Extreme Makeover Home Edition in my town!

Well, the week has come to a close, and the camera crew has left town. My hometown of Arvada, Colorado, was fortunate enough to host the "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" show this week, and my daughters and I spent loads of time out at the site. We have pics of us with Eduardo Xol, the new guy, and my gawd does he smell good! He's, like, 7 feet tall and delicious! We also met Paul DiMeo, and got to hug him; met Constance Ramos, who is a darling; and met Tracey Hutson, who is a sweetie. The girls met Ty, and were able to get his autograph, so we're all sharing it. We had enough signatures from Eduardo, Constance, Tracey and Paul to be able to have one each.

It was freezing cold for most of the project, though the projected 9 inches of snow for Sunday's big reveal failed utterly to materialize, and the sun was warm and bright. The project is a duplex, sort of a homeless shelter but not really. It's a house where two families can stay until they're on their feet. The crew also built a neat little park called Renaissance Park, and a small rec center across the street (that was Ty's special project). Oh, and a basketball court, complete with murals, was dedicated by the official Denver Nuggets mascot.

All in all, it was a very moving experience. I had been sceptical, knowing full well the "magic of television", and so didn't really expect to see the design team actually working (when in fact they worked their asses off) or actually caring (when in fact Paul cried). What you see on the telly is how they really are, and they are amazing people. Ty was working three jobs simultaneously (here, one in Seattle, and one I don't know where) and so had very little time to press palms, but when he was able to come over to the crowd of onlookers he was unfailingly cheerful, upbeat, and kind.