BckpckFullaNinjas

I confess: I recorded it and started to watch after the Ninjas were asleep and turned it off when Dorinda left the room with Ramona still petulantly squatting on the bed. Srsly, Andy: give us something entertaining!! Watching as a bunch of skinny-ass rich women scutter around from room to room, arguing about sleeping arrangements -- it is NOT the look; it is NOT tv remotely worth watching. BRAVO, you may think that lots of exasperated comments about Ramona = great viewership. I say you're on thin ice keeping her, since the rest of the cast's truly entertaining minutes really don't balance out the revulsion of having to watch her. Let her go!!!

I hadn't known there was one, but in the chosen cover photo Chip reminds me of Tom Cruise, srsly. Having read (frustratingly) their first book, I have NO doubt Chip has advice for other risk-takers. https://www.google.com/amp/www.today.com/amp/home/chip-gaines-new-book-cover-revealed-today-show-has-exclusive-t113934

Dunno about hollow but I'm howlin'!!!!

Tragically, at least one cutline mentioned it having been a casualty.

Are we back? Because I caved and DVR'ed "Slopes" and oo, mama! Ramona loses it, next week? I understand she's always been mean but in past she's shrugged off any criticism, or had the last word and then flounced away before her opponent can respond, or sneered at consequences meant for her, right? But in the previews she is again a screaming mimi -- losing all her smug, snide, arrogant "cool." Go, Ramona. Seriously: blow your stack and get off the show. I don't like flat-out, one-dimensional mean people who never bear the consequences of their disgusting behavior.

(Honestly, I DO have a life, but I have to reply) Sure, Waterman is going to do upgrades and accede to homeowners' requests. And the photos mean so much! I mean, I'd love to know if the Alexander Street house's porch always had those interesting corners with horizontal color bars on them. I don't dislike the FU folks, but the Downs couple aside, this reno's porch fell flat for me. (Ooh, just realized the pun. Sorry, not intentional.) The slender posts and thin railings don't "go" with the boxy shape of the House. The metal channel roof probably really stands out in the neighborhood . "Before" photo shows the exposed wooden elements under the roof overhang that were an intrinsic part of that style of house, along with the bulky porch. FU tried and succeeded in cleaning up the home but left a property that looks more like it belongs on a beach than in an inland Texas city's old town. Even if the neighbors aren't into architecture & history, they know when a rehab adds to the are and when it doesn't. What little I've been able to see of the 'hood, this one just doesn't. FWIW

From the Waco Ttib article - thanks, @mcwick! "Kelly Downs said that neighbors have complained about increased taxes in the neighborhood stemming from the presence of a “Fixer Upper” home. The hit show has renovated about 60 homes in the McLennan County area, but there is no direct correlation to higher taxes in neighborhoods where a “Fixer Upper” home is located, Chief Appraiser Andrew J. Hahn said. “We have a different neighborhood code for those than other homes in the neighborhood, because they are actually selling for more than regular homes,” he said. “We don’t use them as comparable for other homes that are renovated by other homeowners.” " I knew it! I talked earlier about folks who did a lot of urban renewal in St. Louis. Part of a successful regeneration program is getting along with the neighbors into whose neighborhood you are entering as a neighbor. That's all I'll say.

Actually, I recently read part of one of the contracts that basically says, "once you've signed off on the plans at a certain point, you agree to accept whatever Magnolia gives you." Remember the one where, mid-job, the wife asked that the floor to ceiling fireplace brick be white-washed? Chimp made a funny about it as he spread his arms protectively in front of the reddish brick and told JoJoprah to tell the owners "No!", and there it was. If I've hired a contractor to remodel or build, I can change my mind and order upgrades or mods to the original plan -- at a price, of course. The FU contract - or at least one like it - pretty much says I've turned my house over to them and their ideas. It's a gamble I would take, honestly, but I'd stack the odds a lot differently than the aggrieved owners did. Sorry for the War & Peace-length essay! Going to catch up on developments now!

Just my humble o, but when you sink $215k into a house you bought for $35k, there's a fair amount of risk; especially if you're the first on the block of $35k houses. Now: those are the numbers reported/implied in at least one article. Are they true, I dunno. I lived near St. Louis, MO, where about 40 years ago quite a few folks set about restoring and upgrading whole neighborhoods. Among the differences between them & this situation: (1) the housing stock was brick structures, very sturdy; (2) the actual pioneers in buying and restoring started modestly, money-wise -- they didn't invest 7x the purchase price of the structure right away. So yeah, the homebuyers made an error in judgment. Did Chimp tell them the area was the next big thing? We'll never know. Was the article a load of crap? It was an architecture junkie's impassioned reaction to seeing the identifiers of an old house taken away not crap, jmho. Remember the house where a car flew into the front yard stairs ? That house was on a straight stretch of street. The car's driver was making a right turn onto it and somehow that resulted in the car literally airborne up a 4-foot hill and over 100 feet to its landing. Things happen. Things really happen on T-intersections! That house was not a craftsman per se but it did have a stucco'ed porch and we did spend time on it. I liked the privacy it added even as a little kid. I could leave my trike out and NinjaGran wouldn't chide me for making it look messy to the neighbors.

http://jalopnik.com/drunk-driver-fixes-fixer-uppers-most-infuriating-house-1796782663 Ive forgotten a lot about Housing architectural styles but I did wonder why the substantial front porch had been replaced with such thin railings when I saw the "before"'photos. I dont recall seeing this episode on tv. Makes me appreciate the "Restored" guy out in central/Southern California even more for the respect he has for original design.

