Freedom Thursday

mrsconn23

As in #freebritney!    

I had a dance party to her music in the kitchen last night.  

It's also Prudie day.  Wahoo.  

SSDD otherwise.  

charlotte989875

Her father is an ass. By moving to end it completely he’s trying to avoid having anyone look into the details of the conservatorship over the last what, 13 years. He’s terrible. 

It’s cold and partly cloudy- my favorite fall weather! Not much today, work & waiting for the weekend!!

Casadena

Baby is home sick today (does this ever end?!).  Fever and suuuper congested so we'll be getting him a COVID/RSV test. H starts his new job today so i'm "working" from home with N, luckily my boss is super understanding and I'm not much help with our 10 calls today anyway since I just came back. Very excited for Prudie and for my kids to feel better! 

climbingsingle

Loving this cooler weather. 

So happy for Britney Spears. I can't even imagine what hell her life has been the last 13 years. 

Also, Dog the Bounty Hunter - is he going to find Brian Laundrie??

mrsconn23

charlotte989875 said:

Her father is an ass. By moving to end it completely he’s trying to avoid having anyone look into the details of the conservatorship over the last what, 13 years. He’s terrible. 

Do you follow Emily D Baker?  She's a lawyer that covers cases that are in the pop culture zeitgeist on her podcast/YouTube channel, and breaks it down in to layperson terms.  She's also a self-professed fan of the 'cursey words' and has purple hair.  She's my absolute new favorite person.  I think I'd fangirl if I met her.  

Anyway, she did a massive breakdown yesterday on her podcast of what she expected and hoped for from yesterday's hearing. She pointed out that the attorney/client privilege in conservatorships follow the conservator NOT an individual.  So now that he's suspended and there's a new conservator, the new guy gets to see everything. They've been fighting the 12th year accounting for a year now.  I bet there's some shady ass shit that happened.  People think he's been squandering her money and her estate should be worth way more than ~$60M. 

I don't wish for people to go down often, but what Jamie did to Britney is a crime and he got a lot of people to help him.  Fuck them all.  I hope they're ruined for life and people go to jail.  

Casadena

Guys, don't make fun of me.  But 1) how and 2) when do you listen to podcasts?  I still use Pandora or my actual car radio to listen to music.  I'd love to jump into some of the podcasts you guys talk about loving.  What's the best way?

MyNameIsNot

I read the title without first reading who posted and got a little excited that a STBXH who shall not be named fucked off into the sunset. But free Britney is good too. 

I guess we're having southern fall here. It's still in the 80s, but the sky is clear and it's not humid. I'll take it. Nothing much going on here. I'm staring out at the yard and thinking about how badly when need to do yard work, but the bathroom contractors have been set up in the driveway cutting lumber and tile and it will just be dust everywhere again. Hopefully they'll wrap up most of the messy stuff this week. FWP. 

MissKittyDanger

Casadena said:

Guys, don't make fun of me.  But 1) how and 2) when do you listen to podcasts?  I still use Pandora or my actual car radio to listen to music.  I'd love to jump into some of the podcasts you guys talk about loving.  What's the best way?

M likes podcasts when he works. It's like listening to music.
My coworker will throw on a podcast when she's doing something that is a lot of work and just wants it to feel less mundane.

Think of it as listening to music.

mrsconn23

Casadena said:

Guys, don't make fun of me.  But 1) how and 2) when do you listen to podcasts?  I still use Pandora or my actual car radio to listen to music.  I'd love to jump into some of the podcasts you guys talk about loving.  What's the best way?

If you have an iPhone, Apple has a built-in podcast app. I have one podcast that's on Apple Podcasts only, so I use that app for that podcast.  Also if one of my other apps are having issues, I use that as back-up. 

I use Stitcher for most my podcasts, and I'm even a Stitcher premium member because it's like, $35/year. I also use Spotify (free) because a couple of my favorite podcasters/podcast networks have exclusive deals with them. 

You do need to use an e-mail or your FB account to sign up to use the apps and start listening.  If you get yourself set up, I'm happy to recommend some to you.  I listen to a TON of genres.  

mrsconn23

climbingsingle said:

Also, Dog the Bounty Hunter - is he going to find Brian Laundrie??

