amarante

I can't say I "like" Chanel/Ayan but I agree that she is the only Dubai HW that has some kind of personality. Maybe because she seems to be in on the joke in terms of her exaggerated sense of self importance versus the others who seem to take themselves seriously and expect the viewer to take their over-inflated sense of self worth at face value. Chanel/Ayan is the only housewife I can actually differentiate except for Stanbury for obvious reasons and Stanbury is just loathsome - not a fun "villain" at all but just a smug mean spirited woman who thinks much too well of herself. I agree about Atlanta in terms of Kenya, Sherree and Kandi being the only ones who are relaxed and having fun with the whole thing and not appearing so obviously desperate to hold onto the peach. Drew just reeks of desperation from her relationship with Ralph - to the ridiculous Drop It With Drew licensing deal for a woman who is seriously out of shape. The irony is that Sherree could probably be a fantastic face of some kind of fitness stuff versus Drew - and while both Phaedra and Kenya are fun to watch - neither of them were anyone whose fitness routines I would emulate although Kenya has whipped herself into shape this season and really looks svelte in a bodacious way. Drew just looks plump - you would think she would have gone on some kind of bootcamp weight loss prior to shooting to look credible as a fitness icon.

I agree and also with the comparison with Dubai. There is simply no one likable on Dubai and there isn't even a villain you love to hate because none of them are compelling or funny or entertaining. Marlo's behavior in terms of holding up the cars in the driveway was beyond ridiculous. And her singling out Kenya for making the same observation that the other housewives were was ridiculous. And Sanye is just a clumsy shit stirrer and has no sense of humor about it. God bless Sherree and her bone collecting from previous seasons because she had such fun doing it and didn't attempt to justify it as an act of peacemaking.

I don’t understand why people aren’t explicit in terms of defining what stretching tue budget is. In the real world, stretching a $2000 budget would mean maybe $2200 if the dress were perfect but certainly not double the budget. There was a sales person who was notorious for up selling in the earlier seasons. She was very tiny and had a blonde bob with bangs. And in general it would be difficult to go back to cheaper dresses once one has tried on a twice the budget dress. Not that I am saying that one needs to spend that amount but objectively the material will generally be more beautiful and the details and finishes might be better because the manufacturer could spend more on a higher to sew pattern and the beading and embroidery etc. The mother who was the wedding planner seemed very savvy so I doubt in real life she would have not clarified what the budget actually meant in terms of stretching. Of course as a wedding planner she is probs oh able to get significant discounts. What vendor wouldn’t offer a low price to get on her good side. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I think it is pretty widely accepted that a belly - at least in most modern Western societies among those who aren't fertility fetishists- a protruding belly is not something that is considered to be a desirable body condition.. I am not sure who "decided" it but judging from how most people dress themselves; what body shapes they aspire to; people exercising in order to get what is commonly perceived of as a more desirable shape, I would say a poll would indicate that a large belly is not aspirational and most women try to reduce it or at least dress so that it isn't emphasized. I have thick calves so all things being equal, I look better in pants and I certainly wouldn't wear shoes that have ankle straps or other stuff which cuts my legs at that spot and emphasizes my calves. But each to their own - if you want to emphasize a body part that most people consider to be a flaw - go for it.

I think you need real curves to wear that dress - that is what the dress is designed for - with a waist that goes in and hips and breasts that go out. For some reason curvy has become a euphemism for plus size. Ironically I think there are larger woman (even plus size) woman who can carry off that style better than women who are a smaller size but shaped differently. Also for the mermaid style to work you need some degree of length in your torso and legs because otherwise the proportions of the tight to just above the knees with the flare don't work. There is a much easier to wear shape in which it is tight to about the middle of the hips and then eases out - not sure what it is called. If you have a square blocky figure with not much of a waist, then there are more flattering styles which provide the illusion of a waist rather than emphasizing precisely where you have no shape.

I think most woman dress to flatter their figures. So yes while many women have a belly, the women I know don't dress in a way that accents their belly. Not every fashion works for everyone which is why typically women who care about their appearance try on clothing and don't purchase most of what they try on. There is a happy medium between wearing caftans because one doesn't have an Instagram perfect size 2 shape and wearing clothing that emphasizes figure flaws especially when one's figure is objectively quite nice and so there are lots of beautiful more flattering trends. It isn't different than a very small woman who has her heart set on a huge ballgown and looks swallowed up in it. Why wear something that objectively doesn't look good when there are flattering options.

