DownTheShore

Here's a HHI pet peeve - couples moving to tropical climates who are upset that there is no oven in the kitchen. They all lament that they won't be able to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. The first thing I always wonder is - is turkey meat even available in that country? Then I wonder if they have ever heard of countertop ovens? I use my oven often, but that wouldn't be a make or break thing for me since I know that there are workarounds. A definite no-go for me would be any place where they have one of those squat-over-a-hole toilets instead of a flush toilet. Or where water or electricity is available for only part of the day. I did the no-central-heating, no hot water thing as a kid - I don't want to relive that. I realized how much that influenced me when I realized that I rarely turn on the hot water faucet when washing my face and hands; there was never any point to do so when I was a kid because it ran cold water so I never got into the habit of using it.

I always figured that the first thing I would do would be to install screens. That's like those shows set in Europe where the people fling open the windows. Don't flies and bees and wasps fly in?

That woman creeps me out. Hasn't her uterus dropped to the ground by now?

I always get a laugh from the couples/families who move down to Central America and who are entranced by the fact that there are monkeys hopping around the trees. I remember one family that was shown basically an open-air home that didn't seem to have any doors or glass in the windows, and there were monkeys in the trees. I was wondering how they'd react if they woke up in the morning and there was a monkey in their bedroom or in their kitchen? Or the ones who move down to places like Nicauragua or Guatemala where in recent memory there has been a civil war, and they wonder why the windows of the homes have those metal grillwork on them. My rule of thumb is if most of the population has machetes, then that's not a place where I'm going to relocate - lol. I always wonder what the local population thinks about the influx of foreign homeowners buying up property and raising the housing prices. I think it's funny how the Americans, Canadians and Europeans are always called ex-pats on the show, yet in real-life in the USA, we never refer to the influx of foreigners into our neighborhoods nicely as "ex-pats". It's usually "those damn ____".

There was that one woman who was on HH three times, the one who wanted to be a singer. First she bought a house in California, then she decided to be a country singer and moved to Nashville. Then she caught herself a husband who seems to have money and they bought a house by a lake.

I vacationed in St. John right on the beach a couple of times years ago, and I remember that about around 4pm the sand flies used to come out. Their bites itched like mosquito bites. Ah, another pet peeve - people who are shown houses in the tropics with those huge sliders that open up the living area to the outdoors. All I can think of are the bugs that are going to come marching in. Or the ones in Latin America that seem to have open air kitchens.

I was wondering about the two bedroom thing in Cape Verde, too. They were sitting much closer together than just plain friends normally do. I was thinking that perhaps gay/lesbian couples are not looked on with favor, so I looked it up in Wiki: So it looks like while same sex activity is legal and there are provisions in the law regarding anti-discrimination in employment, there's no marriage allowed, or recognition of couplehood, or adoption of children allowed. So if they are in a relationship, then they have to be discreet about it. Something that aggravates me when I watch HHI are the wives who balk at living 30 minutes or so away from their children's schools, when they are not working themselves, (It seems like all those children always go to the local "International School"). And because they don't want to drive that distance, they wind up picking a home that requires their husband to commute an hour or more to his job. I mean, what else do they have to do during the day that the travel time to the school is so onerous? I occasionally pick up my niece and nephew from school, and for me it's a 45 minute drive; it's no big deal.

Some people can never leave their high school years behind, because those were their glory years. I've got a relative who's in his 60's who always brings up things that happened while he was in high school in every conversation.

