laredhead

I remember watching the original series many years ago, and enjoyed it immensely. I have loved this new one just as much. The scenery is spectacular. One of my favorite lines of the finale was Tristan's "I'm dressed as an elf with a donkey for my date" - so funny. The casting for the show is so perfect - IMO. The show also is a reminder that life was very hard for small farmers. The very small house of the couple with the dog was probably typical of many at the time. The small tree with the real candles made me think how simple pleasures were such highlights of an otherwise pretty mundane and many times, grim, way of life. All in all, I thought it was a great series season ending, and I look forward to the 2nd season maybe in 2022.

Here is the link to an article from the local paper (Picayune), about NCIS New Orleans, and the economic impact it's cancellation will have on the film industry in New Orleans. I was a fan from the beginning because I live in Baton Rouge, and loved seeing all of the local settings, and the references to the food were authentic 99.9% of the time. Sad that it's being cancelled. https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/movies_tv/article_55214cfa-7242-11eb-9265-b7ca99b94cee.html

I wonder if the New Zealand couple is still there? Thinking they might have gotten caught in the COVID shut down on travel. It was evidently a temporary move since they did not say they sold their main house in Indiana, but had sold their 2nd house on a lake along with 2 boats to help finance the move. New Zealand is a beautiful place. I thought the 3rd house was the perfect fit for them and it was only $100 over the $1500/mo they state was their max.

Thank you, BookWitch, I guess the $$ exchange was the flashback to Marcia giving $$ to the actor and sending him away. I need to watch these episodes earlier in the evening before I get sleepy - lol.

Going way back to "Death of A Stranger" which was shown on Ovation last night, can someone tell me why Marcia Trantor gave the taxidermist Carstairs money? I think she was giving the $$ to Carstairs, or was it flashback to years earlier. Also, had Graham Trantor discovered that the tramp was an actor who had been hired years earlier to impersonate Marcia's husband? I'm usually very able to follow some of the more intricate plots of MM, but this one had me a little confused by the end of the episode.

Watched the New Orleans episode last night, and the HH wanted a through the door ice dispenser on the refrigerator. The refrigerator in the house she bought had an ice maker, it just was a through the door dispenser, and evidently she likes a particular type of ice as well. She not only spent $$ to have a separate under counter ice maker installed, but added a bar area/cabinets along a wall as well. New Orleans doesn't have zoning laws that restrict most areas to only residential. There might be an apartment house next door to a single family home, and 2 doors down from that a corner grocery store or a restaurant. I guess that's part of the "charm" of the city. There are also a lot of Air B&B's there, and the buyer might have been thinking of renting the guest cottage out on that basis. During a normal Mardi Gras season (not this year), she would make a lot of $$.

There was an update on HHI tonight, like a "Where Are They Now" episode on HH. This was a woman whose husband passed away, and she moved from East Hampton, NY to Tulum, Mexico. Very interesting, and gave a lot of details about her present life. She now owns her own business, and is active in dog rescue and fostering dogs.

I just watched the Dallas episode. The friend was so annoying, and she has a boyfriend who must be able to tolerate her. I bet her house looks like a clone of Property Bros, Flip or Flop, Joanne & Chip, etc. redos. I did like Ian's comment that he did not always take his friend's advice. I agree with Amarante in her supposition that some of these units were originally built as apartments and converted to condos when that became a profitable thing to do years ago. I lived in 2 developments like that before they were converted to condos, and I would have never bought one to live in. Renting one on a temporary basis was fine, but not to invest in and for me to live in. I personally liked the one with the fireplace. At least it was different.

Last night (New Year's Eve), I stumbled upon NCIS on Netflix, and selected Season 1, Ep 1 - WOW! Blast from the past, and 4 hours and 4 episodes later, 2021 arrived. Can't believe it's been 17 years since the first episode aired. I remember watching the first episode way back in 2003. Great way to spend New Year's Eve - IMO.

Both of the Annapolis HH's bugged me to no end. I muted the episode after the 1st house, because the wife would not shut up. I can imagine that the in-laws were relieved when they moved out.

ML89, I have a glass tile back splash that is grouted with a very expensive product that is not water based. I think CrazyInAlabama probably has the same stuff or something very similar. It takes a special, very potent remover to wipe it down after it is installed. I cannot remember the name of it, but any flooring/tile store could probably help you if you explain what you are looking for. It really works. The back splash has been in for 4 years, and looks brand new - even behind the kitchen sink and the range. The wife in the episode about the couple moving from Argentina to Australia got on my nerves. She kept harping on wanting a lower price house, and that her husband could move walls, and do other major projects, while the husband continued to say he didn't want to spend his time doing all of that. She even admitted that he did not have experience in much more than painting. I wanted to scream by the 50th time she said she wanted to live by the beach. I would have taken the house with the pool, and agreed with the husband that they might not want to go to the beach everyday. I never figured out what she had done on the cruise ship where they met. He was a chef. I like the Australian houses, because they seem more open and airy than houses in America, but that could be camera angles.

