MsChicklet

I liked the designer's advice, especially on the flooring. The original planned flooring was way too busy/grainy. And they kept the plans for the kitchen simple rather than blowing out walls and moving stuff around, etc.

It was a refreshing change to see someone who wasn't going balls-to-the-wall on a kitchen renovation. That looked like a laminate or vinyl they were installing in there, and, while she did a nice job on the kitchen, Miggy wasn't willing to break the bank. I agreed with her on the glass doors to the pool area in the master bedroom. No way as a single woman living alone would I have had that.

That walkoff scene with Michael's big, honking "FUCK YOU" to Sonny and Carly was beautiful. I loved how in-control he was, dismissing Sonny by telling him he has no options, that no one, not even the governor, will save his ass anymore.

I managed to DVR a Season 1 episode this week -- the breakfast where Eli Zabar comes over. The potato-basil frittata looks good. MrChicklet came in while I was watching and was appalled by the lighting and camera work (he is a photography hobbyist). But he wants me to make the frittata. And the scones.

Thanks, chessiegal! I'm not a subscriber, but I found a link for the recipe from someone who made and loved them: Chewy brownies

I've been seeing matte brass (basically, the brushed nickel version of brass) more lately in terms of furniture and cabinet hardware. Polished brass, not so much.

chessiegal: They did that with brownies. The conclusion by the tasters was that box mix had better texture, but came up short on flavor. So they worked on coming up with a recipe that improved the texture, but had richer flavor. Now I want to find that recipe.

I think the timeline of this is what can be confusing. It sounded like, in the week after the finale, the copying was discovered and confirmed. Then, they would have had to call in the lawyers. First, to see if this is something that could get them sued. Second, to determine if what Tim did was a violation of the rules and his contract, in order to see if he could and should be disqualified. Then, the PR crisis teams from HGTV, Ellen, and Wayfair all would have had to cobble together a plan to end this thing. There had to be at least a few weeks, if not a month, between the finale shoot and a decision on how to proceed. I feel bad for Katie with this backlash. This was not her fault, and the way she's being dragged into this and bashed in the comments of other news stories is not fair to her.

Tim had to be disqualified. That was about as close as you can get to a straight-up copy outside of using a Xerox. If this had not been found out and the show would have aired with Tim as the winner, The End, complete with a victory interview on Ellen's show, it would have been an image disaster for the show and everyone involved (cough, Wayfair, cough). And, unfairly, it would have called into question the other designers and if they had been copying other people's work. I don't think Tim is a bad guy. He is very talented and has come up with some good stuff. He may have just caved to the pressure of coming up with whatever he wanted to design but only having a limited time to execute it. He should have just cribbed from something he'd done in the past in his own business. I really wish one of them had done a bed. Katie gets some credit for going outside her acrylic comfort zone. Although it sucks for her that she had to win in such a backdoor way. She worked hard and deserved better than that.

Well, we not only got a renovation, but a heaping helping of codependency and steel-cable apron strings. Carla said she worked in the middle of the state. Which could mean places like Hartford, Middletown, UConn Medical Center in Farmington, New Britain. If so, buying a house in Milford was about the dumbest thing she could have done. That commute is going to be a drag.

It may also be that it's more expedient to stage the house with Magnolia stuff than have to wait for the homeowners' stuff to be moved over, unpacked, sorted, etc. Joanna can have her Magnolia goods brought in, do the staging (and the shooting of it) in a day or two, have the homecoming and closing party scenes shot, and be out the next day. The show may also not want the liability if, God forbid, Shorty or Chip didn't attach a shelf securely enough and Great-Grandma's Depression glass shatters all over the floor.

This is why I'm not a big fan of the ghost chairs. They're a pretty idea, but when it comes to execution in the real world, they get smudged and scratched. There was a bar I went to once that used them and it seemed that they show wear very easily. Gaspar's scale also worked better for me. Home offices are getting away from the big desk to something that's big enough for just a PC or a laptop. His was something that could be tucked into a guest room or living room and work (as well as look nice) without being obtrusive.

The guest judge was worthless. She didn't contribute anything. The other two were the ones test-sitting the couches, etc. This was an off week for all the designers. There were some good elements to the couches, but some really bad ones as well. Gaspar's fit the space the best, but those inward-curving wood arms were not good. Carley's was the best stand-alone, but the height of the right side didn't work in the lounge. Katie's and Tim's were just awful both in terms of function and looks. Katie and Tim should be grateful the judges made the elimination based on overall performance and not just this week's efforts. Both have been hit or miss. Tim did great with the desk and the dining table, but the bar cabinet and couch sucked. Katie's best performance was the armoire, but she's flopped the last two challenges.

