Something Wicked This Way Comes

… I can feel it

… Way down deep in my solar plexus

And even though one might say that I’m just being paranoid, I don’t think I am.

Yes, things are finally.. FINALLY.. going good. The shop turned a higher profit this month.. The kids are going back to school next week and they’re getting better at doing the things that they’re suppose to do. Of course, taking away the PS3 and computer access when they fuck up helps but all in all I really don’t have too much to complain about.

Heh.. well, hell I do but not something that’s getting in the way of everything else.

But here’s the thing…

Tonight Chief was later then usual getting home from the shop. When he DID get home, he had walked instead of taking the truck and stopping by the Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru. Highly unusual for him because he can’t get through the night without coffee and since our “real” coffee maker :: read as the one that you put on the stove to perc :: melted because he forget that it was perking away and he would rather DIE then drink auto-drip :: which really doesn’t make sense because like Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t auto-drip? :: he always stops on the way home from work.

So I asked him about it and he just shrugged it off and said that he felt like walking… but I knew that that really wasn’t the case. I figured he didn’t want to say anything because Spaz was seated at the dining room table so I went into the kitchen and sure enough, he followed.

He told me that he walked home because there were two cop cars passing in front of the store as he was getting ready to leave… Now rewind a little because for the last few days, I’ve been noticing that the police are driving down my block way more then usual. There are only something like 4 cop cars in my borough so to see them as often as I have is kind of strange.

He told me that last night when he drove home he saw one car circling the block from the left and the other circling the block on the right and got the feeling that they were wanting to catch him driving.

Last week or so, he got a notification in the mail from the state that his driver’s license has been suspended because of the outcome of his court case and he believes that the police department has just received their copy. This is a small borough and because of the shop.. because of his arrest..  because of the crack whore.. because of Weed.. it’s not like they don’t know who he is.

He seems to think that they’re just waiting to catch him driving and so they’re driving around the store at closing.. and the house during the time he would usually arrive home.

It felt like there was an elephant on my chest and the only think I could say was “…. why can’t they just leave us alone.”

I can’t understand with all the bullshit that goes on in this town, they have a bullseye on his back. It’s like they are pissed off because they weren’t able to get that big headline they were looking for when they arrested him and because they know that HE knows that they lied, they’re looking for something to throw on him.

NOTE: For those who haven’t read about that whole ordeal with him being arrested, read the posts under the TRAVESTY category

Chief seems to think that they’ll move on to other people to harrass in a few weeks and everything will be back to normal and until then, he’s just going to not drive.

But I’m not so sure.

I’m worried because I’m still PTS-ing over what happened in January. If they can lie and get away with everything then, what are they going to do next? There’s no one to give me answers. There’s no one who I trust to tell me the truth about what’s really going on. And to be perfectly honest, I’m scared of getting sucked into all this.

I’m trying to think of every damn base to cover.. to anticipate what they might do and it’s making me crazy.

Of course, it’s 2:15am and he’s snoring away while my mind can’t stop racing.

I’m making mental check lists of things that I want to get done tomorrow.. like make sure this house doesn’t have one spec of dust or puddle of dog piss anywhere in case they decide to “revisit” the living conditions that are on record from January.

I need to change the burned out bulb on my rear brake light so that they don’t have a reason to stop my car when I’m driving it.

I need to cover the cracked lens with that red transparent tape so that they don’t have a reason to stop mycar when I’m driving it.

I need to fucking insure both the car and the truck. I don’t normally drive without insurance but since I was laid off and wasn’t really driving much anymore, I wanted to catch up on some outstanding bills so I let the policies lapse.

I need to tell him that I don’t think it’s such a good idea for Weed to keep coming around the store. That’s going to be a hard one to convince him to do because of that whole “father/son” thing going on but I get goose flesh everytime he walks in… and because I know he still does what he does, I don’t want him anywhere near me or Chief…

I already told him that I don’t think it’s a good idea that he carries anything on him… they may not be able to stop a person for just walking down the street without cause but again, I don’t trust them to not think of SOMETHING to stop him for.

I’m going to have to get dog’s licenses and start putting the older one on a leash, even though I am not required to have her on a leash if she’s on my property but God forbid if she takes a step on the pavement… are they going to swoop down on us?

