stuff.js

var form_not_submitted = true;

$( function() {
  $("form").validate({ rules: {...}, submitHandler: submitOnce});
})

var submitOnce = function(form) {
  if ( form_not_submitted )
    { form_not_submitted = false; alert('hi'); form.submit(); }
  else { return false }
}

// as is, the alert only fires 1 time but the form can be submitted multiple

// I can literally take the form.submit() call out, and the alerts only fire as expected