car54

After the chaos of the past week in the news, I was kind of grateful for her paying respect to Justice Stevens. What an amazing life he led, and I'm afraid it may be a long time before we see his like again. And he stayed sharp as a tack up to the end--I saw a print interview with him within the past couple of weeks. This morning on CNN they aired an interview he did recently with John Berman that was just wonderful--he saw so many changes to the world in his lifetime and you could tell Berman was enjoying himself very much. I know having to pull it together rattled Rachel a little but it was a little oasis of peace at the end of a crazy news day. And I think it was Lawrence who had Neil Katyal on who clerked for him--and he gave a lovely tribute as well.

Ramona's house is very white. With lots of wine accessories in the kitchen.

I read last night that they believe the man who killed her was a tenant in one of her rental properties and he was behind on paying his rent. The sad part was that it took days for someone to find her body--and someone called in a tip--so I'm not sure if the killer called them to go find her in the car trunk. She seemed like an amazing woman who had done so much in her life--it is terrible to see her life taken this way.

Looks like it will be a little while longer--she posted this tonight.

Maybe they got it donated ---I did think it was touching that they named the baby (middle name) after Slade's son who was so ill---the one he had trouble supporting.

A lot of the old shows are on their website---I watch using an Amazon Fire and they have Carol Duval, Matt and Sherri, Vern Yip---a lot of the old shows that they had years ago. I just have no interest in the Property Brothers because they don't really do the design work or remodels, so it's all fake and I don't care for much of Love it or List it---and I'm not that into the real estate shows like House Hunters so that accounts for like 90% of their schedule. It seems like I may have 1 or 2 shows like this one or Restored by the Fords, or Good Bones that I watch--and that is about it. If I have insomnia I can stream Fixer Upper and it seems to put me right to sleep, so that's useful.

The woman covering her slot said today that this series will be 4 episodes so hopefully she'll be back after that. Kasie Hunt is 8 months along so hopefully Katie will be back when she has her baby.

Thank you so much! I don't understand why HGTV schedules these new episodes so weirdly---and then ends endless rerun marathons.

Katie Tur is coming back! I saw her post recently that she was in DC filming something with Jacob ---this must be it. I don't know when she will be back doing her regular show.

Josh tweeted a link to this story---it's a weird one. https://ktla.com/2019/07/15/missing-huntington-beach-woman-who-vanished-near-inyo-county-campground-found-alive/

I wonder if them doing all the homes in the same area helped them with filming---so that they could hire more crew and the named players could move from house to house as they filmed. I do think they probably had to do some extra organizing because of Mina's pregnancy to get all the episodes in. Also---on the HGTV site there is a new show coming with some of the hosts --Mina, Lee Ann Ford, Alison Victoria and the host of Hidden potential --I haven't watched that show for a long time so I don't know her work. It looks like they started filming this week. https://www.hgtv.com/shows/hgtv-news/there-s-a-new-competition-show-coming-to-hgtv-with-a-ton-of-girl Mina and Karen are also on the Brady Bunch House reno show that is coming later this summer. https://www.hgtv.com/shows/hgtv-news/brady-buzz--look-whos-talking-about-the-renovation- I don't know where they get all their energy!

So.....latest house..... I felt like it had many layout issues and instead we spent most of the show discussing niches. 2 bedrooms on the main floor at the front of house--have to go all the way to the back to use the bathroom. A three bedroom house with only a counter and 3 stools for dining. They used the attic to add a closet and bathroom--but then left a small part of the attic unfinished. If these people have kids, they are not going to want to sleep upstairs and put the kid downstairs--I would have finished that space and it could be a small alcove for a crib or if no kids, a small office or tv space upstairs. Also no door to their bedroom --it is open to the stairs. I know it would cost more but I'd have bumped out the back and moved the kids/guest bedrooms to the back of the house and pushed the living room up to the front, add a dining table area then the kitchen. I know macrame is back --I see it all the time on design blogs, but that was not good macrame--it was kind of a mess, and I think the niches were so shallow as to be pointless--kind of an awkward spacing and depth. I'd have made them deeper so if I wanted to use them as book shelves I could. I did not mind the green cabinets although that green is not my favorite--I'd have done one with more of a grey-ed tone. With the color they used I feel like the grey appliances didn't help, and the butcher block should have been stained a warmer color or something---or maybe a warm white countertop and backsplash. So while each individual choice was not horrible I think if I went to look at this house there were so many disjointed things I would have trouble picturing how I'd live there. For homes I've moved to there has always been an instant feeling of "yes!" that lets me see my stuff and myself there. Also I thought when the fake buyer tour couple was there Mina said that there was a back deck and big back yard but did they even show that in the tour?

