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| I used to work on camp (as a civilian in an admin role) with the wonderful young men and women on their Royal Engineers training course.
These young people were incredibly fit, motivated, engaging and anxious to complete their RE Phase 2 training before heading off for their chosen trade training. Of course, as with any large group, there was the occasional recruit who struggled with discipline or with the demands of training and now and then there'd be someone who just wasn't suitable for the RE life.
Just getting into Army basic training is hard, completing Basic Training/Phase 1 and moving on to the Royal Engineers stage was very taxing. But they looked so proud and fit once they were ready to move on.
The Mills boys wouldn't cope with Basic Training. The only part they'd cope with, I think, is the uniform, as that's all they know. And sharing a bedroom with 11 others in Basic Training and 3 others in the next Phase.
I do get saddened when I think how Asher's life, and now Judah's, has been wasted. Asher showed talent at art and design and might have shone if he'd gone to technical college and studied design or CAD. That might have afforded him a career he could eventually follow working from home, too.
And Judah's skills are lost. He should have been allowed to go on a fabricator's course or some other skilled trade and could have found a rewarding job in that field.
Hey ho. Tom's only motive is to keep his children at home to look after his younger kids and of course, himself. Tom first and last, every time. |
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| I can't see any of the Mills boys being welcomed into military service.
Asher would cry on the bus to basic training.
Judah would fool around and chuck things at other recruits. He'd be a menace with live ammunition.
Solomon would have a panic attack the first time an NCO barked an order.
That's always assuming they'd pass the first physical and be declared fit to serve! |
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| I was bemused by the shopping list video because there was a lot of untouched food in the downstairs fridge freezer. There was enough there to feed everyone adequately - in the Mills style, that is - for at least a fortnight if someone actually cooked meals. There was mince, sausage, pizzas aplenty, frozen chicken bits and tins of everything.
They'd run out of cereal, cheese and porridge and needed more butter.
But the actual shopping list was the usual nonsense he always buys. Nothing special at all.
It left me wondering what Tom wants to make for tea each day, if he disregards what's down there already. I suppose none of the children are allowed to touch the hoard without permission and everyone is frightened of 'daddy' if they were to summon the gumption to prepare a meal themselves.
I suspect that what actually happens in the Mills shed is that Tom eats outside of the home and everyone else subsists on peanut butter sandwiches, soup and cheese on toast or cereal. The children had even resorted to eating the disliked cereal bars, which shows how hungry they've been. It's ridiculous, given how much food is sitting untouched downstairs.
It's no wonder the children look malnourished, is it? |
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| | Tom put his name on the reg docs for the boys' cars because it allowed for a cheaper insurance policy. That's what he said and I have no clue if that's how it works. |
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| Claudia was crying because the tether ball had hit her tummy, hard. JUDAH had swung the ball! He looked a bit shifty, grinning like an idiot while Tom told Claudia to toughen up.
Judah is a grown man and should know better but clearly, he doesn't. I hope Claudia learns a lesson from this and simply refuses to play with adults too stupid to temper their strength when playing with young children. |
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| I think Judah is helping out with his relative, whose name escapes me. Few genuine employers would take on an 18 year old lad who hasn't taken any courses, attended any classes or even properly completed high school.
And yes, it's a crying shame for Judah's talents to be kicked into touch and it demonstrates a total lack of drive with the boy, who seems only eager to keep on the right side of daddy and is in no rush to forge a life for himself.
Tom, who has orchestrated this lack of ambition and absence of motivation, must be thrilled to the core. |
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| Retired Observer, I so agree with you but I also think it's really unfair on Claudia, who doesn't get the same opportunities as Sophia and Solomon to earn the extra-large sums of fake money. Tom made no mention of rewarding Claudia for doing her homework or achieving good marks in school, did he?
He can never miss an opportunity to marginalise little Claudia. |
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| He bought two ice cream cakes for Hannah's party, so she's having ice cream twice at least that day and I would bet money she'll eat no actual food throughout the day and will subsist on sweeties and ice cream.
And Tom puts ice cream in that concoction he creates and calls 'punch', which as far as I can see is a large bowl with a couple of bottles of fizzy chucked in and lumps of cheap ice cream thrown in for good measure.
Incidentally, I think he still includes the older kids, especially the two oldest toddlers, in the goody bag distribution. Just what the average 21 year old and 18 year old want and need. |
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| I survived his new video. How Eden doesn't scream at him to shut UP just baffles me, as he drones on and on and on with the same old rubbish as ever about 'dad guilt'.
His 'goody bags' are s over the top as usual, with him agonising over the slightest detail and explaining how many hours he's devoted to research for the best available bubbles and bubble solution. The best bubble gum. The best non-spill bubble solution containers. The best, the best, blah blah blah.
Right at the end it suddenly dawned on him that he'd forgotten to schedule a day off for himself on the birthday itself and that brought on even more groaning and agonising and what should he do? Could he send Asher out all by himself in his own car to do the scheduled jobs? Should he try to reschedule the jobs? Give me strength!
He also disclosed that he had arranged to take everyone to Applebees except hadn't allowed time for Judah to join them unless he was able to be excused early from his track practice! And added to that was the agony of how would he get Claudia and Eden from school?
Still, he boasted what a triumph his merit shop has proven to be, with Sophia and Solomon now knuckling down to their school work in order to earn fake money. Oh yes, and he used his 3-D printed to make the perfectly sized box for his new chore cards.
He also admitted that, being so busy and all with wasting time, he is a fortnight late with the grocery shopping and although he didn't say it, we know he also still hasn't bought clothing for his family. I mean, a guy's got to put hours of effort into researching bubble solutions and working out how to construct little plastic boxes for cards the wrong size for normal people to use, so naturally food and clothes have to wait, hmm?
