Rosie O'donnell's Little People Phobia

We thought we would pass this along and make a separate item for this because it's starting to generate discussion. Everyone is starting to weigh in on it.

It centers around Rosie O'Donnell's interview with fellow talk show host -- Chelsea Handler. During the interview they discuss Rosie's fear of Little People.

Several LP are offering to appear on Rosie's show and help her overcome her fear.

Matt Roloff posted "Our work here on Earth.....is never done. lol" It was followed by hundreds of angry comments from Matt's fans -- some of which called Rosie names like "fat lesbian!".

Matt then posted again about Rosie on his Facebook Fan Page:

Matt Roloff: "All day today.. I just wanted to give Rosie a big hug! ...well i guess it would be a little hug coming from me... I honestly and sincerely want her to feel better about little people. Let's not be be angry... But let's graciously endeavor to help her overcome her fears. I know I can use loving help to overcome my fears and phobias."

Here is a sampling of some of the comments on Matt's Fan Page about Rosie. A couple of people were upset at Matt for allowing the insults towards Rosie. A few weeks ago after Matt endorsed a Republican politician and some had insulted him, Matt said he would not tolerate insults, insults about the politician that Matt was campaigning for were deleted and the person make them were banned . These are some of the comments on Matt's page from his fans about Rosie:

Cindy: she's just plain WORTHLESS!!!....push her off a cliff!!

Michelle: Yeah, well Rosie scares me! What a stupid thing for her to say.

Matt S: Ignore both those pigs!

John: Do you have a fear of chubby half-talented talkshow hosts?

Hollyanne: dumb. - she should be focusing on her obesity.

Kay: Rosie is a nasty, fat pig!

Melanie: What an idiot.

Elaine: Don't really know what to say about this but Rosie is an ___hole, fill in the blanks! I think Chelsey actually came off better then she normally does. Yes there is alot of work to do but I wouldnt worry about Rosie, she's not worth the effort!

Jackie: Rosie O'Donnell is a freak!

Ray: Rosie is a cow

Marie: Quite honestly Matt. I can't believe you are allowing the hate on here. It's beyond me how anyone would think the right thing to do here is say such nasty things, and I can't believe Matt that you are a party to it. Seems you are just as bad as anything that was said on that tape!

Amy Roloff has also been posting about it:

Amy Roloff: "matt and i have different thoughts on this, but WE DO believe on one thing 'We Still Have More Work To Do". Re: Rosie ODonnell Chelsea interview on Rosie's show, You Tube"

Jen Montzingo wrote an open letter to Rosie O'Donnell and Chelsea Handler on her blog that the LPA President, Gary Arnold, is sharing around:

http://hopesprouts.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/dearest-darlingest-ro-chels/

Dearest darlingest Rosie and Chelsea,

First of all, I genuinely enjoy both of your work. From what I know, you are raw, real and funny as hell! I think we would have great talks over dinner. I think you’re both worldly and whip-smart. I can imagine learning a ton from the both of you. But I don’t genuinely know you or the feelings you have behind your probably-not-the-smartest comments you made on Rosie’s show. I’m hoping the close-mindedness of your comments will actually spur change in a positive way.

I’m not so hurt by what you said, partly because I’m used to it. I’ve experienced it first hand. It’s more painful coming from people I actually know and opportunities actually lost because of ignorance. A lot of people think the same thing, only most people don’t voice it or don’t have a public platform from which to speak. I really want to change your mind, but I don’t think this can be done through screaming. I think the only way to change your mind is for you to get to know me, or someone in my community, someone who is educated, passionate and fully alive.

I’ve lived in Hollywood for 3 years now. I’ve seen a lot. I am a teacher and an actress. A lot of people out there have the exact same prejudices. Nothing really surprises me in humanity in general. Let’s hope that by you voicing your thoughts so publicly, that we can use your platform to make a difference, to really have a discussion that brings light and changes minds. Vilifying either of you won’t really do that.

Chelsea– us LP’s, well I can only speak for myself, we don’t need to be rescued by you. I get how you feel about Chuy. He seems to have had a pretty painful life. But you’re kind of perpetuating the problem. We just want to be equal in society, we don’t want to be fetishes. Not all of us work in the porn industry and need to be rescued. A lot of us are pretty darn normal.

“I want to tackle them.”
“Who else is going to give that guy of job? Someone has to rescue him. There’s not a lot of opportunities for that kind of people, they need our help.”
And Rosie–thanks for your honesty but get to know me so you won’t be afraid. We’re pretty freakin’ normal, well most of us, and yeah- don’t be scared. Here’s where people get angry. You’re a staunch advocate for equal rights in the LGBT community. If you’re going to stand for the marginalized, you need to stand for all the marginalized. If I campaign for No H8, I’d really like you to do the same. As they say, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

“No that would be child abuse, I would never do that.”
“I have so many feelings, I can’t just act normal.”
Little People are as varied as black people, fat people, gay people, etc. Please, educate yourselves so you aren’t ignorant. A lot of my LP acquaintances and friends want to vilify you both. I just think you need some education, you need some healing. We’re all a little bit broken. So let’s do dinner and meet somewhere in the middle.

C’mon ladies, let’s just talk.

XOXO,
Jen

P.S. I’ve read all of your books, ladies!
P.P.S. Ro, I like your show’s new 1-on-1 format MUCH better!
P.P.P.S. After Lately is amazeballs!

A fan posted Jen Montzingo's letter to Rosie and Chelsea, on Amy's Facebook Fan Page:

Megan Tolliver: Amy, I thought I would share the link that was posted on Gary Arnold's FB page. I was angry about the Rosie/Chelsea thing, then I read this. I feel much better now...after ranting on Rosie's FB and twitter page, and sending 2 emails through her site ;) http://hopesprouts.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/dearest-darlingest-ro-chels/ "

Amy Roloff: "I'm glad there are a number of other LP's referencing their own thought on this subject in a positive way. It would have been more confirming to also mention their statement the number of shows LP's have done to positively change attitudes and perceptions of LP's. Yes, I include LPBW in this. Like I had mentioned before, there is more positive work to be done."

Others have made You Tube videos directed at Rosie.




For the record, Matt and Amy Roloff appeared on Chelsea Handler's talk show in April of 2010. Chelsea introduced them as "Little nuggets". She asked them if they minded her calling them nuggets? Amy said she will be a little nugget. Later in the interview Matt said they met at a "Little Nugget" convention.

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2010/04/matt-and-amy-roloff-on-chelsea-lately.html

Rosie O'Donnell responded to several different people on twitter:

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@danell_allen - he is beautiful - and not scary - my "fear" is about how awkward i get - about my reaction - hard 2 explain in a tweet

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@OneloveSuzyQz - I am truly sorry it hurt u - what I was trying to say - was my shame at how badly I feel about my awkwardness -

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@jneclay @Lizzard89 - i see y they r hurt - listen to what i am saying - it was about feeling shitty that i feel this way

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@theteneyckes - yes - u r angry that I admitted a shameful feeling I am not proud of ...

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@bobbischedel - I have apologized-scroll down -

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie Close
@bobbischedel - I apologize to all LP - spread it around

Kristie Morton @KristieMorton2
@Rosie this is not heartfelt you need to make a better effort at this.

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@KristieMorton2 - please ... That's it

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@DreamLeaM - yes - I am done responding

Val Williamson @youareapiratexD
@Rosie I'm the daughter of two little people, what you said is wrong on so many levels. Educate yourself before you talk.