I know this sounds ridiculous… that maybe I am being overly cautious at best.. paranoid at worst but if you lived through what I lived through then I think you’d be able to see my point.

The other thing I’m worried about is that if.. for some unknown reason.. he does get arrested again, there’s no one to turn to for bail.

I was talking to my father-in-law one day last week and he was telling me that he doesn’t like the idea of Weed always coming around the store. I told him I didn’t either and he said that he was afraid that Weed was going to get Chief in trouble again and if he did then “.. there wasn’t going to be anyone to bail him out again.”

I got the message loud and clear and I can’t say that I blame him. If Chief isn’t going to take any precautions to protect himself from the trouble that Weed causes, then why would they bail him out again?

I’m just waiting for other shoe to drop now. Because it is. I know it.

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

… so there’s been a pretty heated conversation going on between Jen512 and my buddy The Goober about healthcare. If you’re up for it, you can read it HERE.

I was going to post my episode recaps for Project Runway and Top Chef but I think this topic is a little more important.

NOTE: Just let me set the records straight before I go on my tirade. I am not a liberal.. conservative.. Democrat.. Republican.. a sheep.. or a lion. I am just someone who tries to live right.. tries to provide for my family and loves my country. I don’t trust politicians OR the judicial system for that matter so please don’t think that I have a hidden agenda or am just spewing what I hear from someone else. I keep an open mind about everything and am the first one to google something I don’t understand before I form an opinion about it.

With that said…

Before I met Chief, I had very little :: okay, NONE :: experience with my state’s welfare system. I grew up in I guess you could say a lower-middle class :: or high lower class :: neighborhood where no one really knew they didn’t have anything because we had what we needed :: food on the table, roof over our heads, etc. :: and everyone was basically in the same position that my family was.

We went to Catholic school, went to college and then went to work. We got married.. bought cars and houses and didn’t have any of the drama that you routinely hear about on the news on in the paper.

When I met Chief, he was a working as a chef for a ridiculously high end caterer :: they wouldn’t do a wedding unless the price tag was a minimum of 50 grand :: but was making half of what I was making an hour. In fact, he was making less then an entry level position for the company that I worked for.  He was trying to raise 3 kids without any type of child support because all the judges he and the crack whore went before fell for her sob stories.

According to assistance limits, he was making too much money to get on any type of program that would help with electricity bills or heating bills but was able to get about 180.00 a month in food stamps.

That’s basically 6 bucks a day.

Which the state immediately cut off when he went on unemployment.

NOTE: There is a “down” time in catering and generally you work 8 months and then are laid off for 4 months. Carpenters go through the same thing.

If you think it was hard financially when he was working, imagine how hard it was when he was on unemployment. It was that reason why he decided to open up the store. The way we figured it on paper, my paycheck would be able to handle all the household stuff while his unemployment would go towards opening the store.. and then the store would be able to pay for itself.

He was smart.. and it worked. It was hard.. it was :: and still is :: 20 hour days and a lot of  sacrificing and a lot of worry and a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

I’m not complaining. It’s just how it is. We chose to open a store.. we knew it was going to take a lot of inner strength.. outer elbow grease.. and a lot of praying.

To say we work hard is an understatement. You can ask any one of customers and they will tell you that we do the very best that we can to give our customers things that they want that they can afford.

But what torques the hell out of my Chinese food suffering bowels is that while we are constantly pushing.. constantly striving.. constantly trying to make sure all our bases are covered, there are people that I wait on everyday who are just skating through life.. and think they are ENTITLED TO SKATE THROUGH LIFE.

The Crack Whore can run an air conditioner in every damn window of her apartment 24/7 and doesn’t have to care about what her electric bill is because she doesn’t HAVE TO PAY her electric bill.

She’s on welfare… the state pays it.

And guess what? On Tuesday, MY electricity was turned off because I owed a 28.00 back balance.

You read that right…

FOR 28.00 FUCKING DOLLARS, THEY CUT MY ELECTRICITY OFF.

Or how about this one:

One of my regular customers came in on Monday asking if she could get a few things to hold her family over until her husband got paid on Wednesday. Knowing that she has kids to feed, I said “sure”. So she got something like 25.00 worth of stuff.

As I was slicing her lunch meat, she tells me that she will be having Gastric Bypass surgery in October.