Beyond the better fitting "real" dress I assume that these women wear Spanx or equivalent. From watching the Real Housewives some of the women wear two Spanx. I can't imagine the discomfort of wearing a double girdle AND being in a dress that was so confining and uncomfortable to walk or sit in. I think some brides have body dysmorphia and when they look in the mirror they don't see a bulging belly and rear end but see Kim Kardashian or Beyonce. I can't comment on Beyonce specifically but KK works out for hours; has plastic surgery and photoshops out any imperfections. Her body is a tribute to plastic surgery; intensive workouts plus photoshopping. The woman in this episode said she wanted her "Beyonce moment"

I am not understanding how pull out shelves provide better storage than drawers. I have both in my kitchen for aesthetic reasons but the deep drawers are infinitely easier to access since there is only one motion - open the drawer versus the two (or actually three) motions for a pull out - open door - pull out roll out - push back roll out - shut cabinet door. I also have to make sure the roll out is back in or else the door won't close versus my deep drawers which I just push shut - Blum soft closing hardware :-) I have some cooking items that are stacked with dividers including my roasting pans but that is a different type of storage than a standard roll out. At any rate, drawers are considered to be an upgrade on lower cabinets and are more expensive than a cabinet with doors and shelves.

Most of the HH are very unsophisticated and are also at the tail end of design trends. They want stainless but have absolutely no idea that the stainless finish they are getting is actually a cheap low end model. They have no idea that the builder or whoever has installed the cheapest cabinets possible - as long as they are white they don't notice that there lower cabinets aren't drawers. Other horrible design features include cooktops in the island with no ventilation and islands that actually block the flow of the kitchen work triangle. And don't get me started on HH ask whether the floors are "wood" or whether it is granite or quartz when it is formica or call a standard single bowl sink a "farmhouse" style. And I don't know whether the realtors are stupid or just attempting to make a sale when they toss out insanely low costs to install new kitchens and bathrooms. And HH and realtors who toss out "painting cabinets" as being a simple job when the reality is that it is difficult to do correctly and either very expensive if done by a professional or would take a very long time by a HH who attempted to do it correctly. By expensive I mean at least $6000 or so for a standard kitchen.

I get why someone like Stanbury hosted it since you probably got it for free since she mentioned her "friend" owned it and it make a striking location so it was sure to be covered extensively. I didn't understand why a *normal* person would want to send their guests in formal attire to the desert when they can host a beautiful function in a gorgeous indoor venue. But my idea of hell would actually be to live in a climate like Dubai and spend time outside. In terms of the cheat sheet, I can sometimes consciously remember the background of some of the women but I have to stop and think and therefore I don't really remember most of their back stories because they blend and don't generally remember who is friends and who is not and who had the argument or sent the text because they all look so much alike in terms of their hair styles. I suspect some of them also had the same plastic surgery as well. It is amazing how much makeup transforms these women like Stanbury. When she was pre-makeup she was relatively ordinary looking and wouldn't stand out in the supermarket.

That statistic isn't really accurate because California is a state with a lot of unaccredited law schools and those schools have a very high failure rate - some are over 90% fail and so they warp the statistics. The reality is that the pass rate for people who went to accredited law schools is the same as other jurisdictions with maybe very slight statistical differences. I don't know anyone who didn't pass the Bar on their first attempt provided they took it seriously and actually studied and took a Bar Review course.

Why would anyone actually host a formal occasion in the desert. I kept watching and thinking that I would have much preferred to have been inside in some beautiful venue - no sand, no bugs, comfortable temperature. Who is the market for that kind of venue? Is it very rich nomads who are doing the equivalent of "glamping" for formal occasions so they are paying "homage" to their ancestors feasting in the desert. I don't know why this show isn't working because theoretically the location could make it fascinating. I still can't distinguish any of the ladies except for Chanel and Stanbury as they all have the same hair - or more accurately the same fake hair. I don't think it is a product of my being blind to ethnic types since I watch all of the franchises and have no difficulty telling any of the women apart in any of those locations - NY, Atlanta, Potomac etc.