OMG DH and I were talking about that last night.  He said, "I'll never make fun of him again if he finds that MFer."  

Also, I saw that the Petito family is starting a foundation in Gabby's honor to elevate other missing person's cases and provide resources to help them.   

climbingsingle

Casadena said:

Guys, don't make fun of me.  But 1) how and 2) when do you listen to podcasts?  I still use Pandora or my actual car radio to listen to music.  I'd love to jump into some of the podcasts you guys talk about loving.  What's the best way?

I have an iPhone so I'm able to listen through the Podcast app. 

I have a tons of recs. I listed to a lot of podcasts for the first 3 years of my job when my commute was long. I did just start one on the Murdaugh Murders and it's fascinating. 

Casadena

Thank you!  I'm an Android user, but i'll try to get Spotify and/or Stitcher and play around with it.  I will be back for some recommendations once i get those figured out!

MissKittyDanger

So M's interview went decent yesterday. The guy is off for the rest of the week, or else M would have a 2nd interview this week.
He did say it was more technical than he anticipated but he felt he didn't fall on his face. The interviewer did ask about why he's leaving current place. M basically said the nice version but also didn't sugar coat how bad it was getting.

Interviewer said he understood, especially when M said that issue guy knows all the stuff their working on and is a huge asset but unfortunately that means he doesn't get in trouble. M's current company is basically between a rock and hard place.


We're having some issues with BK and likely some regression.
BK goes outside right away when at prek, but has said to teacher she has to pee.
Fine - go inside with 8 kids because she's solo outside. BK doesn't pee, but goes outside and has accident.
This happened 2x yesterday.
The school isn't worried. They just want to be sure we know and we've discussed a plan.
Part of it - at home at least - is we're going to teach her to sit for longer. Also we're going to try moving the potty to the bathroom {it's been in living room} And we're going to try the topping of seats so BK is sitting on the toilet instead.


Did anyone have kids that regressed in school?

banana468

I really feel for Britney.  Her father was a horrible conservator and likely stole millions while controlling her every move.  My fear is that her mental illness isn't treated - it's just numbed and I really hope that any move right now truly is in her best interest with him no longer at the helm. 

It's my Friday.  Tomorrow DH and I are on a mission to update the kids' rooms. 

banana468

@MissKittyDanger one of Chiquita's friends didn't so much regress as she had FOMO accidents.  Was BK truly consistent?  It's likely that she's regressing because the process for her needs to click everywhere she is.  

If daycare also uses a bathroom then consider not using a potty.  Instead get a ring for your toilet set and a stool so she understands that the potty is in the bathroom and she goes to pee there.  It can set the tone that it's where she pees and poops and where she washes her hands.  My MIL kept a collapsable stool in her bathroom for the kids that folded and fit between the toilet and the sink. 

@Casadena you also likely have a Google Podcast app on your phone.  If not, it's easy enough to install from the PlayStore.  Some podcasts are only on Spotify like Armchair Expert and others can be listened to in multiple places. 

MissKittyDanger

@banana468 I'm thinking it's regression because of FOMO
She hasn't had accidents since first week of training. When she went back to daycare after, it took a week but afterwards no issues. This is week 3  
It's a preschool so their toilets are small, but we have a thing to go on our toilet to try if that's the issue also.

banana468

MissKittyDanger said:

@banana468 I'm thinking it's regression because of FOMO
She hasn't had accidents since first week of training. When she went back to daycare after, it took a week but afterwards no issues. This is week 3  
It's a preschool so their toilets are small, but we have a thing to go on our toilet to try if that's the issue also.

The point is to make it click just in case.  If your potty is in an area where she plays does she possibly think that she can play and pee in the same space?  

mrsconn23

banana468 said:

I really feel for Britney.  Her father was a horrible conservator and likely stole millions while controlling her every move.  My fear is that her mental illness isn't treated - it's just numbed and I really hope that any move right now truly is in her best interest with him no longer at the helm. 

Here's my issue with the 'mental illness' pearl clutching.  How many male celebts have torpedoed their lives and income via mental illness (brought on by addiction or not) and not one of them were ever conserved?  It wasn't even whispered?  I mean, we're talking Robert Downey Jr, Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, etc.  

