Beautiful!

Do you have any nice state or city parks? Many of them will have a picturesque spot for photos, and allow you to reserve the pavilion or gazebo. This way you have a small area big enough for 20 people that is dedicated for a couple of hours allowing you to set up chairs. If not, do you know anyone who owns a farm that may have an area of lawn that is very pretty? Historical venues like museums and restored village buildings are often quite nice for weddings and can be preserved, however, they can also be pricey.

Yesterday, Saturday, we slept in. Mark made coffee, but we kind of lazed around and didn't eat any breakfast. Around 1:30, he made his divine homemade veggie pizza. We had three slices a piece. At 4 pm we left for Detroit, did some shopping at Whole Foods, took a scenic drive along the river, and then made it to the Detroit Symphony early, had some wine, listened to the concert pre-talk, and then the delightful concert. We still were not hungry when it let out at 10 pm. That pizza was the only food of the day.

I think there is a Schoolhouse Rock song devoted to this! 😁

Well, you are nicer than I. They would not have been allowed to be in my home, and we would not have socialized AT ALL because no one buys plans tickets to come see us without discussion. I don't put my life on hold for people who think they are so important that I should put my life on hold for them at a drop of a hat. No one is also coming into my house to stay who has been on a cruise recently. Quarantine for ten days, and then we will talk. BIL is being condescending. I would not be inclined to let them stay ever again. Hotels for them, and meeting in neutral places like restaurants and museums for socializing so hopefully conversations are limited in scope due to time and distractions.

This. My sister in law's second husband wanted out of his first marriage pretty badly in order to marry mistress sister in law. People make decisions against their own self interest all the time.

Just you and a book???? Heaven!

This is wonderful!

We are done eating for the day. Breakfast - bagel with a tiny bit of smoked salmon, little bit of cream cheese Enough coffee to drop a water buffalo Lunch - boiled egg on a small salad Early dinner - Mark made homemade pizza, his divine, rapturous, gastronomic love on a plate, pizza. Two kinds of mushrooms, green pepper, spinach, basil leaves, tons of sauce, fresh mozzarella, and feta. I made a cocktail. I have no idea IF it is an official thing and has a name or not. 8 oz lemonade, a large shot of Absolute Citron vodka, and 6 oz lime La Croix selzer water. We split it in half. So yummy. We are very full and done for the day. Mark has enough stuff to make pizza again for lunch tomorrow, and I think I better make dark chocolate chip scones for breakfast because I owe him!

I agree.

Yesterday- Thursday: Breakfast - Having stalked the coffee aisle the evening before and procuring beans to assassinate, good coffee was back on the menu first thing in the a.m. I ate some homemade granola - rolled oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and dark chocolate chips. Lunch - black and pinto bean enchiladas with fajita vegetables and dried cherry tomatoes, salsa, Greek yogurt, small amount of cheddar cheese Dinner - we were still very full. We had hummus and carrot sticks, then later we made some popcorn.

Cute. I think her DNA is whatever produces cute!

That Iran understatement! 😂

This. The reality is that Jeremy has no charisma, and Jinger does not have that "Joel Olsteen's wife" kind of presence. He is not likely to be given a mega church or even grow one from scratch even if he does end up with a PHD from MacArthur's seminary which probably won't be worth the paper it is printed on given the degree of plagiarism scandal and lack of credentials of the faculty (honorary Doctorates not earned ones). Jerm likes nice things. So little wifey poo had to trot out her last name, and try to act like more than a B list celebrity in order to keep getting views. Her most recent debacle is the cooking videos. She can't cook. She doesn't know how. It is like watching an episode of Worst Cooks in America. I am not exaggerating. And don't make the mac n cheese because she called for sweetened condensed milk, and even though she was called out in the comments, she never bothered to correct the mistake. In the taco one, there was no sauce. She used a steak seasoning (product placement). That was it. No sauce. No anything TexMex much less Mexican. In the pizza one, the pizza was burned, badly. She didn't bother to remake. Jeremy does not want to work or at least, he is not willing to work as pastor of a church that pays in the average range for the job.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 "Hey baby, have omelette will travel!"

