Counting On Season 8/9/10 2: How low will they go? (CW: Miscarriage)

[JillyO]

Can I just say that I'm soo confused that none of them have gone to Germany yet? They could even do a ton of reformation themed stuff, walk in Luther's footsteps, etc. Seems way more up their alley than some of the things they've done. But then again, that's probably why TLC has sent them there yet. Makes too much sense/not cringe-worthy enough. They'd rather send someone who doesn't eat cake and doesn't drink coffee to a coffee hourse.

[Mama Mia]

On 3/2/2019 at 11:05 AM, BernRul said:

Spelling and cursive writing are still being taught, at least in every school I've been too. Spelling tests are weekly. Cursive isn't focused on, that's true, but kids still see it and have some handwriting practice with cursive letters. We just don't devote that much time on it (which I agree with. It's not that improtant compared to other skills, but still good to see).

Most of my third graders love to practice writing their names in cursive, even if they aren't always good at it. 

My grandkids go to  schools in the same county, but different districts. In one they have the weekly spelling tests, spelling homework etc, in the other they don’t. I really wish they did, as one of my grandkids really struggles with it.   It’s a very high achieving, highly rated school - but they don’t emphasize the mechanics in a way many children need, IMO. The school district seems to go with the idea that if the are doing everything on the computer, it won’t matter - but I don’t think that’s true, as others have stated, there are numerous problems with relying on technology to understand what you mean.  One of the children at the school that teaches spelling found her niche - and now loves how well she does, and she’s a child who generally struggles with school. 

The math lesson / field trip didn’t bother me, even with the wide age ranges. It seemed like one of the activities you might do with a mixed group of kids more to show the practical usages of math - than to teach any one specific skill. 

ETA: And I learned, here, that there are 3 tsp in a tablespoon, not the 4 that had been stuck in my head as a fact for the last 45 years ( and explains why I’ve never been able to make decent pancakes ) doh! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Buzzard]

TW – THIS EPISODE DISCUSSES PREGNANCY LOSS BEHIND SPOILER – SAFE TO READ OTHERWISE               

Episode 4 – Love and Loss

We’re forced to watch exactly TWO MINUTES of recaps from last week and then pretty much the entire substantive portion of this episode before the show finally starts.  I’m bored already.

We open with a nice looking stream and some flowers and then pan to rotting bananas at Benessa’s house.  Jessa is in the kitchen staring blankly at a melting wad of butter, bitching that it’s stupid for recipes to require weights of ingredients.  She doesn’t have a scale “who has a scale in their kitchen? Not me!”  She thinks recipes should just be in sticks of butter, not grams. 

Jessa TH – Today we’re pairing off with teams of little kids to bake possible groom cakes for J’abbie’s wedding.

Jessa measures out “sugar substitute” and asks if it matters if there are clumps.

Producers ask the married men if they had grooms cake.  Jeremy pretends he didn’t know what it was.  The others rationalize how theirs was Ok.

JD thinks the cake is a good idea because they can have a competition.  The rules are:

Way to knock off a cooking show... Pretty much, they are required to be a cake wreck.  This should be good.

Abbie explains that she’s gluten free and sugar free to prevent “stomach” upset.

Jessa – I did an online search for gluten free, sugar free cake and the first one looked good (banana).  Jessa sets the oven for 170.  “I’ve never baked a cake in my entire life.  Some kids liked cake and would ask for one, but more of the time all they wanted was ice cream so we didn’t do a lot of cake baking.”

Jessa complains that she doesn’t have a mixer as she’s blending sugar substitute and butter with a spoon.

Producers ask who the best cook is, most people say Jana.  Ben says biased to Jessa’s cooking.

Flashback to 2014, Jessa forgetting to take the oven instructions out before she turned it on. (and then reaching in with her bare hands).  It was melted to the oven rack and still had the blue tape on the rack.

Josie and Joy are the worst cooks.

Flashback to Joy screwing up cookies.

