M is for Mama 16

[fluffernutter]

We had a flood in 2010, a toilet overflowed but like in an insane, geyser-like gush for several minutes before we realized what had happened. All three floors had damage. It was awful- the worst part being we stayed at my in laws during the repairs, and had to drive the kids back and forth to school since it was a different district, AND one was in elem, one middle, and one HS to basically I just was in the car allllll day. Anyway, even with good coverage it was cheap cheap cheap. If we wanted anything but the basics, it was out of pocket. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I think Braggie lies, exaggerates, and gives half truths to fit her personal narrative. I am guessing her insurance story is not the complete truth. 

[Xan]

After I enjoyed my moment of schadenfreude over Abbie's flooded kitchen, I too ended up with a flooded kitchen.  That'll show me, huh, Supreme Deity?  My washer, just next to the kitchen decided to disconnect the water in the back and, instead of filling up the washer, it filled up the floor.  (I will henceforth keep my slight pleasure at someone else's misfortune to myself.)  As for my flood -- I'm in a apartment so the maintenance guys brought a shop vac and a fan.  After they got most of the water up, I spent a good amount of time vacuuming the edges of the carpet near the kitchen and moved the fan around until things got dry.  There were also lots of bath towels used and laundered later and lots of paper towels.  Oddly enough, there was no need to pull out any cabinets or appliances.  As long as we got the floors dried quickly enough, I have a decent chance of avoiding mold but I'll have to watch.

I checked Abbie's Instagram and she sent the older kids off to the cooperative homeschool this week.  She said that she's gotten lots of help from neighbors in the way of people helping pack things up and lots of donated meals.  She and Shaun had a date night and spent part of the time picking out backsplash tiles.  She complained about missing her sink.  (They even pulled out the sink??)  

I will make no judgment calls on this.  One flood this week was enough.

[JermajestyDuggar]

For years our basement would flood regularly. So it was basically just for storage and laundry. Nothing else. We would store stuff in plastic bins on shelves. Yet occasionally it would still ruin stuff. It sucked. We spent a ton of money to have it waterproofed. Then I spent a lot of time cleaning up and painting down there after they were done with all their work. I’m happy to say it hasn’t flooded since then. But I know what flooding is like. We actually never made insurance claims since it never ruined much of our stuff since it was an unfinished basement. 

[0 kids n not countin]

Mama Arndt also rocks white miniskirts!😅

[0 kids n not countin]

6 hours ago, 0 kids n not countin said:

Mama Arndt also rocks white miniskirts!😅

Spoiler

Oops, posted to the wrong thread, moderators, are you able to move this to the Arndt thread. My bad, sorry! 😞 

 

[neuroticcat]

Her book is out and I think (?) the launch party happened, too, but I expected more photos and promo. Maybe the house remodel is detracting from that?

[tankgirl]

18 hours ago, neuroticcat said:

Her book is out and I think (?) the launch party happened, too, but I expected more photos and promo. Maybe the house remodel is detracting from that?

Or for the silly high price she was selling tickets it didn't do as well as she hoped so she is avoiding talking about it??

[Ozlsn]

So they're in a rental insurance found for them while the house gets fixed, which has a pool. The owners put up a pool fence, which considering the age of the youngest kids is a bit of a relief. 

Also a new video praising Nola but saying she was a "challenging 3 year old" and encouraging people to hang in there with their "hard" kids. 

Seriously? 2-3 is a pretty well known age for kids to be "challenging" - they can move, they have language and are able to start expressing themselves better, they want more independence but don't quite have the motor skills, development or language to be able to have it and they get frustrated. Amazingly enough the vast majority of parents (and kids) get through it, and we all move forward to the next stage in life. 

Coming back to your pre-teen and crediting her with being the reason you came up with your book title/influencer slogan could be a cute story, but for some reason (Shiloh mostly) comes across with a bit of an edge to me.

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

So they're in a rental insurance found for them while the house gets fixed, which has a pool. The owners put up a pool fence, which considering the age of the youngest kids is a bit of a relief. 

Also a new video praising Nola but saying she was a "challenging 3 year old" and encouraging people to hang in there with their "hard" kids. 

Seriously? 2-3 is a pretty well known age for kids to be "challenging" - they can move, they have language and are able to start expressing themselves better, they want more independence but don't quite have the motor skills, development or language to be able to have it and they get frustrated. Amazingly enough the vast majority of parents (and kids) get through it, and we all move forward to the next stage in life. 

Coming back to your pre-teen and crediting her with being the reason you came up with your book title/influencer slogan could be a cute story, but for some reason (Shiloh mostly) comes across with a bit of an edge to me.

Everyone I know with kids will say that age 3 is hard. It just is. After 10 kids you would think shd would know this by now. And of course they have a place with a pool. I told you guys she would get a great Airbnb and treat the flood like a vacation. I bet they’ve been eating takeout constantly. Even when she has a flood she so completely privileged compared to the rest of the country.

[SassyPants]

59 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Everyone I know with kids will say that age 3 is hard. It just is. After 10 kids you would think shd would know this by now. And of course they have a place with a pool. I told you guys she would get a great Airbnb and treat the flood like a vacation. I bet they’ve been eating takeout constantly. Even when she has a flood she so completely privileged compared to the rest of the country.

And she and Shaun have been busy picking out new cabinets, flooring and countertops. How convenient that the flood wiped out all the “unsavory to her” parts of her former kitchen.

[fluffernutter]

I felt like being snarky so I looked up her book's reviews vrs. Jill Dillard's. Braggie has 90 reviews, Jill, over 2500. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

33 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

I felt like being snarky so I looked up her book's reviews vrs. Jill Dillard's. Braggie has 90 reviews, Jill, over 2500. 

I bet Braggie poo poo’s Jill’s book in private. 

