amarante

Not to belabor but the person I asked about the patting didn’t limit the discomfort to just the older style glue in those but spoke about the discomfort in general of weaves and extensions. She said it was somewhat like having a cast on your leg or arm and you want to scratch it but you can’t reach. With the hair you pat and stroke because you can’t physically reach the scalp. I just wonder about what it is like in terms of all the incredibly fake cosmetic stuff that women put themselves through and whether there is any degree of disconnect when it’s revealed to one’s intimate partners.

I don't disagree with your presentation but nothing about this makes sense. Agree that almost everything would be "staged" for the show. However, I don't understand why these two women AND the husband would want to portray themselves as the despicable and/or idiotic people they are portraying on the show. If gaining promotion for the cosmetics line is the end game, why paint yourself as a withholding bitch (Mama Dee) who kept her daughter in captivity with promises of owning a lucrative company only to hand her a losing company. D'Andrea is portraying herself as an entitled idiot and the husband is portraying himself as a lazy gold digger who with years of service as a military officer is incapable of finding a job. One could have just as easily concocted a storyline in which the cosmetics company was saved through the valiant efforts of the mother and daughter working together to modernize it - or something that was less ridiculous and demeaning to all participants. And at least would have made sense since you simply can't perform managerial/executive functions without knowing what costs and sales are. How can you develop any kind of marketing or development strategy without knowing what is selling etc. And they ridiculous elephant in the room is always that being on the show IS a well paid gig and really not that demanding so the reason why D'ANdra wasn't motivated to get a "real" job was that she was making far more than she would be making at any other job - and what the hell kind of job is she actually qualified for anyway? And leaving aside that she theoretically was "working" at the cosmetics company for many years prior to starting with the show and thus for many years was actually being paid money from the company to do nothing - because nothing is all that someone with no knowledge of costs/sales/profit or any other relevant information about a company is able to do.

And until her lucky break as a housewife, she was just doing averagely well. Simon made a decent living but he wasn’t incredibly wealthy. If he really had wealth, losing his job wouldn’t have forced them into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Tamra is also considerably older than when she snagged Simon. I asked this question on another forum and was told that it is very uncomfortable. And you can’t reach your scalp to soothe it so the patting seems to help with the irritation. When you just have your own hair, it moves around your scalp more naturally. I know if I have restricted my hair in some manner, it feels so good to take the band or clips out so I can’t imagine what it is like to have pelts glued to my head 24/7.

Regarding hair extensions, I have been told that they can be itchy and you can’t reach your scalp to scratch which is why you see them patting the extensions as a way to relieve the discomfort.

Modern as in new and not necessarily what is technically a modern style. If one is selling or buying real estate and one doesn’t know what a high end finish is, then you shouldn’t be either buying or selling. Obviously a new home can have more traditional high end finishes or contemporary style. Builder grade is another term of art in the real estate world. This is a show about people assessing real estate to purchase and it’s pretty silly to pick on buyers or agents for terms that would normally be used when assessing a home.

Castaic Lake couple were obviously going to take the "tract" home with the very large backyard. The estate was beautiful but completely unrealistic as the costs for maintaining the grounds including a private road would have been huge. That is the kind of place that needs a full time helper to handle. I don't know who wants a home backing up to a 2 acre hill. That is generally puts a damper on a property as you need to maintain the hill without having any kind of benefit. At least if you are perched ON TOP of a hill that you own, you generally have the benefit of a great view and more importantly don't have to worry about flooding or a landslide. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt in terms of the finishes. It's pretty clear what people mean when they say high end or modern finishes and it's a home that has been remodeled or built after 1990. The kitchens and bathrooms were objectively ugly and the pricing of the homes reflected that they were either going to be remodeled prior to the new owner occupying or the buyer wanted to be in a specific location and was trading off a larger ugly house in terms of what they could afford. These people could afford $850,000 or so and decided that it would be less expensive to remodel a fixer upper. I don't think these people were fiscally stupid as he was just a victim of the industry he was working in reorganizing so there were no jobs at his level in Los Angeles any more. Obviously both he and his wife had excellent skill sets and used whatever expertise they had in their former careers to start what one can only assume is a thriving company.

