Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1 (con't)

We got to town and parked across the street from C'est Moi, the Salon that is owned by Lori, Sandy's "girl."

I had no idea that Lowell had such a funky salon nestled in it's downtown!
And I felt pretty good about the repurposed building. Gotta love old Bank buildings.

We walked in and Sandy was waiting for us and this is where I really started to feel like I was on a Reality Television "how to I look" makeover show.
I mean, this place ain't no Great Clips (although the people at Great Clips are always very nice). The girl at the desk whisked our coats away and asked us what we would like to drink and invited us to have a seat on the sofa.

Lori came out to the front and we had introductions all around. The Fixer (Sandy) took over and told her that we were here for a makeover and that she could do whatever she wanted. Lori, said okay, but that she needed a little more direction...
so they talked about the possibilities and that it needs to be easy to take care of and low maintenance. We asked if she had the Internet and we had her google image "Kirstin Stewart Joan Jett Mullet."
I had told Sandy I liked that cut and The Fixer was convinced that I needed bangs. Lori was at the computer and as the image came up, she said "love it, love it, love it."

We then stepped into out of the parlor and behind the screens to let the "fun" begin.

First up:
Just like on tv.....

The Before shots.
Stay tuned for wash, cut and a visit to a room that was NOT on my Fixing agenda!

Commerical Break

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1

Now that my hair has grown out and I'm almost ready for another haircut, I'm finally getting around to airing the pilot to the reality show: Fixing Vandercar.

I started the new year with a list of resolutions and broke most of them by the evening of New Year's day. But one person who has no problems keeping resolutions is Sandy Vandercar.

The first thing we talked about fixing was hair.
She told me I should make an appointment with her "girl."

But, knowing me like she does, she knew that if left to me, it would take me months to get that appointment made, if ever.
So while I slept in on Jan. 2....Sandy was on the phone making appointments for both me and Sister Susie who was looking for a new doo for her upcoming trips.

Susie opened the bedroom door and said,

"Get up! Sandy got us and appointment with Lori!
We need to be there at 11 o'clock!"

I looked at her a little shocked and dumbfounded and wondered just what I had got myself into.

(insert dramatic music here)

To be continued after a short commercial break!

Happy Birthday Girls!!

Another Munchkin : (

Another Munchkin has passed away bringing the remaining Munchkins down to four, possibly five (unconfirmed Munchkin living in Boston).

Meinhardt Raabe played the Coroner who pronounced the Wicked Witch of the East dead.

Flashback Friday....Worthy Grangers

Worthy Master:
"Worthy Steward, inform the Gate-Keeper that I am about to open the Grange."

Steward:
"Worthy Gate-Keeper, the Worthy Master is about to open the Grange. Please close the gate."

Gate-Keeper:
(dave's line)
"Worthy Steward, the gate is closed."

Steward:
"Worthy Master, the gate is closed."

Wait! Say what? Three raps on the door?

Steward:
"Worthy Overseer, there are strangers at the gate."

Overseer:
"See who they are, and ascertain what they desire."

The Steward opens the door and says:
"Who comes?"

The Hayden Family?

That's right.
All the Haydens and more were at the Grange Meeting Monday night surprising the Worthy Secretary, Sister Susie as she was named and awarded the Best Grange Member, ever.
Wish I could have been there, but then again, I probably would have been kicked out cause I don't know the password.

Worthy Sister Susie, we all think that you are most Worthy!
You are a Great Granger and a Great Person!

Directions to here:
Pictures anybody? Kelly? Anyone?
I know there are more vintage Grange shots, I can see them in my head...I just don't know where I saw them. I'll keep looking.

Fixing Vandercar - Concept Development

Every show that we watch on the television goes thru several steps before it makes it to TV. The show goes from the Big Idea to concept development to the pitch to the production and finally the presentation to its audience.

I am getting ready to air episode one of Fixing Vandercar, but thought I would give you a little background first.

As you read in the last post, Sandy and I ARE related but are very different from each other. 

We both have definite likes and definite quirks.

We are both very different people, but have similar issues. (think o.c.d. here).

I can pull on my sleeve and she knows exactly the feeling I'm having: "it's too tight," or "it's touching me."

After listening to Sandy state her opinion over the years, I've learned that there are certain topics that she is usually almost always right about.

For instance:

Certain food combinations:

If she tells you to eat two things together...no matter how bizarre, it's usually very good.

Shopping:

She once was shopping with me for an emergency wardrobe crisis and picked out a pair of pants for me in no time flat AND they fit AND I liked them. That NEVER happens to me.

