I love the idea of glass blocks because I am a light hound.  It cannot be light enough for me while I’m inside my house.

But I also love my privacy. Those are 2 reasons many people and businesses install glass blocks. My father was an architect/builder/developer, and he used glass blocks in his office.
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I can remember it vividly.

I was about 10 years old and repeatedly rode my bicycle up to the neighborhood Ben Franklin 5 and Dime store to buy stained glass, paint by numbers, mosaic kits.  I loved creating art. 

That was the childhood memory that flashed in my brain when I met artist Rick Hecht of SGO Designer Glass and talked to him about his custom decorated glass designs.  Actually, all of the folks at SGO are accomplished artists in glass design.
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Finally! A way to regift that knitted tea cosy, vacuum-powered hair cutter or 10th ugly tie!

Now you can unload them on the new UPS website that lets you virtually hand off your unwanted presents to those who can really appreciate them. At the UPS Regifter Gallery, the recipient gets an email with a link to claim his (re)gift, and then has the option to pass it  along  (or post his own regift!)

You can also vote on each treasure in this rogues gallery of gifts with up to 5 Christmas lightbulbs. The knitted tea cosy has been regifted 737 times as of today; the vacuum hair cutter, 917 times. The “5-in-1 Gadget Tool” shown above was apparently harder to part with, being regifted only 40 times.

Struggling with what makes the perfect gift? In a recent poll, 4,348 would-be giftees were asked, “What do you want for the holidays?”  Their answers…

With less than a 7% difference in the top 2 answers, it looks like “last-minute shopping” has been ever so slightly extended into the eleventh hour with the gift card option! The survey was conducted by BigResearch American Pulse.

What if you *have to* buy a home right now?

It’s a buyer’s market, so how do you maximize your purchase power? Here are 13 lucky tips:

1. Make a list of what you must have in a home, and really stick to the basics. Focus on the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, floor plans, location, parking situation and price.
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Do you have a sale price in mind if you tried to sell your home today? I’m guessing you do because every homeowner carries around a “magic number.” The problem with many guesstimates is that they’re often based on inaccurate assumptions.

When it’s time to sell, many homeowners believe they should get back every penny they ever invested in home improvements. But to calculate resale value, first we need to talk about what you spent your money on.
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I love bamboo and I love my bamboo forest. When I moved into my house about eight years ago, I was enthralled, as was everyone else that I would have this gorgeous year-round green forest surrounding my pool, as well as separating my house from my neighbors’.

The privacy of bamboo is like nothing else. You absolutely cannot see through it and it just keeps growing and growing and growing and growing and… The birds love having a home that they can count on all year and it miraculously stays green and lush through the winter.
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Like photography or woodworking, you can never own too many tools for hobby gardening. And like other hobbies, owning the right suite of garden tools determine if you achieve worthwhile results.

Here are the indispenable tools we recommend for your garden tool collection:
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Dendrobium orchids are some of the most common orchid species on the American market today. Once, Dendrobium orchids were only grown and collected by wealthy individuals. Times have changed and now the once elusive Dendrobiums can be found in florist shops and upscale nurseries as well as in home improvement stores and warehouse clubs.
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As summer brings the double punch of high temperatures and low rain to many parts of the country, a smart gardener steps up his or her game, too. Check out these tips for a long-blooming summer border:

Deadhead regularly. Remove the flowers off your plants after they fade, usually with a small pair of snips. If the blooms are not removed, the plant will expend energy producing seed. When deadheaded properly, the energy is redirected to other parts of the plants, and can often result in a second round of blooms.
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