I agree with you because who can explain the total mystery of why some people manage to thrive in horrendous circumstances and some fail when seemingly given every advantage. The problem I have with Ryan is that he STILL has advantages that most "adults" don't have and yet he still squanders them and while stating he doesn't want to act the victim does essentially that. Many if not most people were not given building blocks of one kind or another - maybe they were given were pushed to succeed academically but didn't have unconditional feelings of love so they have less than satisfactory relationships. The point I am trying to make is that you reach a certain age and look around and if for whatever reason your life isn't what you would like it to be, you try to take steps to remedy that. AGAIN Ryan has more advantages than many would in his situation - his mother is essentially begging him to take advantage of therapy she is willing to fund for him. I would bet that if he wanted to go back to school to learn ANYTHING - hell become an electrician or tool die cutter - his mother would give him the funds. I'm not sure what those building blocks he wasn't given were supposed to be and who he thinks got them. Is he now wishing that he had Simon as a father all along - the irony since Tamra has never displayed any kind of growth except that she is now richer than she was when she was young. I don't know what Simon's actual background was but I suspect he is fairly self made - when we first met him, he was some kind of finance person at the Mercedes dealership - with all due respect to those in such positions, it is not necessary the kind of job someone coming from a truly "elite/privileged" background goes into. It's for those who are socially and professionally upwardly mobile.

I find the density of most of these women to be a colossal bore when it then winds up being an extended story line. Stephanie obviously has more insight and emotional intelligence than Kameron - even Leeanne in her limited way does. Stephanie was not being cruel when she described the nature of her relationship with Kameron. She NEVER said that Kameron was a superficial person - only that she and Kameron had a SUPERFICIAL relationship. Most people have superficial relationships with those around them and have deep relationships with a few people that develop over time. To not be able to differentiate the type of social relationship one has with a co-worker - casual acquaintance with the kind of deep relationship one has with a few people and then to confuse the issues with claiming that one is insulted by being called superficial is completely idiocy and shows her lack of emotional intelligence. What is more accurate is that - for whatever reason - Kameron felt badly that Stephanie felt more connected with Kary after a relatively short period of time than she did with Kameron after several seasons. Of course, this is again missing the point since it was to a great extent circumstantial anyway - in that moment Stephanie was feeling a bit (and rightfully so) estranged due to Kameron's behavior and Kary happened to be there and for whatever reason Stephanie felt she could discuss the situation with her. Was she supposed to wake Kameron that morning in order to have a conversation?

Yes the "Trust" - whatever that is and the business are completely separate entities. In the episode, D'Andrea and Mama Dee were discussing finances in general. D'Andrea should have had a COMPLETE idea of the finances of the company since she had been working at it in an executive capacity for several years. D'Andrea said that she had a few stocks left in terms of assets when she was explaining to Mama Dee how poor she was. For some reason, Mama Dee had some sense of exactly what assets D'Andrea had. D'Andrea then got very huffy and said she had NO idea what assets were in the "Trust" - implying that she didn't really know how much her mother had. She said that she hadn't looked at the assets of the "Trust" since the stepfather died. That would probably have been fairly normal - i.e. Papa Dee died and D'Andrea found out she wasn't inheriting much if anything but for whatever reason would receive $5000 per month and she might also have been given some idea of what was in the "Trust" at that time. However, at this point Mama Dee probably doesn't share her bank statements with D'ANdrea so D'Andrea would have no idea of exactly how much she has. I don't think Mama Dee is facing the prospect of taking to a shopping cart in the future but I also don't think the "Trust" has hundreds or even tens of millions of dollars in it. It could either be a Tori Spelling situation where Aaron's estate actually did have hundreds of millions of dollars but the father (and mother) wanted the kids to be semi-self sufficient or it could mean that Mama Dee's assets are such that she would have to lower her OWN standard of living somewhat in order to give D'Andrea what she feels she is entitled to. While somewhat brutal, Mama Dee is essentially telling D'Andrea that she doesn't want to throw good money after bad. The lease is close to $100,000 per year and there appears to be a fairly significant workforce/payroll - it is impossible to believe that this obscure cosmetic company - however jacked up the prices are compared to actual manufacturing costs - would be able to support that kind of overhead.

Neither Ryan or VIcki's kids have families that were rich enough to ensure that the kids wouldn't have to work but could live off inherited wealth. The Vickster is pretty awful in a lot of ways but she actually raised respectable children. Both Brianna and Michael finished college and lived quiet "law abiding" lives. Yes Michael is working at his mother's business but lots of kids work at their parents' business. It's not as if he isn't working and running the business. Ryan theoretically had the exact opportunities as Brianna/Michael. Certainly he would have been fully funded through college. He screwed up his opportunity at the Mercedes dealership - last time I checked working at a dealership - even in the service department or as a mechanic - gets you a very decent living. And later on with Cut when he theoretically should have been more matured and motivated, what was to stop him from getting some kind of fitness accreditation and helping to expand the business in some way. Not saying that he should have but he was given more opportunities than most middle class kids.