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
@youareapiratexD - val - i meant no ill will - u believe that or u do not - i am sorry u were hurt -

Rosie O'Donnell @Rosie
what to do - say - will some be offended - should we edit it out - yes- no -why do I feel uncomfortable - should I feel bad 4 feeling bad?

Fourth Little People, Big World / Roloff Family Special To Air Feb 19 - Preview

The fourth and final Little People, Big World special will be televised on TLC Sunday February 19th at 8pm. For those who missed the 3 previous specials and were inquiring, they will be shown again on TLC at 5pm, 6pm and 7pm on the same night. TLC and the Roloffs agreed upon 4 "update" specials last spring/summer after the series was cancelled by TLC in late 2010.

TLC has released the preview for the 4th special on their website.

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html?date=20120219.050

Little People, Big World - Battle For The Farm - Fourth Special

Matt's dream of buying the neighboring property and tripling the size of Roloff Farm threatens to drive a wedge between he and Amy. When the State shuts down one of his businesses, Matt finds himself in over his head and on the edge of bankruptcy.

Followers of the Roloffs (mostly Matt) online postings will notice that the preview (which during the regular series was notorious for being misleading) suggests something totally different than what Matt has been posting online for the last year.

The preview states that the Roloffs were on the edge of bankruptcy. Matt spent most of 2011 posting on his Facebook Fan Page about how wildly lucrative the "dirt deal" (Intel paid the Roloffs to use Matt's land as a dumping ground). In October, Matt posted about another "successful" pumpkin season. Most recently, Matt posted about how the Roloffs had entered the Christmas tree business and how successful that was also.

The 4th special will air Feb 19th at 8pm on TLC.

If you wish to write a review, email spiritswander@gmail.com .

We have always extended invitations to anyone who is interested in writing a review/recap of LPBW. Rap541 graciously volunteers their own time in writing the reviews. A couple of people complain that Rap's review isn't to their liking, yet were unwilling to submit their own review. So this is another open invitation to write reviews.

Jeremy Roloff's Best Friend Jacob Mueller is 21

We thought we should pass this along for the benefit of our readers and in the name of accuracy in the future because his age is often referenced; Feb 9th, 2012 is Jacob Mueller's 21st birthday.

"Mueller" is of course Jeremy's best friend who was regularly seen on Little People, Big World.

The most recent thing involving Mueller that drew some attention was a video last summer that featured Mueller, another Roloff friend named Christian and two girls from France drinking Jack Daniels in the Roloffs garage.

If you're unfamiliar with Mueller, you can read our piece on Mueller from last year:

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeremy-roloffs-best-friend-jacob.html

Mueller has been involved in nearly every activity/event that has resulted in controversy with Jeremy (cruel fan insults, many of the slur comments, the drinking stories and the cat tossing, etc). Matt and Amy have stated that they consider Mueller to be a "great" person and are happy their kids are such good friends with him. Jacob Roloff is said to idolize Mueller. The amount of time Mueller and Jeremy spend together has generated discussion over the years as Mueller often accompanies Jeremy on Roloff family trips.

For the record, we are told by friends that Jeremy and Mueller feel that they are unfairly scrutinized simply because other people don't understand the depth of their friendship (aka. people are jealous that they don't have a best friend that they are as close to as Jeremy and Mueller are to each other).

Jeremy Roloff's Favorite Pastor - John Mark Comer - Releases Book "My Name Is Hope"

As our frequent readers know, one of the recurring topics on our site as we report on public figures -- the Roloff family, is that of the Solid Rock Church and the lead pastor John Mark Comer. That is the church in Portland that all of the Roloffs have attended, but Jeremy is especially enthusiastic about the church and the lead pastor John Mark Comer. Jeremy's girlfriend, Audrey, also lists John Mark Comer as one of her idols and inspirations.

Solid Rock is a very conservative church (something that John Mark Comer has said in his sermons by referring to other churches in Portland that are "a lot more liberal than we are") that has been the cause of passionate debates on our site due to Solid Rock's and John Mark Comer's stance about a woman's role in society and in marriage and the sermons taught about gay people - John Mark Comer has described gay people as perverted, broken and that they need to pray to Jesus to be cured of their "gayness". As it relates to the Roloffs, this issue is a hot button topic for Roloff followers and LPBW fans due to the Roloffs role as Diversity advocates.

Matt and particularly Amy, have gotten paid by diversity groups to spread the message of equality and how members of minority groups should accept their own differences and to accept the differences of others. That message was also used by TLC to promote LPBW over the years. Many believe that by supporting Solid Rock the Roloffs are hypocrites since they have collected money for being portrayed as Diversity advocates when privately, they support agendas that work against what they've been paid to speak about.

It ignites fiery debates about what the Roloffs themselves believe. Matt and Amy Roloff do not give direct answers about the issue and Jeremy does not speak for himself.

I think it's fair to say that most people feel Jeremy echos John Mark's sentiments through his enthusiastic support and the fact that the majority of Jeremy's friends are rather upfront that they share John Mark Comer's sentiments on gay people needing to pray to be cured. Although, I don't think there will be a definitive conclusion on that subject until which time Jeremy takes a stand and decides to speak for himself. Some Roloff family friends such as former "Little People, Big World" producer and close Roloff friend Chris Cardamone, tell people to ask Jeremy himself for his own opinion, but that's kind of a useless suggestion since Jeremy does not speak to "fans" (for the most part) and certainly does not speak to people about a subject like that.

For the record, close friends of Jeremy state that he does echo John Mark Comer's sentiments, but they take issue with Jeremy being described as a "bigot" or "hateful" towards gay people. They say Jeremy doesn't object to being in the presence of gay people and will speak to gay people, but he does not "approve" of gay people for the Biblical reasons that John Mark has discussed about. Jeremy's friends take issue with Jeremy being called a hypocrite for being "pro-dwarf" but "anti-gay". They don't think it's the same thing because in their opinion Jeremy's family members were born with dwarfism and they don't think gay people were born that way. So they object to the word hypocrite being used to describe Jeremy and the Roloffs as a whole.

However, other posters to our site have pointed out that John Mark Comer has also spoken how drunkards -- people that go out on a Friday night to get a "buzz" are sinners and will not enter the Kingdom of God unless they seek Jesus' forgiveness. One of Jeremy's favorite sayings is "A church is not a museum for saints, it is a hospital for sinners". Our guest reviewer and frequent commentator Rap541 has described that as the "Whoopsie! Sorry Jesus" syndrome (meaning that Jesus followers don't need to have any accountabilty for their actions - they just say "Whoopsie! Sorry Jesus" and then "sin" again tomorrow, followed by another "Whoopsie! Sorry Jesus"). But some have pointed out since it's widely known that Jeremy obviously does not follow John Mark's sentiments about drinking or getting drunk as being a sin, that people shouldn't assume that Jeremy also believes what John Mark Comer preaches about gay people needing to "pray the gay away".

So anyhow, John Mark Comer is often discussed on our site mainly due to Jeremy's enthusiasm for him (Molly has also went to Solid Rock events with Jeremy and his friends). In the name of fairness, because JMC is discussed, some of Jeremy's fellow Solid Rock church goers wanted to pass along news that John Mark Comer has authored a book about Anxiety and Depression and healing through Jesus that is now available for sale at Amazon.com. Friends have told us that Jeremy is very excited about the book and Jacob Mueller (Jeremy's best friend, of course) has already read and highly recommends the book.

