Wow, did I have fun last week! Life gets so busy and I get so behind sometimes that I don't get to stop and smell the roses. This week was different. Even though I have tons of stuff to do and a business trip to go on next week that I needed to get ready for, I put that all aside and just had fun!
Have you ever watched
"Extreme Makeover Home Edition" on ABC on Sunday nights? Well, it happens to be one of my FAVORITE shows! One of my best friends, Nancy
(Hi Nanc!), and I are ADDICTED to any of the home improvement shows. Wait, first let me give you a little background on Nancy and I! We met over 12 years ago when we worked at the same place. Something clicked and we became friends instantly. Our first "friendship" date was when she invited me over to her apartment to hang out and we ended up faux marbelizing a table! Not exactly what most friends would probably do hanging out for the first time but it was perfect for us. Fast forward years later when I ended up moving into a 4-plex across the street from her. It was the beginning of "Trading Spaces" on TLC. Nancy and I were hooked from the very first show. We would call each other on the phone and watch it together over the phone. It's not like we couldn't walk across the street to watch it in person together but sitting on the phone worked for us. By the way, does anyone know who Alex McLeod is? If you are a true Trading Spaces fan, you would know the answer! Nancy and I do! Anyway, moving right along. Nancy called me about 2 weeks ago to tell me she received a note on her door that "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" was in town looking at doing a makeover on the next street over and they wanted all the neighbors permission. LOL...like they had to ask Nancy! Well, it ended up that 2 weeks later she received a letter from them on a Monday that they would start Wednesday! Of course she had to call me and I planned my trip to her home to stalk...I mean look for Ty! Even though I had Wednesday off, Allison had a dentist appointment...dang those parental responsibilities getting in the way of my fun! So Allison and I ended up going on Thursday. We arrived at Nancy's around eleven or so and had a cup of coffee, a doughnut and chatted a while. Nancy had another Ty stalker...I mean friend there too. This was the first time I had met Monica but I knew if she was willing to stalk...DANG...I mean watch the fun with us, we would like each other just fine. Her youngest son was also with her. So we had Allison, Mitchell & Zach in tow so I guess we couldn't get into too much trouble. Right? 
We walked over to the house and the gas company was working out front. Not very exciting but we were able to take some before pictures. By the way, that's not
Ty at the controls of that bulldozer! The big silver round things on the pole are lights that help them work at night. Nancy said when she came home from work the previous night, they were so bright. You can see how big they are! Well, since nothing exciting was happening, we decided to go back to Nancy's house. Nancy made us lunch and while we were sitting in the kitchen talking, I happened to glance out the window at something that caught my eye. WELL, all I could muster out of my mouth was..."BUUUUSSSSS!!" Yes,
Ty's bus just pulled down her street in front of her house! We all jump up and Monica and I grabbed our cameras and started chasing the bus down the street as if we were crazed girls in the 60's chasing
"The Beatles!" Nancy followed barefoot with the kids carrying Allison because she had socks on, Mitchell was barefoot too and Zach was the only one with shoes on! Thank goodness it was a nice day! Well the bus stopped and
Ty got off and Monica screamed like a school girl! Oh my, can you tell this was the most excitement we had seen in a long time?
Ty ran into a trailer there and stayed in there for a while but that was okay, we weren't leaving until we got a look at him! I guess I should mention that Nancy's street was the production street which was guarded by security guards and you weren't allowed on it unless you were a resident. This pic is what her street looked like. There were signs along the street that identified it as "bin city" and we found out later that those yellow things on the side of the street housed some of the furnishings for the house. All of the other vehicles belonged to the production crew. Here's a pic of the kids too! Don't they look like they are having fun?
Okay,
Ty ended up coming out of the trailer and we got to see him for a brief moment so we decided to head back up the street to Nancy's home because Monica had to leave to get her other son off the bus so I had to move my car for her to get out. However, as we were walking up to the house, Nancy noticed what was parked out in front of her immediate neighbor's house....it was
Ty's bus!
The bus they use at the beginning of the show when he tells the design team about the family and they use it at the end of the show to block the family from seeing the house until they are ready to reveal it.
You know, when
Ty screams "BUSDRIVER, MOVE THAT BUS!" So of course we had to go and take our pictures in front of it! I know, we're pathetic and I don't care if you are laughing at us right now...we had fun and that's what it was all about!
By the way, do you see my so not shy daughter talking to the busdriver? She just walked right up to him and carried on a whole conversation! Moving right along...we went and got Emily (Nancy's daughter) off the school bus, took her picture in front of
Ty's bus and then headed back over to the makeover house. They were shooting in the back of the house and we could see a little of what was going on. It looked like
Ty was explaining to the camera what was going to happen. We were standing across the street behind fencing they put up to hold us back. The security guard kept "shushing" the crowd when they started to get too loud.
Paul, the carpenter, walked across the front lawn of the house and everyone cheered. LOL...I guess we were not the only crazies there watching! We stood there a little longer and who comes walking down the driveway towards the street, then across the street and then to the crowd waiting? YES, it was
Ty! He started at one end and greeted the crowd. He was signing autographs, shaking hands and posing for pictures. Some lady called a friend on her cell phone and even talked to her over the phone. We were about in the middle of the crowd. Emily, Allison and I were together and a couple of people down, Nancy was sitting on the ground with a sleeping Mitchell laying on her lap!
