Extremely Emotional - Part 5

We sure had a great time being part of this great event. The family was so excited, it was just overwhelming. Word around the site was that this show would be aired either the last Sunday in January or at the first of February. Hope you all get to see it!

MOVE THAT BUS! MOVE THAT BUS! (It was easy to get caught up in the frenzy!) We couldn't see the family's reaction....too many people in OUR way! All the folks in the black jackets were with the builder - so they got the premium places - as it should be.

...and here's your design team...

The family comes over to hug their neighbors - who we were standing right behind. That's the dad doing the hugging. Youngest son and daughter behind him.

Youngest son, dad, mom, daughter. Oldest son (I would say he's about 18 or so) was busy running the fence line "Ty-style" and slapping hands as he ran.

Heading towards the house.

Family turns back around to acknowledge yelling "fans."

The family FINALLY gets to go into their house. (Insider note: I'll bet it was 45 mintues from "move that bus" until they finally got to go into their home. It was like torture! All the takes. They actually walked up to the door about 3 times before they got to open it!)

Final look at the new home.

Designers smile for the crowds.

What a great opportunity we had. It was a blast.

Check out these links for stories I found about this makeover.

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/121605/local_20051216016.php

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/121505/local_20051215050.php

http://www.brenhambanner.com/articles/2005/09/13/news/news06.txt

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=3722534

http://www.abc40.com/main.cfm?ID=1&NewsID=3045&Type=Full

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/2081506.html

http://wtaw.com/news.php?phase=show&item=794

Extremely Last Minute - Part 4

Last minute details before the family came home. Pallets of Purina Dog Chow brought to the house.

Limo just before it leaves to go pick up the family.

The crowd across the road grows.

Ty and the Aggie "cheerleaders" just before running inside the house for the "We've got ONE HOUR, PEOPLE!" yelling on the bullhorn.

The family's new RV is readied for their return. It ended up getting a banner on the side of it that said something about animal rescue. We heard in passing that this RV was donated by Robin Williams (the comedien) but don't know if that was truth or just a rumor.

VIP viewing areas filing up. NationsRent banner nicely placed!

Ty running by the crowd, high fiving and yelling through his bullhorn. (He's a fast runner/I'm a slow photographer.)

Michael - the man with the whitest teeth on earth.


The "move that bus" bus is moved into place.


Family soon to arrive!

Extremely Wonderful - Part 3

More Extreme Makeover: Home Edition pictures from last week.

This was our first shot of the house when we pulled up on Saturday. Someone with Stylecraft Homes, the builder, said it took 106 hours to build. Not sure if that is after the slab is laid or not...but it is amazing either way. The house fit so nicely into that setting out there. Nice ranch style home. PERFECT!

Some of NationsRent's equipment that they were beginning to haul away. They were really a huge donor for this makeover. It was neat being part of that. We were really treated like someone special because of it.


Putting the final touches on. This was about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. They were still taking some furniture and decorations into the house. We got to walk everywhere but inside the house. It's amazing where you can go and what you can do if you just act like you know what you are doing. Kelly's NationsRent shirt and hat got us everywhere anyway, but I was all puffed up acting important....HA...nothing could be further from the truth!

Fuzzy closeup of Ty. You take your life in your hands in that part of Texas when you make the Hook-Em-Horns sign. I risked it later anyhow!

Here's a shot from the south-ish end of the house. Behind the house, you can see a small red barn. Then right behind that are the dog kennels and then beyond that is the new barn.

Inside the little red barn - I guess this was the kitty house. Look at all the pet goodies. I didn't see any of the kitties back yet. They probably couldn't have handled the stress anyway. This was just one side of that barn. The other side was equally loaded. There was even a pet tag maker in there - about the size of a video game unit you'd find at Fuddrucker's or other place like that. It was amazing. There was a fork lift busily unloading about 4-5 pallets (or more, maybe) of Purina dog chow. There wasn't even room to store all of that food!

Here are the kennels behind the red barn. I think all of the puppies were back. Lots and lots of dogs. I think there were pins/houses for about 25 dogs.