I think dropping in the polls has made Bernie put in more of an effort to be likeable to more people. I also think he knows this is his last shot so he has to give it all he's got. I have seen him on several shows lately and he is making a sincere effort to be less cranky and to seem to be enjoying himself when he's in public.

How do these people afford to live this way? https://people.com/parents/gretchen-rossi-welcomes-daughter-skylar-gray-slade-smiley/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemag&utm_campaign=peoplemagazine

The second episode was better---in real life it took me a really long time after the 2000 election and then 9/11 to be able to watch much news and I think I've purposely repressed a lot of it so some of this is almost new to me. My favorite character is quickly becoming Judy, the assistant--she has almost no lines but she's always there, and the actress is kind of killing it with just being there observing what's happening.

I read 2 articles today from Chicago papers and one said Alison would not comment on the situation but she said more shows were scheduled for 2020. Sounds like she also has some side hustles-she will be judging some HGTV competition show and she is involved in some hotel design competion and she will be "mentoring" the winner. They said some of the houses were sold without occupancy permits or with unpermitted work--so no is that the owners issue to fix --since Donovan has had his licenses pulled.

Supposedly Carole is in Jeffrey Epstein's little black book. I'm assuming from the Kennedy connections--there are tons of the family listed in the pages I saw online. Not sure if they are real, but there sure are a lot of famous names there if they are.

Oh but Chicago is "Alison's town" how could this be? I bet if HGTV allows them back that she'll just move to some suburb far enough away to keep building, or she'll shift to designing for clients. The city should have just read here--you Chicago people have had their number for a LONG time.

I just watched the episode where they tore down the small house and built a new one--and like the finale of Season 1 when they go big, it really shows what they can do---I thought that house was really beautiful . The only thing I would have changed was that little bar on the wall off the kitchen--the "coffee bar" --they had stools at the island already and it seemed kind of a lot of space devoted to a shelf with stools facing a blank wall--not sure what I'd have done instead but otherwise I loved all the choices they made. That blue that Luke used from room to room was gorgeous. I do wish between seasons if they are going to encourage fake drama that they'd send Clint for some lessons--he's a terrible actor and his shouting about money wasn't really necessary for a good show. It looked to me like probably they had a pretty sure buyer in the woman who bought it. Also I loved that gigantic light that Luke built out of iron rings and twine---he could give Lee Ann Ford a challenge--remember her white rope and string period in their first season?

I think Lu has a qualification to find a man when she runs out of money or the show gets cancelled. She's aging well (if she stays off the booze) AND she was a nurse. With her former Countess-ness, she could probably find an old guy with plenty of $$ who wants someone to take care of him.

The flip shows all take a lot more financial investment---and the rate they have to crank out shows means that they have to have all that money tied up for the season. I read on the Mom and Me blog last year that is why they switched to working for clients on the show since the up front money was not an option for them. Working for clients means the client already owns the place and they have a budget to work from--so the team just has to contribute the design and labor. In real life they do flip houses and the dad/husband seems to do that part of the business. It seems like Clint does a lot of the real estate part of their business, but they seem very careful of their budgets so it seems like they're working with their available finances, and they may not have 13 episodes worth of houses to film at one time. Seems like some of the shows on HGTV and DIY have much shorter seasons and I always think it could be due to that.

While I am someone who is older and would prefer a downstairs bedroom, those townhouses ---with room for 4 bedrooms--did NOT have enough common space for the people it would take to fill 4 bedrooms to be comfortable being together. I would have removed the downstairs master and made some sort of great room and kept a downstairs bath. The living room what was supposed to be a dining room and then the kitchens were too squished up for me. And I think Mina and Karen make each other better--I did not care for either of their individually decorated sides as much as I usually like the homes the work together on. Altho I did LOVE the artwork that Karen brought in from the artist she knows, and I liked the step/fountain.

I just started watching this yesterday --I have a real love of good hard working guys and I love how every member of the crew is a full character on this show. My idea of heaven has always been to live out in the woods near a lake or creek--not sure I'm up to some of the more rustic builds they do but a few of the places are really beautiful and I would love to live there (I know it's probably not viable in the dead of winter, but I can dream! Also, all of them have truly stellar heads of hair---Ryan's hair seems to have a life of it's own. Sometimes I wonder how he even gets it to stand out like that!.

I usually love a show with good villains but I found this difficult to watch---just awful people. I don't really remember Ailes well enough to know if Crowe is doing a good job----the actor himself is not the most likeable guy when I've seen him speak in interviews, but he certainly made the character repulsive. Good job makeup and wardrobe.

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