Jessa pulls out a can of what may be baking powder, it expired in 2016.   Jessa defends herself by saying she bought cake pans and she didn’t think she needed a sifter; they didn’t have that in the old days.

She “tests” the baking soda by seeing if it fizzed when it was in water (it didn’t).  She’s going for it anyway.

LAUREN’S TEAM

She’s making a plain vanilla gluten free, sugar free cake.  Lauren explains that gluten makes her have cramps and bloating.  She tells the camera that she’s pregnant and she thinks she’ll be ok making the cake.

Josie levels a spoon with her finger. 

Lauren explains that you have to do wet and dry ingredients separate or they get lumpy.

KENDRA

They are making a pumpkin spiced cake with paper airplanes.

TTH

Tyler thinks he has a better idea than what he was assigned.  Jana is making the boys compete making a model airplane. She’s not fucking around by using fondant even though its sugar…  Jana is making the cake and the boys will decorate. #winning.

LAUREN

She looks in the fridge and all her eggs are broken.

BREAK

Fabletics commercial (oh, the irony of women in tight pants)

Homechef – a woman saying she isn’t a good cook but her man likes it

Nerd Wallet – HA HA HA a credit card commercial on a show that hates credit and says it’s bad

Shophomemade.com – maybe a godaddy commercial?  I have no idea

Warby Parker glasses

PART 2

LAUREN’S TEAM

Lauren doesn’t know who bought the eggs, they’re stuck in the carton so she pries them out with a knife, breaking them.  (They’re egglands best eggs, btw).  Lauren uses them anyway.

KENDRA

She is modifying the recipe by using stevia and a gluten free flour.  She’s confident in the gluten free but not the sugar free part.  She put the butter in first and it’s a giant clump, so they try again…

JESSA

“Oh, my word, this is sick Why is it like this?”  They didn’t add things one at a time, Jessa blames their lack of a mixer.

Jessa says it looks like puke, she thinks they should put it in a blender since she doesn’t have a mixer. (It’s a ninja, BTW).

KENDRA

They try again.  It’s still nasty looking.

JANA

Tastes it and makes a face.  She says it has a “chalky” consistency and is glad she isn’t gluten free.

The various cakes go into ovens.

Jessa realizes that she didn’t set the timer (the oven is at 170).

SAN ANTONIO

JinJer bring felicity back to see alisa (midwife).  Jeremy reminds us who she is and the pregnancy. Jinger “enjoyed” her as the midwife.

Jeremy explains that felicity likes people and is happy.  They take her out of the carrier and discuss her pooping habits and the blowouts.

Flashback to blowouts of the past (sept, 2018)  WHY! SERIOUSLY, WHY??? (Poop pic behing spoiler)

Spoiler

Jinger discusses that she’s seen blowouts but some are really bad.

Bin – It’s a good thing I don’t have a  gag reflex when it comes to diapers, especially with henry.  He puts out stinky diapers.

Jeremy – it’s amazing how some things become normal.

Alisa asks them who she looks like.  Jeremy sees jinger.  Side by side of babies.

They ink felicity’s feet and ink her on the wall. 

What’s up with “Pene’lope??? “

Alisa throws in a nice dig that Jinger is producing enough milk to feed felicity and that’s why she’s doing so great.

Jeremy says “who knows, in the future there may be more vuolo footprints on that wall!”  Jinger raises her eyebrows like “you never know!”

Another shot of the feet, this time with the name written in.  What’s up with putting feet on the wall MONTHS after the kid is born but backdating it? 

BREAK

JESSA’S HOUSE

The timer ends and it’s not done.  Jessa reminds us what they’re doing because Jabbie don’t know if they want a cake so this is a competition.   Jessa discusses why it’s fucked up.  She realizes that it was in Celsius and not Fahrenheit.  She didn’t realize “my recipe was from another country or something.” She pulls them out with her hands and resets the oven for 325.

KENDRA

Cakes come out.  She turns it out and it breaks in half.   She’s not sure if they can ice it back together or maybe use the broken one as a bottom.