Tom has invited people from the library. I bet his next potential girlfriend in a mother from that group. Kelsea said Hi in chat but he hasn't mentioned his special friend or g/f for weeks and weeks.
I can't bear Tom. Not one bit. |
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| I want to know what disciplinary crisis within the Mills shed caused Tom to try this new positive reinforcement game?
Did a miscreant decide they didn't actually care if they were granted access to the computers in the dungeon?
Or was the threat of an early bedtime and a chance for some peace and quiet just too enticing?
Perhaps a child disconnected the audio bible and the sound of Tom's outraged braincell pinging against the inside of his skull shocked even him?
We never get to hear the really interesting stuff from the Mills clan. |
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| I think Daddy needs a higher shelf stocked with stuff for the older ones.
I'm thinking a choice of underwear for the boys.
Individual antiperspirants.
Tickets for an extra bath night.
Get out of pizza night tickets.
A real adult plate.
Walmart gift cards for clothes.
I'm also wondering if he did a stock check before shoving everything up on display because if he didn't, it's going to be awfully hard to ward off shop lifters! |
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| I just watched Tom's ludicrous merit shop video, where he literally spent hours buying cheap crap and cheap sweeties, bought coloured paper and designed and printed the fake money, which Asher painstakingly cut to size with a dinky little guillotine.
I'm hoping it was just for show, but Asher and Judah were 'paid' and queued up to spend their fake money from the little shop. Hannah seemed really sulkily unwilling to enter into the charade of earning merits and I saw discarded fake money strewn on the settee.
Claudia loudly declared the whole exercise to be the weirdest thing she'd ever heard of and Eden seemed to have been bribed with real money to show up at the inaugural shopping trip to Daddy's bedroom.
Tom was delighted to devote time to arranging, rearranging, and moving items from shelf to shelf, place to place and altogether having the best time playing Shops.
In a house where there's precious little space for people, Tom has now introduced a huge pile of unnecessary nonsense to litter the home. He claimed to be working on 'tickets' to earn time with daddy, which made me laugh. He doesn't have time! It's his perpetual whine, that he has no time! So those tickets are going to gather dust, aren't they?
The video segment taken inside the Mills shed must have been on bath night because every single child, including the two oldest toddlers, had dirty, greasy and unkempt hair. Even Eden. Justus wasn't there and I think he could print and sell t shirts saying, 'Justus Isn't Here' and earn his own actual real money. I can't see him bothering with the new merit system, anyway.
Tom is beside himself with glee over this new enterprise. He thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread and is hoping to create a harmonious and happy home with his new venture.
It's going to fail within a month. Once all the good stuff is gone, no-one will bother. He'll have to restock and re-price and keep printing off new money because the little kids lose everything. If he manages to sell a Spend Time With Daddy ticket, he'll be nagged for months because the child won't be able to redeem their ticket. After all, daddy is always tired and has no time.
So, Tom used up precious time for his new game and still avoided food and clothes shopping. It's almost May. When did he last buy clothes for his family? I can't remember but I do recall him buying out of season summer clothes once, in the sales, so the kids wore unpopular summer outfits during the depths of winter. |
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| Unless this birthday party is for a close relative, why would the entire Mills mob turn up?
I just know Tom brought along a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of cheap white sliced and nothing else, not a card, a gift or, God forbid, some decent food to offer his host to compensate for bringing so many hungry people to the party.
Tom could have bought some clothes and shoes for his kids and added those to his Merit Shop. That way, each kid has a chance of earning something to wear.
n.b. Tom has comments turned OFF for last night's video! My gosh, what has upset the fragile flower? |
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| I laughed when Tom declared how he liked trying new things. The heck he does! Crumbs, he hardly ever changes his trousers, let alone a 'tradition'!
He thinks menu variety is to have pizza one night; calzones one night; frozen pizza another night and French bread pizza as a treat.
It's Thursday today and I can guarantee, if he airs a Live shopping trip, it'll be a case of, 'Judah, buy me lots of eggs.' 'Asher, buy cheap bread.' 'Sophia, I'm not buying that.' 'Here you go, Hannah, have more money and don't cry.' 'Are we still waiting for Solomon?'. 'Claudia did it. Stop, Claudia!'. 'Anyone know where Justus is?'. 'I'm so ready to be done with this day - I'm TIRED!'. |
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| I hate onions and everything about them. My Mum found it necessary to lace practically every meal with the things and I would spend hours, crying and staring at the congealed food, which was reheated and re-served up to three later times. I was always hungry!
Once I was in charge of my own food, I vowed never to torture myself with onions and to this day I avoid them at all costs. It's the sight, smell, texture and taste that makes me gag or actually be sick. My daughter didn't know what an onion was until she was ten and had them in a meal at her friend's house. She liked them and told me so and I callously explained she'd never find one in my kitchen!
I don't like butter or 'spread' either unless it's melted into toast or veggies or similar. Or plain milk. Or white cabbage or turnips/swedes.
The joy of being in total control of food is never having the agony of confronting hated stuff!
Incidentally, my daughter loved a huge range of foods because I wanted her to enjoy meals, with no pressure or stress and there's always an alternative.
However, the Mills children, Solomon in particular, have such severe food aversions that their health and appearance is severely impacted. They need professional intervention - that's my opinion, anyway.
Or for Tom to be removed from the house before, during and immediately after each and every meal, which would be produced by someone else with ingredients not supplied by Tom. |
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1485 replies since 3/11/2020
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