Wow---going back to my folks: my mom would comment on the placement of houses on streets: "now, look here, these poor folks have headlights shining into their living rooms every time a car drives by...oh, this one gets headlights from every car that drives down the street!!!". Too bad someone with my folks' insights couldn't have advised this couple!! @mcwick, thanks for your insider's view of things! A friend relo'ed to Waco just as the FU show was really taking off, and I was glad for her because I figured it was a smart move in her situation. Myself? I'd go someplace without the summer heat that Waco and my current location share!! But that's just me, and that's not the point of this topic. ;-D

Rosemary had a roller coaster life but at the end of it all, she was at peace (by accounts) and she enjoyed life. She wrote 2 memoirs, one while her ex-ex-husband (they married & divorced each other twice) was living -- it's more sedate, as you might imagine. In the later one, after José had died, she told all. A testament to the human spirit AND a glimpse into George's dad's family of origin, for anyone who's interested. PS: Young George was sometimes a driver for Rosemary and her three co-stars in a revival revue of music from the '30s & '40s & early '50s. It might have been called "4 Girls 4", I can't recall. She recalled how the ladies would be well lit and hollering at George to find a place to pull over so they could use the side of the road. I'm sure Bethenny knows she didn't do anything original on that limo trip, her first season back. Hee!

That's scary as heck. When I was a kid, a driver somehow flew a car over two houses' front yards and landed on the front steps going up from the street to the third yard -- all of this going uphill. Landed with enough force to break 3 of 4 large concrete decorative balls right off the stairway. I remember it clearly because we were living in the third house! Anyhow the Waco incident is also interesting for those of us who've wondered about the 'hoods the FU houses are in. And what happened to the original tag line about taking "the worst houses in the best neighborhoods" as their projects? Evidently, that part of the mission statement got tweaked! Finally, I don't get the idea that a house remodeling would increase property taxes by that much. The square footage didn't increase. The changes to the exterior were merely cosmetic in addition to structural repairs. It's not like they added on a second floor! Sounds to me like there are some green-eyed monsters in an already dicey neighborhood. And @saylubee, agreed -- it's pretty disingenuous to claim the buyers didn't know the neighborhood before they bought. My dad always told me, "don't buy in *any* neighborhood until you've spent time there at night - especially a weekend night." Let's see: college town, concentration of bars... yeah, that'd be a clue. Well anyway -- very glad the humans were unhurt!!!

@LadyK, honestly! Except for the fact that I only started watching a few seasons ago, what you wrote = how I feel! If I could, I'd make it my PTV avatar. *bowing low*

Love this idea -- and with players who aren't trying to act like it's 20, 25, 30 years ago!

Rosemary and a couple of her kids were in the room when RFK was murdered. Or maybe the next room, as the Kennedy crowd was making its way thru the hotel. Her brother (Geo's dad) ran for office as a Dem IIRC. Carole didn't have an elegant, delicate beauty like her MIL Lee (even Anthony had well chiseled facial features), but she had a vaguely ethnic look and was gal-next-door attractive IMHO. Until! until she started with the filling and the tucking and the nipping and the booping (credit the late great Big Ang for "boop" = Botox).

http://journal.laurelmercantile.com/2337-people/ From Erin "Home Town" Napier's blog, PEOPLE mag's Gaines cover. Chimp, is that you? Looks like he hired Keith Urban's stylist. Not that there's anything with wanting to look one's best, but himself is outglamming JoJoprah, JMHO!

Callous, cold and cruel -- those were the things I thought about Ramona the first tIme I saw her, which was during her "we're a perfect trifecta, my husband, daughter and me, and you're divorced and not even sh|t" lunch with Lu. I understand that Lu's previous behavior was smug and snide but gawd, the woman was in pain. And like Dor just said on her Sirius show, when death ends a marriage you can deify the lost spouse; when divorce ends it, you have to deal with the bastid a long, long time. I can't say Ramona had it coming but I will say any pity I have for her as a cuckolded, abandoned older woman has definite limits. And is really really limited.

Thank you!! I think you're right! 8-D Today I talked with 2 customer service reps and kept calling both of them Erin. I'll be fine once the summer heat passes. ;-)

Linda Rodin is 68?! Guacamole! Ok, that's all I'll say about that. Ninjas don't threadjack. But wow! 68! @Cheetosandchoc, my gratitude. I'd forgotten magnoliapearl for when I need a true belly laugh.

Sounds like a fairy tale character ;) I'm not liking ungrateful Dorinda starting to carry on about LuAnn carrying on about getting married (you were in the wedding party, enough. You got your eyerolls in -- and it was amusing -- but now it's starting to smell like a sour sponge). Yep, "ungrateful Dorinda" doubtless meets a sorry end in Grimm's Tales 2017 Edition! "Starting to smell like a sour sponge" -- you, @film noire and @zoeysmom win my part of the internet!! Just 7 kids ("just"?), but yep, she's done well for herself in socio-economic terms! Also thank you @film noire for introducing backwater me to Linda Rodin! Must read more about her.

I'd really liked Do when she first appeared but no longer. She embarrassing, and I say that as somebody who's been embarrassed in public by a few family members and is pretty immune to the reaction by now. Point being, I do t think she lacks smarts. I suspect her brain cells are too busy treading water [sic] to make much sense. My reaction when I used to watch, as well. What's intriguing to me is that C went on a mission of mercy to rescue B from herself, the first season B was back. Looks like C got caught in the undertow!

I'd be laughing really hard if that wasn't a fair portrayal of ME on skis!!! 8-)

Happy 4th. So tired of fireworks ... as are the Ninjadogs, poor things.

Indeed! From their "Magnolia Story" memoir/story, I'm surprised she ever speaks sharply to him. Granted, they seem very sincerely devoted; but the degree of wifely submission and husbandly willfulness described in the book paint them as a couple who would NEVAH let anybody see them as anything but calmly agreeable! I'll have to reset the DVR to record & see if I can find the scene you mention. Interesting!