Here is a description of John Mark Comer's book, entitled "My Name Is Hope"

http://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Hope-depression-melancholy/dp/0615565654

"For years, John Mark Comer thought he was the only man on the planet who struggled with anxiety and depression. He was dead wrong.

Staggering numbers of modern Americans fight anxiety and depression on a daily basis. In 2010, there were 253 million prescriptions for antidepressants in the U.S. alone. That's in a nation of 311 million people. And the battle is nothing new. My Name is Hope is the story of one follower of Jesus who went through the horrors of anxiety and depression and came out the other side. It is his ruthlessly authentic and scripturally authoritative account of prophets and poets, mothers and fathers, and even a Messiah who all came up against anxiety and depression.

"With obvious relevance and prophetic resonance," My Name is Hope "speaks needed truth into the over-stressed, over-medicated reality of our lives and culture. It is a book that will awaken and guide many towards a return home to the hope that is ours in Jesus."

There is also a website for John Mark Comer's book.

http://mynameishope.org/

My Name is Hope // Part 1 from Mark Graybill on Vimeo.

An Update on the Roloffs Subpoena of Google for Spiritswander's and Your Personal Information

The legal process is still on-going, but we did want to give a quick update on what is happening (people understandably continue to inquire) and where we are at in the process -- because it does in fact -- involve all of you as well.

This is about the subpoena that the Roloffs issued to Google Inc regarding wanting the personal and private information of all that have contributed to Spiritswander. Here is the original article and subsequent article after people offered to contribute.

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2011/12/spiritswander-cited-in-subpoena-by.html

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-make-donation-to-spiritswander.html

We did file the Motion to Quash the subpoena with U.S District Court within all the stated deadlines that we were given. Google Inc. has given their assurance that they will not release any information responsive information regarding the subpoena until there is a final decision rendered by the judge.

The attorney working for Matthew J Roloff and Amy J Roloff exercised their right to oppose our Motion to Quash. We had a chance to respond to their opposition of our Motion to Quash by Jan 30th and we have done that.

One of the things that has become crystal clear out of this whole process? Remember how Matt or Amy used to occasionally reference in a comment or an interview once in a while, that they paid no attention to bloggers? And most of us dismissed the Roloffs as being untruthful because it was rather obvious that they did in fact pay close attention to Spiritswander and all that commented because of the number of times they would reference discussions were were having or our article topics. Well, I would say that our conclusions are certainly true. I think one would say that the Roloffs are rather obsessed with the Spiritswander site. To such a degree, that I think most of you would be shocked. Not only are the Roloffs aware of the site and the articles, but the Roloff family analyze hundreds upon hundreds of your comments. Counsel working for the Roloffs have entered hundreds of the Spiritswander Blog reader's comments into official court documents.

To clarify something that some of our readers were debating when we first mentioned the subpoena. This subpoena is not only requesting the personal and private information about myself, Spiritswander and my email address. It is not just about Guest Reviewer Rap541. In fact, Rap541's name was not singled out, but other posters screen names were mentioned by the Roloffs and their counsel.

Matt and Amy Roloff indeed are demanding in the subpoena, access to the personal and private identifying information of anyone and every one that has ever submitted a comment to the Spiritswander Blog since its inception 4 years ago. There are approximately 700 Blog articles, items and entries in that 4 year span. Many of the items contain hundreds of comments.

If Matthew J Roloff and Amy J Roloff are successful with the subpoena, they will be handed the personal and private information of hundreds, perhaps thousands of individuals.

We of course think this is outrageous, unlawful and gross violation of hundreds of persons rights. We are fighting the subpoena, not only for ourselves, but on the behalf of everyone whose personal and private information would be given to Matt and Amy Roloff.

The basis of the Roloffs legal argument -- which we still feel is disingenuous -- now seems to be that they claim that they think some of the comments on the blog are so knowledgeable and insightful, that they must have come from Washington County employees. We respectfully point out that the one item we have from Washington County is clearly identified as a statement from Washington County and there is no need to trample on the rights of hundreds of people to know that statement came from Washington County (whom the Roloffs are suing, ironically, claiming they violated their rights...) as a public statement. However, the Roloffs are arguing that because they want to know if one or two Washington County Employees have ever anonymously commented on the case, that they must be granted all of my personal and private information as well as information about my email and that of every person that has ever submitted a comment on the blog in the 4 year existence of this Blog.

We still believe this is a clear abuse of the process and have noted that on Nov 29, 2011 we received a series of menacing, very threatening comments claiming to be a close Roloff Family friend and a business associate. The individual vowed that they would track me down and used the term that they were "Hunting Spiritswander". While it cannot be concluded that the person making the threatening comments was the individual they were claiming to be, we believe that it does give reason to be suspicious of the Roloffs and their friends when you consider that 7 days after someone vowed that they would "Find" me!" and stated that they were "HuntingSpiritswander" that the Roloffs filed for this subpoena on or about December 6th, 2011 requesting my personal information . We have raised this concern with the court that they should not take this issue lightly as this information could be used to harass, stalk or other forms of threatening behavior.

We believe the Roloffs are clearly abusing the subpoena process and entered into court documents Matt Roloff's "tweet" where he stated that the act of subpoenaing Google was "probably the funnest thing [he] has ever done in life" which we believe raises great concerns that Matt is playing games with the process by issuing patently overbroad subpoena requests.

We will have a full, detailed report of this entire process when it is eventually concluded, but for now, we did want to inform all of you what was happening, because the Roloffs are attempting to infringe on your rights as well.

Thank you to all that have offered their various forms of support.

Amy Roloff "Little Big Talk" Recap For Jan 14 and Jan 28, 2012

Amy Roloff's live internet talk show chat has started up again. She renamed it "Little Big Talk" (previously referred to as "Coffee Chat with Amy".

Amy says she is planning to have it every 2nd week.

We never got around to posting a recap of the first one, so we will recap both the Jan 14th chat and today's chat (Jan 28th).

Amy usually does cooking segments or talks to her friends or local business people in Portland. In our recaps, we stick to more of the fan oriented topics. Basically, if you didn't watch and think you might have missed some big scoop or or important Roloff topic being discussed (you probably didn't, it's pretty "light"), that what we're here for.

Both weeks, various people that were logged in report that the number of people in the chat ranged from about 100 - 150. Amy doesn't really talk with the people on the chat. She doesn't spend much time reading the chat comments. Sometimes Lisa Dixon (Amy's friend and part of ARCF) will ask Amy questions that people in the live chat are asking.

-------------------------------------------------------

Jan 14th, 2012

*Amy talked about finally succeeding in getting a publisher for her cook book. She did a photo shoot for the cover of the book. The book is going to be called "Short and Simple".

*There's still a couple of LPBW "specials" to air. It's not the same intense filming as before. The next one (that episode has now aired) focuses on Zach.

*Amy said she gets to know more about her kids from the sound bytes they give for the show.

*Amy discussed the fact that Jeremy is in California. She misses him. She commented that there is a lot more food in the fridge now that Jeremy and his friends aren't around.

*Chatters were asking for the other Roloffs to make an appearance. Amy said Molly and Jacob were sleeping ("Little Big Talk" is on Saturdays starting at 10am PST for an hour or two).

*Update on Jeremy? He's studying photography. He's loving it. Second semester will be tougher. He was home for Christmas break and spent a lot of time with his girlfriend.

*Amy described Zach as going to school, working at Indoor Goals and is still figuring out life.

