Interesting and Fun Links

Air Quality:The air you are breathing could be killing you. Studies have shown that indoor air can be up to 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. How so? Dust. Dirt. Dander. Mites. Fumes from building supplies, furniture and derocations, and even the operating electrical equipment. Using an air filter or air purifier to clean a small area, a room, a house, or an office building can help reduce, or even eliminate, health problems associated with poor air quality. TheGoodAirLady.com has a variety of articles to help you decide what the best approach to clean air you want to take.

Bizarre But True News Stories: Do you ever feel you are surrounded by crazy people or situations? Truth is stranger than fiction. Enjoy an outrageous and thought provoking weekly laugh with this email newsletter. Check it out -- ThisIsTrue.com.

Flooring Ideas and Tips: We use floors everywhere we go, yet don't know much about them. What makes a good flooring option? How do you install and remove flooring materials? Do you want to use laminate flooring, hardwood flooring, carpeting or vinyl flooring? These questions and more are addressed by TheFlooringLady.com in a wide range of articles. Don't make any flooring decisions without checking out this site.

Green Hotels, Worldwide: Are you environmentally concerned and active? Do you travel with your environmental awareness in active mode? Here's a list of environmentally friendly hotels around the world that help you do that. Of course, they can't do it all, you still have to be proactive in your travels, but here's a tool to help. They aren't all as green as I'd like, but every little step makes a difference. Encourage hotels you use to take as many green steps as they can. And be sure to check out the article "Why Environmentally Friendly Hotels are Ipmortant in Your Travels", linked from the navigation bar.on the right side of the screen.
And if seeing what a wide variety of hotels are doing isn't enough, we have created a site that celebrates the best of the green hotels from EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com. Yep, we call it TheBestGreenHotels.com. If you are looking for a really green hotel, you'll find the best in the world there. You'll be surprised, and pleased.

Maintenance and Construction Tips:This guy is great at what he does and shares his knowledge with passion. He has helped me select a fabulous cork flooring, understand why my basement linoleum tiles were popping up -- and fix the problem, and he has kept me from making a mistake with a short-sighted gas plumbing approach. Innkeepers are "do-it-your-selfers" so this site is a must for you. You have to check out AskTheBuilder.com before you do another project!

Online Book Buying: I love saving money. This site helps me do just that when I'm buying books (there are sister sites for buying music, movies, electronic equipment and bikes and gear). All the online bookstores are queried for the book you want and share the availability, price, shipping charges, and total cost to you. Finally you can truly get the best price around when you shop at BestBookBuys.com.

Paintings from Photos: Have a great photo, but....? This great service will create a painting from your loved photo and "fix" the problem that keeps it from being a great photo. I have seen paintings that were created from age-damaged slides and photographs, snapshots that had a cluttered background or too much chaos to let you focus on the subject, and beautiful pictures that were turned into paintings. Be it a photo of your B&B inn, a pet or child, an action shot, or even a portrait -- PaintedSnapshot.com is a service you have to see for yourself.

Stories of Real Life Heroes: Innkeepers often are heroes to their guests, sometimes without even realizing it. You might pass it off as "just part of your job" or your passion for taking care of people. There are others who are heroes, and not innkeepers, who also feel their actions are inconsequential, minor, or nothing special. HeroicStories is a semi-weekly email newsletter shares stories from around the world, written by people who think the actions they are sharing are more than trivial. Upbeat and heart warming.

The Real Stories Behind Ridiculous Lawsuits: Email provides an easy avenue for people to share Urban Legends ranging from the Darwin Awards to the Stella Awards (Stella is the McDonald's "coffee cup lady"). Amazingly though, there are TRUE stories, unlike the made-up stories that fill our in-boxes, that will amuse and challenge you. If you have an interest in outrageous lawsuits, this bi-weekly email newsletter -- the True Stella Awards -- is for you.

A love story, short film: A friend of mine is an actor and has produced with Bob Pondillo an award winning movie short called My Name is Wallace. A unlikely and lovable character and story come to life before your eyes. It's a heart-warming story you shouldn't miss!

I love to travel. The tour I had of China and Tibet was the tour of my life! We saw parts of ancient China, Tibet, the Yangtze River, and Hong Kong in a glorious two weeks. We had train travel, boat, and air too. Jia, the founder of Jia's Dream Tours arranged for us to see travel sites with top notch China travel guides. Jia managed all the big and little details, the little details being the most amazing. If you want to experience personal service and a custom vacation, you owe it to yourself to go with Jia. We are booking our Alaska trip with her now.

Water Issues are a more inconvenient truth than even climate change, though they are closely intertwined and connected. Water supplies aren't as abundant as we treat them so we need to be more careful with our vater consumption and how we treat it while it's "in the wild". This site educates you about various water issues, water filters, and water treatment. Turn to TheGoodWaterrLady.com for guidance and education as you learn about water.