Plusalso, there's no one else in the world under a conservatorship who's done world tours, albums, and a Vegas residency.  She stopped performing in protest because she figured out what her dad was using her as a cash cow and wanted to stop him from siphoning her cash. 

Furthermore, she was forced onto lithium and she said it made her feel awful and she didn't need to be on it.  He also made her see therapists she didn't want to see because it was someone who courted the paps.  So her dad used her mental health condition, whatever it is, against her.  

She never needed to be conserved IMO, she needed support.  She's lived in a viper pit for years.  Also, she's strong AF.  Her statement at the June 23rd hearing was coherent and fact-based.  She just spoke super fast because she was afraid of being shut down (as the judge had done to her before). 

I'm not saying any of this at you @banana468.    It's just crazy how much has been put out there without her knowledge and likely, permission, that makes you wonder what really was going on.  I choose to believe Britney at this point because her dad and the people he employed have been doing their damnedest to paint her with the ugliest brush. 

I'm the same age as her and this whole case just hits me in a very specific way.  I cannot even fathom. 

banana468

@mrsconn23 I also agree with your comments too.   Many people overcome addiction and we don' t control their finances.  There's something about Britney though that still concerns me however my hope is that those with her have her best interests at heart.  Clearly the treatment she received was NOT ok.

MissKittyDanger

banana468 said:

MissKittyDanger said:

@banana468 I'm thinking it's regression because of FOMO
She hasn't had accidents since first week of training. When she went back to daycare after, it took a week but afterwards no issues. This is week 3  
It's a preschool so their toilets are small, but we have a thing to go on our toilet to try if that's the issue also.

The point is to make it click just in case.  If your potty is in an area where she plays does she possibly think that she can play and pee in the same space?  

Yah that's why we're moving potty. That way less distraction and she won't be "sit for 5 sec and leave"
My mum has potty in her bathroom also, and she has no issues, and school knows this. So they know it's environmental/fomo/etc
They said it's a fairly minor issue and it will click, but overthinking is my super power

I'm hoping moving it will help

mrsconn23

banana468 said:

@mrsconn23 I also agree with your comments too.   Many people overcome addiction and we don' t control their finances.  There's something about Britney though that still concerns me however my hope is that those with her have her best interests at heart.  Clearly the treatment she received was NOT ok.

That's why her lawyer has been so amazing.  He's come in with a plan.  He's putting the right people in place to get her back in charge of her business and whatnot.  I imagine the team he implements doesn't leave Britney if the conservatorship is dissolved.  They'll just be her lawyers, accountants, managers and NOT her conservators on top of that.  I totally think she can't take over her estate tomorrow because she needs someone(s) to come in and unfuck it first. 

And celebs don't even manage their own shit most of the time.  They have their people for that, so that likely won't change for Britney. 

She should be able to leave her house with her FI and go for a drive without having to 'earn' it and have the threat of it being taken away because she'd be 'grounded' like a child. And she should be able to get her IUD removed and try to get knocked up and have more kids.  I hope she gets that dream.  Her dad stole her best years for all that from her. 

banana468

mrsconn23 said:

banana468 said:

@mrsconn23 I also agree with your comments too.   Many people overcome addiction and we don' t control their finances.  There's something about Britney though that still concerns me however my hope is that those with her have her best interests at heart.  Clearly the treatment she received was NOT ok.

That's why her lawyer has been so amazing.  He's come in with a plan.  He's putting the right people in place to get her back in charge of her business and whatnot.  I imagine the team he implements doesn't leave Britney if the conservatorship is dissolved.  They'll just be her lawyers, accountants, managers and NOT her conservators on top of that.  I totally think she can't take over her estate tomorrow because she needs someone(s) to come in and unfuck it first. 

And celebs don't even manage their own shit most of the time.  They have their people for that, so that likely won't change for Britney. 

She should be able to leave her house with her FI and go for a drive without having to 'earn' it and have the threat of it being taken away because she'd be 'grounded' like a child. And she should be able to get her IUD removed and try to get knocked up and have more kids.  I hope she gets that dream.  Her dad stole her best years for all that from her. 

Totally agree.  She needs the right people with her.  

