truth and not succumb to feeling below Braggie. Shaun definitely seems like a kind, patient person and one with a great work ethic. He sounds like a TRUE keeper to live with Braggie, definitely someone to be proud of, and a high achiever. However, don't pretend to be something you are NOT. You are only contributing to producing disordered reality from your platform. Again, this is not something Jesus do, Abbie.

On another random note I've wanted to mention before, she continues to talk about how her mom stayed home to raise her. A la Lori Alexander, she enjoys touting stay-at-home motherhood. Knowing self-proclaimed "competitive" Braggie, I wonder if this is a put down to her MIL who is a nurse or her SIL who works for Shaun's brother, her husband, at his dental practice? Bizarre...

[TuringMachine]

Is she calling the toddlers millennials? Uh Abbie, toddlers aren't millennials. You're (probably) a millennial. 

 

[Anonymousguest]

19 minutes ago, TuringMachine said:

Is she calling the toddlers millennials? Uh Abbie, toddlers aren't millennials. You're (probably) a millennial. 

 

She says her family came over to vote, I assume they are the millennials she's referring to, not her own children.

[TuringMachine]

3 minutes ago, Anonymousguest said:

She says her family came over to vote, I assume they are the millennials she's referring to, not her own children.

Hmm you're right she probably wasn't referring to her own children. 

But she does make a point to say adult voters when talking about the boys winning, so I still think she was referring to children. And I'm still pretty sure her age is in the upper limit for millenials. 

[JillyO]

1 hour ago, TuringMachine said:

Hmm you're right she probably wasn't referring to her own children. 

But she does make a point to say adult voters when talking about the boys winning, so I still think she was referring to children. And I'm still pretty sure her age is in the upper limit for millenials. 

Yeah, she's definitely a millennial. And the youngest millennials are around 23. So what she's saying makes no sense. But TONS of people complain about millennials (jokingly - like here - or for real) while having no idea who millennials really are. (For the record, millenials are roughly the 1980-1995 age cohort.)

[TuringMachine]

13 minutes ago, JillyO said:

Yeah, she's definitely a millennial. And the youngest millennials are around 23. So what she's saying makes no sense. But TONS of people complain about millennials (jokingly - like here - or for real) while having no idea who millennials really are. (For the record, millenials are roughly the 1980-1995 age cohort.)

Perhaps it's because I'm a millennial, but I really hate when people think millennials are high school students.

Good way to think about it, gen X can remember the challenger explosion, millennials can remember 9/11, and Gen Z eats tide pods.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m the same age as Abbie. We are considered the oldest millennials. I remember the term being used so long ago towards my group because we graduated high school right at the millennium. Meaning I graduated from high school in 2000. We older millennials do often look at the younger millennials with some side eye. We grew up rather differently if you want to compare. But I think that goes for most groups. Like the oldest and youngest boomers did have some pretty different experiences growing up. Sometimes I identify better with generation x (like my husband). 

[Anonymousguest]

Yes, I'm sure she's a millennial. They are all adults now. 

[luv2laugh]

The news has focused on the importance of understanding the responsibility that comes along with having a platform this week. Of course, Braggie thinks she’s FAR more important than she ACTUALLY is and speaks about her “platform” OH so much. The reason it’s important to call Braggie out is because her type of fundamentalism is more sinister than that of the “quirky” Duggars. Braggie does not “look fundie” thus, more people pay attention to someone like her as it’s still considered an enigma to think a “fundie” can dress “cool” with RED LIPSTICK.

What? You can jam out to Tay Swift tunes & CCM, (desperately) try to be another Joanna Gaines, and be the trendy Pilates addict in *gasp* yoga pants at the gym while holding harmful ideas? Slap red lipstick on and don a $10 Ross “antro-esque” floral dress to make it better?

No. The harmful ideas are still bad despite putting it in a glossier packaging.

In addition, she perpetuates a toxic culture not only within her own family but to her followers. Oh, she KNOWS she has a platform but rather than be honest with her audience of mothers (some that might be new and have PPD, along hormones that we ALL have), she’d rather post pictures that are self-serving to fuel her ego, omit truth, and even come close to lying by claiming that they are to make other moms “feel bad”. Her blog posts are full of contradicting “truths”.

Omitting the truth might not make it an outright life but it’s dishonest and still NOT the truth. In my book, I’d still define it as a lie. Would Jesus approve, Braggie? No. Shame on you and the heaping pile of manure you throw upon your followers.

Another random thought: I think Shaun and Braggie each have only one other sibling. Braggie has admitted receiving extensive help from her mother on very few occasions lest she die of embarrassment. Will Braggie be able to provide each of her grandchildren that kind of attention, if necessary? No. Was Braggie forced to do the extensive amounts of cleaning routines, child rearing, babysitting, and cooking that her children as young as 5 are doing? No. Braggie justifies this by saying she’s teaching her sons to be good stewards and building their character but I DOUBT she nor Shaun had these burdens placed on them so young and Braggie seems pretty happy with how “strong in the Lord” she and Shaun turned out. She happy to reduce her children’s quality of life if it benefits herself. Why “raise” your children worse than how your parents raised Shaun and you? I know. You are selfish and need the help because you’d rather spend the money on DIY fabrics or “anthro-esque” thrifts than hire a babysitter or maid. 