I don't get the whole "pool at the beach" thing. I go to the beach to go into the ocean, not a chlorinated pool. Climbing into the bathtub is one of my pet peeves - also, jumping up and sitting on the kitchen counter in someone else's house. Everytime I hear one of those couples enthuse about how it's going to be so lovely to drink coffee on their bedroom balcony, I wonder to myself how long that enthusiasm is going to last when they have to go all the way downstairs to the kitchen, make the coffee, and bring it all the way back upstairs just to sit on the balcony to drink it, and then bring the cups/mugs/whatever all the way back downstairs. Perhaps I'm just as lazy as dirt, but it seems much simpler to just drink the coffee downstairs - lol. Does anyone have a pool? How much work is really involved in taking care of it, other than having to skim bugs and leaves out of it regularly? I don't get why it's such a make or break deal for some homeowners. One thing that always creeps me out is when a couple with no kids is looking at houses and they're shown one that has one of those huge useless two-story entry ways with a curved staircase up to the second floor, and the woman is already imagining her not-yet-in-existence daughter coming down it in her prom dress or her wedding gown. I immediately think, "way too much Barbie-playing in that woman's childhood".

Do you remember the episode, I think it was in Norway or one of the Scandinavian countries, where the woman absolutely had to have a food disposal unit in the kitchen sink? That was the make-or-break item for her. That was really weird, at least to me, because I've only known one person in my life who's actually had one of those. @Lawgiver - I agree that Jon's roommate didn't look as though he was having a good time there. I don't think that he was part of that group of friends in the final scene, was he? I always like the Mongolia shows - mainly because that's the only chance I get to see the place - but there doesn't seem to be a whole heck of a lot to do there, unless you want to ride horses on the steppes, which I would have no interest in doing. What always intrigues me is the people who are moving to a foreign country, where they don't know anyone, at least one of them doesn't speak the language, yet they want to have a place that has plenty of room for entertaining. I always wonder, "who do they plan to entertain?". That NY-to-Cyprus woman reminded me of that NJ-to-Jerusalem woman with the kids who was buying a place in the German Colony area of the city. I was wondering where her money was coming from, too, since she didn't seem to be working and those properties were very expensive.

For those of you who love the HHI shows set in Paris, check out this article that was on the BBC website about what living in those beautiful aparment houses is really like; http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27502469 Makes you think twice about those beautiful parquet floors - lol.

There are times when I think that I can't watch another episode and I give it a rest for a while, but then I'll turn it on and get hooked all over again. It doesn't even matter to me if the "decision" isn't spontaneous. I find it fascinating to watch the unrealistic expectations and the frustrations in the process. I always wonder why the people don't give Hillary more money up front, to let her really go to town on their house. She always does a really good job with what money she has, and she does make sure any structural/ultility issues are corrected on her watch. That's what I would do. I am constantly amazed at the ignorance of the homeowners regarding the state of their old homes. I mean, haven't they ever looked around their basement or their attics, checked the siding or the downspouts? Haven't they ever inquired into the price of repairs? I also question those spouses who don't want to move when when their houses are fit to bursting with kids, the bathrooms don't work and there is no empty surface in the kitchens - just because it was the first home they bought together. There is a place for sentimentality, but not when the quality of life within the home has degraded that much. One show that really aggravated me was the one where the wife wanted the first floor half-bath removed so there would just be one bathroom in the house instead of two, and the husband gave in to her. I think that they had two young children. First of all, she decreased the value of that house with her request, secondly, as those kids get older, she's going to regret that choice when they start to monopolize it,

I think that Shakira hurt Kristen's chances when she kept playing of her "minority" and disadvantaged status. For goodness sake, we know that she's gay; stop trying to play that card because she got the votes that she's going to get on that basis. Shakira should have been emphasizing her voice and her seeming likeability, and trying to garner new votes for her. I agree with the earlier comment about Jaqui and her shrieking. I was listening to her voice and was really wondering what we all saw in her last year; that was really a case of her being given songs to sing that suited her vocal style - yesterday's song didn't. I don't like Grimmie but her voice is so much smoother and better developed than Jaqui's is. Once again, when Will sang, I tuned him out; he's just not memorable. I did like Tessanne's singing, but I did find myself wondering how much all those n signs had cost. I'm a Jake fan, so I'm glad that he made it through. He may not be the most technically perfect singer, but he's the one that I pay attention to when he is performing. He manages to hold my interest, probably because I'm hoping he does well. He is the definition of the underdog. Kat was another one whom I always watched when she was singing, because her performances were engaging. Grimmie - meh. Josh - he seems like a nice guy and I like his voice and he sings well. I'd rank him above Grimmie.