*Jacob's 15th birthday was Jan 17th. He's working on his driver's permit. Amy said it will depend upon his grades.

*Amy went to a spa with Molly for their birthdays. They waited because there was so much going on in September with Amy's charity event and then pumpkin season.

*Molly made an appearance and ate cereal as she chatted. She's still deciding on colleges. She's not keen on attending universities in Oregon.

*Amy said she needs to send Jeremy a care package because she hasn't done that yet.

*Jeremy took some of Molly's senior pictures, but she was having more done by a friend at school who is also really into photography.

*Molly left after a few minutes. Amy said they come on her internet live streaming show for her; they go along with it.

*Amy wanted Molly to go wake Jacob up so he would come say "hi". Amy said he has longer hair now.

*Amy discussed Jacob. He's going to public high school now. A lot of people know him from TV. He has a few good friends. Amy worries about Jacob every day, but says he's doing good.

*Ads cut into the live streaming program. Amy's tech guy, Rich, said they were annoying.

*They do "shout outs" to people on the chat "We have a viewer from Boston! "Hi Boston!" Mary from Miami. Hi Mary in Miami" - that type of thing.

*A chatter asked Amy how she feels about people coming up to talk to her when she's out. Amy said she loves when people come up to her and tries to get to everyone, but doesn't like it when people interrupt if she is already talking to someone else.

*Amy's not sure about what is going to happen with more LPBW "update specials".

*Amy and Matt are both trying to do speaking events. Matt does more corporate events, while Amy does more with disability/diversity groups and speeches at colleges.

*Amy wants to get back to travelling. In 2013 they might take some big trips. They are thinking about Jamaica. Amy said she might take Molly to Mexico.

*Amy did a cooking segment.

*She was asked about farm animals. Amy doesn't know if they still have goats. They weren't the Roloffs goats. She doesn't know if the farmer took them back to his place or what.

*Amy went back to talking about how she hopes Jacob will wake up and make an appearance for her chat, but he had friends stay over last night and probably stayed up all night.

*Amy said Molly was excited about being registered to vote.

*Jacob's friend, Levi and his mother made an appearance. Amy asked Levi where Jacob was?Levi said he's still asleep upstairs.

-------------------------------------------

Jan 28th

*Amy discussed some current news stories. She mentioned a family whose daughter was murdered and then the son went on the subway and flashed a gun, people called the police. Amy thinks people should more understanding towards the circumstances young people are dealing with and need to give young people hope.

*Chatters were asking about the height of the Roloffs:

Amy said she is 4'2 and Molly is 5'9.

According to Amy, Jeremy is 6 foot. Lisa could be heard saying "5'11.

Amy said Jacob is 5'5. Molly said he's shorter.

*Amy thinks Jacob needs to start eating healthier.

*They took a question about Zach and Tori. Amy described Tori as a lovely girl. She likes Tori. She's balanced. She reminds Amy of Molly. Tori isn't drama. She's good for Zach. Amy said it would be great if they could maintain their relationship. Amy described Zach as being very black and white. Cold and warm. Amy said uttered the words "Temper tantrums".

*Matt came inside. They called Matt over to the table. Amy said Matt was butchering their pigs. Matt told Amy that she shouldn't talk about it because some people get upset when they talk about that subject. Amy said she likes raising their own animals for food. Matt mentioned using pumpkin seeds and left over pumpkins. He made a joke about their meat smelling like pumpkins.

*Matt said they just a board meeting about CoDA. He says they are about to receive a large grant. Matt described the LPA as being spread very thin, so CoDA tries to help in some other areas. They don't have a lot of money for CoDA, but you can donate through paypal. Matt said they don't put as much time and energy into CoDA as Amy does with her charity foundation.

*Amy had a guest that she had on last year on "Coffee Chat". The guest then transformed into

"Aunt Lena" and joined Amy in the kitchen for a cooking segment. It seemed to go on for about an hour with Amy, "Aunt Lena" and Lisa talking among themselves about cooking. The chatters were getting restless. Some said they couldn't hear them and some were insulting "Aunt Lena"

That was about all.

Television Ratings For 3rd Little People, Big World / Roloff Family Special "Zach's First Love"

The ratings for the 3rd of 4 TLC specials of Little People, Big World were down from the previous specials.

According to the TV-By-The-Numbers site, Little People, Big World had ratings of 1.258 on Sunday for the 3rd special.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/01/24/sunday-cable-ratings-kourtney-kim-edge-down-still-lead-atlanta-housewives-ax-men-mob-wives-2-shameless-more/117326/

Although, keep in mind, the TV By The Numbers site listed ratings for the 2nd special of Little People, Big World as 1.534 and then Matt Roloff posted on his Facebook that TLC was "thrilled" at the 1.2 rating it received.

So whatever the case, the number of viewers were down from the 2nd special to the latest special.

It is important to note that Sunday night was a bad night for most cable shows due to the NFL Playoffs. The Kardashian show was down considerably from what they usually receive.

As a comparison, the TLC show that followed LPBW on Sunday night, "Hoarding Buried Alive" had a 1.324 compared to LPBW's 1.258.

The 3rd Little People, Big World / Roloff Family Special: Zach's First Love

The 3rd special of Little People, Big World featuring the Roloff family airs tonight at 8pm on TLC.

This is the preview from TLC:

=======================
Zach is stuck in a rut and still living at home. Matt and Amy struggle to motivate him to move forward in life, but it's the arrival of a new girlfriend that changes Zach's life in immeasurable ways.

======================

Our guest reviewer Rap541 has graciously agreed to recap the episode:

================

Written By Rap541

Preview:

So lets see, Zach is dating. Good lord, really? Is this what passes for extraordinary now? I am willing to bet actual cash money that we get Matt at some point hay baling how he was a stud at Zach's age and is glad that Zach is finally getting with the program and sowing his seed. Because you know, men need to plow fields (aka have sex with a lot of girls) before they settle down with just one woman as an "old goat". I also bet Matt will not in any way attempt to suggest that Molly should be out "plowing fields" as she is a perfect little princess, and those girls with Zach and Jeremy? Apparently aren't someone's daughters so Matt doesn't care!

For the record, I bet this is a snooze-fest and Zach, like Jeremy, is getting way too old to be Daddy's little helper and Mommy's little man.

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Onto the episode....

So apparently I am missing American Idol for this. I would be more upset if American Idol hadn’t started to suck. I sit through Toddlers and Tiaras where Brock, a boy, is prancingly delighted at how he won both King and Queen Taco Grand Supreme at the ball. Then I realize that the family show Little People Big World is airing at 9pm here. So I switch back to the game. There are a LOT of fat Giants, just saying. Also why is a family show on so late? Well, at least the game is kind of exciting.

Hmmm the game is done (Go Giants! Go cute Eli Manning!) and I switch back to TLC and dear god the show still isn’t on. Now we’re up to the Toddlers and Tiaras showdown between Mackenzie and Eden which by the way is a straight up rerun. Honestly, if I was a Hoarders: Buried Alive fan, I would be totally mad about how LPBW took their late night spot.

Did I mention how late the family show is on?

And how there’s no rerun of the previous specials? And how hilarious it is that rerunning an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras instead of a LPBW special is the financial decision of TLC? And they’re running the special against American Idol and the football playoffs? Yeah TLC cares.

