For those who aren't glued to the ABC network on Sunday nights, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is remodeling/rebuilding a house in all 50 states.

The crew from the show descended upon Nebraska last week, remodeling a house in Lincoln for an upcoming show.

Although I'm not a regular viewer of the show, I catch an episode here and there. Usually the show remodels a house for a person or a couple who are going through a tough time, who need more space or whose house needs a complete overhaul.

I'll be watching the show early next year when the Nebraska show airs if for no other reason than to catch a glimpse of a certain person. And I'm not talking about the show's star and design team leader, Ty Pennington.

My husband's sister, Delrae (Thomas) Hirschman, a 1977 McCook graduate, served as a team leader on the Lincoln project. As an owner of her own interior decorating business, Delrae is a member of the Home Builders Association of Lincoln which helped with the project.

Even though she would have likely volunteered on her own to help with the project, she instead was called upon to be a team leader.

She didn't have the most glamorous job such as fetching Ty's lunch. In fact, she was situated at a table seven blocks away from the remodeled house to register the hundreds of volunteers.

Still, the project was memorable for her.

Delrae actually knew about the show's visit to Nebraska and the selected house several months ago, but had to sign a confidentiality agreement before being allowed to know any specifics. She had to keep the secret to herself despite attending a family reunion with 50-plus people last month.

She noted that she only had one sighting of the show's star, Ty Pennington, when he hung out of the window of his car hollering to get the project started as he drove past her volunteer table. The problem was -- remember she is seven blocks from the house -- and there were few, if any, people around at that point.

It was one of the few times that there were not people standing around waiting for a glimpse of Ty. He has his own cheering squad at most building sites and some people drive hours just to watch him.

Delrae said spectators parked across town and were shipped to the site by bus to an area lined with cattle guards to keep people contained.

Despite the hoopla surrounding the Lincoln project, Delrae said the most endearing part of the project was the atmosphere and seeing the community come together for this cause.

She said it was also neat to see businesses, which usually compete for a job, come together to work side-by-side on the project.

A few other memories from the project from Delrae:

* A five-block area was cordoned off around the house to accommodate the process. Rumors floated around that those affected in the immediate area were nicely compensated including being put up at the Cornhusker Hotel in downtown Lincoln.

* No one on the set could have cameras. Since my sister-in-law is a rule-abiding citizen, I can't have a picture to accompany this column. In fact, the production staff took away cameras from those who tried to tip-toe around the rules.

* The remodeled house now sticks out in the neighborhood. As the name of the show implies, the builders usually go to the extreme when remodeling the house. For example, one house featured a 50-yard football field in the backyard.

The Lincoln house is located in the Havelock neighborhood, an older community with smaller one-story houses. If you've seen a preview of the remodeled Lincoln house, it's easy to see that it's a two-story, brick-and-stone house. It shouldn't be hard to find if you visit the neighborhood.

When will the Nebraska show be on the air? No one could say for sure, but since the show features a couple who were married in Paris during their week away, everyone was placing bets that it would broadcast close to Valentine's Day.