Bill knows. Ask Bill. he knows everything about cuisine! 😁

First: This book was ghost written by a person appointed by MacArthur whose church is not much better than the Duggar mess including vilifying a woman for leaving her husband because he was sexually molesting their children. The investigation found the guy, guilty as sin, and they went savagely against her because "God hates divorce". Many of the beliefs about women and children are not different than IBLP, but they put a glitz and glam on it by not being against education, and looking modern, and not living in poverty. This is a church that was full steam " covid is a hoax, and faith not fear". So Jinger has not deconstructed any faith matters significantly. She has exchanged one cult for another. Second: MacArthur hires media consultants regularly. Given Jinger's previous issues with being entirely self conscious with public speaking, and the fact that she does not sound at all like herself, I would not be shocked if she was prepped by media consultants so her responses would be practiced. Third: Jeremy gives off a very controlling vibe. Don't be deluded into thinking he is decent. He constantly posts unflattering pics of her on social media, and then makes fun of her in the captions and comments. His comments are really demeaning, mean teasing is how I would describe it. On top of which, he is absolutely obsessed with NIKE and constantly shows pictures of their shoes. It has reached a place where it is quite distasteful. He was open during their courtship that he was looking for a meek wife. Side note: The Free part does not have anything to do with Free Jinger on her end of it. She has actually made public comments about being 'weird" and "uncomfortable" with it so I doubt she would give it a nod. And again, between a ghost writer and a publisher/editor she may not have chose the title anyway. It is maybe possible that they chose that as a ha-ha. However, I am dubious from the standpoint that the Fee Jinger people are not exactly the "positive press folks" so I truly think they used this as a nod to the verse to try to make it look like she is free from cult, and play up MacArthur's church as not a cult, except that it meets several criteria of being one. Typical! Fourth: Apart from the birth control/quiverful aspect wearing pants and shorts, is not much of a "leave". A lot of women in IBLP have adopted pants, shorter skirts, and even some are wearing shorts these days. It is a nod from IBLP that if they don't modernize, it may be hard to keep members, and their membership is falling. If you go look at Joy Anna, Jed, and Jessa's social media, you will see a crap ton of jeans, shorter skirts, some shorts, etc. among the adult Duggar women, and the in laws. Though Jimbob and Michelle made a very big deal about these rules when they had the show, as soon as the cameras were no longer rolling, it was different. From my perspective as someone whose parents dabbled in IBLP and then settled for a slightly less abusive form of fundamentalism, I can say that some of the adherence to rules is what I would call performative faith. While giving up some of the performative rules can be an indication of a bigger shift in spiritual perspective, often times it isn't. It takes a lot of energy and emotional bandwidth to keep up appearances, and sometimes that stuff simply goes by the way side while the deeper, more alarming teachings of the group remain. Fifth: in a promotion for her book about a month ago, she made an online comment that she leaves decisions to god and Jeremy and the church because she doesn't know what is best for herself. She really hasn't come that far except on the quiverful front, and the one thing that is good about that is she won't be having more children than she can handle unlike her parents. Meanwhile, Jed's wife is pregnant again, only three months between pregnancies, and Kendra and Joe have had four kids in five years. So the fact that they are no longer subscribing to quiverful IS an excellent step forward and especially for Jinger who admitted to having some long covid issues, and who also admitted to some disordered eating as a teen.

I had to take a couple days off from the REI training exercises due to having an issue that meant I needed to just take it easy. But, I am back at it today. It is probably one of the few exercise programs I have done, except swimming, that I enjoy. I think it is because it is simple to execute, and I am doing it with the goal of improving my endurance at something I enjoy, kayaking. I do not feel stressed. Every time I have adopted an exercise program for weight loss, I have been stressed and tense about it, down on myself it if wasn't producing the desired results. My jeans are looser. One pair is quite loose. I am not stepping on the scale though because weight loss would be a side bonus. I don't want to start changing focus or getting stressed, and it is entirely possible that muscles are beginning to tighten up changing the way my jeans fit without losing weight. Mark and I do love to swim, and it is Michigan winter so no going to the lake. We live an hour from any indoor pool (except one high school in the county and there are no open swim hours during the season while the swim team is training) so it isn't possible for us to do it unless we drive to the aquatic center or to a hotel with a pool which is very expensive. It isn't something we can do regularly. But, we are talking about going once per month for fun. It is so good for my bad ankle. I am also a pro at treading water. I often tread for an hour, and when I get out of the pool, all the edema in my permanently injured ankle will be gone for a couple of days. We plan on putting in a lap swim pool at the Alabama retirement house when we move there full time. At any rate, back in the swing of things and enjoying it which is surprising.

This. And also, you could make it seem like you are working, have your laptop out and randomly typing while sitting and waiting (though make sure you are not running the engine because if the engine is on and a cop drives by, he/she could get snarky) which might make her consider not bothering you or put the phone up to your ear, roll down the window, and say "I'm taking a work call. Can't talk!" Then turn your head away and keep pretending until she leaves or call a friend or work colleague so you are genuinely on the phone.

I am back in school, very very part time, pursuing sciences and aerospace courses. And now I have that dream again. Sigh....love the courses, hate waking up in a cold sweat thinking I forgot to log into class or didn't upload a paper. There are days when I think, "I am too old for this crap!"

Wednesday: Breakfast - there was a great weeping, and my mood was a bit "Kylo Ren when given bad news" after that last bit of specialty coffee beans was sacrificed. Mark was told that I'd he valued our marriage, he would not return in the evening without new coffee beans. I also ate a boiled egg while sulking. Lunch - leftover ziti and carrot and red pepper sticks Snack - handful of GF pretzels Dinner - we were feeling like we didn't want anything elaborate, so we used up the last of the spinach for salads with the last bits of the fresh mozzarella left from making the ziti. Later we had smoked oysters on GF pretzels. No cooking which I quite enjoyed.

This is so darn cute!!!

I think this sounds like a great plan! One thing I have noticed about the price of Chinese food in my region, is that they increased the amount of vegetables, and noodles/rice, and reduced the amount of meat which I think was how they balanced the price rice in things like chicken and eggs. It isn't a bad thing given that Americans eat plenty of meat. But barbecue is 100% focused on meat, and the sides tend to be consumed in small amounts. So I can see how it may not be cheaper at all depending on the region. Fresh veggies can even be diced and frozen for soups, so I really like the idea of a table with try as of fruit, veggies, and cheese. Meat freezes, but don't feel like you need to buy a ton of lunchmeats. You could, to save money, ask your friends if they would be willing to slice up a couple of spiral sliced hams. There is a lot of meat on them, and at the current price of lunchmeat, it would probably save a lot of money to just go with that. If you have cheese, veggies, and fruit, people who do not like Chinese food still have plenty. You don't need to provide a huge dinner spread. Many hugs! I hope it goes well for you and isn't stressful.

Baby blankets in progress. There will be two of these, and they will only have a layer of flannel in the center, not batting, because they are stroller blankets for summer so they aren't meant to be for cold weather though if baby is dressed quite warmly, they would be fine for a spring or autumn walk.

I am so sorry! This is terrible. I hope you get relief soon.