Chris and I were one of the last ones to find out ABC's Extreme Home Makeover was coming to Fayetteville. Apparently they had already had a pep rally the week before to gather interest and volunteers. Somehow, we both missed all of that! Chris was extremely excited for the opportunity to volunteer and help on this project, and went online to register to volunteer. We both figured it would be on the outskirts of town..more in the country...as Blue Ridge Log Cabins was the company building the house. No way they would put a log cabin in town!
Thursday morning, the day they were set to arrive, I was driving to work and heard on the radio that the winner of the extreme home makeover lived off Langdon Street, in Seabrook Hills! WHAT?! That's where I work! And why is this radio guy telling the whole city, when no one is supposed to know until they knock on the door at 10am??! I was about 2 minutes away from work started looking down neighborhood streets to see if anything was blocked off. I saw a cop escorting a textile truck away from Langdon...two trucks waiting by with road block signs...then the parking lot in front of my building was completely blocked off. Woo-hoo! It's gonna be right here! I got to my office and began looking up exactly which neighborhood was Seabrook Hills. I was gonna beat those road block trucks to it!
The news reported that Ty would be knocking on the door at 10am, so I grabbed a coworker, jumped in the car, and headed to Seabrook Hills. We drove by street after street, looking for some sign of their arrival. I wanted to witness it! We even got an escort through the neighborhood by somebody that lived there! But there was nothing. At 10 to 10:00, I frantically crossed the street to another neighborhood. Maybe he meant Seabrook Park...not Hills. We drove in and out, up and down...street after street...after street. An hour later, I "yelled" at Ty for being late on the one day he's supposed to be in Fayetteville. My coworker was convinced that we just hadn't found the right neighborhood. I drove down the other end of Langdon, to turn around and head back to work...when we saw 3 cops in the middle of a main road with their lights on. Then we saw an ambulance pull out. Must have been an accident.
So we sat there and waited for traffic to move....and instead of turning right to go back to work, I was curious what was up ahead. So I kept straight. Low and behold....we found it! Well...we found the bus, anyway! And hundreds of people surrounding it in their blue shirts! And the designers! I was so excited...I pulled off the side of the road to take a picture....just to have a cop stop traffic and tell me to back myself back out! :) I wanted to find a legitimate place to park and get out, but my coworker felt we should get back to work. So I took an incredibly lame picture from my phone and reluctantly went back to my office.
We found out later that when we had seen the bus - it had actually just gotten to town. They didn't go knock on the door till noon. And although the house IS on Langdon St. - it was NOT in Seabrook Hills like the trusty radio DJ said it was!
Fast forward to Sunday night/morning. When Chris went to volunteer, the only shift he could work was 2am-8am Sunday morning. And so he did! He arrived an hour early - got his shirt, a hard hat, and went to work! He said when he got there, they stated that they were 7 hours behind on the project. The part that doesn't make sense to me is that they then were only 45 minutes behind when he left. Way to pick up the pace! Chris said that all the surrounding neighbors had been put up in hotels due to the amount of noise and light needed at night. He was given a list of rules he had to follow as a volunteer...one of which included no pictures. So he didn't take our camera. However, he thinks the guy in charge of yelling at those people was gone, as everyone around him had cameras and were freely taking pictures. The house is worth $750,00, and feels like 2 separate houses put together by a breezeway. The right side will house the director of the center and her family, and the left side has 5 full apartments with kitchens and all....that will hold 5 homeless women and their children. Both sides also have a full basement. They told Chris that it was the biggest house that had even been done on Extreme Home Makeover before.
They opened the project up for spectators starting on Saturday, 8am-8pm. People can park their cars at Fayetteville State University and take a shuttle bus to an area in front of the house. Stay as long as you want and take as many pictures as you want! I haven't gone myself yet - probably won't. But I will get to drive by it every day from here on out!
Michelle Obama is also gracing us with her presense for the final day on Thursday. They said she was coming to "volunteer"...but the house will be done on Thursday. So I feel safe knowing her hands won't get too dirty. I'm going to see if I can be a part of the crazy crowd yelling "Move That Bus!"...but then again...it's going to be hot. I may just wait to see it on TV. Which is schedule to air on October 21st. Mark your calendars.