Is there enough vodka in the world for that? She's very talented and when she's focused on the work she's much better, but, Jesus fuck, girrrrrrrrl, dial down the twee. Carley's problem is she can't see the trees for the forest. She's so wrapped up in her big theme/vision that she ignores important details, like, where the centerpiece will go when there's a big gap in the middle of the dining table. Tim has good skill at craftsmanship, but he lucked out with his poorly designed bar cabinet that Resting Bitchface screwed up function even worse than he did. Gaspar's sideboard/buffet cabinet was probably my favorite piece so far. He had a great eye for functional detail with the storage as well as creating something that looks interesting out of a piece of furniture that can be quite dull. Also, he could have taken the foundation of his idea and applied it to the other challenges -- an armoire for clothes, baby furniture, craft storage, a bar.

Michael should also sue Ava, as her letting AJ be accused of Connie's death was the trigger (pun intended) for Sonny killing AJ. Imagine Kiki's and MoreGun's head explosions over that. He should get all the moneys, then spend some of it on destroying Sonny, Carly, Ava, Shawn, Kiki, etc.

I am SO on Team Meathook.

From what I remember, Mitch moved to Albany with Tracy, dumping mistress Susan Moore (Jason's biological mother). He and Tracy eventually divorced and Tracy came back to town.

I am quite all right with Michael playing Whack-a-Mole on everyone who shit on AJ this last go-round. Sonny, Carly, Tracy, Ned, Luke, Ava, Kiki, he should coldly stick it to each and every one of them somehow. Liz and Fakeson? Blech. Also, snore. She had more sparkle and life with SK's AJ than she has with anyone since her original run with JJ's Lucky.

Dec. 22? I hope Alice can find those reindeer sweaters in the Quartermaine attic.

It's been since before she hooked up with Sonny that Carly hasn't had someone to clean up her messes. She's been able to do what she wants since Michael was a toddler, and all she had to do was either invoke Sonny's mob power as a threat, or flash her glittery hoo-ha, and consequences have vanished. Now Sonny can't help her, Franco's gone, and she'll have to face losing not only her son, who was also the source of her power and clout (over Sonny, Jason, the Qs, Jax, etc.), as well as the wrath of the law, alone. This could be good work for LW. Hope she gets scripts worthy of it.

From the moment he was conceived, she failed him because she ALWAYS put herself, her wants and her plaaaaaaaans ahead of everyone else, including her children. She destroyed any chance of Michael having a real relationship with his real father, from the WTD games she played with Tony and Jason, to making everyone believe AJ had fallen off the wagon so he'd leave town and not remember the drunken one-night stand that would lead him to realize he was Michael's father. She looked the other way when Sonny used the Meathook Incident to take Michael away from AJ for good. She used Michael as a tool to get what she wanted. First Tony, then Jason, then leverage against AJ, the Qs, Jason, Robin, and Sonny down the road. Think of all the times Michael was witness to and victim of the abusive dysfunction of Sonny's and Carly's relationship -- his other women, her other men, the flying barware, the name-calling, the back-and-forth separations and reconciliations. She put him in a world where he was a target for kidnappers and mobsters. She gave Michael mobsters and murderers as his primary father figures. Thanks to the influence of Sonny and Jason, he was the first person to shoot Connie, after he picked up a gun thinking having it would solve his problems, and left her for dead. When Sonny, Carly, and Jason believed he had killed AJ that first time, they literally threw him a party. Between everything she did to Michael, then putting her itch in the pants for a serial killer ahead of her daughter's well being and safety, Carly may be the worst mother ever on GH.

I tried to watch today. Just could not force myself to care about any of them. Went back and read some of my old retcon chapters and notes. That's as close as I think I'm ever going to get to a GH I can enjoy.

I remember that! Yeah, his enthusiasm was quite visible.

I wish I had finished my "Dream a Little Dream" retcon. Unfortunately, I fell into a funk after getting laid off right after the 2008 crash and, despite having an outline of where the story goes, I could never get back on track.

The first thing she put on their new mantel was hubby-to-be's balls in a jar.