I join with others in adding my tiny violin in pity for D'Andrea having to GASP having to live on less than she feels entitled to. The economics don't even add up. She admits that the house is owned (and therefore paid for) by her mother. She has a BRAVO salary and I can't imagine that it is less than $250,000 per year from that. Her husband is getting a pension from the military. She admittedly is getting $5000 per month from the Trust AND she was pulling down a salary from the business. All of the women also get certain freebies and other subsidies based on their D-list salaries. I guess there are enough idiots who don't look below what is being said who think that what she is saying is accurate - but would those idiots actually be sympathetic to someone claiming that HORRORS - they can't figure out how to make ends meet if they are getting $60,000 "free money" in addition to whatever else two people can make. No one was doing themselves any favors - Mama Dee appeared to be a withholding bitch - D'Andra appeared to be an entitled idiot and the husband seems to be a lazy gold digger. And the irony is that Mama Dee came out the best of the best bunch as I would also want my 50 year old child to have not squandered away her talents waiting for the inheritance. Mama Dee worked for her money - as the saying goes - marry for money and you'll earn every penny. And whether or not the cosmetics business was initially funded by her husband, she still managed to build a business that was economically viable for a number of years. For those who are confused, D'Andrea said that she didn't know what was in the Trust. She always had full access to the company's books. To claim that she had no knowledge of the condition of the business means that she is either lying now or that she had absolutely nothing to do with the business prior to taking over except to have a title and draw a salary. It is impossible to have any level of management/executive responsibility in a business and NOT know its economics. In my working experience, once you are involved in management/executive level jobs, it is absolutely critical to know about the nitty gritty economics of the business - how else do you make decisions regarding any facet of the operations? And the TRUST - LMFAO. D'Andra doesn't have a "Trust" in the sense of having money that was set aside for her benefit. No one has that kind of Trust who doesn't get the corpus when they hit a certain maturity age which is well under 50. The oldest I have seen for the final disbursement is 35 but that is only when there are very significant amounts and the majority has already been disbursed prior to that. Mama Dee was left her husband's assets in a standard Intervivos Trust. To avoid probate at Mama Dee's death, her assets are held in the same type of Trust. The beneficiary of that Trust is probably D'Andra but until Mama Dee dies, D'Andra has no rights to any money that Mama Dee has anymore than any child has a right to their parents money. Mama Dee could cut D'Andra out completely or spend everything in the Trust. I have no idea what is in the Trust but I assume there is going to be some amount of assets left when Mama Dee dies - she seems like a shrewd enough character so that she invested safely so there will be something - the houses and I would assume normal stocks and bonds or whatever else she invested in. Poor D'Andrea just expected to get the windfall prior to Mama's death and has lived a lifestyle feeling she deserves that money. It would be interesting to know exactly how much is actually in the "Trust".

As I recall there were some years when Ryan was exiled to live with his grandmother because of issues with Simon. He had only been living with Tamra/Simon for a relatively short period of time in the initial seasons when Simon attempted to set some rules. Simon also set him up with a job at the Mercedes dealership and Ryan flaked out. While I think Ryan's upbringing wasn't ideal, I am playing the world's smallest violin in terms of sympathy for his plight. As others have posted, many people grow up with more challenges than Ryan and manage to not be complete fuckups as adults. Ryan was complaining that he didn't go to college and the irony of this complete wastrel complaining about what? I am 100% certain that back in 2008 if he had expressed a desire to attend college, he would have had his tuition/books/room and board fully taken care of? And what's to stop him from turning his life around now - many many people attend night school or figure out some kind of way to support themselves. And I think Ryan has all the indicia of the angry white young men who are attracted to the altright because their lives are so pathetic. While I don't think he is Unabomber quite yet, I do believe that he spends hours on the altright websites spewing all kinds of pathetic racist white nationalist crap. Call me cynical but that "fashion show" had all the earmarks of some kind of pay to play event. I have never heard of an Orange County fashion show for unknowns - let alone one in which a fancy boat is chartered and there appear to be a copious amount of food and drinks. I can't imagine that the "organization" - whatever it is - actually is legitimate and not some kind of "vanity" operation. I also think the whole fashion thing as designed by the daughter is also bogus. The husband is some kind of merchandiser with branding and I think it was all cooked up because a line designed by a teenager would receive much more social media status than a line produced by a normal company.