Now, there’s no denying that she’s over-weight. But Gastric Bypass? There’s no way that I would have thought that she’d be a candidate for it. I know people personally that have had the surgery and they were OBESE. Like, can’t fit through the front door obese. This woman is no where near that size.

But guess what? She’s on welfare.. so guess who’s paying for the surgery?

At any rate.. it wasn’t even that pissed me off so much.. on Wednesday, she came in to pay her bill with her mother. While she was waiting for me to finish up with a few people in front of her, she started checking our our shelves saying that she had her first nutrition meeting and was looking for things that she would be able to eat after her surgery.

She then tells me that what she is going to do is join Nutri-Systems after her surgery so she doesn’t have to worry about counting calories or proteins or whatever the hell she has to check.

You know what the going rate is for a monthly subscription to Nutri-System?

299.95 A MONTH!

You can’t make your fucking money stretch so you have to ask for credit from me to feed your kids but you’re going to spend three hundred dollars a month for Nutri-Systems???

WHAT THE FUCK!

So.. as delicately as I can be.. I asked her how she was going to be able to swing it and you know what her answer was?

“… oh, the state is paying for it because I have to have the surgery for medical reasons”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??

I had to swallow my tongue because you see.. years ago.. I was 12 sizes bigger then I am now. I’m not that big anymore because I just started to eat right and I exercised. A lot. And eventually, I got down to a size 12.

No surgery .. no state paid food delivery service.. nothing but determination and commitment.

Then there was the whole glasses fiasco.

I needed new glasses and Chief needed glasses period. My insurance basically covered the exam.. the frames.. and the lenses but not anything extra like transitions :: where the lens get dark automatically in sunlight :: or UV protection or that kind of stuff. Chief needed a bifocal so because that was out of pocket also, I had to give up the transitions so that he could have the bifocals.

Okay.. whatever.. his was more important then mine and we could have only afforded one so the bifocals it was.

Two weeks ago, Weed came into the store and I forget how the subject even came up but he pulled out his little welfare medical card and said, “… I LOVE this thing. Do you know that I got two pairs of glasses that turn into sunglasses.. and I didn’t even NEED them I just got them because I could.”

Remember that scene in Austin Powers when the mannequins head explode?

Yea. That was me.

Oh.. and did I also tell you that the state is paying for him to get his G.E.D and is giving him a laptop so that he could study and look for a job? All because HE WENT TO JAIL FOR BURGLARY AND DEALING?

Or how about the woman that comes in bitching that her 700.00 a month in food stamps isn’t enough?

Or the other woman who BUYS a food stamp card from some barfly for half the amount in cash?

Or the couple who come in saying that yes, they can afford to have a second baby because they’ll be getting more food stamps when the baby is born?

Is it me or is something wrong here?

Why can’t the widowed father of 5 kids get any type of help from the state because omg.. he actually has a JOB.. but a baby making factory can get free food, free housing and a monthly cash stipend and is doing NOTHING to make her life better? Because to HER .. her life is SWEET.

“… I ain’t gotsta do nuffin’. Dey gotsta give me my money” .. that being an actual conversation I had when I asked what she was going to do when the state finally goes bankrupt and her food stamp card becomes useless

Some would say that I have nothing to bitch about because I choose to accept the food stamp card in my store. But I couldn’t have a store unless I take food stamps. The majority of my customers are on it.. and instead of having a moral struggle with it, I just feel like I’m basically getting my own money back.. since as a working person, my taxes go to providing them their lifestyle.

So you’ll have to forgive me when I hear about how the current administration wants to give MORE of my hard earned income to somebody else.

I’m struggling but because I had a job.. and I own a store.. nobody cares. Nobody is giving my kids free school supplies.. or school clothes.. or lunches.

No one cares about how I’m going to make my next car payment or utility payment or the fact that I had to cut out a lot of things that we’ve become accustomed to in order to keep a roof over our heads.

As long as there are more people with their hand out then there are with their hands in their pocket.. we are going to be forced to dish it out. And that’s just plain wrong.

Give a man to fish and he’ll eat for one day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat everyday

… or something like that.

For more details on Food Stamps, read THIS post that I wrote back in April

<< end rant >>

RECAP: Top Chef Las Vegas – Episode 1

One thing you have to admit about Bravo … their reality competition shows are generally a notch up.