I think of her and my concern is more like how Michael Jackson was outside of the entire situation with kids.  If you see him at the end of his life the people who were with him are those who helped him die.  

My hope for her is that with her mental illness that she's treated correctly for the mental illness and not what she can do for someone else.  Obviously the answer isn't that she needs a person to be her guardian while she's about 40 and my feeling is from the emotional place of seeing someone who is a victim of celebrity. 

mrsconn23

banana468 said:

mrsconn23 said:

banana468 said:

@mrsconn23 I also agree with your comments too.   Many people overcome addiction and we don' t control their finances.  There's something about Britney though that still concerns me however my hope is that those with her have her best interests at heart.  Clearly the treatment she received was NOT ok.

That's why her lawyer has been so amazing.  He's come in with a plan.  He's putting the right people in place to get her back in charge of her business and whatnot.  I imagine the team he implements doesn't leave Britney if the conservatorship is dissolved.  They'll just be her lawyers, accountants, managers and NOT her conservators on top of that.  I totally think she can't take over her estate tomorrow because she needs someone(s) to come in and unfuck it first. 

And celebs don't even manage their own shit most of the time.  They have their people for that, so that likely won't change for Britney. 

She should be able to leave her house with her FI and go for a drive without having to 'earn' it and have the threat of it being taken away because she'd be 'grounded' like a child. And she should be able to get her IUD removed and try to get knocked up and have more kids.  I hope she gets that dream.  Her dad stole her best years for all that from her. 

Totally agree.  She needs the right people with her.  

I think of her and my concern is more like how Michael Jackson was outside of the entire situation with kids.  If you see him at the end of his life the people who were with him are those who helped him die.  

My hope for her is that with her mental illness that she's treated correctly for the mental illness and not what she can do for someone else.  Obviously the answer isn't that she needs a person to be her guardian while she's about 40 and my feeling is from the emotional place of seeing someone who is a victim of celebrity. 

Oh she's totally a victim of celebrity.  There's a lot of people who were in the late 90's and early aughts.  The reckoning has been a long time coming and it's nice to see the public discourse over it.  I really think it was born out of the Me Too explosion. 

short+sassy

It's roofing quotes day!  I'm excited to finally be making progress, but trying to "steel" myself for what will surely be a rude awakening on just how much this storm is going to cost me.

Ah!  As I wrote this, my H called me with the first quote.  This is the house we already knew we needed a new roof for.  $8,400.  At least it was about what we expected.  I also don't have named storm insurance for that particular house, so it's all going to be out-of-pocket (sigh).  But I can't cry too much because, over the years, we've saved over $15K in premiums by making that choice.  My H and the salesperson have two MORE of our houses to visit.  But they other ones should just need patching (I hope).  

As an aside, those other two houses do have named storm insurance.  Or at least they are supposed to.  But when I pre-emptively called my insurance company, they claim I don't have named storm on one of them.  This is the house I did a cash-out refinance for in January of this year.  It's true I did not have named storm insurance in previous years (same insurance company).  But I have MULTIPLE e-mails from both myself and my lender that they required this, so I needed to be re-quoted for it.  I vaguely remember even double-checking with the agent when I got the quote, because it seemed like it still wasn't included, but she verified it was.

As long as this house only needs patching, it probably doesn't matter because the repair cost will be less than my deductible anyway.  But if it needs a new roof, I'll be donning my battle armor!  Either way, I do need to get it figured out for the future.

My online focus group last night went kind of wacky.  Although the material to view was going to be online, the participants needed to use their cell phones for all the audio, including us speaking and to give our opinions.  That was the ONLY way to do the audio.  We were all logged in a bit ahead of time (as instructed), but the moderator said she was getting feedback and wasn't sure where it was coming from.  She tried all these different things.  Had people take their phones of speaker.  Had people switch from their headphones to just the handset.  I wasn't doing any of those things anyway.  But apparently the problem line was mine!

She disconnected me and had me reconnect back in, but that didn't help.  Neither of us had any more solutions, but I guess it was too much of a sound quality issue...tbh, I didn't hear any problem on my end except for slight static once in awhile...so she thanked me for trying to participate, told me I would be paid the full fee (phew!), but they couldn't allow me to continue with the focus group because of the audio problems.  At least I'm still getting paid but, at the same time, I felt bad to be getting the full fee when I didn't do the main part of the "work".