LAUREN

We need to taste them because if they’re bad we don’t need to make more.  It’s disgusting.  Josie said it tasted like water.  Jordyn spits it out.

JANA

Jana comes out of the kitchen to check on the decorations.  Tyler is absent and LOOK WHO TOOK OVER! Of course! It’s Michelle! She's just a big, adorable kid, right?

Jana explains fondant is sugary frosting and it rolls out.  It’s not breaking the rules because it’s not edible, it’s for decoration.

Tyler is back and rolling out fondant.

 But wait, his hands look familiar… and the shirt is red… and the wedding ring…

The plane looks like a hot mess.  They kids suggest that “aunt Michelle” should win. 

LAUREN

I dont know what happened, but I got really “nauseous.”  She wants the kids to try it because she can’t.  She doesn’t care how it tastes because she feels really bad and it trying not to puke.

They write J (heart) A on it.

JESSA

Whips out a plane toy and sticks it on top, calling it “love is in the air.”

I’m not sure what’s up with the random vegetation

JANA

Jana needs to decide which of the 3 planes to go with

No decision is made yet

KENDRA

She tries to draw clouds but they’re “cheesy.”  They decide to use actual cotton that was in the window.  She pulls it out of the plant and puts it on a stick.

They put the cake in the freezer “for a couple of days.”

BREAK

TTH

Jana’s cake has changed dramatically

The other cakes are lined up with a number.  J’abbie walk in holding hands.  We’re reminded AGAIN why we’re here.  Jessa tells them the rules and awards they can give out.  They haven’t decided if they’re having a groom’s cake.  They don’t know who made what, it’s a blind tasting.

The J’littles all say their cakes suck.

They taste Jana’s.  She admits that she “tweaked” it and redid it.  They don’t really like it.  He wants something with good looks and good taste. 

Jana – you could tell ours wasn’t the best tasting.

Kendra’s – JD says he’s waiting for the aftertaste.  It was “moist” and sweet. 

Jana explains that Lauren “wasn’t able to be here” but it’s represented by the kids. Josie thinks they will be last place.  They try the cupcakes.  It’s dry and “eggy.”Abbie says it’s good they had icing.  JD said it “has issues and I just prayed and took a bite.”

Jessa’s cake – JD takes a big bite.  After 30 seconds you get hit with an “intense” aftertaste.  They go to “collaborate” “delieritate”… etc.

They organize the awards

This is a perfect example of what you do when you have NO JOBS and NOTHING BUT TIME in your life.

JD says he’s still tasting aftertaste.  They go back to taste Kendra’s again.  It makes Kendra nervous.  At some point a giant bowl of mustard and corn dogs became appropriate.

BREAK

JD – it wasn’t too tough, we knew pretty quick (the awards are dated 10-8-18)

Most difficult – JANA. 

Original – LAUREN

Best taste – KENDRA

Design - JESSA

Jessa – you never want to be that person who is pretty on the outside but rotten on the inside and that’s what we were.

Best of show goes to… Jana.  They all clap.  Jana says she was surprised because the cake wasn’t the best in flavor.  Jessa congratulates her.

Jessa – I think that was a fair call, it was the most ornate, attention to detail.

JD – I don’t know that I’m going to do a grooms cake.  It’s just one more cake we aren’t going to eat or mess with.

Kendra claims it was fun. 

Unnecessarily long shot of a cross and sad music. (MISCARRIAGE PORTION BEHIND SPOILER)

Spoiler

 

Josiah th (alone)  – Lauren and I were preparing for a trip and she started feeling sick and Ms. Swanson was there.

Lauren (alone)– I was cramping really bad which was quite strange… I was thinking I had gluten.  It was late at night and I went to the restroom and right there was the baby, gone.  I couldn’t believe it and I was hoping it wasn’t true.  I was hoping it was a bad nightmare, I was going to wake up.  We were supposed to go to the wedding, a joyful day.  It was the worst day of my life, really.  My mom and Michelle have been a great comfort to me. I’m glad we told the family so they could help us through this.  Siah has been amazing, he took care of me, supported me, cried with me.  We wrote letters and made a box.  I took one picture pregnant and I got that printed.

