Clay breakers are mostly garden gypsum; sometimes they are combined with compost. Gypsum improves friability and drainage in the heaviest clay without affecting the soil's natural ph. The reason is that heavy clay compacts and drys into a concrete like texture that repels all water, air and roots. Gypsum keeps the soil loose, but it is not used up by plants like compost, so it continues to keep the soil fluffy year after year. DO NOT EVER GET BUILDER'S GYPSUM, WHICH HAS CONCRETE IN IT!!!!!. You know there may be an easier way to deal with these areas, especially if there are structural issues involved (the importance of which Ken is right about, as usual). Since you would have to do some major soil amending to grow most plants anyway and you have slopes and paths issues that have to be dealt with. Why not just plan these areas around some really major containers. By staggering the heights of the containers, you could create the same feeling as terraces, fill them with good soil to begin with, design a path that makes hubby happy and doesn't look awful, and build drainage in as needed to direct the water away from your house. And working above ground height in your garden sure is easier on the back. To see what this would do, draw the area to scale, start trying out path lay outs that meet DH�s needs and then measure the remaining land. What size containers will fill it? Any container that you can make drain holes in will work: horse troughs, big plastic tubs, wash tubs, big drain pipes if you like round, hypertufa. You want to use containers that will never rot because these will be heavy once filled with soil. You can spray paint if you want color, face with rock or brick and mortar, stucco. Imagination is the limit. The container must be something that won't crack in the winter from freezes. Use one big container on each side of the path or a couple to create irregular shapes or curves. The bigger the containers the better because they won't dry out as quickly in the summer and I would avoid clay pots or tubs because they dry out faster than a non breathing material. If you choose something taller than 18 inches, fill the bottom with gravel or even Styrofoam and then about 14 inches of soil. You want to leave room to mulch the containers just like regular beds to keep weeds out and moisture in. You may find that every few years you need to add some soil, but that's not that hard. For big shrubs and small trees you would need really big, deep containers like they use in conservatories. You could make one or more water containers (as long as you design in mosquito controls like fish or dunks Then for your paths, think materials that won't be lifted by running water: bluestone dust, gravel, and I would go porous so water drains down as much as possible rather than rushing down the path (I'm assuming you plan to switchback the path at least somewhat. Or you'll need to figure out where the water is going to and install black drainage hoses to take the water where it will do no harm or erosion. You would not want to use anything organic on the path because the idea is you don't want weeds to ever grow on your paths. There is no reason you couldn't create a completely natural looking garden as if you had simply terranced and planted in the soil or something unusual.

Sjerin, the paper towels do work pretty well in that spot -- and looking through the photos in this thread, november and rayminkle have them in the same spot! How funny is that?!? The only time they are not convenient is when my kids spill something at the table (happens about 7x/day) -- it's about 6 paces away and not quite a straight shot. However, if I put the paper towels closer to the table, I think my two-year-old might "notice" them and start raiding the roll... There was a huge thread once about where people put the paper towels. Very entertaining. If I had a huge kitchen and no kids or dogs, I would have a little custom nook right under the counter, hidden from view behind an island or peninsula but without a door, so I could grab them quickly and easily but they'd be hidden. Doubt it will ever happen -- the kids will grow up and go, but there will always be dogs. :-) As for living without a dish drainer, when I was trying to figure out where everything would go in the new kitchen, I couldn't fit both the coffee maker and the dish drainer in the one logical spot for both. So I decided to try living without the DD (living w/out coffee is not an option) and not only could I live without it, but I was surprised by the difference in "cluttered-ness." Removing just the DD (and my old one was small, probably 14"x6") made a huge difference. And scootermom wins a prize -- my screen name means Champagne Tastes, as in "Champagne Tastes and a Beer Budget." I chose that b/c I found the kitchen forum when I was confused and disappointed after getting two quotes for our kitchen project -- both more than 50% over our budget. So when it asked me to choose a screen name, that phrase came right to mind. (see above about huge kitchen with custom paper towel nook) ;-) I did find another pic of the kitchen in action:

Sounds high to me - esp. some of the upgrades. An automatic pool cover should be about half of what you're paying. The upgrade costs from standard plaster are also super-high. Unless prices have doubled from what I paid 2 years ago, the costs for similar upgrades and options for my 45 x 14 foot pool were about 40 percent of what you are being charged (and I'm in So. Cal., where construction costs are high). Also, if you're putting in a volleyball thing, it would seem that a sport pool (with the deep part in the middle and shallow on both ends) would be more conducive to playing volleyball.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. I talked to our attorney yesterday. She was shocked that BM passed. She is waiting to get a copy of the report. Then she is going to talk to the guardian to find out what information he conveyed (if any) to the treatment facility. Then she is going to get an idea of what (if anything) he wants to do now. She did warn me that the case is pretty much over. BM passing the eval. is very bad for DH's argument. Plus, BM has been having custody of SS as usual for the last 6 weeks, and things have been going smoothly. So DH really has no more arguments to make in regards to concerns for SS's safety. He brought his concerns up, BM did the eval. and now she has been "cleared." So chances are---the case will be dismissed in early July for the next court date. All we can do is, like finedreams said, keep documenting and hope that one of two things happens---either this WAS BM's wake-up call and she will stop, OR she will screw up again and DH will have more evidence to take her back to court. The attorney did point out that we, no matter what, should not look at this as a waste. We sent BM a message, loud and clear, that that behavior will NOT fly with us. DH will do WHATEVER he has to do to protect his son, and our family. We gave her legal consequences for her actions and held her accountable. I did feel better after the attorney pointed all that out. So....we shall see...on the bright side, BM is moaning about summer arrangements and our attorney went through their court papers, and it clearly states that there is no ROFR. YEAH! We are going to Michigan for 10 days in July and BM is threatening that she won't let that happen---but the attorney reminded me that technically DH has 6 weeks in the summer, and BM has 6 weeks in the summer, to be divided into 2 week increments. They will not really use all of that, BUT it's nice to know that we legally have that. So if BM makes a big deal out of our vacation, then DH can "threaten" her with doing the 2-week arrangement in the summer. There is no way she will want to go 2 weeks without seeing her son, so she will give in to Michigan. It's crazy how this is how custody stuff works. Most people tend to work things out on their own, no matter what the court papers say--the court papers are more of a "worst case, back-up, if we can't agree" plan. Good to know.