And it's Thursday again which is the start of a new week for my new Costco scanning gig.  My H is going to head over there this afternoon and I will join him when I get off work.

ei34

Crisp cool fall air here too, and I'm loving it.

I'm peeved at how Britney has always been treated.  She was huge when I was in high school ('98-'02) but for every fan there was a more powerful hater.  Like, YM magazine (tell me you're an elder/geriatric millennial without telling me...) would run these hater pieces on her.  Actual publications, and MTV, and radio stations...I'm not a Trumper who hates "the media" but it was more than girls I went to school with saying they didn't like her.  I remember being 15ish and thinking "oh wow it's okay to publicly ride a young woman".  I think her treatment early on helped feed into the mess with her a-hole dad.

@Casadena thank you for asking the podcast question!  I've never listened to one either but some of the ones mentioned here sound so interesting.  I mean...I know how to access them...but when does everyone listen to them?  In my head they're time consuming..

Picking the kids up and taking them straight to counseling today, since the (what's supposed to be) 15 minute stop at home for any of the kids who have to go #2 since they don't like going at school can do their business sets STBXH off each week.  Costco is right nearby the counselor so toying with doing a desperately needed run right after.  The kids would love that and it'd be one less thing to do this weekend so if we have the energy, it's counseling and Costco after work.

charlotte989875

Also does anyone else think it’s weird her estate is only $60m. Like, I know that’s a fuck ton of money but given her outrageous body of work- shouldn’t it be more? That alone makes me think her dad did a lot of damage to her finances. 

banana468

charlotte989875 said:

Also does anyone else think it’s weird her estate is only $60m. Like, I know that’s a fuck ton of money but given her outrageous body of work- shouldn’t it be more? That alone makes me think her dad did a lot of damage to her finances. 

Considering Vegas should have given her $124 million yeah that seems really light even with paying all of her staff.    

MissKittyDanger

Her dad probably stole it

mrsconn23

It definitely seems like it should be way more than $60M.  This has been the big battle because Jamie has done everything under the sun to avoid having to turn the books over to the court.  One of the leaked documents had a line items about media/crisis communication for a couple million or something that was attributed to Jamie, not Britney.  And the assumption is he hired people basically to shit on his detractors, which is suspect at best.  

Also, IDK how the hell the judge allowed him to stay on as conservator after he was accused of abuse of his grandsons and Federline filed a restraining order against him.  I think that's when they Jodi Montgomery lady was hired to be the conservator or Britney's person. 

mrsconn23

ei34 said:

@Casadena thank you for asking the podcast question!  I've never listened to one either but some of the ones mentioned here sound so interesting.  I mean...I know how to access them...but when does everyone listen to them?  In my head they're time consuming..

My job doesn't involve me having to talk to many people, and I have, like, 3 meetings a month.  So I listen using my phone and AirPods.  I will also listen to podcasts when I work out.  My workout podcasts are fluffy unserious ones since I can't focus my full attention on it. 

short+sassy

Noooooooooo...ugh .

I just heard back from my H.  The two other roofs do just need patching...so that part is good, but not surprising news...but the company isn't even messing with patches right now.  They said they probably won't start doing patch work until 6 months from now!  They're only scheduling work for new roofs.  We did hire them for the new roof we need, but that isn't scheduled for 6-8 weeks.

They did give us quotes for the patchwork, around $3500 each (gtfo!) which were astoundingly higher than what we were expecting.  Like 2-3x higher.  But my H thinks it's more of a "we don't really want this job" artificially high quotes.

One of those houses is only about one mile away from the one we are getting the new roof for.  My H even tried to get it "slid into" the schedule with the other one, but that was a no-go.

The one straw we are grasping to is the salesperson gave us the names/numbers of some of their sub-contractors.  He said they do "side work" on the weekends and are more open to smaller jobs.

Here's the problem, though.  We went through all of this a couple years ago during normal times.  It is a Herculean task to even get people to call you back.  Meet you to see the work.  Then provide a quote.  I know my H is going to have spend hours of time (not exaggerating) making dozens of phone calls to get just a few responses.  It just wears you down.