The following link has a video of the story and progress. Check out how small the house is to the left of the new home!! Ha! http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8256334.
Thursday morning, the day they were set to arrive, I was driving to work and heard on the radio that the winner of the extreme home makeover lived off Langdon Street, in Seabrook Hills! WHAT?! That's where I work! And why is this radio guy telling the whole city, when no one is supposed to know until they knock on the door at 10am??! I was about 2 minutes away from work started looking down neighborhood streets to see if anything was blocked off. I saw a cop escorting a textile truck away from Langdon...two trucks waiting by with road block signs...then the parking lot in front of my building was completely blocked off. Woo-hoo! It's gonna be right here! I got to my office and began looking up exactly which neighborhood was Seabrook Hills. I was gonna beat those road block trucks to it!
The news reported that Ty would be knocking on the door at 10am, so I grabbed a coworker, jumped in the car, and headed to Seabrook Hills. We drove by street after street, looking for some sign of their arrival. I wanted to witness it! We even got an escort through the neighborhood by somebody that lived there! But there was nothing. At 10 to 10:00, I frantically crossed the street to another neighborhood. Maybe he meant Seabrook Park...not Hills. We drove in and out, up and down...street after street...after street. An hour later, I "yelled" at Ty for being late on the one day he's supposed to be in Fayetteville. My coworker was convinced that we just hadn't found the right neighborhood. I drove down the other end of Langdon, to turn around and head back to work...when we saw 3 cops in the middle of a main road with their lights on. Then we saw an ambulance pull out. Must have been an accident.
So we sat there and waited for traffic to move....and instead of turning right to go back to work, I was curious what was up ahead. So I kept straight. Low and behold....we found it! Well...we found the bus, anyway! And hundreds of people surrounding it in their blue shirts! And the designers! I was so excited...I pulled off the side of the road to take a picture....just to have a cop stop traffic and tell me to back myself back out! :) I wanted to find a legitimate place to park and get out, but my coworker felt we should get back to work. So I took an incredibly lame picture from my phone and reluctantly went back to my office.
We found out later that when we had seen the bus - it had actually just gotten to town. They didn't go knock on the door till noon. And although the house IS on Langdon St. - it was NOT in Seabrook Hills like the trusty radio DJ said it was!
Fast forward to Sunday night/morning. When Chris went to volunteer, the only shift he could work was 2am-8am Sunday morning. And so he did! He arrived an hour early - got his shirt, a hard hat, and went to work! He said when he got there, they stated that they were 7 hours behind on the project. The part that doesn't make sense to me is that they then were only 45 minutes behind when he left. Way to pick up the pace! Chris said that all the surrounding neighbors had been put up in hotels due to the amount of noise and light needed at night. He was given a list of rules he had to follow as a volunteer...one of which included no pictures. So he didn't take our camera. However, he thinks the guy in charge of yelling at those people was gone, as everyone around him had cameras and were freely taking pictures. The house is worth $750,00, and feels like 2 separate houses put together by a breezeway. The right side will house the director of the center and her family, and the left side has 5 full apartments with kitchens and all....that will hold 5 homeless women and their children. Both sides also have a full basement. They told Chris that it was the biggest house that had even been done on Extreme Home Makeover before.
They opened the project up for spectators starting on Saturday, 8am-8pm. People can park their cars at Fayetteville State University and take a shuttle bus to an area in front of the house. Stay as long as you want and take as many pictures as you want! I haven't gone myself yet - probably won't. But I will get to drive by it every day from here on out!
Michelle Obama is also gracing us with her presense for the final day on Thursday. They said she was coming to "volunteer"...but the house will be done on Thursday. So I feel safe knowing her hands won't get too dirty. I'm going to see if I can be a part of the crazy crowd yelling "Move That Bus!"...but then again...it's going to be hot. I may just wait to see it on TV. Which is schedule to air on October 21st. Mark your calendars.
The following link has a video of the story and progress. Check out how small the house is to the left of the new home!! Ha! http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8256334.