So, when I got ready for the Christmas Eve service this past year and realized that I packed the sweater that I meant to leave at home and left at home the sweater I meant to bring, Sandy noticed right away that I was having an issue with my clothes. It was an okay sweater, but it was

1. touching me...and

2. I didn't like the way it looked with the pants I had. and

3. Blah, blah, blah.... 

The issue with the sweater made me not like the way my hair was and my shoes and it reminded me that my glasses felt like they were giving me a headache and that I didn't like my coat cause it was making me feel static clingy...and so on and so on.

Then I looked at Dave Vandercar.

And thought, He's Bob Vandercar's son, how does he not have all these issues?

Dave always looks very well put together and very comfortable.

And then I said "ah, hah. He has Sandy." 

I was in the car with them when I figured all this out and I got the big idea for a reality show and right there developed the concept and gave the pitch for the show to Sandy.

I told her, I need Fixing Nancy advice....and before we drove the country block that it takes to get to church, we had extended it to the several topics and the whole family and named the show:

Fixing Vandercar.

Fixing Vandercar - The preface

So one of the Sandy’s famous shticks that never gets old is the “You know we’re related” line.

Several years back, there was a particular shirt tail relative who, well, to use a nicer term than Sandy would use, was in a word: odd.
Whenever he would see Sandy out and about in town, he would insist on talking to her and would always remind her “you know, we’re related, don’t you.”
She was always quick to remind him, that no, SHE was not related.
It was Dave that was related.
She simply married a Vandercar.
So, “no, …no relation.”

Well, as you know Sandy IS related to us Vandercars and has lived with a Vandercar and around the Vandercars for over 30 years now.
And if you spend anytime with her at all, you will know time spent being related to us has given her a huge arsenal of material to use in her stand up comedy act.

Every once in awhile in the middle of a story about Dave or as she’s telling a story about my odd behavior, someone will say…”ah, leave him alone”…or they will try to defend me.

I say don’t worry it’s okay!
My sister-in-law and I have been thru enough highs…(laugh till our sides split) and lows…(I said “dinner”)…that there is very little she can say that will offend me.

Sandy is who Sandy is.
And I am who I am…
And even tho we are two VERY different people,
we are each happy with being ourselves and yes, we are even happy to say
“You know we’re related, don’t you?”

And so I present the first installment of the

“You know we’re related…”
photos series:
Vandercars at the V.F.W.

Things that humor Me....

My Brother Mike has a ongoing feature on his blog called
TTHM
(things that humor me)

Well THIS humored me...
check it out!

Directions to here:
Who's next??
Janet didn't you tell me that you were the FFA sweetheart??

What Resolutions?

Still playing ketchup.

I have learned to make my New Year's Resolutions start date on the first Friday after whatever day January 1st lands on.

Why?
Cause I usually spend New Year's Eve on the farm...eating and drinking while ringing the old year out and the New Year in.

And even tho January 1st is the day for New Resolutions, this is what I wake up to:The breakfast of champions

eating powdered sugared donuts with the girl!

And since it's Farmer Jerry's Birthday...
the feast doesn't stop at breakfast....Sister Susie always out does herself with this kind of spread:After dinner there is usually talk about starting the Biggest Loser and why this year will be different!

This year for some reason, Jeremy ended up in the basement and a came upstairs with and gave us all a laugh and some motivation to get up and burn some calories:Then Matt joined in...
and then Jamie made the reunion complete!

Future Farmers!

And we ended up entering in our stats for the Biggest Loser and working off some calories with the wii fit.

both little kids
(Drew's ready)

and big kids.

Dave was ready to go home and had no desire to play...none whatsoever, at all...
until he tried downhill skiing, once:...and 37 trips down the mountain ("one more time") and 30 minutes later,
he finally gave the controller over to Jerry so he could get weighed, aged and enter in his Biggest Loser stats.
Directions to here:
Were we suppose to do something after it weighed us?
Does the game make us lose the weight or what?
Oh, we have to play it?
Wait, what?

Ketchup/Catsup/Catchup

How do you spell it?

Ketchup? Catsup? Catchup?
(here's the history)

For now, I'm going with Catch Up.

I wanted to write more on this blog in 2010, but have not even got Birthday posts up!!

I've got some catching up to do.

Of course, it doesn't help that Jerry's birthday is the first day of the year...so if you miss that one...you're already behind on resolutions before you start!

Anyway...here's a shot of the birthday boy and his entourage:

Bad Blogger.

Resolutions are made to be broken.

Lots on my mind...but not on the blog.

Got a lot of catching up to do, but in the meantime...keep checking in on the "I wish" post...

I'm updating it a little at a time...it makes me realize how blessed we are.

Happy Anniversary!

I Wish.....

I wish she could have been there to hold Janet's hand on THAT December morning.

