There is a bug in the blogs that transposes the word Descr.iption to Deion.  The period is inserted there to show what word it is.

Funny that I contacted EA support who promptly put the blame on my browser and told me that I need to delete my temporary internet files.  The funny thing is that I accept a slower browser experience by making my browser check for newer content on every visit to a page instead of the default to check once in a while.

Plus theres absolutely no way that my browser is transposing the word Descrip.tion to Deion.  When I submit the word it is as it should be, after the server has accepted it, it gets changed.

06/18/2009

Since they still havn\'t fixed the blogs, Deion is actually Desc.ription but the blog transmutes the word Desc.ription (without the period) to Deion for some bizarro EA reason.

Snip to fit in the 5000 character limit of a blog post.

So many lots, so little time.  Theres just been so much new lot content added to the exchange, some of it really fantastic stuff, some not so much, but keep trying everybody, it\'s a great deal of fun to create houses isn\'t it.

Im thinking about themeing my column, and it\'s going to be going to a more once or twice a week column instead of trying to do a daily, as it\'s just too much to try to do on a daily basis with my health issues  Plus it will give me more time to really take a good hard look at the individual lots that I do a shout out for to try to bring you the cream of the crop that you may have missed when perusing the exchange.

With all that jiberish said heres tonights picks, and of course as I trim this messages posts you can still find all my picks in my blogs by clicking profile at the bottom of this message and then viewing my blog.

Until next we meet, take a look at some of these beauties.....

Name: ???? ( I don\'t have a korean language installed so it\'s ????)
Author: soyokazekyo
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179803
Deion: Almost overlooked de to the simplicity of the open floorplan and glass walls.  But upon my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th look at this house I realized that it\'s simplicity is what makes this house special.  The open floor plan allows you to decide where you want to put the rooms (if you wish to change what is already there), there is currently 1 resident.
Specialties: Glass walls on this beach house are surrounded by lush beach landscape (as lush as beach landscape can get I suppose), it\'s beautiful white simplicity is special upon itself.
Suggestions: Ditch the inhabitants before uploading to the exchange.  I personally don\'t like downloading houses that have sims already in them, but maybe that\'s just me.  As usual, this house makes very liberal use of store bought items, so if you don\'t have them, they won\'t show up unfortunately.

(At this point I\'ve started to add in the \"Type\", \"Size\", & any \"Residents\" that might be included with the lot)

Name: The Sims 3 Botanical Gardens V2a
Type: Commercial
Size 30 x 40
Residents: 0
Author: bama0099
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179177
Deion: Imagination abounds when people create special places like this.  It\'s a beautiful botanical garden in a glass shell with open roof.
Specialties: Completely new imaginative use for a commercial space.
Suggestions: No suggestions until custom content becomes available at which time this building should really sore high above the rest with some new custom content.  As it is now, it\'s a great new building to add to anybodys town.

Name: Town Square
Type: Commercial
Size: 60 x 60
Residents: 0
Author: Hinder
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179083
Deion: This is a 60x60 lot which I made to bring all of the following together: Court House, Book Store, Food Market, Spa, and Bistro. I kept looking for one of these on The Exchange but couldn\'t find a good looking one so I made this one very nice with some decent landscaping. It was made to fit the lot in between the Landgrab and Alto estates.
Specialties: Another beautiful attempt to bring many of the commercial lots into one large 60 x 60 lot.  Another fine example of what can be done with the architecture tools in The Sims 3.
Suggestions: None to speak of.

Name: CS_@lley
Type: Residential
Size: 30 x 30
Residents: 0
Author: micokulit0105
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=178702
Deion: Real world good looks abound with this home with detached garage and outbuilding.  Not only is the house absolutely reek with traditional good looks, but the landscape at no sloucher either.
Specialties: Traditional good looks abound.
Suggestions: Lower the peek on the outbuilding It seems a bit steep and rather old Sims2 school if you know what I mean.

