BckpckFullaNinjas

@annzeepark914, the chairs are made by women!! I just saw an article on their craftsmanship but having trouble finding it. Maybe a search of the MCM website will help! And remember, the camp drink is the Adirondacquiri! 8-D

Loved that he changed the angle and height of the seat for his customers. Much as I love the looks of that style, I’ve never been comfy in one. His? Looked promising.

I just finished watching Maine Cabin Masters and realized something about Home Town: it has become way formulaic. And I don’t say this critically, or out of dislike. There’s just so many ways you can show a contributor 2 houses, make semi-impolite snarky comments about the physical state of the places or the decor, find out which one they choose, fix it up and reveal it. I’m sure if the shows profitable, the format won’t change, and I’m not sure how it would change, but it’s just predictable. Abd again, that’s not a bad thing. I watch What Not To Wear reruns and can FF to the exact same time, every episode, where Carmindy turns the contributor toward the mirror to see her new self. But on WNTW, Stacy & Clinton had the personalities and the characters of most of the contributors to keep the show going for 8 or 9!seasons. The Napiers are cute & mostly pleasant but Laurel’s a small town, at the end of the day. Maine CM has the whole state to play in. WNTW had the whole USA. Unrelated note: tickled me how the Lady’s neighbor, Marty on the porch, was not overehelmed with welcome when Ben hollered our an introduction.

TIki! This show has yet to disappoint! Every ep, there’s a different obstacle, a new craft, someone’s eccentricity is more charming than expected — they’ve got a winner with this one! Long live MCM.

I’ve just started watching my recording and I’m willing to bet an Adam Trest toss pillow (retail value $85) that the retired lady is using this as a second home and occasional investment property. She just introduced the lady with her as her friend. The friend said that she’s coming along to offer opinions - or words to that general effect. @3 is enough, I chuckled that you say the do felt off, as it's the first one I’ve chosen to watch the whole way through (while puttering around my house).

@Pegasaurus, ditto. My contractors were nervous about my choice of a pictures-of-wood flooring for my living and dining rooms that didn’t at all match the pictures-of-wood flooring in my kitchen, which abuts both the other other two rooms. TL; DR — both pictures-of-wood floorings look great and it’s very apparent and problem-free that they don’t match. Also: I’m proud of my pictures-of-wood floorings!!! I will probably replace my kitchen flooring with pictures-of-tile flooring in a few years!!! TOWANDA!, y’all!

Tom Brady reportedly is vegan, so I’d guess not necessarily. My diagnosis is more toward the “mush-mind” line. Unfortunate side effect of too much ganja. I watched the RHONY season preview teaser and am signing off the show and its characters all together. Way too messy for me. But it’s been a good amount of fun participating here! Carry on and Never Stop The Snark! ❤️.

@MoreCoffeePlease (love the screen name!), just leave the cabinet doors uninstalled, see how you like open fronts, and attach the doors if you don’t! Easy Peasy. The artist’s house. The posts & the new stair railing made me dizzy and I could never live with the kitchen tile backsplash. Loved the entryway, the glimpse of the baby in her hardhat, the great room when I wasn’t looking at the posts and railing, and the studio. I’d get the seat on the studio bench framed before I sat on it, though. There was at least one BIG old piece of wood that looked like it would snag clothes — or skin!

You are not alone! I love this show. Haven’t seen this most recent one do can't remark on silliness. I’ve never found the silly/cutesy factor to be a problem here, unlike the preciousness they were afflicting Home Town with. I’ve got the one where they build Chase’s barn on erase-protect. It gives me all the happies to see friends helping friends, without a lot of self-promotion nor humble-bragging about their achievements. I mean, Chase’s older daughters’ bedrooms were in a house addition with his workshop? I can identify!!!

They never really do, IIRC. Marie makes some on-screen comments about the only things one really needs to keep, etc. You see the young guys handling paper and cracking a couple jokes at each other, but there’s nothing really spelled out. Much as I love Marie and liked the show, if there’s a S2 I hope it follows a much different formula.

Interesting! I perceive Carole as mostly snarky with a kind streak. She does strike me as loyal when she loves you, and I must say she is way more layered than some of the two-dimensional folks like Ramona.