Was so happy to see what I think was a new Restored episode last night. Redlands has some beautiful houses, and the craftsman style house last night did not disappoint. 6,000 sf!! The owners spent almost $140,000 on just 3 rooms of a 6 bedroom house. Some landscaping and exterior work (just on the front) was also done. I liked everything they did, except for installing carpet in the family room. I would have gone with hardwoods even though Brett said wool carpet would have been what was there originally. This family had children and 2 big dogs, and the family room had an outside door. Hardwood floors would be much easier to keep clean - IMO. I liked the linoleum floor in the kitchen. That will last for many years, and is easier on the feet and back than ceramic tile. As usual, the final result was lovely, and very period and style appropriate.

I just got around to watching the finale, but had already read the comments here, so I knew who was going to win. I think for the winning bake, all finalists should have to bake the same type of cake/pie/whatever the challenge may be, and let their creativity with design and ingredients be the determining factor. Nancy said that Juliana's cakes looked disjointed and did not come together in a cohesive style. I totally agreed with her. That looked like someone had made 3 different cakes, and just stacked them up on each other. Oh, wait, that's what she really did. The blue one totally was out of place, IMO. She said the design was popular on social media, so I guess that's where she's getting her techniques from. If the icing had been white and she had just just blue icing to make snowflakes, it would have looked better. The green tree on top looked like a giant blob of sculptured buttercream, which is really was. I did not find it attractive at all. As for Megan's cake, it was a hot mess. I wish Lorenzo had been the winner, and agreed with Duff that some nuts and fruit in the cake itself would have made the cake even more period appropriate. Cakes like that in the 1800's often contained those ingredients, and were baked for very special occasions. I think if he had included them, he would have been the winner in spite of the marzipan. I enjoyed Lorenzo's optimism and hope he has a successful career. I enjoyed the behind the scenes episode, and it looks like it was filmed in a giant tent or temporary structure. I hear people on the Great British Baking Show talking about how A/C can't be used in that tent because of the noise of the compressors. Wonder how Holiday Baking gets around that problem. I'm assuming there is A/C in that structure because no one has complained about it being too hot or too cold.

San Diego - In my 72 years, I've lived in several houses and apartments, and the washer & dryer have been located in laundry closets, designated laundry rooms, garages, and the kitchen. I can live with all of those except ever having them in a garage again. I live in south Louisiana where there are big, icky insects and spiders in garages, so that would be the deal breaker for me. Presently, in my final house, the washer is in the kitchen behind a door that matches the cabinets, and the dryer is in the utility room a few steps away. The washer could be relocated to the utility room at great expense involving jack hammering the concrete slab for a drain line, and digging up 125' of back yard to connect it to the sewer line. I've lived with this for 17 years, and have other things to spend my money on other than moving a washing machine. When my house was built in 1957, it was common to have the washer in the kitchen, and there was no provision for a dryer, because most people did not have them then. Use the tops of the w/d as extra counter space when needed.

The Ventura wife was too much. She has a timeline for her life? What's she going to do when a child (or 2 or 3) is added to that timeline, and things don't go according to her life clock? She doesn't seem very flexible with things like that. Everything was "I want, I want, I want". Life with her would be exhausting, IMO. As for the house choices, I thought the 3rd one that they bought was the best for square footage and location. Being an end unit, it also had more light, and would seem more like a stand alone house for him. The Spanish style house was never an option, and would have been a money pit.

Is is wrong that one of the only things I remember from this episode is the name of the cat? Why was Gibbs wearing a suit at the beginning which took place early in the morning?

Not really sure that your HGTV HH episode is the place to air your discussion about having children. It was almost a throw away line by him saying he had not dismissed the idea, while the wife was talking about adding more and more dogs. He was whiney, and she was exhausting - IMO. Topanga, agree with you about all of the stuff they were hanging on the walls in the last scene. Looked like plants in small pots everywhere, and there were some on the right side of the screen in the background. If they were real plants, that's a lot of care unless they are the newly popular succulent craze. If they aren't real, then that's a lot of dust catchers.

Littlelggy, so did I, but it was long ago when students lived in a dorm, at home, or a fraternity or sorority house on campus.