I <3 Top Chef… even before I got with Chief. Sooo much better then Hell’s Kitchen because the judges are actually constructive in their criticism and the chef’s are actually.. well, chefs.

Sorry.. but if you really think that a short order cook can POSSIBLY win the opportunity to head a Gordon Ramsey restaurant at the Borgata then well.. you need to dip into the Crack Whore’s zip lock bag of pills.

Anyway… as with my previous post on the new season of Project Runway, I’ll just give a list of the contestants and my initial impressions.

NOTE: I do NOT watch this with Chief. I tried once but he just got SO fucking annoying with his color commentating that I threw him out of the bedroom. Don’t get me wrong, Chief is an AMAZING chef and we would be probably living large if he would just succumb to MY desire to have him audition for one of these shows. He’d be brilliant on Top Chief but I would actually love for him to go knife to knife with Ramsey… OMG, Gordon would have SO met his match but yknow.. he won’t do it. At any rate, sometimes I just want to be entertained so he’s not allowed to watch it with me!

Okay.. so this season the gang is in Vegas and they’re throwing in some twists and stuff that is going to make things a little bit interesting. So we’ll see..

At any rate, here’s the scoop:

Ash Fulk

To be completely honest with you, I can’t remember one thing that dude did on this episode other then saying that he was the only one of the chef’s with a boyfriend.

I can’t remember what team of four he was for the quick fire OR what he cooked during the main challenge that was based on each chef’s vice.

Not sure not being remembered is a good thing but with 16 chefs.. and it being episode 1.. it’s not unusual to forget someone here and there!

Dig the bow tie though!

Ashley Merriman

She’s another one that didn’t leave any kind of impression.

I’m not even sure that they spent time on her during the initial part of the show when everyone meets everyone else for the first time.

I could go back and watch it On Demand but yknow, I kind of think that would be cheating in away. If she didn’t do anything to stand out then.. well.. she didn’t do anything to stand out.

Bryan Vottaggio

The slightly geeky.. non-tattooed.. not as cool Vottagio brother!

This season includes brothers. Each successful in their own right and living on opposite coasts I think.

This must add another level of intensity during challenges because of the whole sibling rivalry thing going on… not sure if their cooking styles are different but in the coming weeks, we should see that coming into play more especially when the chefs cook individually as opposed to in a team.

Eli Kirshtein

Eli may not look it.. but he has a long resume behind him with some serious background!

Very impressive.

Okay.. I cheated. I looked at his bio on Bravo’s website because I’m starting to feel like I’m not remembering ANYTHING from this episode.. but I guess that’s the point, right?

Heh.

Eve Aronoff

Poor Eve!

I think she was seriously affected by a case of the butterflies!

It seems like every season there is one chef that you think “.. omg, she is SO out of her league!” and Eve would be THAT chef THIS season especially because she is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and not some culinary hotspot.

But let me tell you… this chick is not some fly by night lets-open-a-restaurant little rascal. The girl got some chops and a more then impressive resume. Hopefully, she’ll get down to do what she does best instead of over thinking what the judges might want.

That could be her downfall.

Hector Santiago

Hector is just badass.

Come on.. can you just picture him in cut-off leather cruising around on a motorcycle loud enough to loosen your fillings?

And who else looks like they have the balls enough to throw a steak in the deep fryer of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant?

Well, ok.. Chief would.

Side Note: Chief actually cooked along side Wolfgang Puck a few years ago during a local Pro-Am competition for charity and Chief can’t stand him. He said he was the most arrogant mother fucker who wouldn’t say anything good about ANYONE else’s dishes regardless of how good they were. If there’s one thing that Chief is cocky about, it’s his ability in the kitchen so… yknow.. there it is.

Anyway.. back to Hector.

Hector is from Puerto Rico so his dishes are going to have that PR-island flair to them.

Jen Zavala

Jen was the first chef eliminated.. and even I knew that she was going to be.

Her breaded vegan something or other not only looked like crap but anyone who ever tried to bread something could see that it wasn’t breaded properly.

I think she tried to hard.. and I think she just had a bad case of the butterflies too. I got the impression that she wanted to win this SO much that it became a mental thing for her and instead of just doing what she does best, she took an unnecessary risk and it bit her in the ass.

Basically, she just tried to hard.