We start with indoor soccer and then we’re in Matt’s office. Matt interrogates Zach on how he’s a loser. Matt hay bales how soccer isn’t a long term career. He demands Zach explain how a career in soccer will be monetized. I imagine its as likely as photography being lucrative, Matt. Does everyone know that photographers average about 30k per year? Makes you wonder how Jer-Bear will buy himself a million dollar house like Matt. Matt tells Zach he’s less than Jeremy and he will toss Zach out of the nest if need be since Jeremy is fully supporting himself now . Oh wait…Jer’s never held a job that Daddy Matt didn’t give him and Daddy Matt is paying for the big boy’s lucrative art school degree.

Zach notes he’s 21 and in community college and has no future. He seems to like the job at the soccer place. He continues to note he wants to be a professional coach,. We get some old footage. Really, it is just sad that there’s no one in Zach’s life that’s ever had a serious career discussion with him.

Now we meet the girl. She apparently has been around since 2010. She likes soccer so Zach thinks she’s hot. Molly seems to like her. Zach takes his family on his dates. There’s cute handholding. Zach notes they smooched in the swamp fort. They rent trikes and race and it feels staged since yeah, its all in front of the cameras. Zach notes how shy his girl is.

Zach notes that people stare and she needs to be strong etc etc. There’s a clearly forced discussion with Jake, in a resteraunt, saying “HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DATING TORI! . Really, I know the Roloffs are often willfully dumb, but they live in the same house. I always knew when my brother and sister had new boy friends. Zach notes how dating average heights is weird.

I kind of get the vibe through out this entire episode that Matt and Amy see Tori as a passing fancy.

Amy notes how shocked she is that Zach is dating. Matt also notes how Zach is dating. Considering how incredibly important Zach dating has been, perhaps he decided to get with the program to get Mom and Dad off his back? Everyone eats spaghetti. Amy thinks Tori will dump his ass. Matt uses the moment to embarrass Zach and hay bales how he’s glad Zach is finally plowing some fields and being more like Jeremy.

Amy chides Zach about how the job at Indoor Goals is crap and he needs to be more like Jeremy. I’m really unsure why dead end job and unrealistic career goals is less acceptable than no job and unrealistic career goals but I’m sure someone will tell me. Amy tells him how stagnate he is. Zach hay bales how in fact his childhood was rather protected. Amy goes on and on about how Zach is too comfortable and needs to get moving and set goals. The entire time she is lecturing him, she is making him a sandwich and this lecture ends with Amy noting that he needs to man up. And then she hands him his special man meal that she made for her little man. Geez Amy, there’s problem number one.

Back to soccer. Tori likes soccer so she’s like a boyfriend. They play soccer. Zach goes on and on about girls and soccer and soccer and girls and passing the ball. Oooh Conjoined Twins Later! Zach, to be fair, actually looks like he’s been showering. It’s a nice change

Matt and Zach go to the go kart track. Matt wants Zach to learn that Matt is always right and should have his ass kissed more often by Zach. They get the go karts rigged and now we have the obligatory race. Because Roloffs race! This isn’t completely staged and we haven’t seen Matt be a competitive ass over childish things in two previous specials at all. Matt spins out in his car. Frankly it looked fake. Matt notes he did it so Zach could learn to reach for the stars like Matt and not be a loser. Then they eat milk shakes and Matt asks about Tori. Again, maybe some of Zach’s maturity issues come from the fact that Daddy is taking him for go karts and milkshakes at 21. I mean, he’s 21, Matt. Neither Amy or Matt seem to think Tori will stick around long. I’m sure Tori is appreciating that tonight. Matt tells Zach that to keep a woman, he needs to make money. Hmm. I wonder if he told Jeremy that. I recall Jeremy’s lecture involved scoring with as many chicks as possible before being forced to settle for just one. Matt proceeds to tell Zach to man up.

I’m really struck by what an infant Zach is and by how is mom and dad infantilize him.

Oh Hoarders is on! Oh wait, its just the Roloff home! Zach notes how he’s 21 and its time he wore clean clothes. Tori wanders into the pigsty and says eww. She then gets all “what are you keeping?”. Zach notes that Tori is way out of his league They store his crap in the barn. Then Tori asks “How’s Indoor Goals? What do you want to do?” I suspect this is for the camera. Zach is going to look for work with the Portland Timbers. He wants to get his foot in the door but doesn’t seem to know how.

Amy cleans. Then she yells at Zach to get his resume together. Amy hay bales how people will say no to him because he’s a little person. True but there’s more to it than that. Zach heads off to his interview for…. What? I mean there’s no job discussed.

The Portland Timbers guy is an Aussie, I think. Zach actually has a coaching license? Some sort of license. The head coach seems to like him. In fairness, Zach comes off a lot better when Jeremy isn’t there. I’ve wondered that for a long time, if part of the problem is the “conjoined” aspect of the twins’s lives. That’s a mom and dad issue btw, not a Jeremy issue. They talk about coaching scenarios and coaching jobs. I really don’t think this was a job interview at all. Now we have Zach watching the game being played while inspirational music is played. Yeah um… what exactly was he interviewing for?

Zach heads home. The counter is covered with wine bottles. He needs a “D” license and basically they gave him their business card. Amy explains how to read the card. She laughs but again, it’s a problem.

Zach is writing some sort of thank you letter. Mueller jokes, Tori seems to take it seriously. I am genuinely shocked he knows to write a thank you letter. Tori and Zach head out for a date. Zach notes that if he treats a girl nicely, she’s less concerned about his appearance as a dwarf. He seems so shocked. They go to the Tavern. Zach notes that etiquette with a girl is awkward. Zach orders for her. This is what every young couple wants, cameras on a date Zach goes on how he’s in love. I notice we haven’t gotten any hay bales from Tori. Yet.

The date drags on thru the commercial break. They have dated for 7 months. Yet this is being presented as a new thing. Oh finally Tori in a confessional. She likes Zach. She seems nice. Since this was filmed in September, I wonder if they are still dating.

Back at the house. Zach is screwing around with a soccer ball and gets a phone call. He gets called for an internship job. Zach and Matt discuss this intern while Mo licks his butt. I mean, its natural and all but kind of an indicator just how fast this filmed since they didn’t reshoot to avoid cats licking their butts. Matt privately (heh) hay bales that Zach is FINALLY doing something. Because this hasn’t been harped on the entire episode, how Matt is disappointed. Matt notes that he and Amy are attending and this all feels intentional. As in, gosh the Portland Timbers are awfully accommodating and gosh funny how Matt had time in his very busy schedule to attend the game Zach was interning at even though it all seemed to go down at last minute.

Zach gets a special uniform and gets instructed on what to do. He’s time keeping. There is soccer footage. Matt and Pondo of the Cheap Douchebags are there. Zach notes he has to do well or else consider moving to a town with more opportunity.

And we’re back. This is the final game of the season so no, this isn’t a job for Zach. Zach works, and fills out paper work and soccer is played. Zach seems to leave and joins Matt in the stands. Which is odd because it doesn’t seem like the game was over. Zach goes on about his passion. Amy hay bales how Zach is taking a big first step. Matt hay bales how Zach is taking a big first step. And done! Matt and Amy sure don’t think much of Zach, do they?

I feel for Tori.

Amy Roloff Coffee Chat (Live Internet Talk Show) Returns Saturday Jan 14, 2012

Amy Roloff's live internet "talk show" that she has called "Coffee Chat With Amy" is returning this Saturday Jan 14th at 10am Pacific time.

