I've been had...

Last Friday my mom and I were approached by a seemingly harmless looking gal at JoAnn's Fabrics. We'll call her Sarah (because that was her name and I'm not protecting anyone here.) She was all complimentary about my darling kids, yada, yada and asked if I liked home decorating. (I was more than hesitant. Sure, I like my home to look nice, but I don't have a ton of confidence in my choices.) I reply, "Well, a little. We're still working on a lot of things, but we enjoy it." She asks a few more questions about our decor and seems very interested. She asks if she can have my contact information. Turns out she's casting for a home-decor reality show. If selected, I would have a celebrity designer come to the house along with a camera crew, *other vague details*, and I would be eligible for "thousands of dollars in upgrades." I'm ashamed to admit I was a little flattered and kind of excited.

She emailed me yesterday to say that they were "very interested in seeing photos of our place" and asked me to send them right away because they were casting in the next 2 days. It didn't take all that long, but I tried so many options: curtains opened/closed, shutters opened/closed, moved a few accessories and even switched up the furniture a bit. Took pics with all the lights on/off, different angles, the whole bit. Then I had to fish through my photos to find a picture of myself to send along. If people are going to make a decision about you based on one photo, what kind of photo do you send? The agonizing decisions were endless.

I finally made my choices and emailed the information. A few hours later I received the following email: "Hi Kady, Thanks for sending these photos over! Unfortunately it looks like your place may be too nice for the show. If you happen to know of anyone who may live in a place that is in need of designing help such as a room with a theme, very Flashy or out of control that would be great if you could pass on my information to them. Thanks again!"

To be honest, I'm not sure how to feel about this turn of events: Thanks for saying that my place is nice? (No - that's not it.) Does 'Flashy' need to be capitalized? (Off topic, but still?) Thanks for wasting my time? (More like it.) What was it about me that screamed "Tacky" when we met? (I wasn't wearing my leg warmers OR acid wash jeans.) When do you break the news that you hate your subject's decorating sense and are coming to completely re-do all their love, sweat and tears? (All these questions peppered with "Are you freaking kidding me?" were flying around in my head.)

Then I remembered the end of the email asking me to pass her information on to anyone that was in need of design help because their room was "Flashy or out of control." Can you imagine that email? "Hey friend that I love: I know that you love your jungle themed guest room, but I think it's ridiculous, so call my new friend Sarah and she'll rip it down and paint your walls beige. Love ya!"

Overall it was just another silly experience and I'm trying not to take anything too personally. Hopefully Sarah will do the same when she receives my reply email - a picture of my middle finger.