Jennifer Carroll

I’VE MADE MEN CRY IN THE KITCHEN

I loved that line.. Jen is a total bad ass!

But in full disclosure, I’m rooting for her because Chief actually knows her. Well.. ok.. not like “.. let’s get together for some drinks” but he’s been around her at various events over the years and he said that she can cook her ass off so that’s good enough for me.

And cook she did.

She won the Quick Fire challenge and came in a close second in the Elimination challenge so she will be a force. Definitely TEAM JEN!

Jesse Sandlin

Two things came to mind when I was watching Jesse. One, she looked like an emo Rosie the Riveter when cooking.. and Two, she looked like she should be on Hell’s Kitchen.

Boy was I wrong.

She had a strong showing in the Quick Fire.. even though she had never cooked with prawns before.. and although she came in on the bottom after the elimination, the judges recognized that Jesse knew exactly why she was there from the get go. It’s one thing to crash on a dish but the important thing is that she knew exactly what she did wrong and that gave her props from the judges. Rightfully so. Jesse is also an early favorite.

Kevin Gillespie

Kevin won the Elimination Challenge .. narrowly beating Jennifer.. so we’ll be seeing more of him.

Interesting thing about Kevin is that he had a scholarship to M.I.T. that he just chucked away to go into culinary.

Could you imagine that conversation with his parents?

OMG.. my dad would have killed me!

Laurine Wickett

I have absolutely nothing to say about Laurine…

I honestly don’t remember her…

She may have been the chef to pick the golden chip at the beginning of the episode :: which meant she didn’t have to compete and would have immunity for the elimination :: but I’m not sure.. I checked all over Bravo’s website and couldn’t find anything to click on a memory so I’ll have to leave it at that

Mattin Noblia

Funky accent..

So obviously French..

Loved the little sailor neckerchief and striped shirt.

That’s all I really remember about him.

Michael Isabella

Boy.. did he start off on the wrong foot!

Mike is one of those guys that you really just want to punch in the mouth. He’s a loud mouth, cocky son of a bitch that should piss off every Italian American male in Jersey for his over the top stereotyping.

I’m sure he can cook as well as he says he can but he also made a remark when Jennifer was neck and neck with him shucking clams that “… a girl shouldn’t be at the same level as I am”

WTF dude!

Honestly, I hope he tanks.

Michael Vottaggio

The more tattooed of the Voggattio brothers, Michael I believe is on the west side of the country.

Not to sure what he did… or didn’t do this episode. But do remember either him or his brother saying that no one wants to see the other exceed more except when competing head to head.

Ok.. so.. we’ll see

Preet Mistry

Sorry.. but I really have to say this..

Preet resembles the gay girl in Miami that Brooke Hogan was set up with by her gay friend.

Real quick.. Brooke’s roommate is gay and not having any luck in the dating field. Having once been engaged to a woman, Brooke thinks that maybe he really isn’t gay. To prove that one knows one’s sexuality, he sets her up on a blind date with a girl. A girl that looks just like Preet.

I know that really has not place here and I’m truly not being disrespectful to Preet. It’s just an observation. And honestly, considering that Preet’s responsibility during Quick Fire was to shuck clams that she never shucked before and was STILL shucking after all the other teams had completed the ENTIRE challenge, I think she’d rather be remembered as the girl who looks like the girl that gave Brooke Hogan her first lesbian kiss!

Robin Leventhal

ROBIN WAS THE CHEF THAT PICKED THE GOLD COIN!

Woosh!

I was positive it wasn’t Laurine but yknow.. my mind doesn’t operate on full capacity this early in the morning!!

Other then that.. nothing really too spectacular to point out about Robin.

Maybe next episode

Ron Duprat

What a story Ron has!

Originally from Haiti.. Ron traveled to the US as a refugee on a little boat that took 27 days and a few lives.

I’m positive that that was an experience that shows up all over the place.. especially in the dish that he made during the elimination challenge. How could it not be in every aspect of your life?

At any rate.. his dish did receive good reviews from the judges and I expect that Ron’s island upbringing will play a big part in future episodes.

Well… there you have it.

It’s a lot for one episode so just bear with me. I promise my recaps will get much better as we go on.

In fact, I may even employ Chief and his color commentating. He’s going to loathe sitting in front of the tv watching a reality show but I’ll guilt him into it!! LOL!