Josiah (sitting alone)– all the excitement and anticipation.  Planning out baby cribs and thinking how you’re going to decorate, your world is just shattered.

Lauren – (sitting alone) No one can ever heal from losing their only child.  It’s always going to be a reminder. Its always going to sting when you see other babies.  They say time will heal but its different.  My comfort is that my baby is with Jesus and that I one day will get to see my baby.  I may never get to have memories, take pictures, kiss my baby, but I will one day get to hold my baby.

Josiah – maybe the lord will bless us with a sibling for this one that’s gone. That’s our hope.  Take it one day at a time.

 

Dear TLC,  Fuck you. This whole manufactured BS is out of control.  Please explain why, if Lauren and Josiah were headed to a wedding, they were supposed to make it to your fake baking contest.  October 8 was a Monday.  Your timeline is crap, yet again.  Fuck you for exploiting this situation instead of just editing out painful things like, you know, JOSH.

NEXT TIME

Abbie tries on dresses with Ms Annoying Renee

Jeremy “babysits” felicity.  Hilarity and chaos ensues because she gets hungry.

[nausicaa]

19 hours ago, lizzybee said:

I love the grocery store. Grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do. 

I need to find someone like you who lives near me and set up a deal. I would seriously scrub someone's toilets every week and clean out their cats' litter boxes if it meant never having to get a big order at the grocery store again. God I hate it so much. 

I do find laundry and taking out the trash strangely satisfying and relaxing though. 

[lizzybee]

58 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

I need to find someone like you who lives near me and set up a deal. I would seriously scrub someone's toilets every week and clean out their cats' litter boxes if it meant never having to get a big order at the grocery store again. God I hate it so much. 

I do find laundry and taking out the trash strangely satisfying and relaxing though. 

Aw man, yes. I'd take the stuff you hate and you can do the stuff I hate and our lives would be instantly improved.  

[Pecansforeveryone]

I sincerely hope Felicity poops and pukes all over Jeremy in the next episode. That man is insufferable. 

[Mama Mia]

I’m really loving this whole Michelle is now one of the kids thing they having going on. It’s pretty funny. 

[nastyhobbitses]

4 hours ago, JillyO said:

Can I just say that I'm soo confused that none of them have gone to Germany yet? They could even do a ton of reformation themed stuff, walk in Luther's footsteps, etc. Seems way more up their alley than some of the things they've done. But then again, that's probably why TLC has sent them there yet. Makes too much sense/not cringe-worthy enough. They'd rather send someone who doesn't eat cake and doesn't drink coffee to a coffee hourse.

That would take engaging with the history and philosophy of their faith beyond "Catholic bad". 

[libgirl2]

On 3/3/2019 at 9:33 AM, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

If I'm remembering right, my spelling tests switched to vocabulary tests some time in 8th or 9th grade. We still had to know how to spell the word, but we also had to be able to define it and use it correctly in a sentence.

The national spelling bee didn't seem to affect things around here back in the 1980s. My last spelling bee experience was in grade school. I still have a few spelling bee awards from back then, with my last name misspelled.  

I remember the same around 8th grade. We still had spelling bees for the whole school (Catholic school 1-8 grades) when I hit middle grades. To this day I remember two of the words I missed, academy and rifle! 

[VBOY9977]

I don’t like that this season has been quite focused on Jinger and Jeremy. They’ve had a storyline in every episode. Meanwhile, we’ve barely seen Joe and Kendra or Joy and Austin. I wish we saw more of them because Jeremy annoys the hell out of me. 

[nausicaa]

7 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I remember the same around 8th grade. We still had spelling bees for the whole school (Catholic school 1-8 grades) when I hit middle grades. To this day I remember two of the words I missed, academy and rifle! 

I got knocked out of the penultimate round of the school spelling bee in fifth grade on the word "onyx" and I still shudder a little at that word. The kid after me got "billboard," and I'm sorry, but, screw that. 

