Global design suggestions (link)

Want to add some global design flair to your home? Here are some ideas incorporating Moroccan touches in a design mixture. There are some lovely and luxurious looking rooms. Check them out at this HGTV blog:

Take a Moroccan House Tour: Peacock Pavilions « Design Happens

Tropical Storm Don

TS Don is headed across the Gulf from the Caribbean to Texas and is expected to make landfall Friday night.

Update (7-29-11): TS Don is still heading WNW towards Texas. Hopefully it'll give them some rain after months of drought. It's good that it's just a tropical storm. Now we're watching a tropcial wave in the Atlantic that could become a hurricane.

Laminate flooring choices (link)

Here's a lovely laminate flooring selection:

Laminate Flooring Options : Slideshow : HGTV Pro

I really like the wide planks of Armstrong's American Duet - Hartford Maple Antique, and Shaw Floors' Caribbean Vue: Riverbed Teak is lovely. Check out the choices.

Hurricane names for 2011

Worldwide Tropical Cyclone Names

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

"Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error than the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The original name lists featured only women's names. In 1979, men's names were introduced and they alternate with the women's names. Six lists are used in rotation. Thus, the 2009 list will be used again in 2015. Here is more information about the history of naming hurricanes. "

Home entertaining and helping your neighbor ideas

There's a article on fancy dining alfresco in the August issue of Southern Living. (This hostess doesn't use paper plates!) Another family created a cozy open-air addition to their home.

And check out a flashy flower--colorful dahlias. My favorite recipe in this issue is the lemon meringue ice-cream pie, but the tomato pie is intriguing. However, the highlight of this issue are the articles on the tornado damage, recovery and sharing in the southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri.

Tropical Storm Cindy

TS Cindy popped up last night and is heading away from us also.

Update (7-23): Cindy dissipated before I got around to saying that she was about to do so. There are some tropical waves we're keeping an eye on.

Press release for Remodeling: Buying and Updating a Foreclosure

Here's the link for the press release: http://www.free-press-release-center.info/pr00000000000000153480.html

Tropical Storm Bret

I see that tropical wave is now TS Bret, and it's heading away from Florida. Check it out: Tropical Storm BRET

(Thanks, Lloyd)

Update (7-19): TS Bret is heading NE away from the United States and probably won't develop into a hurricane.

Update (7-23): Bret disappeared into the ocean blue too.

Water saving products (link)

There are some stylish faucets, showerheads, and toilets to choose from here:

Saving Water in Style : Slideshow : HGTV Pro

Some of them even tempted me, who will use a an appliance or product until it needs to be replaced. (I shake my head sorrowfully when watching a home show where people complain and whine about the stove and fridge being outdated. I have better things to do with my money!) However, I especially liked the faucet that lets you choose from two different amounts of water. I'm still annoyed that I can't do that with my GE infusor washing machine. And check out the stealth toilet!

Remodeling: Buying and Updating a Foreclosure

My ebook, Remodeling: Buying and Updating a Foreclosure, is now available. It's about how one woman and her family coped with selling a house--at last, looking for a new house, buying a new house that was a foreclosure and needed lots of work, and then remodeling it since it didn't even have a kitchen sink! This book would be helpful to anyone coping with a remodeling project:

Link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71560

Btw, the cover was designed by SF author and poet, Vincent Miskell, whose SF ebook, Godspeed Inc, is available as a free download: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66239

Flooring choices (link)

Which types of flooring work best for the basement, kitchen, dining room, etc.? Well, it depends on moisture issues in the basement, of course. Cork is recommended for the kitchen, and you might want to extend the kitchen flooring into the dining room. Check out these flooring suggestions:

Flooring Choices By Room : Slideshow : HGTV Pro

Sparkle note: If you drag a treat from the box, and click on it again, Sparkle will jump up and catch it!

Tile design ideas (link)

Here are some colorful ideas for decrating with tile:

Tile Design Trends : Slideshow : HGTV Pro

Magistria: The Realm of the Sorcerer

Magistria: The Realm of the Sorcerer is a shared world anthology of mages and magic; it includes my story, Seedlings, in which plant mages fight alongside their sentient plant companions. You can buy it on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Magistria-Realm-Sorcerer-Robert-Santa/dp/0981932320/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232426222&sr=1-1

Aliens, Animals, and Adventure

I have a collection of some of my published stories in Aliens, Animals and Adventure. You can order it (trade paperback) at the Anthology Builder library:

AnthologyBuilder: Aliens, Animals, and Adventure by Joy V. Smith

It includes three pairs of stories and sequels: The Doorway and Guard Dog, Pretty Pink Planet and Hot Yellow Planet, and Lost in the Long Dark and Taking Tawny Home. There's also a sequel to Sugar Time, my time travel audiobook: Flashback. (Find out how the Chessies landed on Earth.)

Sugar Time

Sugar Time is my time travel audiobook with three time travel adventures, check it out at http://hadrosaur.com/audio_books.html

Description: Three complete stories: “Sugar Time,” “Flight Test,” and “Return to Neander.” Maxwell Sweet, along with two professors, have been conducting secret experiments in an old Victorian mansion outside Galveston, Texas. However, the two professors have vanished and Maxwell Sweet has fallen ill. Now, it’s up to Sweet’s tough-as-nails niece to find out what happened to the project — a working time machine. Sugar Time is an audio time travel adventure featuring a full cast, music and sound effects.

Why Won't Anyone Play with Me?

Why Won't Anyone Play with Me?


For young children, there’s my picture book, Why Won’t Anyone Play with Me? Why doesn’t anyone want to play with Kallie Kitten? Why do they jump into the pond or hide? Will anyone ever talk to her? Will this frisky little kitten learn to play their games?

Illustrator Andrea Gradidge was originally from the UK and now resides in British Columbia, Canada. She has illustrated various chapbooks and e-zines and also my story, “Sammy’s Beautiful Tail.”

Children should enjoy the animals in this colorful picture book and the critters they, or their parents, can cut out at the end. It is available online at Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Why+Won%27t+Anyone+Play+with+Me%3F&r=1

Writing news update

I'm working on getting my selling/buying/moving/remodelling diary published as an ebook. This would be my first ebook, though I was included in the writing tips ebook, I Wish someone Had Told Me That! a while back. My print and audio books are still available, including:

Building a Cool House for Hot Times without Scorching the Pocketbook is my non-fiction primer for home building. The new editon has color photos; the ISBN on that edition is: 978-1-60749-562-8 It covers the building process and includes diary excerpts, photos, and advice from planning to punch list and beyond. You can order it from the publisher:

http://www.publishamerica.net/sc/productsearch.cgi?search_field=Building+a+Cool+House+for+Hot+Times+without+Scorching+the+Pocketbook&storeid=*18384186b34fd46c1375a0e241fb

Or amazon and Barnes & Noble