Poor little one! As
Ty was approaching us, I grabbed the new bigger sized
TV Guide that I had just received in the mail the prior day out of my purse for him to sign. If you haven't seen it, let me show it to you! For privacy purposes, I had to block out our address but you can see
Ty signed it! He also told me that I had to watch the show that Sunday because they did something special with TV Guide. I told him that he didn't have to tell me to watch because I watch it every Sunday! He was so gracious to everyone in the crowd. Emily asked if she could have a hug and he smiled and hugged her. He wasn't that high energy crazy
Ty that you see on television. He was so down to earth and pleasant.
When he got to Nancy (remember she was sitting on the ground) he bent down and patted a sleeping Mitchell on the back and said something to the effect that the little guy just couldn't make it, could he?
Here is a picture of Emily with him. She was so excited! She said something about never washing that shirt! LOL! I swear she skipped all the way back to Nancy's house. Okay, now we leave there and go back to Nancy's and this time the busdriver was outside the bus and he opened it up and let us go inside! Yes, I was in
Ty's bus! LOL! Here's a pic of Nancy and Emily sitting on the couch and then here's a picture of me acting crazy like
Ty 
with HIS megaphone! It was sitting on the counter and with Nancy egging me on, I couldn't resist! I would love to say that my lips were where his were but the truth of the matter is I didn't put my mouth to it! I guess the Mother in me kicked in and the whole germ thing came to mind and I just didn't do it! Oh well, I guess I'll stick with my Curtis' germs!
I am not sure when the episode is going to air. Some have said on Thanksgiving or the Sunday before or the Sunday after. You'll just have to watch. There are a lot of surprises but you already know that if you watch the show. I do know that John DeCerbo from DeCerbo Construction who was responsible for framing out the house handed the owner of TC Quality Homes of Canfield who was the main builder on the house a check for $25,000.
He told him that "If I can't frame the house in eight hours, I'll donate this to the family. But if I can, I want ABC to donate $25,000." The record for framing a house on
Extreme Makeover Home Edition was 12 hours. He did it in 5 1/2 hours! Here's a sneak peak at the almost finished house. I got this pic off of
Channel 33 WYTV's website. It's pretty, isn't it? I can't wait to see the show! I'll have my VCR set!
As I drove home from my fun filled day with my Allison sleeping in the back, so many thoughts were going through my head. About how much fun I had. How I couldn't wait until I got my pictures developed. How I wished that I didn't have to work the next day so I could watch them tear the old house down. How I wished that I could be there for the next 6 days to watch all the activity. How I wanted to be there when the family came home and saw the house for the first time. But honestly most of my thoughts were how I missed living across from Nancy. How I loved just hanging out drinking coffee and having loaded bagels for breakfast. How I miss watching Emily grow. How I missed seeing Emily in her Halloween costumes. How I missed playing
Scrabble with Nancy. I miss Doug (Nancy's husband)...he's such a good friend. I miss watching
HGTV and
TLC with Nancy. I could go on but I think you get the picture. Nancy teased me that she had to get Ty there so I would come for a visit but truthfully, I always thought about coming to visit but I think deep down I wasn't ready to face the feelings that I knew I would have. It's sort of a loss. Nancy is a great person and a wonderful friend and I miss her so much. I wish I could have my family and still live across the street. Well, maybe not in that apartment. It would be a little crowded with Allison and Curtis in there too. They both have too many toys! I always believe that things happen for a reason. Maybe there was more than one reason that
Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to town. Maybe one of the reasons was to add silly stupid fun to balance my first return to a place I loved so much. A place where I was happy and wasn't ready to leave. A place where I was with those that I loved and loved me. I know life is about change and it moves on but it wouldn't it be nice if we could have everyone we loved right where we want them? I LOVE Curtis and especially my Allison but I miss having a good girlfriend across or down the street to just be "girls" with.
That's all for now and don't forget to watch
Extreme Makeover Home Edition on
ABC on Sunday nights at 8 PM EST!
Have Fun!
Pin It
Every time I look at a picture of the three of them together I feel such pride. They are all beautiful, intelligent, kind, loving and just basically wonderful girls that will definitely make a positive mark in the world. Just thinking of Stephanie about to finish her Senior year of high school and going off to college makes me realize how fast life really goes. I still remember the phone call from Susan to announce her birth like it was just yesterday. I'm going to take this as a lesson to appreciate the time we have with family and friends. Someone once said to me that no one will ever say on their death bed that they could have worked more. It's always that they should have spent more time with family and friends. I guess that would depend on what is important to you as an individual. However, for me it's true. Money seems to be such a driving force in so many lives. Maybe it should be more for me but it isn't. Being the best Mom that I can be, guiding Allison through life, giving her a good solid foundation, supplying her with what she needs but not spoiling her, loving her unconditionally, teaching her independence and self-worth, showing her that you can have a traditional upbringing but still have choices in deciding what you want from life for yourself are my driving forces. I've been fortunate to have experienced and done a lot of things in my life but now God has blessed and trusted me with my most important role yet. Like anything in life, the more time and attention you spend doing something the better you become at it and more successful are the results. So, I sit here typing away while my precious angel sleeps, planning the weekend's activities with her and being thankful for my best gift ever!