[libgirl2]

3 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

I got knocked out of the penultimate round of the school spelling bee in fifth grade on the word "onyx" and I still shudder a little at that word. The kid after me got "billboard," and I'm sorry, but, screw that. 

I remember we used to compete by home room. In 8th grade our homeroom had the smartest person in school. We were confident she would outlast everyone.... she went out early on the word exceed. I remember being crushed. 

[nvmbr02]

9 hours ago, JingerSnaps said:

I find it really odd that her AP HuG class is giving spelling tests unless they are part of vocab test. That class is super vocab heavy, but they don’t count off for spelling as long as the readers/test graders can understand what you are saying. I can see how doing spelling tests could maybe help drill some of the vocab in your head, but I can promise you this AP HuG teacher and horrible speller is not giving spelling tests. 

I don't keep that close of tabs on her classes anymore so I can't say for sure. It doesn't seem to be something that is really graded as it is listed under formative testing (no summative test listed) so they can retake as many times as they want and less1% of the total grade. My guess is some of the teachers are attempting to get their high school students to stop making some very basic spelling errors. Things like spelling tomorrow tomarrow. Although, it seems some of the teachers are struggling with the same mistakes, especially a few of the subs. For my daughter's english class a sub gave the spelling test but used the words wrong while testing homophones and then marked all the students wrong so now their regular teacher has to leave sentences with her spelling lists for subs. 

[nst]

Thank you Buzzard. 

so sad about Luke Perry 

 

[endsidehugs28]

I'm relatively new to posting but just saw the newest episode and wanted to share my thoughts about Lauren's miscarriage interview. I'm attempting to put it under a spoiler so people can avoid it if necessary, but if I do it wrong, please let me know how to post this correctly.

Spoiler

My mother had two miscarriages (and three healthy babies) and while I have never been pregnant, I'm convinced I'm going to struggle because I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 17 and have been on continuous birth control since (so nearly 13 years now). I'm terrified that even if I can get pregnant, I'll miscarry. And I've thought about what I'd do if I am able to get pregnant and when I'd tell people. A lot of Jews don't really talk about their babies and pregnancy the same way most other people do. In Judaism, life is considered to start at birth, and we don't have baby showers or reveal the baby's gender or discuss the baby's name with people other than our spouses until after the baby is born.

I'd be scared to talk about a pregnancy until at least the second trimester--both due to my health and Jewish custom--so it's a little striking to me how much Lauren considered that baby to be a real, living baby even though I know to her (and to most people), that baby's life and future were so real to her from the moment she found out she was pregnant. I'm glad that she's ok with her decision to tell the family early on that she was pregnant because they were able to support her through the miscarriage. My heart absolutely breaks for her and I hope she is able to get pregnant again and carry a healthy baby to term. What she described is my worst nightmare but it's almost what I expect to happen if I do get pregnant (I know that's weird and pessimistic). I can't imagine how awful it must be for her not only to lose her baby, but to live in a culture where pregnancy and procreation are a woman's main duties and there's this expectation that when you get pregnant, you have a live baby nine months later. Then to be the first Duggar spouse where that doesn't happen ... it's just awful. I hope she sincerely wanted to be open about it and TLC isn't forcing her to share. At the same time, I wonder if it might be helpful to other viewers who have gone through something similar to see her and know they aren't alone.  

 

[TZmom]

4 hours ago, nausicaa said:

I got knocked out of the penultimate round of the school spelling bee in fifth grade on the word "onyx" and I still shudder a little at that word. The kid after me got "billboard," and I'm sorry, but, screw that. 

Me too- except it's was grade 6 and my word was "scheme". Which I absolutely knew but had a brain fart. Mine was also televised (locally). My siblings have never let me live it down (25 years later).

[Rowan]

8 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

ETA: And I learned, here, that there are 3 tsp in a tablespoon, not the 4 that had been stuck in my head as a fact for the last 45 years ( and explains why I’ve never been able to make decent pancakes ) doh! 

Maybe you had mixed it up with 4 tablespoons in a 1/4 cup and that's why it stuck? Hope your pancakes improve now! ?