Amy and her team have posted these messages on all of her various social networking sites:

"Hey everyone, join me on little BIG Talk with Amy Saturday, 14th, 10-11. Go to www.amyroloffcf.org to log in, a little talk here and there and BIG talk on a topic. Your questions, suggestions, and input are talked about to. IT'S LIVE. what's up. More info to follow. I'm starting up again and beginning on a Saturday. Woohoo."

Amy's previous "Coffee Chats" have been held via Ustream:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/amy-roloff

Amy's live internet "coffee chats" began after the cancellation of "Little People, Big World" and continued pretty regularly -- every Friday -- until about June of 2011 when the LPBW specials were announced.

Previously, Amy began holding her internet chats in a coffee shop and would have a local guest. She then moved it to her home. Occasionally, the Roloff kids (and once, Matt) would make an appearance, but I think it's fair to say they appeared to be rather reluctant and not much was ever revealed. Amy often did cooking segments or interviewed guests such as musician Patrick Lamb while Amy's life chat audience asked questions.

Some people made the observation that towards the end of the "Coffee Chat with Amy" series, Amy appeared more reluctant to talk about the kids and discuss the real events in the lives of the Roloffs - even though that's what the chatters kept asking about. Amy seemed like she wanted the chat talk to be directed at her cooking segments and interviews of her guests rather than questions about her kids and the ever popular "How is Rocky doing?" (which was asked multiple times in every coffee chat).

The most discussed or note-worthy incident to come from Amy's Live Internet Coffee Chat from Spiritswander readers, was after Amy had said all questions are welcome and asked for some "tough questions". A chatter named Kyle asked Amy about the Solid Rock church that Jeremy and the Roloffs love so much and the issues of hypocrisy because some of the church's messages that are taught appear to contradict the content of Amy's speeches in her role as a paid Diversity speaker about acceptance of people who are different.

You can read our detailed recap of that show here:

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2011/01/amy-roloff-answers-question-re.html

Amy appeared to be a bit rattled by the question (and gave a vague answer). People noticed that in Amy's chats after that question/show she appeared to be less willing to take/answer questions.

So to recap: Amy's Coffee Chat: Live Internet show returns this Saturday at 10:00 AM Pacific time.

A Roloff Year In Review - Looking Back On Matt's 2011 Project Agenda

Now that 2011 is behind us, we thought now would be a good time to do a Year in Review of the Roloff Family. In January 2011 Matt made a You Tube that he called his 2011 Project Agenda.

http://spiritswander.blogspot.com/2011/01/matt-roloffs-video-update-his-2011.html

He outlined 12 "focus areas" of projects and ideas he was going to work for the year. Since Matt admittedly does a great deal of teasing and hinting and "I can't tell you now" stuff, some of which he says is for the "silly bloggers" -- we would be slacking if we didn't go back and review Matt's list to what actually ended up happening or did not happen.

We will quote our original review/summary of Matt's Video in 2011 in red font and then follow-up with the results in blue font.

=========================

It's 17 minutes long in total, so we will summarize Matt's major points. This is all according to Matt in the video (unless otherwise specified).

*Matt makes a "focus area" list at the beginning of each year. He has approximately 14 focus areas for 2011. People send him private messages thinking he means all of his project ideas have to do with things on the farm. Most of them don't. Here are some of the things on his list.

*He's going to try to spend more time with the family. The filming of the TV show took more time than people realize because they needed to meet with producers and plan out things. Even running out to the bank was time consuming when the cameras were there because they needed to film it a couple of times until they got it right.

*So Matt wants to spend more time with the family this year; he's fortunate to have his office at home so he can see the kids when they come home from school.

*Matt is spending more time with Jacob than he ever has before. He has taken Jacob to the mall and to movies more in the last couple of months than they've been in Jacob's entire life.

Throughout 2011, Matt continued to frequently post on his Facebook Fan Page that he took Jacob to the movies and to the mall. However, despite the extra time Matt said he was devoting to his youngest son, it didn't prevent one of the most significant events in 2011 from happening. That was Jacob being expelled from Faith Bible in April with just over a month to go in the school year.

Both Matt and Amy broke the news on their Fan Pages that Jacob had been "kicked out" of the private Christian school that was featured on Little People, Big World since the beginning of the series.

Amy and Matt's very first reaction was to express anger at the school which included an unsuccessful pitch for the school to allow Jacob to finish the year since there was only one month to go. Amy had asked for prayers before that meeting. The school stuck to their decision to expel Jacob. Matt was on a solo vacation in Hawaii at the time and cut his vacation short when Faith Bible decided to expel Jacob from their school.

Next, after originally announcing that Jacob would be home-schooled, they ended up taking him for a state test that determined he could move onto Grade 9 in September if he worked on a few subjects. Matt and Amy enlisted him in a learning center/tutor program for a few hours a day per week until the end of the year. At the time, Matt posted that he "never liked that school" (Faith Bible) and turned it into Jacob being too creative for the school and it was holding him back.

Matt expressed that he was very proud of Jacob and Jacob was happier than he's been in years now that he was expelled. Fans listening to Matt's description of the incident then congratulated on Matt, Amy and Jacob for being expelled, for being creative and for being allowed to move onto Grade 9.

It sounds like something out of the twilight zone -- offering "congratulations" after a kid got expelled from school, but Matt did somehow manage to spin the story in a way that left some of his fans congratulating Jacob on what had happened. Matt has been referred to as a "Master of Spin"....we tend to agree. :)

Jacob is now attending a public school.

*Molly is so self-sufficient and doesn't need much, but it's important to Matt to go to movies with her and attend some of her volleyball games.

Not much changed for Molly in 2011. She continued to do well in High School. She is now a senior and will graduate in June 2012. She has applied to several Christian Universities including Pepperdine in California, Seattle Pacific and Whitworth University in Washington. During one of Amy's live internet chats earlier in the year, Molly expressed that although she had looked into places located in Oregon such as George Fox or Portland State, she was leaning more towards a university in Washington or California.

*Jeremy and Zach -- Matt is trying to coach them or "hold their hand" through the process of applying for different colleges. It's still undecided about Jeremy going to one college vs another college or Jeremy leaving home, so Matt is working to motivate them. Matt reports that it's getting easier. They are more into it now because some of them friends are at different colleges. They'll sometimes ask Matt 'what about this place, can you help with this application and can you get so and so to write a a letter of recommendation for here'.

*Zach is still working hard at the soccer place and Jeremy continues to work hard around the farm on top of everything else they do.

Not much changed for Zach in 2011 as far as where he lives, works or goes to school.

The most significant change for Zach in 2011 was that he now has found his first real girlfriend -- a girl named Tori. She was shown in one of the LPBW specials that aired in late 2011, but wasn't identified as Zach's girlfriend, although she is.

Several of Zach's friends in the LP Community reported that his behavior had completely changed at this year's National LPA conference held in Anaheim, California (the first year Zach was 21 for a LPA conference). Friends reported that the once reserved, quiet and shy Zach who used to express his annoyance at stupid drunk antics, was routinely drunk on the dance floor and was "all over" several LP girls, despite having a girlfriend back at home (the aforementioned Tori). Zach seemed to survive any ramifications from his wild party behavior at the LPA Conference as Zach and Tori remain in a relationship together and friends report that they are very happy together.

Probably without question, the biggest change in the Roloff Family in 2011 was that one of the kids has finally left home. In September 2011 Jeremy left for a photography school in California called Brooks Institute of Photography located in Santa Barbara, California. Though it is a for profit school, Jeremy was actually accepted in late 2009, but Jeremy mulled over different options and eventually committed to the school and started in Sept 2011.