I wish we could have seen her try to hold back laughing out loud when Dozer delivered the rings up the aisle on Darold and Alene's wedding day.

I wish I could hear Taylor say "hello Memaw Honah !" ...with his 18 year old high school graduate voice.

I wish I could see Casey bend over at the waist to give his Great Grandma a hug.

I wish I could see Jerry sidle up to her and deliver the punch line to his joke with a straight face and see the her face light up when she “gets it” and Jerry’s trademark grin and laugh that follows.

I wish she could see how absolutely perfect Susie is at being a Grandma.

I wish I could have seen Matt introduce Chari to her.

I wish Chari could stand next to her in the Range Line Choir and sing the alto part.

I wish I could see Conner give her a ride in the Gator.

I wish I could see her amused by Zach’s stories, phrases, faces and gestures.

I wish she could see that Jeremy has grown up, but is still the same kid that thinks most of life is “alsome.”
I wish I could have heard her say to Jeremy’s new girlfriend, Kelly, “you look familiar, haven’t I seen you around the Hayden house before?”
I wish I could see her go nose to nose with Drew making faces at each other.
I wish she could have seen those pearls come out of the jewelery box to be worn by another young bride.
I wish she could have seen Ryan say his vows to his two best girls.
I wish she could have seen how Papa Bob’s face and the halls of Whittenburg lit up when Jacinda came bouncing in the room with a smile and a milkshake.

to be continued.....

Flashback Friday...Beauty Shop

Remember rollers and portable hair dryers?

I'm sure my big sisters and playing Beauty Shop had something to do with this photograph.

It's a Flashback Friday photo...
but it is also a preview for the new reality show,
Fixing Vandercar,
soon to premiere on the dancewithnance channel.

Stay tuned!

What we did right....

One thing that did work out on my Christmas List was the Grab Bag and our collective Family Christmas Gift.

I broke tradition this year and instead of the girl/boy Grab bag, I asked each family member to just show up with ten dollars in hand.

We pooled those dollars together to send to a great organization called Honor Flight Network, an organization that is committed to flying, free of charge, World War II veterans to Washington D.C. to visit and see their memorial.

Here is a short video about what Honor Flight does:

The Indiana Honor Flight says that it takes $360.00 to fly one veteran to the memorial.

Thanks to the generosity of my family we overshot that with a collective donation of $500.00!

Merry Christmas to the Greatest Generation

from the sons and daughters of
Sergeant Robert Ray Vandercar.
Our gift was given in memory of our Dad.

I didn't want to take away the fun of the grab bag and I didn't want to send everyone home
empty handed; it WAS Christmas after all.
Fortunately for us all, I am Bob Vandercar's daughter and have hoarding tendancies...so I backed up the car to my apartment and loaded up boxes of books, dvds and cds that I have rescued from the the dumpster and stockpiled over the year. There was also a box of stuff and one very heavy toolbox from the back of Dad's wagon.

I was going to have the regular take turns grab bag style...but I quickly realized that if you put a room full of Vandercar's together with a pile of books and ask them to make a quick decision, we could have been there 'til midnight...so we just had a free for all shopping spree. The littles got to pick for free.

Joe scores Bob's belt, Florida Fishing Gear and Garth...a Country Boy will survive.

I think everyone got to take home at least one thing, if not twenty (again, we ARE Vandercars and can't pass up free stuff) and Sandy breathed a sigh of relief to see it all leave her garage at the end of the day!

When you get a moment, here's another video that captures why I am so glad that we got to take Dad to the memorial and why Honor Flight Network is such a cool thing.

Thank you

for giving and for making this a success!

Directions to here:
So, what did you pick out and have you watched, read or listened to it yet?
Remember I'll try to replace dvds or cds that won't play. There may have been a reason they were in the trash!

Add this to the Fail Blog

Okay, Vandercars, it's time to add this name to your Family Birthday Calender:

Happy Birthday Adrienne Vandercar !!

And this reminded me of another thing that I forgot to do on Christmas and that was introduce the new family members!

I know that most of you have met them all, but I wanted to give them the official welcome and introduction at Christmas dinner, but well, was so excited and frazzled, I forgot.

So here goes.....in chronological order....

He's been around awhile but as of last July, it's official!
Welcome, Ryan Thompson!

Next, came the littlest and newest Vandercars:
Enola Vandercar and Eliza Rockhill

and finally, our Thanksgiving bride, who has also been hanging out with the Vandercar's since at least 2005 (she was the photographer at Dave's wedding),

the new, Mrs. Adrienne Vandercar.

Welcome to the family....
"with every birth and every union the circle grows,"
we are glad you are here!

Directions to here:
Adrienne is on facebook, so if you haven't already, take a moment to "friend" her so she can get to know everyone better!