Name: Krehe Home
Type: Residential
Size: 60 x 60
Residents: 0
Author: malibu_101
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=178962
Deion: \"This is a version of my home except on sims! yaaay! well hope you enjoy this house! its a great place to raise a wonderful family and to entertain guests or just relax and chill out! :) sooo please comment or recomend my home! please:) thank you!!\"
Ed: This lot makes good use of space, the landscape imaginative, and it would appear that it\'s even got a mother in laws suite around back. 
Specialties: I especially enjoy the landscaping, it looks very natural.  Although I usually complain (errr, suggest) that having rolling hills makes a house stick out from it\'s surroundings like a sore thumb, this lot has made good use of the landscape.
Suggestions: None to speak of.

Name: Americana - 2br, 2ba
Type: Residential
Size: 40 x 30
Residents: 0
Author: jipjoice31
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=178030
Deion: \"Americana - 2br, 2ba\"
Ed: This is another one of those houses that have that certain something in the classic department.  However no offense to the author, but this is also one of those homes that I would likely gut the interior and restructure it.  That\'s not a bad thing, that kind of remodeling goes on every day of the year around here.  The bones are solid and beautiful, but for my tastes the insides need a little help.  Other than that, I love the clean lines and wrap around roofed porch.  Wheres the porch swing?
Specialties: Classic clean lines in a 2 story home.
Suggestions: Clean up the inside rooms a bit.

**If you like a house that you see in Housing Around, please use the \"Recommend it\" option to recommend it to other users of the SIms 3 community, I know the authors sincerely appreciate it being as that is their only real feedback of how people like their lots**

Name: Sunnyhome - 2br, 3ba
Type: Residential
Size: 30 x 30
Residents: 0
Author: jipjoice31
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=178033
Deion: This is the second lot that this author has made it into the Housing Around column, and if you download it you will see why.  It\'s a simplistic but charming yard and home, and one that will surely have an occupant in my towns.
Specialties: Sometimes there really doesn\'t need to be.  Sometimes just looking at the whole package is enough, and in the case of Sunnyhome, it really is.
Suggestions: Wider swimming pools look more natural in Sims3.                                                                                                                   

Name: Sea View Cottage
Type: Residential
Size: 25 x 30
Residents: 0
Author: Volkamar
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=120937
Authors Descr.iption: This lot while Small on living space, has plenty of Outside space to compensate. With a large Backyard area, sporting a Swimming Pool, Gardening Patch, and Decking with Barbeque topped off with a gorgeous view of the Ocean. Inside there is a large lower and upper Hallway, lower level Living Room and Kitchen, and two upper level Bedrooms with ensuite Bathrooms. Also included are five upper level Balconies to really make full use of the marvelous views that come with the lot.
ED: Volkamar submitted a different house of his for inclusion in Housing Around, however after looking through his creations I had to pick this one.  I love the rustic charm of the Sea View Cottage.  If I wasn\'t honest in these writeups, they\'d pretty much be more worthless than some folks might think they are currently, so with that said, Let me just say that the Sea View Cottage is far superior to Volkamar\'s Zen House (which you should probably go look at too, as it might tickle your fancy for your own reasons), and the sea view cottage is more like a work of art than a home when compared to the Zen House. (No offense Volkamar)
Specialties: Rustic beauty, landscape that befits this type of home.
Suggestions: Addng some more \"texture\" work to the pond and it\'s surrounding are would really make that pond pop out.

Still heavily under the weather, be back with mega content on the 18th.

Name: Grandpa\'s Farm
Author: splayle
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179729
Deion: A Rustic, run down farmhouse. It has two large bedroom and an upstairs open loft. It is meant to beside the community lot \"\'\'Grandpas\'s Fields\"\'\'
Specialties: The landscape is not to be missed.  The barn, out of this world old world charm.
Suggestions: Perhaps make two versions, one that fits beside \"granpa\'s Fields\" and one stand alone so that it looks in place no matter where the user decides to drop it.  I\'ve seen a lot of lots that have some beautiful rolling landscapes but when put on a relatively flat area of the hood, look totally out of place.  Nice job otherwise.

**If you find any lots on the Housing Around column that are simply stock lots that ship with the game, then I want to hear about it, please let me know so that I can remove them, as I don\'t know every house that ships with the game, so it\'s near impossible for me to keep track, thank you**

Name: Ultra Modern
Author: Clayboy731
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179987
Deion: Just when you think theres nothing else to do with a box, along comes the Ultra Modern with it\'s overhanging carport, and superbly maicured landscape.
Specialties: What else can you do with a box? Take a look.
Suggestions: Although the rolling hills are nice, it\'s really hard to fit that into a relatively flat landscape on all other sides, perhaps two versions, one more flat, and one like this rollypolly for those that want it.  Or the gamer can just flatten it if they like.  Either way works.

**The only way to ensure that I see your lot and take it into consideration for inclusion in Housing Around is by PM\'ing me with the url and details of your lot**

Name: Le Petite Castle
Author: Ashkitty
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179968
Deion: It\'s a wicked small castle with beautiful landscape, and towers galore.  This is a definite must for anybody that likes the more exotic style lots in their games.  Wow, really great looking lot.
Specialties: A lake and a petite castle, what else could you want?
Suggestions: None

Name: White Recolor of Family Home
Author: Kyle4Sims3
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=179899
Deion: I almost skipped right over this one but Im pleased that I went back to have a second look.  It\'s traditional good looks make this a handsome addition to almost every neighborhood.
Specialties: Traditional real world good looks.
Suggestions: Could use a bit of landscaping help, but it\'s clean.  Also probably want to remove those premium items since they won\'t be seen in users games that don\'t own them before uploading to the exchange.  Just my opinion however.

No time for small talk tonight so just my 3 picks for today.  Feeling a bit under the weather the past 2 days. Please excuse the extra period in the word Descr.iption, for if I type it in as it should be it turns out as Deion.

Name: Summer Cottage
Author: ehaught58
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=114621#
Descr.iption: Beautiful landscape, great contemporary classic lines of the house make this one a certain download, and a certain recomendation.  It\'s often the little things that can set a an average house apart from an extrodinary looking house.  Looking at the beautiful walkway curving up to the front door, when most houses have straight walkways and the dual rooflines above the door on the second floor show the amount of detail and labor of love that went into this home.  If I were driving by this home in the real world, I would certainly stop to gawk at it\'s beauty.
Specialties: Great landscape, clean lines, great rooflines.
Suggestions: None.

Name: Kensington House
Author: Llama66
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=108238
Descr.iption: When you\'re looking for a castle but may not have the funds for a castle, only the next best thing will do.  Take a look at the Kensington House, a large 5 bedroom, 4 bath estate.  Let me repeat that, \"Estate\".  With a value of over 1,000,000 Simoleans, quite possibly only those that can afford a castle will be able to afford this Estate too.
Specialties: It\'s the next best thing to a castle, it\'s like a castle for the Sims that can\'t afford a castle, but who come really close to affording a castle. Beautiful roofline, landscape, everthing in this Estate, crys out Quality!
Suggestions: Leave out the store items, they won\'t show up in those peoples games that don\'t own them.

Name: Mega Mall
Author: TheZiva
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=75751#
Descr.iption: We have it all (Well almost). Just convert one 60X60 lot to commercial and you will have a Book Store, Beauty Salon, Grocery Store, Movie Theatre, Two Dining establishments, The Corporate Offices, Town Hall, A Police Station, A Small memorial for Fallen Veterans complete with catacombs and a modest park. Naturally, there is restroom accomodations and a few other surprises including our complementary artists station. Please join us down at Mega Mall, because you know we\'ve got it all!!

Specialties: It\'s almost the entire commercial district in one 60x60 tile.  WOW, just WOW.  This one really shouldn\'t be missed.
Suggestions: None.

Mountain Home
Author: spyhunt9877

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=104508
Descr.iption: Perched atop a small mountain overlooking a small pond of sorts, this cabin
is not one that should be missed.  Although a little creepy looking (in that Psycho movie style),
it\'s a very unique mountain home.
Suggestions:: None to speak of.

Small Cliffside Vacation Home
Author: Huntermanz
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=104494
Descr.iption: Is your Sim the outdoorsy type?  Does he love to live in total seclusion?
If so, then have I got a property for you.  This Small cliffside vacation home is a
year round retreat for those Sims that just want to be left alone.  Not only will your\'
neighbors have a difficult time climbing the mountain to get to you, but I hear tales that
the woods are stocked with bigfoot\'s (bigfeet?)
Suggestions:: None to speak of

The Empty Nester
Author: Angiejr1979
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=104401
Descr.iption: This cozy home is perfect for your sims just starting out in life.  With
it\'s beautiful porch, fireplace and room for a dog, this shouldn\'t be missed.  It\'s quaint,
It\'s Cute, It\'s everything a starter home should be and more.
Suggestions: None to speak of.

Name: Ahoy Simmies!
Author: KayLayne
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=104122
Descr.iption: It\'s a house, no it\'s a boat, no it\'s a house.  No, it\'s a HOUSE BOAT!
This lot shows great imagination, who would of thought to create a house that is a boat?
KayLayne, that\'s who.  WHere\'s your chance, a 5 bed/5 bath ship complete with office, pool, basement and carport; it\'s sure to satisfy any pirate at heart!
Specialties: It\'s a house made to look like a boat trying to be a house, that\'s a boat house.
Suggestions: None, with the tools we have to work with, you really couldn\'t ask for much more.

Name: Modern Loft
Author: iMaster33
Url: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=84735
Descr.iption: This modern loft space is open and airy feeling.  The design is distinctly modern, yet comfortable feeling.
Specialties: Theres been a lot of talk about no Hot Tub shipping with the game, this user took it upon hiself to create his own psuedo Hot Tub.  Between the HotTub and the Breezeway, it\'s a sure download.
Suggestions: Maybe a bit of or more vegetation might be nice.  However, that might also take away from the clean lines of the home.  So it might be a tradeoff.

Welcome to Housing Around, the daily highlihgts.

In this thread I will be highlighting some of the houses that I think are very worthy of being called out.  It could be one little feature that the author has added to his house that makes it very special, or it could be the details that was put into the house that has had me include it in this ongoing list.

Massive mansions do not necessarily make the list, but Unique qualities of how the house is contructed or how the landscape is added might certainly do so.

-Rules-
Rules? Rules? I don\'t need no stinkin\' rules, this is my List.  Actually, there is only one rule and it\'s an unfortunate one.  I can\'t submit my own houses to the list.  Obviously tht would not be very fair.  So if you want to see what I create, click my profile and take a look.  Most of it wouldn\'t make this list anyway.

-How to submit your house for inclusion-
If you know how to PM me on the forums here, you can send me a PM with the link to your upload and I will certainly add it to the houses that are considered for the Housing Around column here.  Your inbox is located at: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/pm/inbox.page
From the inbox just send me a message (username Jalida) with the url to your house you want me to consider.

Bookmark this thread and check back from time to time if you want to see the houses that make the list.  Who knows, maybe one of them will be yours.

<img src=\"http://www.mymagicdeck.com/logo.gif\">

06/08/2009:
Name: It\'s a bird, it\'s a plane... No, it\'s just another house
Author: dudedude94
Details:  Very nicely detailed lot. 
Specialty: If I had to pick just one item that makes it stick out and helped it to make my list, it\'s the covered carport design. 
Suggestions: Only one constructive critisim for the author, remove the massive amount of columns in the covered car port.  Once the roof is up, you don\'t really need them and it only makes it look cluttered.  They are so easy to remove that it has not lowered the house to where it wouldn\'t make this list.

Name: Seaside Manor
Author: Darkcoon9
Descr.iption: A very eye pleasing house, if I had to give it a style and or label it would most likely be a spanish hacienda type of house. Hmmm, a Hacienda by the sea.
Specialties: The unique shape, and the tower room in the center offers this house it\'s character.
Suggestions: None

Name: Whitten Castle
Author: PsYuK
Descr.iption: Take a look at it, how could this house Not make the list. It\'s unique in every possible way.  Outstanding looking castle.  While it may not fit into any city that I can do with the supplied neighborhoods, it\'s sure to make it into one of my neighborhoods once we can create our own.
Specialties: It\'s a freakin\' Castle on a hill, do I really need to say more  :wink:
Suggestions: None

Don\'t forget to bookmark this thread to see what new houses make the list.  You can do so by clicking the Bookmark link at the bottom of this thread.  Feel free to discuss any houses that I call out in this thread, but please keep it limited to those houses.

More tomorrow.