Braggie brags she has never spent more than $100 on an outfit. Lie. Here she is in shiny red hunter boots. You can get them in ugly condition used ~$80 but retail over $100. Maybe you could have used that money on Christmas presents for your kids or shinier clothes for them? They’re dressed in only dingy, quite rag-a-muffin clothes compared to yourself.

I have not seen her post pictures of the kids being children. They’re frequently seen doing dishes, folding clothes, cooking and sweeping floors while she keeps her feet up or blogs.

Spoiler

She jokes she’s a fan of “child labor” but knowing her, I do NOT find it funny. 

Spoiler

Really? “Training” your 4 year old daughter to vacuum? 

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(Above images) I’m so glad the children have Grandma around all the time. I’m not surprised Braggie doesn’t feature her in more pictures. Do you see how she places such responsibility onto her eldest son to be a “Mom”? She’s called him Mom #2.

Who is the parent again???

Note: On FJ, I use my IPhone which autocorrect annoyingly makes my grammar insane and similar to Bro Gary. I’ve been ridiculously delaying getting it fixed or upgrading. Also, typing very quickly out of annoyance while I’m decluttering the table here does not make for “nice” words.

 

 

@Destiny @Coconut Flan @Curious I keep trying to edit this post to delete the repeating pictures or put them at least in a spoiler and it won’t work for the life of me.

 

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[luv2laugh]

#ICannotEven with this woman.  I know y’all have liked and agreed but does anyone else want comment on this? She may not be as popular as JRod or Lori Alexander but I think she’s way worse. She might not be Nicole Naughler but that’s because only because she’s enslaved her children and mother. 

[ladyaudley]

Oh yes, she definitely exploits her children, particularly her older sons. 

[bea]

She creeps me out.
What if one of those kids isn’t Pinterest-perfect? Does she toss them off the back porch and breed another one?

I ask this because my kids are both T1 diabetic and it is time consuming and EXPENSIVE AS HELL with two - my husband and I have not been away overnight together in five years. And we’re not poor. I wonder how she would cope with a special needs kid.

[luv2laugh]

2 hours ago, bea said:

She creeps me out.
What if one of those kids isn’t Pinterest-perfect? Does she toss them off the back porch and breed another one?

I ask this because my kids are both T1 diabetic and it is time consuming and EXPENSIVE AS HELL with two - my husband and I have not been away overnight together in five years. And we’re not poor. I wonder how she would cope with a special needs kid.

She would continue as she does by having the older sons and her own mother raise them. Shaun, who she’s admitted is more gentle & emotional than her, would probably also be doing the parenting. She would most likely avoid photographing a special needs child because she’s a vain b*tch who spends hours editing her photos instead of actually parenting her kids...

Braggie’s entire family has to pick up her slack because Braggie pops a baby out and does not raise them. Her mother, sons, and husband do. Braggie’s role is amateur interior designer, DIY Pinterest wanna-be, gym instructor and shopaholic thrifter who spends H-O-U-R-S stalking sites like eBay, 6pm, Craigslist, Facebook buy/sell groups as well as Lowe’s, TJ Maxx, & Hobby Lobby. She also has admitted to “neglecting my husband and kids” to spend hours blogging (which does not include staging photos, time spent editing her pictures, and time spent salivating over other blogs to copy ideas). Maybe her family realizes she has gone off the deep end and have accepted their fate. 

Right here. She admits she loves child labor and stalks other blogs for child “training” ideas. No, it’s not merely a bad joke Braggie, it’s an indicative of what goes on in your twisted mind.

 

She has announced that her oldest kids sleep over at her mothers house every Thursday night and they pick them up on Friday mornings. I have NO words. This woman is not a mother.

Spoiler

 

[SassyPants]

2 hours ago, bea said:

She creeps me out.
What if one of those kids isn’t Pinterest-perfect? Does she toss them off the back porch and breed another one?

I ask this because my kids are both T1 diabetic and it is time consuming and EXPENSIVE AS HELL with two - my husband and I have not been away overnight together in five years. And we’re not poor. I wonder how she would cope with a special needs kid.

When our kids were little, aside from work travel or a work function out of town that was required for my husband, we were away 5 nights from our kids. 5- and we were not poor and our kids had no additional needs. We didn't live close to family, we both had jobs, my parents both still worked and my ILs were very elderly. Somehow, we did not feel sorry for ourselves. Of course, we only had a manageable 2 kids.

[EowynW]

I think my Braggie loving and following sister in law is getting inspiration from her. She actually had the nerve to ask if I would take off work to help watch her 3 kids (4 & under) while she and my BIL waltz off to England and later on to Iceland. My family depends on my income to survive, woman. She & my BIL also rely on family for free childcare while they run their "successful photography business" that was just started last year but is somehow miraculously the sole supporting income for them. Of course she's careful not to mention they live in a low income housing and get gov' aide for their kids, all the while putting thousands into their equipment and now traveling out of the country. Oh and last week she was wishing they had a nanny for their kids! 