These are the dog runs/play yards for the pups. Nice fire hydrants!

Behind the kennels/dog runs was the new barn. Apparently these folks have rescued about 26 horses...though one of them is a zorse. We met their neighbors from the ranches across the street. One of the men had taken care of 18 horses and the zorse while the family was on vacation.

Several new saddles waited for the family.

Nice barn with a fully supplied tack room at the end. The horsies we saw were very happy! (I could just tell!)

Behind the barn were several pins/corrals along with one of the horse-excerise-walk-around-in-a-circle deals

Truly amazing.

More later. Gotta go make some Christmas cookies.

Extremely Amazing - Part 2

Kelly and I were going to be part of the "Braveheart March" but then it took longer than we could impose on our friend to watch Blake, so we stepped out of the march. This was the first time Extreme Makeover: Home Edition had been in Texas and they said it was the first time anyone had ever shown up with a state flag. I think those California types had no idea what they were getting into when it came to Texas pride.

So get this schedule....

Thursday is bullhorn day where the family leaves. From Thursday afternoon to Friday, the "tent and trailer city" is built. They have to lay rock pads, bring in lighting (serious lighting), set up all the trailers, set up catering (this is an unbelievabe part of the whole deal), set up their own cell tower, get all their satellite feeds in place....just one thing after another. It is unbelievable what a "city" it really does become. Each small part of making this happen is a huge deal. Crowd control, building all the tents for woodworking/building, security, just one thing after another. It was so cool. The house comes down on Saturday and when we swung back by there Saturday evening about 5:30 p.m., the foundation was being poured while the old house was still being hauled away. At one point, I think I counted about 15 dumptrucks. I think the ones that brought in the sand/dirt for the foundation left with a load full of rubble. And all of this was happening on a small road - it was paved - hardly big enough to handle all of the huge equipment. I talked to the man with the roof trusses and he said he didn't know if he could make it to the site...his load was over-length, over-height, and over-width.

Here are the marchers getting ready to march towards the torn down house.

The march arrives at the pile of rubble with Ty and the designors waiting on them. (You could basically keep track of where Ty was during this whole thing by just following the sound of screaming women!)

We are really fans of Paul and Preston, but it was still neat having the other crew here. From left to right - Eduardo, Ty, Ed, Tonya, and Michael.

Extreme Makeover - Brush with Greatness!

We had the greatest opportunity to go down to an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition taping a couple of days last week. Since Kelly's work is a major equipment sponsor, we got to do some really neat stuff and see some of the behind the scenes stuff. We also found out a few of the secrets of the show...but really none of that spoiled the show. They honestly DO build a house in a week...actually...it was less than a week of true building and decorating. The location was outside of Washington, Texas which is on the other side of Navasota which is on the other side of College Station. (This location happened to be about 2-3 miles from where my Houston aunt and uncle have their weekend place. It was an area we are very familiar with - though we had never been down the road where this all took place.)

When we arrived, the first floor of the old house had already been ripped out. This picture is the 2nd story that was about to be bulldozed down. You can also see a barn behind and to the left of the house - it was demolished in seconds. The story we heard about these folks is that they have become an animal shelter...taking in all sorts of critters, big and small. He's a mechanic, or mechanic supervisor and she's a teacher. They have 3 kids - from about aged 12 to 18. They were long gone by the time their old house was destroyed - I think they went to Palm Springs.

That was the biggest bulldozer I had ever seen.

That pile by the dozer is the house and the barn! I couldn't believe how fast it came down. It was just a matter of minutes. It was kind of sad in a way...but good things were on the way!

My two favorite makeover dudes!

Film industry rules didn't allow anyone under 18 years old to be filmed. That was a real problem because Blake wanted to drive the big bulldozer...

...but he settled for driving one of the NationsRent gators.

More makeover pictures to come...

A Wonderful Gift for Your Loved Ones

Cruising around online, I found this lovely, thoughtful gift that you may want to buy your loved one. Only a few shopping days left!