He died relatively recently. He had a stomach pain and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died six weeks later. Pancreatic cancer has a real low survival rate and kills quickly as there don't seem to be any effective treatments yet. I worked with a young guy (early 40's) who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was dead within six months. He was a really lovely guy and we had a very close department with a supportive boss so he stayed on as employed so that he could continue to college salary and health benefits until he died and we all picked up his work during that period. Nothing official like giving him vacation days so long as his work was getting done by the rest of us no one investigated.

Oil tank removal is a real thing and if you are gutting the house as they were, it made sense to have it removed. I do think they meant oil FURNACE and not oil tank because typically the oil tanks are in the ground under the lawn and the oil company would then fill up the tank by accessing the exterior. My childhood home originally had a coal furnace so the cellar actually had the old coal bin which was a small "room" that was close to a window so that there must have been a chute at one time to fill it. At some point after WW II the original coal furnace was converted to oil - classic Northeastern heating system with a boiler that ran the radiators and provided hot water as well. When oil prices became really hot my father installed a gas furnace but the original furnace was left in the basement because taking it out would have been a monstrous undertaking especially since it was coated with asbestos so leaving it in place was safe since asbestos is fine unless you disturb it.

The famous brides do get free dresses. When Omarosa was part of the Trump Administration she had to disclose gifts she had received and one of them was a $25,000 wedding dress from Kleinfeld. I remember the episode. I would imagine that other "celebrity" also get their dresses comped but the *regular* brides don't get a discount. However - for better or worse - they do have a much longer appointment than the normal bride as they shoot for many hours although it is edited to make it seem as if the appointment is the normal hour appointment.

I think you are missing the point. Your mother didn’t abandon you because you weren’t a paragon of obedience. Most parents have moments or days or even longer stretches when they might fantasize about their children disappearing 🤫😂 Decent parents - not even incredibly talented parents - hang in there and don’t drop off their kids because they are not perfect. And that is especially true when the behavior is completely normal for kids. My mother and I would have epic battles over the messiness of my room and my father would tell her that it wasn’t worth it so she just shut the door and left me to it when I went through that stage. She didn’t just drop my off at a relative especially not one who was even more stressed than she would have been as Crystal had more objective stresses than Marlo as Crystal appeared to be a single mother with four young children and not a whole lot of money to hire assistants and Nannie’s and drivers. The appropriate action would have for Marlo not to add to the boys’ feelings of instability and conditional love by getting therapy fr herself and the kids. I am not sure that having your kids wake you up so that you can see how they are dressed for school indicates a high level of taking responsibility for parenting. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Maybe COVID restrictions impacted filming and production. I think there were probably still restrictions in NYC when this was filmed. My understanding is that a *normal* appointment at Kleinfeld is about an hour and a bride doesn't try on a huge number of dresses. Realistically I would think that most brides have done a lot of research in terms of looking at dresses in magazines and on-line. I would imagine in real life many brides don't buy on the first appointment. I don't think that is unique to Kleinfeld as I don't imagine most brides purchase a dress the first time they go shopping anyplace. I have been watching SYTD since its first season and the dresses always seem to go through a trend when many of them look alike. In the first seasons almost every bride wanted a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline that was fitted to below the knees and there were some brides who looked really terrible in that style. There was an Indian bride who got both dresses at K many seasons ago. The red dress was a beautiful Pnina ballgown Not stripper fairy at all but very simple and elegant.

Marlo is just awful for essentially abandoning children who have already had trauma in their past given their mother. You don't dump children because they are misbehaving and you need a break. Children absolutely need unconditional love in the sense that they feel they are not going to be "abandoned" because they misbehave. The boys' behavior wasn't atrocious - it was typical kid behavior that parents would address by actually being parents. I think Crystal attempted to explain that to Marlo by telling her that if she wants the rooms to be cleaned or laundry to be put away she actually has to follow up with that. Real parents would "parent" by setting up realistic expectations and then enforcing those expectations by normal "punishment" like taking away privileges or whatever. Also I couldn't believe that Marlo actually dumped the boys off on a single mother who seemed to have an actual job and was living with four children in a three bedroom home.

