By Paige Phelps and Mariana Greene The Dallas Morning News There are few homeowners who forgo decorating for Christmas, so why should July 4 be neglected? With patriotism running high this election year, up the ante on curb appeal with vintage-inspired decor.

Their winged kin hunt at dusk and dawn. As they feed, they inject spit under the skin of their prey and spread disease and germs. At ground level, crusty vermin scuttle from crack to crevice in search of scraps. They are prolific breeders and will eat anything - even their young.

Stuart Rose can talk a blue streak about passive solar energy and rainwater harvesting. He'll carry on about indoor air quality and sustainably harvested woods, too.  Rose comes by the know-how firsthand. He and his wife, Trina Duncan, live in a green home in a green neighborhood that they developed.

AT 19, NEARING THE END of my sophomore year of college, I begged Mom to let me hit the road with four girls and one 30-something college professor on a cross-country camping adventure. Our goal: Study the nation's geology and environment.
After reassuring her we wouldn't fall into the Grand Canyon, Mom forked over the money.

The basics Use a combination of common, gentle ingredients to clean glass. Mix one teaspoon of baby shampoo to one gallon of water, or 1 1/2 cups of vinegar to one gallon of water. Wash windows with the solution using a clean, soft cloth or sponge. Rinse with clean water. Promptly dry the glass thoroughly with a cloth. Dry the frame with a separate cloth.

IT CAN BE a place for family or alone time, partying with friends or reading a novel. But whether you use your patio or deck for getaways or get-togethers, during daylight hours or while burning the midnight oil, you’ll want it to ready for spring and summer. Here are 10 ideas to help you create an outdoor space perfect for whiling away your idle hours.   Add some life

Your home gym is waiting. In its leanest form, a home gym is simply a television set with a few square feet of clear space in front of it. Or, on the high end, it can be a multiroom, several-thousand-dollar complex with equipment to rival the gym down the street.

By Staci Dennis The chill is out of the air and flowers and trees are starting to bloom, so gas up the lawnmower and dust off the gardening tools because it's time to gear up for spring. Don't think of the work as daunting and a chore, but rather as a spa treatment for your house. In preparation for warmer weather, here are five ways to get your home spring-ready.  

NEW YORK (AP) -- Real estate may have cooled considerably as an investment, but not real estate television. House flipping and home renovation programs are still big hits on cable. While "for sale" signs sprout on lawns across the country, TV programmers are like developers who plow ahead with new housing projects anyway.

Green was easily the favored "color" during this year's International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla., with manufacturers and distributors across the board introducing products that are kind to Mother Earth for the long haul but not necessarily to your wallet for the short term.