I understand why it might be appealing to that group of renters. However, per my post the HH were purchasing theoretically for their own enjoyment. I therefore question why middle aged people would want to rent a place in Rosarita Beach without any amenities and bunk beds in the bedroom. I can't imagine someone purchasing a vacation home in a "resort" type of area and not wanting to have easy access to a pool or the beach or preferably both. At one point, a negative about the expensive condo on the beach was that it wasn't a swimming beach - as if no beach and no pool were a positive 🙂 I live in Los Angeles and am aware of the "appeal" of the place LOL.

Saw a new (at least to me) episode where the HH take a party bus of their friends to approve their purchase of a home in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. Obviously taking the friends along was just for the shtick so I am not even going to bother on the insanity of that. However, none of the choices made sense - at least to me - if one is buying a home in a resort community. They didn't have pools and weren't beachfront. I am not a beach or pool person myself but if I actually was buying a vacation home in a warm climate, I would want it to have a pool and preferably beach access. I have no idea what the attraction was unless all you wanted to do was drink yourself into a stupor on the balcony. The bedrooms of the one they chose had bunk beds which is also an odd choice for adults without small children but then again, the whole thing could actually be people buying a vacation home for the purpose of renting to people on Spring break or similarly "party animal" types of young people.

That one was especially crazy to me - is one really going to subject an elderly dog to exhausting plane trips. I would imagine the dog would be happier being left at home with a friend or even a dog sitter.

There often seem to be better choices in most of these except in cities with insanely high real estate prices. I realize that everyone who doesn't have complete unlimited funds has to compromise but some of the compromises - at least for me - make a home really uninhabitable. Not having a bathroom on the same level as a bedroom would be a deal breaker. Older people down sizing into homes with master bedrooms on the second floor - deal breaker. I just watched a HH International episode in Nassau where the budget was $450,000 and the aim was also for short term rentals. The woman chose a place with no pool and no views that was fairly dinky and about $75,000 below budget. The other option was a $500,000 PH with killer views and a pool but the frontage was not a swimming budget. Surely in all of Nassau there must have been an attractive two bedroom condo for $450,000 with a pool, reasonable view and reasonably close to the ocean. As with the Arizona people, don't people who vacation in hot places want a pool as part of the package? The Tempe apartment did have shower curtains in front of the shower doors. That is actually a thing because people now find old frosted shower doors framed with brass to be "ugly" so they cover them with shower curtains. Not that I would do so and those shower curtains were NOT an aesthetic improvement over the old shower doors anyway.

I don't understand the allure of an investment hundreds of miles away from where one lives - but then I don't understand the allure of a vacation home one must fly to. Of course if one is wealthy enough to fly private but I don't understand how it makes sense for the average person especially when their stated purpose is to relax - seems as though there are way more relaxing things to do.. All of the choices in her price range were pretty terrible. Is there really a short term rental in Arizona for ugly condos without amenities especially a pool. I understand how living across from the baseball place would mean that it would be rented but otherwise I can't imagine who the market would be. There was another HH show awhile ago where the couple was similarly looking for cheap homes someplace in Arizona with some kind of delusional view that there would be a market for a cheap ugly tract home in the middle of nowhere. I also didn't understand her concern for the dog - was she planning on flying the dog for the weekend. That's a huge undertaking.

So is D’Andrea’s company saved or not. It seems to still be around. I have never heard of it nor seen anything about it except for this show but I don’t watch Christian television which is where they seemed to do marketing. According to this article D’Andrea was working in the company since 2004 and was the CEO so how could she not know about the operation https://www.romper.com/p/what-is-dandra-simmons-moms-company-real-housewives-of-dallas-showcases-og-momtrepreneurship-12140121

In the end, the Detroit husband got his space and the wife got her laundry room. While I have no idea why anyone needs a couch in a laundry room since one is either actively doing laundry or can be in another room, the reveal did show quite an extensive laundry area set up. Based on what they actually bought, I think it was just shtick on her part since the actual home they bought reflected his concerns - a sanctuary plus a purchase price well under their budget. The home seemed an appropriate compromise.

Thanks for the link - I briefly skimmed which was enough to satisfy my prurient interest in what she was peddling. As posted above, the supreme irony is that none of the photos illustrating her recipes show anything other than a plate of food - she could be photographing them in a builder grade formica kitchen from the 1980's (oh the horrors LOL) for all it would matter. Not to be repetitive, but the fantastic retro stove and what was probably a Big Chill refrigerator would have given her far more respect for someone of actual taste versus someone who went with the completely banal and ubiquitous white on white kitchen - especially since her actual kitchen really was not that of someone who appreciated great kitchen design and functionality.

