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Post by greer on Sept 29, 2012 12:11:09 GMT -5
In Russia it's crazy. If you're renting, you call up an agent, and then they look in a database and take you around to places. You have to be ready with 1st and last months' rent right then and there, and ready to sign papers. It's sooooo stressful. You have to be really quick, because places get snatched up like crazy.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Sept 29, 2012 13:07:11 GMT -5
^ Interesting perspective from Russia! I wonder why that is. On one hand, it seems pretty efficient for the agents. Maybe agents in the Russia have had bad experiences with house inquiries which have caused them to be a little strict? It reminds me of when my sister and husband-in-law rented their most recent place on a farm, their landlord made them get background checks. Turns out that his last tenants had criminal histories which included restraining orders (on each other!) Background checks aren't usually required, but previous circumstances made my sister have to get them.
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Post by wiggir13 on Sept 29, 2012 22:10:14 GMT -5
I find it interesting how Stacey says when she's describing the girls that mal is a little too young to be a close friend. How sad for mal! I'm assuming she changes her mid once she leaves sophisticated ny for po dunk Stoneybrook?
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Post by zoar3 on Sept 29, 2012 23:30:28 GMT -5
^Isn't this the book where Stacey did say "Mallory is really neat?" One thing I did like was at the end, Mal says something to the affect that now that we're neighbors, maybe I'll come over sometime." The very next book, which "starts" two days later, she does. I definitely would have liked to see more Stacey and Mal relationship, even a first-hand description of Stacey looking for a towel on Mal's patio (walking to school signal). It always did sound like Maureen and Dee had become friends. I could imagine Mrs. Pike coming over to the McGills for a little peace and quiet. Lol, she could have even hired a sitter to do so.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Oct 3, 2012 18:00:49 GMT -5
^ She probably would have, given the fact that Stoneybrook parents hire sitters when they go grocery shopping!
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Post by virgoscorpio on Feb 16, 2013 23:52:14 GMT -5
I love this book!!! Although I feel for Stacey with the whole divorce issue, I love reading about the McGills in general. Plus there were countless scenes that I liked: Stacey's shopping trip instead of going home; house hunting in Stoneybrook; the surprise sleepover with the BSC; Laine's outfit which includes the black-and-leopard-print-mix, permed hair that grew out to the perfect length, and armful of bracelets.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Feb 18, 2013 16:02:38 GMT -5
^ and how Laine brought breakfast for them before they left for Stoneybrook, when Laine used to be cool
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 6, 2014 19:40:50 GMT -5
I'm possibly still alone in this but (still) would have liked if Ed and Maureen had not divorced. I really do think in the early books, especially TSB, their family did seem close. I didn't realize that the morning (before Stacey comes home to hear her parents fighting and they later announce their divorce), Ed had told Maureen if she wanted to move (someplace quieter) she should but not to count on him commuting. Actually, maybe I don't like Ed much even here. I don't know what his financial situation was but maybe he could have taken even a few week leave from work to try and find another job. From this book it doesn't sound as though he was fully happy when he transferred to CT. I know we have talked about this before in terms of Buddy and Jake and even Dawn and her Dad, but it really would have been so nice to see more of a dad relationship with their kid, if even divorced. It also struck me much more that other than Nannie's temporary move to the Waterford Gardens and doesn't Mildred Abbot (Kristy and the Missing Fortune)also live in an apartment? no one in Stoneybrook outside of maybe Buddy's dad who Suzi in #5 says, "lives in his 'partment," lives in in an apartment. Maybe their might have been more choices that Maureen could afford had she considered renting or even leasing like a townhome. Ed, if they did divorce or separate could have done the same so he'd still be close to Stacey. I do think Henry and Grace sound adorable and love the impromptu BSC sleepover chapter, too. ETA: How glad I am that Stacey and her mom did move into the house they did because Mallory and the Mystery Diary is a favorite of mine.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Apr 6, 2014 22:51:02 GMT -5
