April 16, 2008

HGTVetoed

I am always on the look out for opportunities to get on TV. I’m not interested in eating bugs Survivor-style and I certainly never wanted to be vying for the attention of one guy along with 24 other women. That’s desperate and not at all my style. But getting on a makeover show like "What Not to Wear," or an HGTV room redo has been a dream for a long time.

My family says I dress too nicely to get on WNTW. I beg to differ, but no one’s going to be nominating me. There’s just really no one else besides Lil C around me all day to see that I rarely exit pajamas until about 1 or 2 p.m. Her camcorder skills are still sort of. . . developing.

So, when I saw an opportunity to get on an HGTV show this summer, I jumped at it. The show is called "Summer Showdown" and I was ecstatic to see that you didn’t have to live in LA or Chicago to apply. The show is looking for the worst living room, bedroom, kitchen and backyard in America. Then they have a designer showdown and you get your room completely made over.

I submitted our bedroom, which boasts pink carpet, brown sponge-painted walls (neither of those my doing) and a blue bedspread. My parents kept telling me we would never get picked because our room isn’t that bad, but I knew it was and then some.

I told them about how I’ve never had a headboard on my bed, unless you count the time that I bought a piece of fence for $10 at Home Depot and painted it and stuck it behind my bed. I told them that my dressers are falling apart thanks to my Dad loading the drawers with hand weights and then trying to slide the dresser around by himself when we moved into this house. I told them that everything I try to do to make the room better, only seems to make it worse. I told them I would get over my fear of long flights and get on a plane to LA for the season finale in May.

Less than 24 hours after filling out the online application, I got a call from the producer of the show, confirming that my bedroom pretty much sucks. She called my home phone; she called my cell phone and she emailed me at both of my email addresses. She told me she was throwing our room into the final mix and that they were "really really interested in our room." She asked me to make a video of the room and our family and submit it to their uploading website asap.

Mr. BBM and I spent three nights making that video. We planned it out, were creative as we could be, and made something that I think rivals my debut Carrie Underwood lip sync. We stayed up until 2 a.m. several nights in a row creating, editing and getting excited about it.

When we uploaded the video, there was only one other video in the bedroom submissions folder. Mr. BBM clicked on it and we watched our competition. (I know, totally shouldn’t have but we did anyway.) We figured we had it in the bag.

Last week, the producer emailed me and said they were still "up in the air" and that she would be in touch soon. Last night, I got the bad news. We didn’t get picked. I figured that if we did, our house would be as good as sold. My realtor was excited too, waiting for word. I also figured that even if they made my room so fantastic that I didn’t want to leave it, I could still take any new furniture and accessories with me and then mimic the paint color and flooring in my new house. I was so excited.

So, the bad news is that I won’t be appearing on HGTV. The good news is that I guess I only have the second worst bedroom in America. That is definitely a selling point.

Posted by Black Belt Mama on April 16, 2008 in Mental Strain for Mama | 1 Comment

April 15, 2008

16 Weeks

I hit the 16 week post-op point last week. It marked another change to the recovery regime. My PT added leg extensions and they went fine while I was there. It was later in the night that I started to hurt and I continued to hurt for the next two days.

Back at PT on Friday, my PT said he’s taking them out of the routine for now. My knee cap is getting too irritated and I need to build up my quad more before adding them in again. It took a good four days for my knee to stop hurting and being so stiff. I’m just sick of set-backs like this. A week earlier I was a degree from touching my butt and on Friday I couldn’t even get close from being so sore.

I see my surgeon next Friday. I had high hopes of getting my brace ordered and planning my triumphant return to karate. I just don’t know if that’s going to happen yet. While my Mom and Mr. BBM have remarked about how muscular my legs are getting, the left one still lags considerably behind. Mr. BBM says there’s not much of a difference but I think he’s just being nice.

Mark the calendar people. It’s time for another feeling sorry for myself session. Let’s hope it’s the last one.

Posted by Black Belt Mama on April 15, 2008 in ACL Hell | 4 Comments

April 15, 2008

No Words

There are no words to describe what it felt like to paint "summer moon" over top of Big I’s princess room and Lil C’s ocean room this past weekend. We made sure to get a photo shoot before we started painting so the girls would always remember their rooms. O.k., it was probably more for me than for them. . .

When the shoot was finished, Big I seemed at ease with the transition. Me on the other hand. . .

Then it was time for Lil C’s shoot.

Well, maybe there are a few words to describe it. . .

Can’t read it? "This Sucks" and "Buyers who don’t like kids rooms can KISS MY. . ."

All you really need to know is this. Big I now loves her room. Lil C has told me to "take that paint off acause I miss my blue room." You should also know that I sobbed as we painted Lil C’s room; but Mr. BBM helped to make it all better with Nachos Belle Grande and some Miller Light.

("After" pictures to follow later this week after new carpet is installed and my emotions aren’t so raw.)

Posted by Black Belt Mama on April 15, 2008 in Mental Strain for Mama | 1 Comment

April 14, 2008

Psycho Detection Skills Required

As I was taking a box out to the garage today, a man pulled up in front of our house, got out of his car and took a flier from our "for sale" sign. As I walked back from the garage, the man stood in front of my house reading the flier. When I got closer, he asked me if I was the owner of the home. I said that I was. He asked me a couple questions about our garage and parking spaces. He asked me if he was parked in one of our spaces and I told him that he was in our neighbor’s spot.

He then said, "So I should probably move my car up to the visitor parking area before you show me your house." He stared at me waiting for a response.

After painting for 12 hours this weekend (more to come on this tomorrow), I was completely exhausted and probably lacking any form of poker face. All I could think of as I stood there looking at this middle-aged single man who was by himself was, "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."

I quickly told him he should call his realtor or call the number on our sign and speak with our realtor so that he can make an appointment.

"Oh," he said, "well, then I’ll just take this" he said as he gestured at his flier. He seemed a bit put-off by my very polite response. I went inside, locked both the locks on my door and considered turning my security system on. My realtor warned me about people like that, but I didn’t ever really think I’d encounter one.

As I sit here many hours later, I find it interesting that we didn’t later get a call from the showing center. If he was in such a hurry to see our property today, then why didn’t he make an appointment to come back? Something tells me that my psycho killer detection skills were spot-on.

Posted by Black Belt Mama on April 14, 2008 in Mental Strain for Mama | 7 Comments

April 10, 2008

Before and After

I have no skin left on my knuckles. I’m completely exhausted. All I do is think about how I can restage, rework and get an offer by Monday when our contingency is up on our new house contract. So, do the changes that we’ve made make a difference?

Kitchen floor before. We had a 16 year old floor that had faded and was stained in some areas: