| MPs investigated over dining rooms misuse | | Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2007 1:02:17 PM by Blog57 Team | | More than 20 MPs are being investigated over the misuse of House of Commons dining rooms, DeadBrain has learned. The rooms can be booked by MPs for events, but there are strict rules governing what they can be used for. A free drinking binge is permissible, for example, but fundraising for charities or political parties is not. Events must also not bring the Commons into disrepute. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is now looking at a number of cases, including: The All-Party Female Mud Wrestling Appreciation Group's annual general meeting, which descended into a messy farce when Ann Widdecombe turned up. The clean-up bill came to several thousand pounds. A reception held by a society of Christian MPs, during which several oil paintings were damaged by flying children's toys.... | |
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| | | REAL ESTATE FOR RENT | | Posted Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:59:51 PM by Blog57 Team | | AGHIA PARASKEVI, next to ACS, furnished apartment, 150 sq.m., 3rd floor, 3 bedrooms, big living-dining room, garage, a/c, independent heating, veranda. HELEN'S REAL ESTATE, 210.77.96.536, 6944.844.415. (HT5843) KOLONAKI, penthouse, 150 sq.m., windows front and back, Acropolis-Lycabettus view, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, WC, 3 joined rooms, fireplace. Call owner at 6932.434.439. (HT5857) KOLONAKI, six fully funished modern apartments near the metro. Weekly housekeeping and laundry. Call owner at 210.72.18.456 or log on to www. apartmentskolonaki.gr. (HT3867) METS, fully furnished new flat, 60 sq.m., rent 700 euros. Tel. 210.70.19.553. (HT4424) PAPAGOU, nice apartments, up to 475 sq.m., new or fully renovated, with elevator, independent heating, in best locations. SELECTED REALTY, www.epilegmena.gr, www.greek-realestate.net, tel 210.98.82.408.... | |
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| | | Rooms must strike new chord to harmonize with gold grand piano | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 6:55:56 PM by Blog57 Team | | Doug, Cerrene and their two young daughters live in a big, beautiful house that they built from the ground up five years ago. They have been slowly decorating, room by room, but their living and dining rooms had yet to be designed. Boring and bare, the adjoining rooms were in need of a serious update. There was just one big -- and I mean big -- problem. This music-loving family had inherited a very large, very gold grand piano that they wanted to keep for sentimental reasons, but the eyesore dominated everything in the space. So I decided to channel my inner Liberace, find a way to make this piano fit in, and make the two rooms sing. Since the family only used the rooms formally -- the living room was used as a music room, while the dining room was used for special occasions -- I decided to turn them into dramatic, bold, black-tie-event spaces.... | |
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| | | Perry Homes in Westheimer Lakes Has Up To A $5,000 Buyer Bonus! | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:11:14 PM by Blog57 Team | | (PRLEAP.COM) Perry Homes in Westheimer Lakes is offering, until November 30, 2006, a $4,000 buyer bonus in the Canyon Lakes section on all homes and a $5,000 buyer bonus in the Canyon Gates section on all homes. Perry Homes has several homes ready for immediate move-in in the Canyon Gate and Canyon Lakes section of Westheimer Lakes. Choose from several completed one- and two-story homes or over 15 floorplans to build. Perry Homes offers a full selection of homes in Westheimer Lakes that are priced from the $150,000s with home sizes ranging from 1,600 to 4,100 square feet. Located in west Houston just minutes from the Westpark Tollway, Westheimer Lakes offers easy commutes to major business centers, the Galleria area and other shopping destinations. Available for immediate move-in is 25535 Creston Meadow Drive, Plan 3398W, in the Canyon Gate section of Westheimer Lakes.... | |
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| | | Small B.C. island has it all shopping, dining and hiking | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 7:03:30 PM by Blog57 Team | | Imagine a bucolic island, in a storybook setting with snow-capped mountains looming in the distance. Imagine that it's close to a leading West Coast city, but has a timeless aura. Imagine you can get to it quickly and cheaply, via a short, scenic ferry ride. Is it Bainbridge Island? Whidbey Island? Both apply, but guess again. This is also a description of British Columbia's Bowen Island, a sylvan spot in Howe Sound just north of Vancouver. The charms of Bowen Island are no secret to Vancouverites, who have been using this verdant, tranquil place as a getaway for more than a century. Today, many dream of joining Bowen's growing population of about 3,700 year-round residents — or at least, the 500 or so who commute daily by ferry to city jobs.... | |