I find it interesting to watch who goes into explore a room first - does the man lead, or does he let the woman go in first? One of the games I play with myself when watching the program is guessing with marriages/relationships are likely to survive, just based upon how they behave and interact with one another. One question I have - is there some sort of unwritten rule that once a couple buys a house, they have to get a dog? What is it, some sort of test to see if they can manage to keep a pet alive, then they can move on to the next step of having a baby?

I want to go to Paris and have Adrian Leeds find me an apartment. She seems to find ones that have quirky and interesting aspect to them. Of course, I'd like to be able to say, "Hey Adrian, I've got two million here - find me a place" - lol.

Another pet peeve: Tall men who step into the bathtub or the shower stall and complain that the shower head is too low. Don't they know that there are bendable extensions that you can buy to add onto shower connections that allow you to increase the height? That's one of the first things my brother-in-law put into his bathroom when they bought an old house. What really gets me is when they complain about the view out of the master bedroom window. I mean, other than sleeping, sex, reading, getting dressed, and watching TV, what else are you doing in the bedroom? Unliess you are an invalid and bed-confined, how much time do you actually spend in your bedroom during the daytime, staring out the windows? When kids are playing in their bedrooms, they're not usually looking out the windows either.

I can see that situation causing a marital crisis further down the line. She didn't seem like the type of woman to turn into a Stepford Wife, and being home alone with a baby and the housework in that isolated setting - when she said multiple times that she's a people person - just seems like a recipe for disaster.

Granted that we are only seeing an edited version of the various house presentations, but some of those realtors seem absolutely clueless. Some of them seem unable to distinguish between what would be a structural repair and what is merely cosmetic. Don't they know that light fixtures can be changed out, walls (and paneling) painted, carpets removed or put down? The couple will walk out onto a back covered porch and say, "Oh, we realy wanted a screened in porch" and the realtor doesn't suggest that they get the porch screened in. A surprising number of them don't seem to be able to think outside the box. I remember one episode where the realtor basically showed the people the same house design in the same planned community twice. The people, IIRC, weren't that enamored of the first house to begin with I also have to commend those realtors who are on the ball and who are virtually biting their tongues as they deal with clients who are total, unrealistic idiots. Those realtors clearly earn every dollar of their commission.

The one I had to wonder about was the one that took place in Michigan or Wisconsin or Minnesota, and the guy wanted the property with forty acres because he didn't want to be near people, he'd have to drive like an hour to his job, and his wife was going to be staying at home with a new baby and there was absolutely nothing around there for her to do. I really had to wonder about that guy, because his need for distance from his neighbors seemed almost pathological. And she, like a fool, went along with his choice.