It was such a bizarre "either or". I thought both of the choices for Kayla were not as flattering as they could have been The ballgown looked exhausting and overwhelmed her. As she was having an outdoor wedding - presumably in the summer - it looked hot. The fit and flair was completely unflattering to her body type. I don't think a better fit would have made it more flattering. If she wanted a more "elegant" body conscious dress, there are certainly more flattering shapes available. Although the bride wasn't overweight that kind of body hugging line made her block shape much more obvious and emphasized her stomach. Also if I were actually changing into a dress for the reception, my last choice to have fun and dance would be a tight dress that restricts the movement. When people wear form fitting gowns to an evening party, they typically have a very high slit so that one can move and even sit more comfortably.

I think there are some unfortunates with terrible water pressure or hot water tanks so that effectively only one person can shower at a time AND there might not be enough hot water for the second shower unless they wait for a bit. And of course there are the horrible plumbing setups where you are either scalded or frozen in your shower if someone flushes a toilet or uses hot water elsewhere in the house.

I suspect what was confusing people was the "six foot" rule which applies to ONE very large shower and so if a fixture is sufficiently far enough away from the other fixtures it is viewed as being a separate fixture because a single person taking a shower wouldn't use that fixture. I don't think most people have showers that large in their bathrooms so I think it is more for communal types of bathrooms where you have multiple shower heads along a wall like in a gym or barracks.

To clarify, the rule in California is to prevent one person in one shower from using multiple shower heads or devices at the same time since that uses up quite a lot of water. There is also a regulation regarding how much water a single device can use. As I stated if the fixture is far enough away so that it would NOT be used at the same time by one person, then you can have a second operational fixture. The rule effectively eliminates the kind of multiple water jets that some people have. It does cut down on the amount of water that is used when a person uses a shower since they can't have multiple jets as well as an overhead or an overhead plus rain forest plus hand held going at the same time. If you haven't lived in California for awhile you might not be aware of all of the new green rules. I remodeled in 2018 and they had only recently changed the maximum amount of flow a toilet could have. Also you can't have a fixed light fixture (e.g. sconce or chandelier) which can use non-LED bulbs and the lights in your bathroom have to be automatic on motion detector so that they turn off after a person has left so there is no forgetting to turn off the light. I think all of this is positive especially in an area like California where there are emergency measures in terms of water because there is such a shortage but why be wasteful of natural resources anywhere? Current rules in California limit watering to once a week on a certain day and strongly encourage xeriscape to conserve water. People in very affluent places who might flaunt the rules because they can afford to might have actual water restrictors placed at the source which will limit the amount of water for their entire household - but that is only if their use is very high and they have ignored notices to cut back.

They are also illegal in California because of water shortages and probably should be all over since there are very few places that should be wasting water. In California you can't have more than one shower fixture able to operate at the same time (in a single shower or tub enclosure - obviously you can have multiple bathrooms with separate showers that can be sued at the same time. You can have multiple fixtures in an individual shower but they can't work at the same time. For example I have an overhead shower head PLUS two hand held shower heads but I have to switch from one to the other as I can't use them all at the same time. Bathrooms are inspected multiple times while being built and the inspector will check to make sure that only one fixture in each shower can be used at the same time. I think if there is a large space - I believe it's over 6 feet you can have two at the same time because the rationale is that one person isn't going to be using both fixtures and that they would probably be used if two people wanted to have separate showers at the same time - i.e. not romantic showers but actual cleaning up showers where they would have their own space and shower head. I am sure they will be booked but not with the kind of people I would want renting my investment :-). Of course my idea of hell would be to rent a one bedroom condo and share it with six people.

What I thought odd about the Gulf Shores episode was that the HH appeared to have no concerns about the kind of people who are willing to cram themselves into the small units. I can't imagine the wear and tear when you are renting to people who are cramming six people into a one bedroom unit. There must be a lot of serious party people who are cramming as many people as possible into a unit the way college kids rent one motel room on Spring Break.

I am sure not everyone is awful to the help but that particular area is notorious for exploiting the hired hands and treating them as if they are "less than". All of the low level workers are imported and are looked upon as inferior species. I think all of the working people are also not natives as I thought the actual citizens get stipends of some kind from the government - but I am not sure if that is true only of some of the emirates. It is pretty telling when cold fish Stanbury is advising someone not to send their kid to boarding school - got to give her credit for actually raising her kids and not following in the family tradition. I don't know if anyone even sends kids to boarding school at those young ages anymore.