Jeremy, like Zach, also found himself a steady girlfriend in 2011 -- a girl named Audrey -- who like Jeremy is an enthusiastic supporter of the Solid Rock Church and lists Pastor John Mark Comer as one of the people that inspires her the most.

I think it is fair to say that Jeremy is by far the most controversial Roloff and the Roloff that generates the most heated of debates. 2011 was no exception for Jeremy and discussion.

Pictures of Jeremy's best friend (Jacob Mueller) throwing the Roloff cat named Mo (the black and white cat) high in the air while Jeremy sat on the sofa and snapped pictures of Mo the cat airborne generated an angry response from people.

Jeremy's affection and association with a very conservative church in Portland called Solid Rock and the lead Pastor - John Mark Comer, continued to generate a lot of discussion. It is mainly due to some of the Church's rather extreme views such as gay people are perverted and broken and need to pray to Jesus and then can be cured of their homosexuality. The church also has some very conservative views on a woman's role in society and in marriage -- her role to serve the husband. This issue always generates attention because of the perceived hypocrisy of the Roloff Family since Matt and Amy also have attended Solid Rock church and have expressed that they are pleased that Jeremy (and to a lesser extent --Molly) love Solid Rock so much. Some fans feel the Roloffs are being massive hypocrites when they are paid Diversity Speakers delivering speeches about acceptance of people who are different, when they and many in their family are connected to and support organizations that teach that people different from themselves should pray their difference way and pray to be "normal".

Jeremy's best friend and LPBW regular Mueller, whom Jeremy spent most of the summer hanging out with day after day, also generated more controversy (in addition to the "cat tossing" pcitures) when a video emerged on You Tube in late summer which featured his then girlfriend from France (who had been living in Oregon), Mueller and one of the other Roloff friends - an 18 year old named Christian - drinking in the Roloff Garage. Shots of Jack Daniels could clearly be seen in the video. Mueller will not turn 21 until next month - February 2012.

DAS (the hotel accessibility kit for LP). Matt started the company with Mike Detjen in 2002. Matt says it continues to be a profitable business even though he hasn't done any sales calls on it recently. Matt wants to really focus on it again and be aggressive in selling it.

No news on the DAS kits in 2011.

*Matt's speaking engagements. Matt likes to go to colleges and universities and motivate and inspire people by talking about things that happened in his life that will help other people live an extraordinary life. It's very close to his heart, he enjoys doing it. He does 24 to 30 of those a year and expects that to continue.

Matt and Amy have given speeches to colleges – usually paid for by the diversity groups of the various Colleges.

*CoDA. Amy will continue to be busy with her non profit charity ARCF and Matt has his non profit CoDA. They have the bike program, raise money for adoptions and scholarships through the LPA. Matt states they have absolutely no expenses, that they are all volunteers. They use the basketball (Statesmen vs celebrities) games to raise money for CoDA. According to Matt, Marty and Matt pay for the Statesmen and celebrities to travel to those games out of their own pockets. [note: This seems to be Matt's response to a criticism some people have been making about CoDA. Some people think the CoDA basketball games are an excuse for them to get together and party -- claiming that the Roloffs fly first class, stay in nice hotels and ride around in limos. Recently, some people have been citing that Marty back in August, a couple of weeks before the CoDA game in Montana, asked his fans to donate to CoDA and help him out because it gets hard for Marty to fly in and house all the Statesmen and celebrity players -- some people were upset that CoDA donations appeared to be going towards paying for Matt, Zach, and Jeremy's (and all the others) flight, hotel and limos.]

There were no new CoDA charity games in 2011. The Statesman (Zach was the only Roloff involved) dwarf basketball team appeared very briefly in an episode of the WWE reality show Tough Enough.

The CoDA website doesn't appear to have been updated any time recently.

Amy remained very active with the Amy Roloff Charity Foundation. She held her annual Golf and Auction event in September. Amy frequently attends events such as Food or Toy drives. The Amy Roloff Charity Foundation partnered with Generosity Water to raise donations to build a water well in Haiti and/or other countries that desperately need clean water.

*Matt wants to make himself available to do various Public Service Announcements. He wants to be able to be more available to say yes when people ask him to be apart of this parade or moderate this event, etc.

Aside from being paid to be a diversity speaker at some events, there wasn't much on this front in 2011. Matt did appear in an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover - Home Edition; but I don't think that would really be considered as a public service announcement.

*Documentaries. He's working on several. Some of them are about little people, some are about outrageous back yards - not theRoloffs, but showing off other people's back yards and crazy projects. They might document those on video camera and maybe they'll just put it on You Tube or maybe they'll find a market for it on a TV network.

In the early to mid part of 2011, Matt mentioned that he was filming a documentary on his "dirt deal" (Intel paid Matt to allow them to dump their dirt from the new plant they were building on land Matt had purchased). During a couple of Amy's live internet talk shows, Amy referenced the filming of the documentary. However, as of yet, nothing has been released.

*There's a project idea about revitalizing a small town. Coming into a dying town where people have left and see whether they can stimulate the economy and bring people back. These are the type of things Matt is talking about when you see him post about flying to LA to sign non disclosures and things like that.

Matt still occasionally references on his Facebook Fan Page that he flew to LA, but nothing has been announced on this front either.

*None of those things are what Matt would call a spin off of LPBW or anything like that. The Roloffs are still under contract to TLC for another 18 months. They need to make themselves available to TLC if TLC wants anything from them, but Matt doesn't expect to happen, although you might see a special somewhere along the way, they have discussed that, but right now they're not at all focused on LPBW and TLC.

So much for not being focused on LPBW and TLC :) From about April on, Matt and Amy quite frequently posted about LPBW and TLC for the duration of 2011.

In about April, Matt began hinting that TLC was begging the Roloffs to do more shows. Our sources contradict Matt's version. Our sources (who, I will point out, were one hundred percent correct about there being 4 specials long before that was ever announced) said that it was definitely Matt who contacted TLC. We were told the Roloffs were angling were a grand vacation in the deal – TLC was unwilling. They eventually agreed on the 4 specials and in the first special, the vacation featured in the episode was an RV trip from Oregon to California.

*Farm development. Matt's thinking about projects for pumpkin season, he will keep everyone updated on those to help promote pumpkin season. Last pumpkin season was very successful to Matt's surprise. Matt thought with the show being over people wouldn't be interested in going to Roloff Farms for pumpkins but they actually had their busiest day ever. [Note: Although Matt said the show was over and the news of it ending was announced in late August, during October LPBW was very much still on the air with new episodes]

A LPBW special aired in October and TLC filmed some of the pumpkin season for the 2nd special. Matt made his 50th birthday into an event and promoted it for months in advance.

The Roloffs set up a still webcam on the farm via Ustream. It was an idea that some of Matt's fans back on his mattroloff.com message board had suggested for years. I think it's fair to say the reaction was less than exuberant. It was a still camera with no sound that consisted of random pumpkin customers walking past. They would sometimes change the location, however some complained that the Roloffs never or rarely ever appeared and wondered what the point was of the whole thing.

