HGTV Fixer Upper

This post is about one of my favorite shows of all time - HGTV Fixer Upper.  The owners of the show are the Christian couple Chip & Joanna Gaines, of Waco, Texas.  They are realtors but mainly what their show is about is the renovations of their clients' homes.  Whenever they get a client, a single or a couple, they have the clients come up with a budget - the budget includes the purchasing of the house as well as the renovation costs.  And as the clients are driving to the first home Chip & Joanna show, they exchange their ideas of what they want in the home - lots of land, big kitchen, etc.  Chip & Joanna show them three houses, and then the clients select the one they most wish for.  Sometimes the clients must try to get their chosen house for less than the asking price in order to still have room left in the budget for the renovations.  After the house has been purchased, Chip & Joanna begin renovations - both on the interior and exterior.  Some of the houses need just a few things done, while others need to be almost completely re-done.  A good portion of the renovations include things that the clients want, not necessarily things that absolutely need to be done - for example, Joanna likes to open up walls between living rooms and kitchens to make it feel more open; she also likes to install French doors in many places so that more natural light will flow into the house.  On this show, it seems that Joanna is the stylist and Chip is the "worker" - combining these two talents together make a great team.  As Joanna mentions a few times, she likes to do a little "side project" on each home.  She will recommend to the clients three options for this project, and they will choose the one they like the best.  Especially at this step in each episode, you will notice Joanna's Texas-talk, "y'all."  After everything is done, Chip & Joanna drive the clients to the home, forcing them not to look, to close their eyes.  Then they lead them out of their Suburban, and let them open their eyes to see two huge boards with a picture of the house before the renovations on those boards.  After Chip talks about what the house was before and what it is after, Joanna says the clients' first names, followed by, "Are you ready to see your fixer upper?"  The clients love Chip & Joanna's work.  After showing them the entire renovated place, Chip compares the value of the house before the renovation to the value after.  Each episode is closed with "Welcome home!"

If you are able to access Netflix through a Roku box, you can watch it without going onto cable or satellite.  Just search "Fixer Upper" and you should come up with it.  They show only 13 episodes on Netflix but you'll find more on HGTV - I believe they appear on TV every Tuesday night.  If you do decide to give this show a try if you haven't already, I hope you really enjoy it just like me!   

The Mortification of March 11

So my mom and I went out to dinner at Applebee's last night.  My family tries to do this almost every month where my dad and my sister will go out somewhere and then the same night my mom and I will go out to a different place, but sometimes my dad and I go out somewhere and my mom and my sister go out somewhere.  When my dad and I go out and my mom and my sister go out we call that Guys' Night Girls' Night (I don't prefer that name!), and when my mom and I go out and my dad and my sister go out we call that Date Night (Goodness, we really could think up another name!).  Anyway, after that confusing ramble I'll just tell you that last night was Date Night.  It was a Friday night, of course and my mom and I were going to Gregg's at first - yeah we pulled right back out onto the road when the restaurant was packed to the doors!  So we went to Applebee's instead, and we had to wait about five minutes for a seat - which wasn't that bad.  As we were waiting this person walks into the kitchen and I say to my mom, "Mom, that person in the kitchen really looks like Dan!"  And she looked and said, "Because it is him, he does work here."  It just turns out that Dan is my cousin's fiance.  Very unfortunately he wasn't our waiter but he did have a spare moment so he stopped at our table to say hi.  

So anyway, when we were finished with our meal and I had put my leftovers in a container that the waitress brought me (without me asking, by the way and she did the same thing with another glass of lemonade), I went to wash my hands before we left since I had been touching my shrimp which seemed to be a bit greasy.  So my mom said, "Do you know where the bathroom is?  If you look at where Dan's standing it's right behind him."  So I said, "Okay" and walked off.  So, after I had rounded the corner I thought I had walked far enough and that Dan had just moved or something.  No, because as soon as I went through that doorway I was smack-dab in the kitchen!  Thankfully someone was walking out at the time so I didn't more than a bit of a step inside.  This person says to me, "Oh hi, are you looking for the bathroom?  Well it's right up there to your right, just walk right up there."  Then I looked up there and Dan is still standing there, and he said, "Yeah, it's over here behind me."  I was a bit mortified, my future cousin directing me to the bathroom which a snail or a turtle could've found sooner than I did!  So I said, "Oh okay, thank you!" but was really feeling a bit silly.  

That almost tops the other day when I was watching a show (I Love Lucy) and there was a quiz show on it and the song, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, Lucy sang there.  After the episode was over I saw the only song of that episode come up on the screen, so I exclaimed, "It's 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean?'  I always thought it was 'My Body Lies Over The Ocean!'"  So my mom and my sister, who were home at the time, got a good kick out of that and now my mom has given it this alias, 'The Song of the Ghost.'  Do you get it?

Anyway, I know if Dan is with the family for Easter in just over two weeks he'll tease me about it, "Oh hey, do you know where the bathroom is?"  Who knows?  He's also a magician, by the way - I don't know why I just said that now but whatever.  Anyway, that was 'The Mortification of March 11' and next time we go to Applebee's I'll be sure to watch more closely!

I've Moved!

I've officially changed this blog's web address!  At 10:36am, six minutes after I was planning to move, I moved from everythingimaginable62.blogspot.com to the new location, chandlersmithblogger.blogspot.com (by saying I moved this blog I mean I merely changed the web address).  And with this new web address comes a different blogging routine - you will have something new to read at least twice a week, I'm anticipating, and things will be more interesting.  If you have any suggestions of what I could share with the rest of the readers, please leave a comment and I will be glad to consider whatever you have to say.  Have a great weekend! - Chandler Smith, Blogger

2 Days Until I Move!

Hi everyone!  This is one of the last reminders of my scheduled moving on Saturday!  This Saturday, March 5, I will be moving this blog at 10:30am.  Presuming it's still available, its new address will be chandlersmithblogger.blogspot.com.  If it's not still available I will think of another address and schedule another moving date.  Please keep all of this in mind as we move toward Saturday morning.  Thank you, and have a great day!