Well don't even get me started on the whole stupid issue of fashion over function. As posted, I just finished a gut remodel of the kitchen and I made a lot of design choices that were driven by aesthetics but I also knew exactly what I needed/wanted to improve functionality. I will often stop my DVR on the kitchen and marvel at how cheaply the kitchen has been built or remodeled but it's white Shaker with white counters LOL. There have also been a couple of episodes recently where the realtor blithely talks about how inexpensive it would be to remodel the kitchen. There is nothing like doing your own remodel to realize that there is no way I would buy a house that had been remodeled because there are so many ways that the remodeler cheaped out when doing the job to maximize profit. This is especially egregious when they talk about painting wood cabinets as if you just slap a coat of paint over them. Repainting wood cabinets properly is either expensive (if you source it to a professional who does a good job) or incredibly time consuming since you need to remove all the doors - sand, sand sand them - prime and paint them in an environment reasonably clear of dust and bugs :-). Otherwise you will get a crap job that looks terrible and will chip like hell. Repainting kitchen cabinets properly by a professional is surprisingly expensive - it can be $7000 or more depending on size and where you are located in terms of labor costs. Aside of course from also knowing how cheap most of the finishes these people ooh and aah over are. I think it was the Tennessee episode where the female HH questioned why the shower/tub wasn't tile and the realtor said how much better the crappy fiberglass or acrylic insert was. Never mentioning that a good tile shower is much more expensive - ask me how I know having just finished a gut remodel of two bathrooms with tile showers in which the crappy ugly acrylic inserts were gotten rid of :-).

I thought the Chicago couple chose a terrible option - It really is not convenient to have all the bathrooms on the lower level without even a powder room in the living area level. Again, I find it inscrutable when the buyers have what is a theoretically large enough budget and none of the options seem desirable for the family. The blogger lost me on any kind of taste or style when she went into the kitchen in the Tudor home and whined that it wouldn't photograph well when it had that awesome stove and retro looking refrigerator. Having just finished a remodel of my kitchen, I bet the refrigerator was a Big Chill because I am not aware of any other brands that are currently doing that retro style. A Big Chill refrigerator is of course obscenely overpriced for what it is but it is way more expensive than any of the stainless steel models that HH generally find the cat's pajamas. There is never any kind of understanding that a stainless model can be the bottom of the barrel quality and relatively cheap. Also in general the "new construction" kitchens for the most part are not well designed as they are using the very cheapest type of cabinetry. Chicago husband was absolutely correct that if you remodel you can get exactly what you want in terms of both style and function.

HGTV has routinely run overtime by about 30 seconds or a minute for as long as I can remember. Most of the time it matters little since I fast forward through all of the crap anyway and so the DVR is just cutting off the very last segments when they are typically having a BS gathering of friends and family. It's quite noticeable as sometimes my DVR will record back to back episodes and the first 30 seconds or so will be the last of the program before. There was an episode this week that really started late - about two minutes in and it was still on the last segment of the preceding program and so it cut off the reveal of which house in that episode.

Giuliani was also responsible for having Emergency Command Center in the WTC after it was advised against in terms of it being a likely target for terrorists - even if the plane attack couldn't have been predicted. He was always a hypocritical POS and a serial sexual harasser. My friend worked as an attorney when he was the head of the Southern District and he had sex with all the young female attorneys working there.

My friend lives in Buenos Aires and the crime rate is horrendous. Her purse was stolen while she was at a red light and her family was mugged on a Sunday morning heading for church. I don't know if BA is particularly lawless in comparison to other Southern American cities but her life was really controlled by the crime rate. Heights don't seem to deter criminals. A friend who lived in a five story building walked into the kitchen and someone was using a rope from the roof to attempt to gain entry through a window. One would expect to have bars on windows with the fire escape or on the ground level but one really would have a false sense of security if one's apartment was on a higher level. There was a murderer in New York City awhile back and he was killing women who were sleeping in bedrooms on the ground floor. One woman had her window by the bed and he slashed her throat without even entering the place. It was on one of those Dateline type of true crime shows - he was apprehended because a policeman stopped him because he was wearing a black scuba outfit and when the murder was reported, the policeman was able to alert the detectives of a suspicious man. Kind of like how Son of Sam was caught because he got a parking ticket and a detective decided to go through parking tickets that were given out on the night of one of the murders.