Littleggy, I live in Baton Rouge which is the home of a large college (LSU), and parents have been buying houses and condos for their kids for over 20 years now due to some legislation that provides almost free tuition to in-state students who qualify because of grades in high school. Many parents with children who qualify for those tuition breaks invest in real estate instead of having to spend it on tuition. A few downsides of that exist, especially for people who live in neighborhoods where parents have bought a house or condo for their student. This is from first hand experience, and from reading about several neighborhood association problems here in Baton Rouge, and in other college towns. The real estate agent was pointing out the 2 parking spaces at the places they looked at. Two spaces for 3 occupants, each of which will most likely have a car, but that doesn't include space for guests, or the 1-3 boyfriends who will also likely end up living there or staying overnight there most weekends. Do the math. If each girl has a boyfriend, that's 6 cars. In an neighborhood that has a lot of college kids living in it, it soon begins to look like a used car lot with cars parked everywhere. Then there are the parties. Yes, this student was 22, but where I live, partying doesn't stop with entrance to grad school. Maybe she will be a responsible home owner, and be courteous of other owners and abide by parking, noise, litter, etc. rules. I live in a quiet neighborhood 3 miles from the campus, but 2 years ago a homeowner rented his house to 4 college freshmen boys, after having rented it to a couple with a small child for year or so. The house has a single car driveway, and each boy ended up with a girlfriend within a few weeks, and on the weekends it was party central and cars were parked on the street to the extent that a few times the garbage truck couldn't get through to pick up the cans. Neighbors complained to owner, to the renters, etc., and when the students' lease was up, the owner had to spend some $$$ to fix up the house and repair damage. He sold it, and the new owner is a single mom, with a child is elementary school. Our city govt. has tried to put limits on how rental occupancy in single family areas, but it's done very little to eliminate the problem. There is one owner who has bought up houses throughout the area for the purpose of renting to students. He does the bare minimum on maintenance, turns the houses over fast, and in retaliation to local homeowners complaints about street parking, he has retaliated by chopping down trees and paving entire front yards of his rental houses. Back to the HH episode, and sorry for venting, but that episode triggered my angst about parents buying houses for students. The father was obviously looking for something he could profit off of after his daughter's college days were over. She very likely will move to another part of Charleston, if she stays in the city after graduation. There was never anyway she was going to want the older house with the postage stamp of a backyard. Her excuse for not mowing was that she would be studying? Uh, yeah, right. Wonder what the income source of the parents was.

A screen door or room will not deter an alligator. The screen is good for leaves and birds, not a reptile weighing several hundred pounds. I would never depend on that for gator protection.

Love that the origin of Gibbs using his fireplace to cook was shown in this episode. Also love that the house was originally lived in by Ducky.

Ms Tree, in the past during football season when games often run long and interfere with program start times after the game, I have set my recording time to an extra hour for the program I wanted to watch. My DVR provides up to 3 hours of extra time.

With regard to the Florence episode, I got the impression they were only going to stay in Florence (or nearby) for about a year. Did not sound like they had sold their house in California. I don't remember what he did for a living, but it must be a high paying job to have a nice house with acreage in Truckee. That's a beautiful place too. I'm just catching up on a lot of HHI episodes, and last night I watched the one with the couple moving to China with 2 young children. She wanted to be near the beach and he wanted to be near his work. Sound familiar? All I could focus on when they showed the beach scenes and the traffic, was the pollution. I guess living in a "small" city of 4 million people doesn't sound like a day in the park to me. Then when they discussed the odor of sewage in the last apartment, and explained that many apartments in China smell like that because of old plumbing, I said no way. So did the HH's.

Navarre, FL wife was correct that buying a fixer was not a good idea with a baby due in a couple of weeks or so. Babies take up a lot of time and energy, and if the hubby gets deployed, the wife will be left with most of the responsibilities. Yes, there are support groups with the military, but it didn't seem like they had family nearby to help if needed. The picture of them with the new baby was cute.

The husband in the Lakeland, Florida, episode got on my last nerve with his picky comments. I bet the in-laws were glad to see them move out after 2 years of having to listen to him. 2 of the houses they looked at were less than 2300 sf, if I remember correctly, so if you have 4 bedrooms & 2.5 bathrooms, the rooms aren't going to be huge. The contemporary house with the 2nd story needed work to bring some of its defects up to code. They chose the largest house with over 3,000 sf and it has a pool. I am assuming they are going to put a fence around the pool as a safety measure for their child. They said they had not totally moved in, so that may be in the offing soon.