As far as Farm Development, the Roloffs purchased the neighbors farm in 2011. This solved the parking problems the Roloffs used to encounter for Pumpkin Season. Matt has been posting about working on several of the old worn down buildings on the farm, including barns and an old farm house. Some speculate the Roloff kids will eventually move in - as Matt had posted that Jeremy told him to save the old house (on the new property) for him. That remark generated some negative comments from observers that want to see the older Roloff kids (Jeremy and Zach will be 22 in May, Molly 19 in September and Jacob will turn 15 later this month) demonstrate some independence on their own and earn their own way instead of relying on Matt and Amy to buy and pay for everything for them.

The farm will stay open for pumpkin season

It did. See above.

*Publishing: A children's book has been discussed and a 'Behind the Scenes' of the LPBW experience book. It would also pick up where Matt's first book, Against Tall Odds left off in 1999. There was a 5 year gap between that book and when they got involved in television.

Neither of Matt's book ideas happened in 2011.
Amy has talked about wanting to author a cook book all year and expressed some frustration at how long the process has taken. Earlier this week she posted a picture from a "food photo shoot" that she said is for her cook book.

*Technology projects. Matt's background is in software as a salesman. Now he's in position where he might be able to fund some of those ideas with his own money.

While Matt hinted and teased for many weeks and months about his big project with Intel and stabilizing their water supply – it turned out his involvement was purchasing land and then acting as a contractor with Intel for them to use his land as a dumping ground.

*Product endorsements. If you have a product and would like Matt to promote it, get in touch with him. Although some of those things might need to go through TLC right now because they are still under contract for the next 18 months. TLC still has a say in what theRoloffs can and can't do. Matt says he already has a line up of possibilities; nothing major on national television, these are more small print ads.

*Voice over work and cartoons and things like that he will keep on the table to keep their revenue stream going forward.

Not much on that front became reality in 2011, although some would point out that Matt did do a few spots for the Matt Damon movie "We Bought A Zoo" -- the spots aired only during the TLC special of LPBW in December.

*An adventure park similar to Roloff farm -- but not on Roloff Farm. Matt has a group of heavy hitters and politicians that he meets with regularly to discuss this adventure park. They've identified a piece of land and are looking into the land use laws.

It is a bit unclear whether this idea was side-tracked by the Intel dirt-dumping deal. Matt and business partners did purchase land, but it was used for the dump site. Matt has referred to ideas such as using the huge amounts of dirt as a "Pumpkin Mountain".

More recently there was an article in the local Oregon news, although Matt wasn't mentioned by name, detailing that there has been controversy and complaints from owners of the neighboring land about all of the dirt from the dump sites.

*The legislative process. Matt got more involved last year with politics. He's more interested in the legislative process. He mentions the lawsuit, they need to litigate to get laws changed. He's going to keep up with the process and might make some trips down to Salem to sit in on some of the sessions at the political level.

Matt did not announce his candidacy for the Republican Presidential Nomination :)
Matt did Facebook his support for Herman Cain. Matt expressed that he felt Herman Cain had many good ideas for the country.

*Hobby movies. They are going to continue to work on their hobby movies. Jeremy is working a lot of them. Every night they sit down for dinner Jeremy has more ideas. So they're going to get their home movie production equipment going -- they have a studio set up and will upgrade some of their equipment to make some fun movies. Slightly more professional than Matt's You Tube videos, but nothing really professional or broadcast quality, just fun stuff.

I think it's fair to say that this idea didn't become reality - at least nothing that could be considered a movie.

During the first quarter of 2011, Matt posted a few You Tube videos including the one we're discussing now - his 2011 Project Agenda. Matt made another You Tube video in his office where he discussed his week. That video is probably most memorable to people for the little humorous white lies the Roloffs told as Matt pretended that Jacob randomly walked into his office while he was doing his video and invited Jacob to speak on camera. However, astute viewers noticed that Jacob was in the room the whole time as his reflection could be seen in the fireplace. The Roloffs went as far as opening and closing the office door to make it sound as if Jacob was really entering and exiting, when he was in the room the entire time.

Getting back to the topic of "hobby movies", In December 2010 on his You Tube channel Jeremy announced that he would post more movies over Christmas break. That never really happened. Jeremy filmed a couple of little videos about Sam Roloff's artwork and they filmed a high school project for Molly and her/their friends. One featured their friend Christian running around the farm. Christian would become better known to Spiritswander readers as the under age kid that was seen drinking in the Roloff garage along with Mueller and some French girls. (The You Tube video with the drinking footage in the Roloffs garage was then deleted after we had posted about it).

Early in the year, Amy began holding live internet "Coffee Chats" via Ustream on Fridays. While Amy still sort of lets on as though she'll get around to it soon (some people have asked her recently on her Facebook Fan Page), it's notable that she hasn't had her internet show since the LPBW specials began filming.

Molly posted a video of her and friends on a You Tube channel. The video featured Molly's friends playing a character called "Dr. Hemp". Some You Tube users posted comments to Molly's public videos stating that referencing drugs wasn't very Christian. An annoyed Molly responded to some of those comments stating that people better not ever judge a Roloff or their friends walk with Jesus and that she felt a lot of hate in the comments. She directed the comment to someone that said they were confused Christians and should realize that you can have a good time without drugs or alcohol.

Kerderler: Dr Hemp...that's very wholesome Christian of you folks. Poor confused young Christians. Maybe one day you'll realize that true followers of Christ don't need alcohol or drugs to have a good time (and won't lie about it either).

mojoro2: @kerderler true followers of Christ would know that other true follows of Christ aren't perfect and wouldnt post nasty comments tearing them down. True followers of Christ would do their best to build up the body of Christ in truth and in love. so why do i feel so much hate in your comment? Dont ever judge my or my brother's/friends walk with Jesus. You don't know what youre talking about.

Our frequent poster and guest reviewer Rap541's comment regarding Molly's response was:

Rap541: "Good lord.... if thats true, then why do so many Christians applaud Jeremy's "faggithole" remarks? If being a Christian means you need to do your best to build up the body of Christ, then why is it ok for Mueller and Jeremy's friends to tell a fan of the show to kill herself and call her a big loser and a b*tch for saying she thought Jeremy was awesome? If Judging is wrong then why is Molly judging the person who commented by saying she feels hate in the comment? Really, Molls, smoke up that hemp and listen up. Your comment amounts to "No one who claims to be Christian should ever judge us, and as a Christian, I judge you as a HATER and will look down on you accordingly." I can't be the only one seeing the contradiction. Or the hypocrisy"

After we posted about Molly's You Tube video, she turned her video to private (that tends to happen a lot after we post about it :)

Molly's response to the You Tube video essentially marked the first time that fans got to see the real Molly Roloff respond on her own to fan comments about the Roloffs. Matt basically doesn't allow his kids (even as adults) or their friends to interact with fans or anything public unless it is under his control and his direction.

*They still have their pumpkin movie that should be out soon. They're working on the score for it down in LA. Matt says he's not all that proud of that movie -- he thinks it looked better on the television show than it does in real life -- but they're going to get it out there somehow. They might put it on iTunes and sell it for 99 cents -- nobody will get rich off it or make their money back, but it might be a fun way to see how that system works out.

As of Jan 7, 2012, the pumpkin movie featured in an episode of LPBW still has not been released via Itunes or any other venue.

*All these things are subject to change. If he starts hearing people Facebook him come June asking him how come he's not doing this or why did that fall through Matt is just going to say go back to the disclaimer.

We gave it a full year before following up on this :) It was the list for 2011, now that it is 2012, it seemed like a good time to go back and see the results of Matt's project list. Matt hasn't yet posted his Project Agenda list for 2012.