I've lived in small apartments for most of my life so I am totally over "open concept". I want well defined rooms. If I'm cooking, I'm not putting on a show for my guests. If they want to talk to me, they can come in the kitchen with me. As far as I'm concerned, stainless steel appliances are only good if you're living in the tropics, otherwise they are a pain to keep clean. I'm not picky at all about countertops, as long as they aren't cracked Formica or small tiles with grout. I like tile floors but I would never want them in the kitchen; they're too hard to stand on for extended periods of time, and anything dropped on it is guaranteed to crack. Give me vinyl sheet flooring or linoleum anyday for a kitchen. I grew up in a four-room apartment containing five people and one bathroom which didn't have running hot water. I learned early to share in all things, so I have no patience with couples who have, for example, four children and have to have a separate bedroom AND bathroom for each of them. I have no patience with people who walk into a perfectly good kitchen and say "we're going to have to gut this" just because they don't like the counter surface or the wood color of the cabinets. Don't get me started on double sinks in the master bathrooms, or master bedrooms that can fit a king-size bed yet which are "too small". Or people who move into new developments and ask how long the construction noise next door is going to last. I ususally wind up shouting at the TV, "Construction noise is a finite thing, you idiots. It's not going to go on for years and years!". Or the ones who buy a vacation property with an ocean view and an empty lot between them and the beach, and ask if anything is going to be built there. Well, let me see...more and more people want ocean front property, more and more ocean front property is being built up so there's less land available for building. Why yes, the odds are good that something will be built there within your lifetime! Another pet peeve. Single people moving into one bedroom apartments who are upset because the bedroom either has one of those sliding barn-style doors or no door at all. What the heck does it matter if there is a door or not? Who is going to walk in on you? Who is going to be noisy in the living room and keep you awake? I need to stop, but one last thing. Women who are afraid of going into perfectly dry, well-lit, perfectly non-creepy basements that don't even have a bulkhead door to the outside. What on earth are they scared of? God forbid that's where the laundry is located, because that means the house is going to have to be remodeled to relocate it.

I was wondering about that cell phone business too, but the woman made some mention of wedding parties, so perhaps their service is aimed at that - equipping the wedding party with phones for a set price so people don't have outrageous charges on their own phones? An episode that cracked me up was the one with the artsy single mom who had adoped her son from somewhere like Guatemala or Nicauragua, and then decided to move down there so her young child could experience his ethnic culture. I thought to myself, "that poor orphan finally made it out of that country to what would have been a much better life in the US (in economic terms, at least) and his adoptive mother brings him back down to the dirt and squalor that he left behind." Another one that made me laugh was the one where an American couple relocated to England; I think the woman was from Georgia or something, and she immediately started affecting this faux English accent, sort of like Madonna. It had to be a conscious thing, because I don't think that she had lived in the country long enough to lose a Southern accent, much less pick up an English one. IIRC, she was one of those who wanted to live in an English cottage and who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the rooms were really too small for a family. One episode that aggravated me was one that took place in Loreto Bay, Mexico, where the husband had some job with a real estate development firm where his job was to entertain prospective clients and he wanted a place close to where he worked and his wife wanted to live closer to town so she would have things to do with their young children. He would have had to spend a mere 15 minutes in travel time if they went with the house that she wanted, and it was too much for him. You have to wonder whether or not some of those couples have done any basic research whatsoever about the places they plan to move to. I mean, they go to a major European city and say to their real estate agent "We'd like three bedrooms, two baths, close to the city center, outdoor space for our dog, and we have $700/mo to spend". And then they are shocked when they can only afford a place where they won't be able to roll out of the door right into a bar or a cafe.

I'm going to miss this show. I would have thought that Colbert would have been a better lead-in for him, and that his ratings might have improved. Letterman has been phoning it in for the past couple of years, so that hasn't helped things for me. I was always guaranteed a good laugh from Ferguson's show and I'll miss that. My body, though, will probably appreciate being able to go to bed earlier during the week, because none of the suggested names so far would make me stay up late to watch them.

I really liked Sisaundra and liked her song choices, but I always thought that her style was a little too similar to Tessanne (last season) and that two such similar singers wouldn't win in a row. I wonder if her mother's presence put the kibosh on her, because she lost that sympathy factor of her mother never coming to see any of her performances. Grimmie has no stage presence when she's not singing; she always looks sneaky to me - lol. I think that the reason people like Jake is because he is "Everyman". He's a good guy, he's not in perfect shape, he's not handsome, he radiates good nature, and he perseveres. I think he resembles someone in everyone's lives that we're fond of, so there's a built-in well of goodwill toward him. I like Kristen and think that she has a good voice, but I wish to God they'd get her to wear better outfits, not dresses or anything like that, but some more color or textures. Her face is pretty and animated but the drab outfits don't serve to showcase her. It looked like Kat's appearance has been modified a bit in the past two shows; she's looking less like past-prime rocker.