Thinking

What exactly WOULD I do for a Klondike bar?

RECAP: Project Runway 6.01

Whoosh!

All is right in my world now that Project Runway is back on the air! And the best part of it’s move from Bravo to Lifetime is that IT’S ON DEMAND!!! The good Lord definitely knows what I need to make my life easier… LOL!

Anyway…

So, yknow, with 16 contestants it’s a little hard to keep every detail straight so this post is basically just an introduction to the designers and my first impressions of ’em

NOTE: Other then having an art degree, I have no clue about how the designers do what they do so if you’re looking for some professional criticism or critiques then you came to the wrong damn place!! LOL

So Episode 1’s Challenge is to crate a red carpet dress that shows the designers point of view.

NOTE: After five seasons of the show I still don’t know what the hell “Point Of View” means!!

Guest Judge this epi was Lindsay Lohan who.. well.. didn’t seem as dysfunctional and random as Perez Hilton makes her out to be. Maybe it was the lighting.. dunno.

Althea Harper

Althea is everything a tall.. good looking 23 year old should be. Cocky as all hell!

Her gown was just ok. It was some silvery – grey satiny number that had some flowery something or other on the bust line that at first, reminded me of something Demi Moore wore to the Oscars like 20 years ago or something.

I really wasn’t that impressed especially after hearing say how incredibly brilliant she is.. but you know, it was the first challenge and I guess nerves worked into the equation. We’ll see how she does. She’s not at the top of my list but really isn’t at the bottom either.

Ari Fish

Okay.. this Ari chick was nothing short of fucking weird. Alright.. so maybe I shouldn’t have said that but come one.. look at this picture and tell me she doesn’t look like Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Baby” meets the Clockwork Orange dude.

She wants to make clothes that are multi-functional.. like a halter top that turns into a tent with water filters and air purifiers built in. Just completely random and strange. I was like.. WTF???

If I remember correctly, she doesn’t have any formal training :: if she does, then I apologize for the error :: and while I really don’t believe that it’s necessary… I really don’t believe that she was selected. I’m certain I heard a collective howl coming from the other designers who tried out and weren’t selected.

Needless to say, her mylar soccer ball looking halter thingy just had people’s head scratching and poor Ari was sent home.

She did have a parting word or two of wisdom :: seriously :: that I thought was very insightful but right now, I can’t remember it. Too late.. not enough caffeine!

Carol Hannah Whitfield

Carol Hannah is another young girl all filled with piss.. vinegar and confidence. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s AS talented as Althea but what do I know.

She made this tan-ish gold – ivory dress that from the waist down wasn’t bad.. I just wasn’t too crazy about the corset-y top with the piping stuff all over the place. I think in the preview, she made a number of pieces the same way so maybe that’s her “signature” or maybe :: like Althea :: she had the butterflies and just resorted to something that she knew how to do.

Christopher Straub

Okay… I like this dude. I really do and I really hope that he makes it to the end and at least has an opportunity to do a collection for the finale.

I like that he is self trained.. no formal schooling. I like that he doesn’t pretend like he does :: he had asked the other designers about certain terms they used that he hadn’t heard of :: but what I like most about him is that he uses material from Wal-Mart in real life to create his designs. To me, it only proves that you don’t have to have a lot of money to either build your dream or in the case of one of his dresses… buy your dream.

He got emotional when his dress appeared on the runway and I don’t blame him… it was a big deal and I can appreciate that.

He also won .. and has immunity for next week. TEAM CHRIS!

Epperson

I truly like this dude. He’s just so calm and serene and laid back and so NOT about the drama.

He’s just a real cool cat.

He definitely has talent.. but I wasn’t feeling this particular dress. I liked the plumy color but wasn’t too thrilled about all the scarf action happening at the neck.

At any rate.. I hope he does well. I also hope that he goes far enough so that his world changes for the better and he gets to have his own line or whatever it is he wants to do.

Gordana Gehlhausen

Ok.

This chick scares the hell out of me.

She reminds me a Nazi matron that yells YOU VILL LIKE MY DREVESS while hitting you with a riding crop.

I did like some of the designs they showed from her shop but what she created on the runway for this episode was just “eh”.

Looks nothing like the design she sketched which is a shame because I liked the sketch better then the actual dress.