[SassyPants]

4 hours ago, EowynW said:

I think my Braggie loving and following sister in law is getting inspiration from her. She actually had the nerve to ask if I would take off work to help watch her 3 kids (4 & under) while she and my BIL waltz off to England and later on to Iceland. My family depends on my income to survive, woman. She & my BIL also rely on family for free childcare while they run their "successful photography business" that was just started last year but is somehow miraculously the sole supporting income for them. Of course she's careful not to mention they live in a low income housing and get gov' aide for their kids, all the while putting thousands into their equipment and now traveling out of the country. Oh and last week she was wishing they had a nanny for their kids! 

See, this is why I say that no one couple can really successfully do large numbers of kids all on their own. IMO, if you* feel the need to procreate like rabbits or refuse to use BC, you and your partner need to figure out how to safely and appropriately care for all those kids. Most people use BC because most people are reasonable, logical and sane. The day never lasts longer than 24 hours...Jesus does not give fundie moms (cuz let's face it, most of the dads are at home duds) an extra 3 hours each day to tend to and love on all these children.

They talk about how precious children are, and if that were really true, they'd stop diluting the pool by adding kid after kid. All that does is make each kid less precious.

* generic you

2 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

See, this is why I say that no one couple can really successfully do large numbers of kids all on their own. IMO, if you* feel the need to procreate like rabbits or refuse to use BC, you and your partner need to figure out how to safely and appropriately care for all those kids. Most people use BC because most people are reasonable, logical and sane. The day never lasts longer than 24 hours...Jesus does not give fundie moms (cuz let's face it, most of the dads are at home duds) an extra 3 hours each day to tend to and love on all these children.

They talk about how precious children are, and if that were really true, they'd stop diluting the pool by adding kid after kid. All that does is make each kid less precious.

* generic you

OOPS- quoting myself. Abbie actually has the equivalent of 3 kids. Her oldest sons are brother moms and her mom is a third parent. She, and especially Shaun, are not caring for 7 kids all on their own, except on a rare occasion.

[bea]

Wait, what? You’re supposed to take time off work to watch HER KIDS while they go on vacation? So basically you’re supposed to lose your income in favor of providing childcare?
Wow, that takes a lot of nerve, or a total lack of understanding that other people have lives, too.
What the hell. My cousin and aunt each took off a week in 2012 to take care of my kids - but I’d had a major orthopedic surgery and couldn’t WALK. If you’re taking a vacation and can’t pay for childcare, you can’t afford a vacation.

[EowynW]

40 minutes ago, bea said:

Wait, what? You’re supposed to take time off work to watch HER KIDS while they go on vacation? So basically you’re supposed to lose your income in favor of providing childcare?
Wow, that takes a lot of nerve, or a total lack of understanding that other people have lives, too.
What the hell. My cousin and aunt each took off a week in 2012 to take care of my kids - but I’d had a major orthopedic surgery and couldn’t WALK. If you’re taking a vacation and can’t pay for childcare, you can’t afford a vacation.

She wanted me to take off to watch the kids during the times her mom (single working mom of 3 still at home) and teenage little sister couldn't do it during their trip. She never even apologized at asking me to even consider giving up work time. I was so mind boggled and a little hurt too since I thought we were friends and women who understood and respected each other. 

She and my brother in law have miraculously escaped the daily grind us mere mortals live in. They both work from home/own their own business and do life 100% how they want when they want. She has never once had to go off and work a traditional job to keep the family afloat and for years he had an easy job too. Now that they're working as business owners they've morphed into a "cool hipsterish vibed vlogging family" that is going to teach others how to "succeed & have the life you want." Whatever the hell that means. I never have seen them once publically acknowledge all the people who provide them free childcare so they can "succeed." 

Sorry, I'm very tired today these people have really been making me stabby lately. My sister in law saw I was learning about astrophotography (with a 7 year old camera and cheap wide angle lens and limited time $$$ and energy to put in the late nights and travel that the hobby requires due to work and life) and now has gone off and "done it better" by taking an out of state camping trip with a $2200 brand new camera + lens and is now planning a trip to the state park Mr & I have been dying to go to when we get the $$ to go do it "even better." 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Braggie loves bragging about her children’s names. I actually like some of her children’s names but they come off as incredibly pretentious. Just like every other thing Braggie does. She listed her children’s names and had her humpers do the same. There are some pretentious names amongst her readers but they are mostly biblical or mumbles popular amongst fundies.

Also it seems that Braggie didn’t feel like homeschooling her kids today so they took the day off to bake. My guess is that her mom doesn’t come to help homeschool on Mondays. 

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

Not surprisingly, Abbie thinks that "sin nature" is responsible for all ills, and that Black Lives Matter is wrong that systemic racism is a thing. I mean, I hear this opinion from lots of people (certainly not all evangelicals) so she's not exactly on the fringe here. But still sad.

http://misformama.net/2016/07/brain-dump.html