^ I wonder what kind of impact it would have made on the series if Stacey's parents hadn't divorced? The split was the whole reason for the move BACK to Stoneybrook, so there's that. What if they'd stayed married, and Ed had simply been transferred again...or chose to move to make his wife happy? Not many of the subsequent plots had much to do with Stacey's parents, so I'm betting the impact would have been minimal. Now I kind of wish they'd stayed together.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 6, 2014 23:29:25 GMT -5
^ I just still don't think we saw much foreshadowing about their divorce. I'm very glad and thankful we didn't--I don't much like the serious issue BSC books. In this case, it seemed more like a decision to make Stacey a divorced kid than there was a need for the divorce, if that makes sense. I might also be feeling this way because I will always wish Jack Schafer had visited his kids (or at least Dawn--outside of BSC in USA) in Stoneybrook and outside of Logan's Story when Jeff has appendicitis, Sharon not once visited her son in CA. That was so sad to me, but then once Jeff moved for good he was pretty much written out of the storylines. In Stacey's case, I just loved the scene in TSB, with the McGills sitting on their back deck after a long day of moving in and also in this book when Stacey tells her dad she is going to move to CT with her mom, he does seem genuinely sad about that. Stacey even writes on her infamous NY/CT list that if she would like to get to know her dad better. It sometimes seems like Ed was maybe originally a good dad and nice guy but then his character got changed big-time. If Ed was any kind of lawyer, lol, one of the dad's could have recommended him for a job in Stoneybrook. It would have been nice seeing more of two parents, even if not together, who truly did love their daughter. And as I know someone posted, somewhere, for us to see an older Karen and Andrew type situation where Stacey lived with both of her parents. Lots of possibilities.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Apr 7, 2014 1:20:10 GMT -5
I definitely think Ed was a better dad than a husband, and I'm pretty sure that the divorce was just the catalyst to get Stacey back in Stoneybrook due to high demand from the readers
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Post by greer on Apr 7, 2014 4:12:27 GMT -5
Yeah, they wanted her back in Stoneybrook.
I don't see why Ed should take a job in Stoneybrook because Maureen wants to move there. Also, Stoneybrook and NYC are much closer than they make it sound sometimes.
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 7, 2014 10:09:22 GMT -5
Also I think making Stacey go back and forth between CT and NYC gave Ann the chance to write about NYC which she loved to do.
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 7, 2014 10:24:14 GMT -5
I think it was important to have someone go through the divorce process. Kristy and Dawn were already on the other side when we met them. Maybe having one more Stacey book with some foreshadowing would have made it less jarring (they were fine in Stacey's Mistake), but they did mention fighting a few times in phone calls leading up to #28.
I also don't think Ed should have just found a different job to please Maureen. For one thing that's not how jobs in the higher up corporate world work. (Not that I actually know.) But I'm sure it's a more complicated process the more important you are.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 7, 2014 10:41:02 GMT -5
Starrynight, that probably was exactly the case. Sparklymouse, I will need to reread TSB again soon. I think my liking Ed pretty much stems from that one book and also the scene as I mentioned in this book when he and Stacey talk about her decision to move back to Stoneybrook. After that, we really don't see their bond much at all and that, to me is sad. I know Ed was in NY and Stacey in CT, but they could have called one another (to our knowledge) a little more and maybe Ed could have visited Stacey in CT just for a long weekend in a much more casual way than he did in Stacey the Math Whiz. I don't feel we got to know Ed, Maureen, and Stacey as a family that well. I'm just saying the little we did see, I thought the divorce did come out of mostly nowhere. I should add that I will always be furious with Ed for not coming with Stacey and her mom to CT, when Mimi passed away. Fighting with Maureen or not, he should have supported his daughter. I'll just say I think Ed's character sort of like early Nannie vs. later Nannie was one of the most changed as the series went on.
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