Much as I love Marie - and I do - I regret buying “spark joy” and would’ve bought “manga” instead. But I can do without both. You asked about how long to keep your snug shorts & pants. For me, this worked: I hung them with my other pants until I got sick of thumbing past them and donated a few. Then I started eating right and was delighted to fit into a couple. Donated the few that still didn’t fit. Total time elapsed.... eh, maybe 6 months. Key for me was keeping them front & center so that I HAD to mentally deal with it, until I could do so, physically. Good luck!!!.

No rats were shown in the broadcasting of this show. Thank heavens! @3 is enough, even now that I'm over my pique at the Napiers, I find I watch long enough to see the houses 'before," then fast-forward to the reveal. Usually later on I'll watch the episode to see the various scenes of repurposing, or building, or shopping, or cutting up, or the featured business of the moment, but to watch the whole thing start to finish just isn't my bag anymore. But that may just be me. I unreservedly LOVE Maine Cabin Masters and even that, I watch in fits and starts. (My disaffection for the Napiers began with getting just TMI about their charmed lives in their memoirs. Same thing happened with Chimp and Joprah over on the Fixer Upper show. If the Maine people ever publish memoirs, I am going to diligently ignore it!

KonMari devotee here. I've done my own home and a couple of friends', and I can agree that it's possible to do clothes in more than one go. However, if you can clear you calendar for a day or so, over a weekend, it is ultimately more effective to do every item of clothing from every storage area in the house. The following is from my experience and theirs: You'll be surprised at how your mood and energy levels increase as you get into the pile, no matter its original height. The komono (miscellaneous) category, especially for things that are kept in lower cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen, is where consolidating every.last.item. from EVERYWHERE really makes sense. I was astounded at the unnecessary duplication - and triplification and quadruplification - of cans of cleanser, fingernail scissors, scrungee-sponges, Swiffer refills, etc. Also, as I'm currently in a "Don't apologize, just accept the compliment" phase: Americans' closets are by no means the only ones that are overstuffed. Marie based her method on what she saw in home sweet home Japan! In fact, a couple of years ago a Japanese TV station produced a miniseries based on her, and the character who needed "Marie's" help had a one-room apartment with clothes strewn and piled everywhere. Final specific comments to @Rap541, congratulations on your progress! And a big "yes, ma'am" from me to your idea to do a more thorough assessment of what you've kept, down the road. I recently read a comment by a KonMari fan who says as she looks at her closet, now, she is able to quickly identify anything that doesn't bring her joy. I looked at my closet and found that to be true for me, too. Continuing good luck to you!!

So many thoughts ... mostly about how women aren’t allowed to (supposed to) age; ... Point taken about privacy and reputation, @Rap541. Its times like these that I really appreciate my anonymous, middle-class, quiet little life. Srsly.

My sympathies to her daughter Anna and others who loved her. It’s never easy. Mom baffled by the news report’s obsession with cause of death. “Age-related,” and isn’t that enough? She was 85, after all.

Preach it, @Rap541: ”...usedto love HouseHunters until they seemed to have like, season after season of rich upper class white couples with one toddler picking houses. The houses always had multiple bedrooms because the one child needed a bedroom and a playroom and mom and dad each needed an office....and granite countertops oh sweet Jesus, the countertops must be granite!...” Love It Or List It had an episode where a decidedly unhip couple wanted to leave their 1000-sf ranch for a place with A BONUS ROOM for their 2 toddler boys. Realtor-dude had them salivating over a 3000-sf McManse but at the sight of just a soaking tub in Designer-Hilary's re-do, they stuck with their sweet little house. It was so blasted charming to see a couple of relatable people opt for cozy over splashy that I erase-protected the dang episode on my DVR and watch it when the warm fuzzies are running low. But I digress from my teacher, Marie.

Her design business is reportedly goingvreally well. Does Jeff still have JLD, or is he mainly working for the furniture manufacturer (whose name I can’t begin to recall)?

Yep. All this. If indeed he’s trying to get to the root cause(s) of his lonely life (who’s left, now? Meghan — and, anybody else?), I sincerely wish him the very best. I’m his dad's age and have been working to understand my own problems for years. Jeff has time on his side, but unless he’s ready to be very honest with himself, it may not be enough. Y’know what... ...I take back the blanket “time on his side” statement. He needs to get his ducks in a row before his relationship with Monroe begins to suffer. She’s getting to the age where she’s not just the cute little sidekick. And acerbic tongue-lashings at an impressionable and independently minded young human are going to go way, way worse than those directed at adults.