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| | | Gourmet dining in Westmoreland County | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 3:01:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | LAUGHLINTOWN, Pa. - It's unusual to experience fine dining in a rural community where only about 550 people reside, but Ligonier Country Inn Restaurant beats the odds by a long shot. Here, at the base of Laurel Summit, in Laughlintown, Westmoreland County, the establishment dishes out fresh seafood, filet mignon and roast duck. A signature best-seller from chef Rich Salyers' kitchen is Chicken Ligonier, a chicken breast stuffed with provolone cheese and flavored with garlic butter. There are down-home favorites, too: Yankee Pot Roast, served in a crusty "flowerpot" bread bowl; Lamb Casserole, featuring a sherry sauce with potatoes, onions, peas and carrots under flaky puff pastry; and Mile-High Meatloaf, served over mashed redskin potatoes and garnished with fried onions.... | |
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| | | Midstate Datebook: Reopening celebration for Parkwood center | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 3:10:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | What: opening and dedication of 14,000-square-foot Parkwood community center. New $2 million facility features a climbing wall, fitness center, computer lab, gymnasium and multipurpose rooms. Who: Metro Board of Parks and Recreation, Mayor Bill Purcell, Councilmen Walter Hunt and Jamie Isabel and other community leaders. .... | |
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| | | It's all about setting the perfect dining table | | Posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:10:35 PM by Blog57 Team | | E ven though many of us use our dining rooms less and less for sitting down over shared meals, we expect a lot from our dining tables and chairs. That is especially true this time of year, when holidays often bring a bounty of feasts. We want a place to graciously seat family and friends, with plenty of room for plates and platters. We want tables that are stable -- forget using a matchbook to level an off-kilter leg -- and that have well-positioned bases, trestles or legs, so we needn't straddle those supports or bash our knees. Our chairs should be comfortable enough to encourage lingering and built not to creak or otherwise sound as if their legs will fracture. And they must pull comfortably close to the table without mashing our thighs. We want the table surface to be tough enough to take whatever punishment our family and friends (particularly the young ones) may inflict: sharp cutlery, hot casseroles, candle wax, spilled milk.... | |
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| | | HSU STUDENTS STILL SEEK HOME | | Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 3:03:24 PM by Blog57 Team | | While other incoming freshmen lugged boxes and bags into their dorm rooms at Humboldt State University in August, new student Jason Valdez stood in line at the housing office, shaking his head in frustration. Along with dozens of other students, Valdez, an 18-year-old from Southern California, was denied on-campus housing due to the large freshman class admitted to HSU this semester.Faced with more students than campus housing could handle, the university prioritized students on a first-come, first-serve basis by application date, and then placed overflow students on a waiting list that eventually exceeded 100 students. HSU Vice President of Student Affairs Steve Butler said the school's incoming class was about 1,000 students this fall, a 25 percent increase over the 800 freshmen enrolled last year.Extra rooms in the dormitories usually reserved for bike storage were transformed into makeshift dorm rooms, and many rooms that typically serve as doubles were made into triples, effectively housing an additional 30 students, Butler said.But instead of putting his name on the list, Valdez said he was urged to find alternative housing on his own and reapply for the dorms later."There was more demand this fall because we had the largest freshman class ever," Butler said.... | |
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| | | Tales of Haunted Oregon Coast Lighthouses | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 1:00:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | (Oregon Coast) - They inspire imaginations, impart mystery and create an ever-widening array of emotions and thoughts. And many of them may or may not be haunted. Four of the five lighthouses on the upper half of Oregon's coast are some of the most legendary. Indeed, one – the Heceta Head Lighthouse, near Florence – is the most photographed lighthouse in the world. The others are the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, the lighthouse atop Cape Lookout (near Tillamook), and the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, a mile offshore from Seaside and Cannon Beach. All but Cape Lookout's light have some weird tales surrounding them, in various incarnations. And these tales intertwine tightly with the buildings' histories, making for some lively discussions and research.... | |
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