Extreme Home Makeover

Paul and I used to watch this show together the 1st season it came out. Then the 2nd season began and we soon lost interest. I'm all for helping people out, but what turned us off was the gluttony, for lack of a better word, on the show. I tuned into a recent show, however, because Atticus Shaffer of The Middle was going to be on. The preview for the show said that Atticus and the child of this week's family had something in common and I wanted to find out what that was. Turns out they both have brittle bone disease. Nine year old Patrick was a hoot and has a wonderful outlook on life. His parents work opposite shifts and homeschool Patrick. Loved the family; loved the awareness that Patrick works to get out about the differences and similarities between all children.

But they are only a family of 3 and don't need a McMansion! They just need a safe, soft, even floor and certain things at Patrick's level to allow him as much independence as possible. I kept waiting to hear what the square footage of the new home was, but I never heard it. I wondered if other viewers had expressed their dislike for this over-the-top show so they don't release that info anymore. Turns out, I am not alone.

I read an article this morning about a previous EHM family who have recently had their children temporarily taken away from them. The parents are under investigation for allegedly making their daughters sick in order to qualify for the show. Evidently, there have been other families who had not been truthful in their submissions to ABC, as well. The article went on to say that there has been criticize for quite some time about the show going too far beyond meeting the needs of people.

With companies contributing so much money and materials to this show for free advertising, did no one think to worry about who they were aligning themselves with? Did no one think to take some of that money to hire a decent background checker? But more importantly, I would love to see the houses and decor scaled back! People have had to give up these new homes b/c they can't afford the upkeep. How are you helping them? Usually the comments made to online articles are garbage, but these readers had some good input. One person claimed they lived in the same town as an EHM recipient and that the family had to sell the house b/c the taxes went up so much. This person also said the neighbors' taxes went up, too, due to the value of the new house on the street. Another reader suggested that instead of making 1 huge home they could help to rebuild some of the thousands of homes recently destroyed by tornadoes. Very good point.

I think lots of Americans have made changes to our lifestyles during the recession. We've cut back, scaled down, focused on needs vs. wants. Some of us because we have to, some of us b/c we want to. I think it would be nice to see EHM reflect these changes.

Who cares about the royal wedding? I DO!

First off, I need to tell 2 quotes Ben said recently:

"Freedom and Jesus is all that you need."

"Mom, could you please TRY to say shoot instead of shit?"

Now, onto the wedding...This post is looooong overdue but I have been crazy busy over the past few weeks. And the royal wedding haters are going to pissy to see this post b/c they don't want to hear anything about the wedding. And I want to address those haters. As much as I wanted to see the wedding itself, I was not interested in the daily countdowns and speculation on who's wearing what and who is or is not invited, etc. But some people do. Just like I don't care to hear about sports news or which famous person wore a particular outfit better or the 300 days of the year that most people complain about the weather. And the great thing is we don't HAVE to listen to, see nor read about the stuff we don't like. And it was interesting to discover people who said, "Who cares about the royal wedding?" and "I don't care about the royal wedding!" beforehand, actually watched some of it and commented on it. hehehe

When I was 9 years old, I got up in the middle of the night in my grandparents' house in Vermont and watched Charles and Diana get married with my mom and my nana. I was a little girl who wanted to grow up and get married and have 13 children. I believed in fairy tales and wanted to see a prince marry his princess. Five years later, I was up in the middle of the night, again, to watch Andrew and Fergie wed. I was 14, had frizzy hair and was nervous about starting high school in a month, especially since the freshman class was 4 times as large as my eight grade class. Sarah Ferguson was completely different than Diana. She was outspoken, clumsy at times and did not have Diana's fashion sense. I loved her! It gave hope to sometimes-clumsy, outspoken and fashion sense-deficient girls everywhere. :o)

I remember where I was, what I was doing and who I was with when coverage of Diana's accident broke on the TV, and cried at the announcement of her death. I was so sad that she died as she was finally gaining some personal happiness. And sad for those boys left behind. It was exciting to see happiness in the family last month.

I watched ABC's coverage and Diane Sawyer said it was estimated that 1/3 of the world was watching the wedding. Regardless of what is on TV, that many people, around the WORLD, watching the same thing is impressive. Barbara Walters and I had something in common - this was the 3rd royal wedding we have both "covered" ;o) and I agreed with her - wake up the kids and have them enjoy this with you. I think it was awesome that London turned a park into a free campsite for wedding watchers. Not something I would expect from the English. But it is wonderful that they got how important this wedding was to people everywhere. We all needed to see a happy occasion, to get some hope and escape from our own realities for a bit, just like going to the movies b/c you need to see a happy ending. I though the quote from Winston Churchill in regards to the queen's wedding in 1947 was very relavent now, too: "This joyous event is a splash of color on the hard road we have to travel." And who doesn't like weddings? A chance to dress up and party with free food! And cake!

The guests were so close to each other filing in, I am sure plenty of them got wacked with hats repeatedly and some of the hats must have prevented guests behind them from seeing.

I loved that both William and Kate were excitedly nervous. When the 2nd officiant came out, the one with the big hat and the white beard, I heard in my head, "Mawwidge. Mawwidge is what bwings us togeddar, today."

I loved the roaring cheers of the people outside watching the jumbotrons! And the sea of people going down the road to the palace behind the procession to watch the balcony scene was unreal.

It was fascinating how William and Kate mirror each other and William really does have so many mannerisms of his mother.

They showed footage of previous royal couples on the famous balcony. In 1973, Princess Anne looked like Princess Leia from Star Wars. The same dress and hair! Google it!

The kiss. I didn't think it was the big deal that the press made of it. I get that they kissed twice, which had not been done before. But it was sterile, and I was hoping for more feeling. I think William should have taken Kate in his arms for the kiss, or they at least should have turned towards each other instead of just the turned heads. That would have put some feeling into their simple kiss.

I don't think either one of them slept much the night before the wedding. Both of them appeared to be spacing out and even trying to keep their eyelids open during the sermon. Poor things.

I think Kate's dress could have been better or more modern, but I think she did the best she could within the required parameters. She and Pippa looked beautiful!