Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Air Date Nov. 30th

[ramanth]

Went out to the site today as a spectator. Of course the batteries in the camera died when I got there.

I'm amazed at how fast this house has gone up. From the front, it appears to be completely done outside. Roof on, siding on, windows in. They were working on the trim around the windows and you could hear them working inside.

The house is gorgeous. Two story, siding in this pretty green, with stone on half of the lower portion.

I saw Michael and Eduardo. Michael pulled up in a pickup and waved at the crowd as he passed. Eduardo actually came up to the fence and signed autographs and posed for pictures. I was less than 5 feet from him. Probably should of reached out to shake his hand, but I moved out of the way for those that had working cameras.

Pretty neat.

[Taz_Zoee]

AHhhhh!! I this show. I never miss an episode! I usually end up bawling my eyes out, but I still love it.
Do you think you might be on TV? If so, what should we look for to see you?
That is so exciting!!!

[ramanth]

Not sure if I'll be on TV or not. Probably not, but that's okay. All volunteers wear the blue shirts and hardhats so there is no way I could say to look for something to differentiate me from anyone else.

[Cinder & Smoke]

All volunteers wear the blue shirts and hardhats so there is no way
I could say to look for something to differentiate me from anyone else.

What color is the Hard Hat?
Cut out a BIG heart-shaped sticker, of a contrasting color, from a piece of
shelf paper ... *stick it* on the front of your Hard Hat!

Or wear a brightly colored Bandanna around your neck!

[ramanth]

What color is the Hard Hat?
Cut out a BIG heart-shaped sticker, of a contrasting color, from a piece of
shelf paper ... *stick it* on the front of your Hard Hat!

Or wear a brightly colored Bandanna around your neck!

LOL! I wish. Actually the forms I signed state that nothing can be done to either the hardhats or shirts. Wouldn't want to get kicked off the site.

Bandanas, I'd have to double check about.

[slick]

With masking tape put a big P on one "cheek" and a big T on the other "cheek". That's not doing anything to the shirt or the hat. Of course you have to make sure to tuck in the shirt so we can see.....

[Cinder & Smoke]

Or wear a brightly colored Bandanna around your neck!

Actually the forms I signed state that nothing can be done to either
the hardhats or shirts. Wouldn't want to get kicked off the site.

Bandanas, I'd have to double check about.

How about a BRIGHT Yellow, long-sleeved Turtle Neck under the
blue, 'official', Tee shirt?

With masking tape put a big P on one "cheek" and a big T
on the other "cheek".
That's not doing anything to the shirt or the hat.
Of course you have to make sure to tuck in the shirt ...

AND, you'll need to make sure the Camera Guy doesn't mind taking
Butt Shots of the pretty girls!

Somehow, I fear the "PT" stickers on the 'Rear End' are gonna be a
problem with 'management'.
Especially when ya turn tail, bend over, and show 'em off!

[ramanth]

You guys crack me up!!! Slick, I thought you meant my facial cheeks till you mentioned tucking in the shirt. LOL!

It's been pretty cold here lately. A lot of colorful turtlenecks out there.

[ramanth]

Snapped these around 3 p.m. Word is that they are also building in Minnesota right now, and that Ty was there.

Saw Ed from a distance but couldn't get a good photo. Some kids started chanting, "Hi Ed!" and he turned and waved.

Getting off the bus




Volunteer tent next to the spectator area


Working on the home


Filming the home


Bringing in more dirt


Working


Filming

[ramanth]

And more filming


The view from the bus as I was leaving




Whenever the shuttle buses would pause in front of the home, the group of kids would cry, "Move that bus!". The volunteers and spectators would all laugh.

[Grace]

That house is HUGE!!

[*LabLoverKEB*]

Wow, what a beautiful house!

[ramanth]

I must pre-empt this post with a correction. It was not Eduardo that I saw the other day, but the new designer, Rib Hillis.

So the group that is working on the MI site are Ty, Paige, Michael, Ed, and Rib.

Designer Bios

I must also apologize for the lack of photos, but boy do I have a story to tell.

First, pictures...

The home at 6 a.m.


And two hours later - note the lack of people..only crazy people are up at that time...

[ramanth]

Floor plans!

Front and back of house


First floor


Second floor


Filming the arrival of playground equipment


Danielle and I

[ramanth]

Okay, so the story.

I arrive at check in at 5 a.m. as instructed. All goes smoothly. I make friends with a woman that works at Sparrow Hospital named Danielle. A coordinator snags 8 volunteers out of the 20 or so of us that are standing around. She instructs them that they will be helping set up breakfast at the site and has them get on the shuttle bus.

She then turns to the rest of us and states, "Well, usually I'd assign you all tasks, but honestly, there isn't anything to do. We're not making you go home, but we just want you to know that you may be standing around all day."



A few volunteers leave, but Danielle and I decide to stick it out. It's freaking freezing out, so we spend most of our time in the heated tent. We have breakfast at 7 and around 9, Danielle and I are snagged to do donations.

So our time is split between roaming the spectator area (where I've been the past two days) and riding the buses transporting spectators to and from the site.

At noon, Danielle and I turn in our donation jars to the coordinator on duty.

We grabbed a quick snack at the food tent and are waiting for the next shuttle bus to take us to our cars when another volunteer joins us. We're chatting about what we did and she's sharing how she's been working in the house. We sigh wistfully and state how we wish we could of helped out inside.

The words are no sooner out of my mouth when one of the producers walks up and asks if we're busy. We all said no and he replies, "Good, follow me. We're shooting a scene up at the house right now and I need volunteers."

We stammer about how we don't have hardhats (a MUST if you're near the house) and he says, "Don't worry about it."

Then a security guard actually went to stop us as we went up the driveway and the producer says, "They're with me!"

Turns out the scene is having the Sears truck back up the driveway full of Craftsman tools and supplies and Rib gets the volunteers fired up and we help unload the truck.

Well, the scene sort of branched from that and half of the volunteers ended up in the garage with Rib, while Danielle and I and a handful of others ended up outside pretending to care for the landscape. I was on my hands and knees tending the mulch around the bushes.

Many takes were shot, then they actually had us unload the truck and I'm in the thick of it.

After that, we had the items in the garage and were opening them on camera.

So look for the girl with short black hair with no hardhat on. There... I made myself easier to spot.

That is if the scene doesn't end up on the cutting room floor.

Afterwards, Rib came around to everyone, thanked us and signed the backs of our shirts!

Danielle and I weren't ready to leave the house just yet, so we snagged some discarded hardhats and another organizer instructed us to put together some stools and other Craftsman equipment and haul empty boxes out of the garage. So we did!

Then with another woman, we ambled into the house, looked around, went out back to see the playground equipment being built, then headed over to the tent for dinner.

It was quite an adventerous day.

Rib told all of us to come back tomorrow with our shirts on and that they'd have all the volunteers together for the unveiling of the home. So Danielle and I are gonna meet up and do that. Hopefully I'll get better pics and video.