NexxTech™ Digital Safe-Mate Alcohol Detector (631-3002)

Simple to use: Just blow into compact device and you'll see the results right away.

Important notice: Do not rely upon the analyzer to determine the level of intoxication or whether you are legally able to drive or operate equipment. Because of the numerous factors that determine an individual’s blood alcohol content, this analyzer is designed to be used as a reference measure only to aid in indicating the level of alcohol present in the blood. Under no circumstances should the user rely on the results of the readings of the analyzer to determine intoxication levels which may result in decisions to operate vehicles or equipment of any kind or participate in any type of dangerous activity. The analyzer makes no reference whatsoever to blood alcohol content or other such measures of intoxication promulgated by government, medical or other agencies or bodies. The supplier, manufacturer, dealer, wholesaler, distributor or any of their respective affiliates do not warrant the accuracy of the product and will not be held legally responsible for the consequences of any decision, based on the use of the product, to operate any motorized vehicle or other equipment or to participate in any dangerous activity; including any claims for special, indirect or consequential damages



What a thoughtful gift. Only $16.99 at www.circuitcity.com

Put one in everyone's stocking this year and be the hero!

What's so seasonal about pig parts?

Does anyone have any idea why sausage balls are usually just made around the holidays?

Ho Ho Ho - have some pig parts and other stuff.

My Not-So-Perfect Family Christmas Letter

Happy Holidays to all of you, friends and relatives. I was hoping to have the time to write each of you an individual note to put with each of your Christmas cards, but truth be told, I spent too much money on my new NASCAR tattoo and now don't have any money left for Christmas cards. (It is some awesome artwork…the track runs up one arm, across my back and down the other arm, and doesn't interfere at all with the Budweiser tattoo.) We are planning a busy holiday hoping to see everyone that expects to see us. We had planned to visit my family on the 25th and 26th, but I’ve got some of those pesky community service hours to work off on the 26th, so we’ll have to cut our visit short. We’ll spend our traditional Christmas Eve with Kelly’s family and my Mom in Garland, attending their Christmas Eve candlelight service, if we can keep Mom from hitting the eggnog too hard and embarrassing all us while at church. (Sorry to bring that up again, Mom, but your interpretive dancing last year, right in the middle of “Silent Night” didn’t go over that big.)

Kelly’s work has been going well. He’s been traveling a bunch and has enjoyed the work he’s been doing with some very talented people. I don’t want to give away too much, but some of you can expect a really nice Christmas gift sack packed full of toiletry items that he’s picked up along the way during his travels. I think you’ll find that the Anaheim Motel 6’s shampoo has a nice fruity smell and the lotion from the Fort Lauderdale Motor Lodge is really nice for winter-dried skin.

We are very proud of our little Blake. For a 2 year old, he’s really picking up on some advanced skills. I’ve found that I can sit him in front of the T.V. for about 10 hours a day and he’ll be still for about half of that time. Aren’t we lucky to have such a good babysitter as the TV?! I don’t know how people used to raise their children without one. He especially enjoys “Days of Our Lives” and is learning some good concepts about family and morality. We were hoping to get Blake into Little Gym this year, but we’ve realized we can do the same thing at home with a few 2 x 4’s and a big pile of leaves. So he’s developing his balance and tumbling skills at home. We are so proud of him.

I stay busy with the traditional “mom stuff”. I did take a month off from everything to spend some quality alone-time in Mexico. Parts of the trip are a little blurry for me but I can tell you that the horror stories about Mexican jails are a little overstated. I came home from my sabbatical to find the house had flooded and “OOPS”, I accidentally had let our homeowner’s insurance lapse. I think this whole mold thing is all hype anyhow…I’m sure we’ll all be fine.

Guess I’d better wrap up this letter and get back to wrapping the last packages. My neighbors are generously donating their newspapers for my wrapping paper, but I must run over and get it off their lawn very early in the morning. It’s so nice to live in such a great neighborhood!

Merry Christmas to all of you and may your favorite driver finish first in 2006! NASCAR rules!

The Morrisons