[marmalade]

8 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I bet Braggie poo poo’s Jill’s book in private. 

I'm surprised she hasn't done so publicly. It seems like something she would get on her high horse about.

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 hours ago, marmalade said:

I'm surprised she hasn't done so publicly. It seems like something she would get on her high horse about.

Maybe she knows she would get a lot of push back. I think she’s really trying to sell books and grow her following. She used to be more outspoken about her more controversial opinions. Or at least it seems like that to me. She will say she has an unpopular opinion when posting, but it’s often not that unpopular. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

This is so sad. But what’s sad is not the thread saying Braggie doesn’t like her kids (it very well could have been this longstanding thread on FJ). What’s sad is that everything posted is completely based on Braggie’s constant blogging and social media posts that show she does not like her kids. There’s post after post after post that indicate she does not like her kids. And on top of that, she has exploited her Children’s lives for a decade or more now. Her older twins have been on her blog since they were born! They have no privacy. They have no choice but to be constantly complained about on social media. Their mother constantly talks about her children’s worst behavior. Braggie did this to her children. And I hope one day they realize this. They have a horrible mother and currently have no clue their mother is exploiting them. 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

What is even sadder is that Evy (or any of the children) believe that Braggie constantly, incessantly pointing out all their faults, their flaws --their "Sins" -- is evidence that she loves them.

It is not,

What evidence have we ever seen of Braggie's love/ like for her children?  She likes that they serve her,  She likes that the older ones are BroDads/ SisMoms. I've yet to see any evidence Braggie loves/likes them as people. As her children. Because they are her children.

Braggie doesn't celebrate her children. Braggie complains about her children. All. The. Time. 

[hoipolloi]

On 9/22/2023 at 8:53 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

After 10 kids you would think shd would know this by now.

Maybe not since she didn't raise them herself but pawned them off on her mother & her older children.

 

1 hour ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

What evidence have we ever seen of Braggie's love/ like for her children?

I've seen very little. Judging from the YEARS of her very public social media, her children are little more than possessions to her, to be displayed and manipulated as she wishes, with no regard for their humanity, privacy, or needs. That disaster of a European trip was truly awful to see. I felt so sorry for the children. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by hoipolloi

[Wifey4Lifey]

18 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Maybe not since she didn't raise them herself but pawned them off on her mother & her older children.

 

I've seen very little. Judging from the YEARS of her very public social media, her children are little more than possessions to her, to be displayed and manipulated as she wishes, with no regard for their humanity, privacy, or needs. That disaster of a European trip was truly awful to see. I felt so sorry for the children. 

You'd think as such an accomplished writer (eyeroll) that Abbie would know the old writing rule "show, don't tell." She sure spends an awful lot of time telling us about how her kids are kind and "rad" and she loves them, but she really never shows that she feels any of that. And whenever she does happen to show (through words or pictures), or give a concrete example, it's always an example where her kids are serving her. I've followed her online presence pretty closely for several years now and can't think of a single time she truly, unselfishly, showed the world her love for her kids.

[hoipolloi]

30 minutes ago, Wifey4Lifey said:

I've followed her online presence pretty closely for several years now and can't think of a single time she truly, unselfishly, showed the world her love for her kids.

Canʻt say that I have followed her closely but having checked on her social media at various, random intervals over several years I have never by chance seen one instance of her exhibiting loving-kindness to her children. They are supporting actors in the Life Drama of Abbie, there to make her look good.

[SassyPants]

Here’s my take on Abbie and children/people. Abbie is a very insular, self-centered person. Ideally, she would be a single, career woman, traveling the globe and having superficial relationships with other people. She does not like people/children/others…it has nothing to do with her particular dislike of her own kids, but her annoyance at the life she currently feels forced (by religion) to lead. Abbie presents as aloof, unemotional and detached from the normal things that engaged parents, friends, family and community members are attached to. She is miserable in her current lot in life, but maybe she thinks martyrdom will pass her through the pearly gates. She spends as little time as possible with her kids, uses them as props to get attention and money which she uses to buy more stuff. She buys stuff and remodels/builds homes in search of her much needed dopamine high.

Those kids are a necessary evil in Abbie’s life scheme and plot, but man she barely hides the seething right under the surface. I bet she is verbally abusive. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by SassyPants

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m just hoping she doesn’t get pregnant anytime soon. Remember how totally miserable she was for that week she was pregnant before she miscarried? If she gets pregnant again, she will be even more miserable than usual and will take it out on the kids. The house they are staying in looks very nice. I bet that was expensive. 

[TuringMachine]

14 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I’m just hoping she doesn’t get pregnant anytime soon. Remember how totally miserable she was for that week she was pregnant before she miscarried? If she gets pregnant again, she will be even more miserable than usual and will take it out on the kids. The house they are staying in looks very nice. I bet that was expensive. 

Could you imagine if she has another boy? She was definitely not happy she got 2 boys last time.

Edited September 27, 2023 by TuringMachine

[danvillebelle]

Hold up.  How did Evy "stumble upon" a thread about Braggie?  Where?  Isn't their time on a phone or computer limited?  What was Evy doing scrolling IG, or surely, she couldn't have "stumbled upon" Free Jinger?

I call bullshit. 

[MariaariaM]

On 9/27/2023 at 12:54 PM, danvillebelle said:

Hold up.  How did Evy "stumble upon" a thread about Braggie?  Where?  Isn't their time on a phone or computer limited?  What was Evy doing scrolling IG, or surely, she couldn't have "stumbled upon" Free Jinger?

I call bullshit. 

When I look stuff up google sometimes suggests a Reddit thread on the topic. If she was on her mom's phone/computer and mommy dearest is in the habit of looking herself up Reddit would very likely suggest threads about her below whatever Evy was actually looking for.