@endsidehugs28

Spoiler

How you are feeling when you think about possible pregnancies is very reasonable and understandable. It's a good thing to be aware of potential emotions now too, so they aren't as difficult to deal with when faced my a specific situation.

I have dealt with infertility and had two early losses, so even though I'm now almost 14 weeks, I still have a hard time thinking of it as an actual baby/child/person yet. The thought is still in my mind that if a test comes back with really bad news, we would probably terminate and mourn the potential family we could have been but not specifically that unknown baby. We've told family and some friends but haven't publicly announced. You need to do what is right for you. It is a good thing to be talked about, so as long as Lauren really is ok with talking about it, especially on TLC, I am proud of her for doing it. I just also hope it wasn't coerced. 

 

[Alice in Fundieland]

@endsidehugs28 I hope if and when you decide to try to have children you are successful and don’t suffer any complications or problems. Having children can be overwhelming for anyone, but especially so when there are other health concerns involved. 

Lauren isn’t the first Duggar daughter-in-law to miscarry. Anna Duggar’s second pregnancy (between Mackynzie and Michael) ended in miscarriage. No one else in the family has miscarried, that we know of, but they may have just chosen to keep it private. I doubt it, since they’re so open about everything else when it comes to procreation, but it’s possible. 

[lizzybee]

I seriously lol'd when the camera cut to Jackson having a corndog. So random. 

 

[Anna Bolinas]

8 hours ago, Buzzard said:

Jessa – you never want to be that person who is pretty on the outside but rotten on the inside and that’s what we were.

 

This could literally be the Duggar/Bates family slogan.

[backyard sylph]

I don't really have patience for people who were supposedly raised to be frugal and keep a home for a family but who cannot understand how to follow a recipe. Every one of them, regardless of gender, should learn about measurements, how ovens work, and some basic ingredient science. It isn't cute to me that they were just lol, we like ice cream. 

Kendra and Lauren at least appear to know how to read recipes and use ingredients, despite their struggles with unusual ingredients, and I found myself thinking that non-religious versions of either of them would make a fun girlfriend for my youngest son, and we could probably have conversations. Also, my sons are not as interested in cooking as my daughters, but they could all produce an edible cake by following a set of directions and would know 175 degrees isn't hot enough to cook anything and so that should be looked into further.

Finally, the so-called inedible fondant was okay for sad inedible airplanes, but Jana, there is plenty of fondant that is actually edible, and there are versions you can make at home without too much bother. Boom, new hobby.

[AliceInFundyland]

Jessa's kitchen ignorance did not come off well in this episode. She is not the cook in that family. I think that is clear. And okay.

Also.. I liked that JD summarized the stupidity of it by saying that it was likely another cake we wouldn't have time for eating or messing with (she doesn't hardly eat cake) Stupid plot lines.

Kendra continues to know a few more things than she gets credit for.

Jeremy is not going to manage well with a house full of children. He is much too selfish. (I speculate)

[JoytotheWorld]

My take away from this episode: I saw more smiles from Jennifer than I have in the rest of her life combined. Seems like the one on one time with Kendra agrees with her. Hope it happens regularly (assuming she gets to be the child and not aunt-mom to Garrett.)

[JillyO]

10 hours ago, Buzzard said:

“I’ve never baked a cake in my entire life.  Some kids liked cake and would ask for one, but more of the time all they wanted was ice cream so we didn’t do a lot of cake baking.”

And that pretty much sums up life in the Duggar household. Some kids liked cake and would ask for it, but most kids (or maybe just the bossy ones like Jessa) prefered ice cream, and so the kids who liked cake were shit out of luck. Figures.

[Sky with diamonds]

2 hours ago, JoytotheWorld said:

My take away from this episode: I saw more smiles from Jennifer than I have in the rest of her life combined. Seems like the one on one time with Kendra agrees with her. Hope it happens regularly (assuming she gets to be the child and not aunt-mom to Garrett.)

This ?. And from Jordyn as well.