Enjoying this discussion. I gave away some beautiful things yesterday because I hadn’t used them in years. They were very evidently part of a set but I’d found two of them in one resale shop, and the third in a different shop, a few miles away. I hadn’t paid much for them, but it still bugged me a little. I just had a fleeting thought to go buy them back, including the rationalization that I’d be supporting the non profit shop’s very good cause. Ah—small insight into the keeping (if not hoarding) mindset. But what I really want to discuss is the phenomenon @Rap541 described so well: ”...especially if you're raised in lower middle class to working class homes, is that there's a culture of "save it because you might need it" that stems from the Depression.” My parents=Depression kids. Dad was pack ratty with papers & books; Mom — who had been born into grinding poverty — was a past master at decluttering. Both their wardrobes combined fit into a four-foot closet and five bureau drawers. Not counting winter coats and a fall/spring jacket. Their kitchen and bathroom komonos were similarly functional. My point: I begin to think that my own personal history of alluding to our family’s humble roots, and the multi-generational effects of The Depression, was one of my ways of excusing myself for the piles of what-not that I accumulated. But it was dishonest on my part!! Mom had 3 cast iron frypans, 2 saucepans and 1 stockpot. Oh - and a roasting pan. We ate like middle-class kings! I only started thinking about “what I might need someday” after I married (1980) and paid attention to the photos of kitchens like Martha Stewart & Ina Garten’s. Boy, do I digress. TL;DR — I’m beginning to believe “I might need that, someday, my folks went thru The Depression” is less a trickle-down from The Depression than it is just a tendency to like to keep some things. FOR ME. I’m not attempting to describe anybody else. And I’ll also acknowledge: neither of my folks had hobbies (that would’ve been money wasted, you see!), so Dad didn’t need a workbench full of handy items and the closest thing Mom had to a “fabric stash” was our rag bag; we never needed paper towels! Heh. So I’d probably be talking out my ears and extrapolating my own isolated history onto others’ motivations, if I hadn’t already declaimed any such intentions But as I said, it’s interesting to discuss. Thank you all who are involved!

Both times I watched, I thought, “Folks, stay slim or you’re gonna be bruised getting in & out of that booth!” I find it weird that the homeowners aren’t allowed to see progress. Even on “Love It Or List It,” they come a few times to check on things. The HT way would give me great discomfort - which is so moot, as I’ll do everything possibie to avoid traveling south*, much less move there! ——- *It’s the heat! AND the humidity!

Ok, I’m having trouble conceptualizing the layout of the house the MD & RN bought. It’s U-shaped? The front door leads to a wall of doors? The big living room is only accessible from the secret garden? Too many questions! Never mind!!! I’m looking at the floor plan and all is clear!!!! I do wanta know why the other house flooded. Sure looks like flat land!

Really, really late to the party and so relieved to know I’m not the only one who feels like this was a misdirected show for what the KonMari Method really is. I’ve been stuck on “sentimentals” (the last category to be tidied) for quite a while because I’m going through literally pounds of snapshots from the past 45 years of my life. But in every other stage, KM has been invaluable — if I died tonight, my heirs would find things in their logical places, accurately labeled and clean. More to the point, since I went thru clothes, books, papers & miscellaneous, my life over the past 2 years has been better than ever. I am not a minimalist who has jettisoned everything that I don’t use daily! My minimal needs and preferences are right where I want them. Clutter appears but doesn’t last long because what is out of place does have a “home” to go to. IOW, and TL;DR, IMHO *I* am the poster child for the KonMari Method. No crazy keeping, no neurotic mate, no resistance to paring down (like the Japanese-American couple). But how do you make a case like mine into interesting viewing? My affection for Marie is such that I hope they don’t have a second season unless the case studies are much better - and different - than the majority of episodes this season.

I was reading, I guess elsewhere, that by the time the buyers go with the Napiers to look at homes, they’ve already bought. If so, there are some decent amateur actors out there! And Ben and Erin are among them. Initially I was actually tickled at the genuine surprise and near shock that they showed when the couple wouldn’t even go inside House #2 but then I read the info about having already bought and I guess they were acting there, too. I FF’ed to the reveal last evening, but today I had some free time and watched more of it. It wasn’t awful, though I really need Erin to stop being unnecessarily noisy & trying to be cute. I continue to think a lot of that contractor with the underbite — he and his wife adopted three little boys. Good on them!!! And God bless ‘em. Three boys. All little. Zowie!

Jeff’s wants and Jeff’s needs in a life partner are two very different things, I fear.