She always looks miserable though and I can count on some kind of drama with her this season

Irina Shabayeva

My jury is still out on Irina.

I did like the dress she created.. it was a neutral lace sleeveless top with a deep decolletage over a satin skirt of the same color. A black sash belt made it pop and to me, it just moved like water.

Don’t know whether or not I like her personality or not but realistically, it’s about her talent so I guess I can’t say too much.

She does have a dog so really.. how bad can she be??

Johnny Sakalis

Ok.

I like Johnny.

I REALLY like Johnny.. even though he has a penchant for flip flops and that’s just wrong but anyway…

Johnny had a rough time this episode. He’s a recovering meth head and I give him all the props for turning his life around.. but I guess being in the high pressure situation he was started playing with his head. I felt bad for him.

I kind of figured that if Bravo went so much into detail about his melt down then Johnny was going to shine and he did. I wasn’t too crazy about the bubble hem but everything else was sexy as hell and if I had the body to wear it, I’d scoop it up today.

I hope he does well. I really do.

Logan Neitzel

Dunno how I feel about Logan.

Ok, I guess.

I wasn’t exactly godsmack at his designs in the preview and wasn’t really impressed with the two tone gown he designed for the runway.

But we’ll see… there’s still a lot of show to go.

Louise Black

Weezy got some quirk to her.

She’s some kind of throw back to something but I give her credit for walking the talk.

Her clothes are a little quirky too.. definitely has an old school 20’s or 30’s feel to them..

Her design followed the same mode but I wasn’t really two thrilled with the frilly stuff on one shoulder or the movie theater drape hem but it wasn’t all together awful.

Not sure if she will go far in the competition or not but she is an interesting character to say the least.

Malvin Vien

Malvin is … well.. I’m not really sure how to describe Malvin.

He appears to be one of those young designers who are under the philosophy that anything he designs tells a story longer then War and Peace.

Sometimes a dress is just a dress, yknow?

His design was okay.. A little grey number. Nothing that I was like OMG about but we’ll see what he does in the coming episodes.

Mitchell Hall

Oh Mitch!

What the hell were you thinking, buddy?

Mitchell started out with this .. this.. “thing” that resembled something that Queen Victoria would wear.. this high collard bunched up thing that wound up not fitting the model right.

Under the gun, he basically just wrapped the model in the left over SHEER NUDE COLORED FABRIC basically ensuring that she would be showing all her naughty bits under the bright television lights.

In hindsight.. it was a good thing his original design tanked.. because I think he would have been sent home. We’ll see how he does next week.

Nicolas Putvinski

The self described PRINCE OF FEATHERS or something like that reminds me of some way other there make up artist on some other reality show on some other network.

You’ll have to forgive me.. I try to watch them all and sometimes forget the details!

Anyway… his black dress was okay. I mean, I liked it but it could have been something that you’d find at Hot Topic or Charlotte and Russe.

Qristyl Frazier

OMG.. girlfriend got SOLD!

All the judges slammed her dress and I have to be honest with you.. I didn’t think it was that bad.

I mean.. yes, the dress did look like a solid one and a print one ripped in half and then sewn together but my GOD they made it seemed like something that was horrible.

Maybe it looked different in person then it did on tv.. I don’t know but this was just one of those moments that made ME feel stupid because I wasn’t seeing what the “professional” were seeing.

Ra'mon Lawrence Coleman

I like Ra’mon.

I do.

I like that fact that he’s smart :: he was a pre-med student before chucking it all to be a designer :: and I like that he really understands the body.

Most of all.. I liked the fact that when Johnny was having a serious meltdown, Ra’mon went to talk to him.. to try and understand what he was going through.

To me, that showed the kind of heart he has and I hope as the season continues he excels.

Shirin Askari

Okay.

This kid is my favorite.

She’s a new fashion grad with a WHOLE lot of confidence but doesn’t come off cocky like Althea.

She’s goofy.. she’s sweet.. she laughs.. and she makes amazing clothes.

The dress she made for this challenge though, fell a little short from the designs they showed in the preview but, like the others, it may have been a little bit of nerves and a little bit of the lack of time they had to actually create.

At any rate, I hope she does well. She just has that IT thing going on

So there you have it..

I hope you watch the show.. and I hope you add your own comments.

Being in a house full of testosterone means that I’m in serious need of girl stuff to talk about!! LOL