The OP asks " ... how should I go about doing this." Your property appears to be rather flat. Coupled with close neighbors, things can get sticky. Start by getting someone other than yourself to document the existing grades over all of the project area. Use an engineer, surveyor, LA, or one who has many years of experience. The result should be a contour map with spot elevations also shown. The most important thing is the location where water is crossing the tract boundary. Before starting the design, study the drainage law of your area. Law differs from state to state, but the most common applicaton is the civil law doctrine of drainage. Here I repeat what I said on another thread. Note that part in bold. A good overview can be found at: http://publicworks.co.marion.or.us/engineering/DevEng/drainagelaw.asp "The lower owner must accept water which naturally comes to his land from above, ..." In Arizona: https://www.coconino.az.gov/uploadedFiles/Public_Works/Homeowner_Guide_To_Drainage.pdf "A second drainage law is "The Civil Law Rule of Natural rainage". This rule states that a landowner has the burden of receiving onto his/her land the surface water naturally falling onto and freely flowing onto it from land above it. The rule further states that a landowner has the right to have the surface water falling upon his/her land and naturally flowing onto it to flow freely from it onto lower parcels as it would flow under natural conditions. The key words are "naturally flowing". Any modifications to the surface topography or the drainage ways that cause natural flow to enter or leave a property differently (different peak flow elevations, frequencies and flow locations) can create a liability and put you at risk regarding litigation." Or from: http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/pdf_pubs/DRAINAGE98.PDF "A landowner has no right to obstruct the flow of surface water. The owner of lower land obviously has no right to build a dam, levee, or other artificial structure that will interfere with the drainage of higher land, according to the CIVIL LAW as it is applied in Illinois."

Kathi, And remember Home Depot is a good place to get bright colored paint , they have a oopps section that you can get the little bottles for .50 cents, they're is two H/D by my house one has the same section except one store sells them for 1.00 and the other store sells them for .50 , I don't have to tell you which one I go too LOL.. Thanks Kathi , let us see your fresh painted ladder when that some day arrives . Greg

The Brother/Disney Embroidery Machines come with pre chosen designs. In the machine and the instruction books it displays what thread color example and number they used for each piece of the design. Being a novice to machine embroidery I didnÂt know that Brother/Disney made their own thread, and I searched and searched to find out who made the thread they used in the designs to no avail. My Brother dealer and the other dealers in the area, all sell RA Polyster and Madeira Polyneon thread, but not brother. So you have to convert the numbers. RA [Robison-Anton] has a great converter for them at: http://www.robison-anton.com/main.html BrotherÂs website that shows all the Brother Threads and colors [printable]: http://www.brother-usa.com/Homesewing/accessories/accList2.aspx?selValue=THREADS&subgroupval=NICK_THREAD&selDDL=THREADS To order call their Toll free number 1/800-284-4357 Choose the Home Sewing or Sewing Machine Embroidery Machine extension choice..[It is toll free then you have to wait forever! But they are nice when they get on the phone.] They will ship directly to you. Shipping cost $5.75 total [no matter quantity/distance] order delivers in 5-7 days Their threads come 6 spools of a certain color to a pack, except for Fleshtone which comes in a mixed 5 pack. Our thread cost ordering directly from Brother: Cotton: 6 spool pack/$19.95 Fleshtone: Mixed pack, light colored fleshtone shades 5 spools/19.90 [not 5 of each color, a mix of 5 colors, one spool of each, in a pack] Metallic: 6 spool pack/$79.95 Polyester: 6 spool pack/$32.95 Variegated: 6 spool pack/$19.95 Brother also has: Thread sets Cotton: 50 spools mixed with wood rack: $169.95 Polyester: 61 spools mixed wood rack/$199.00 Polyester: 40 spools no rack/$179.99 Just thought I would put this out there as, I could not find it easily myself and thought it may help someone else!! Becky

My decision on the entertainment center (remember...it is within a media niche alcove and not freestanding). I decided to go with furniture versus a custom built cabinet. Reason is that I was able to find a great looking piece that only has 3" clearance on each side....has excellent legs which elevates the credenza above my Zanella maple wood floors (if I did a custom built, it would have not only hid my floors, but probably damaged it). What else I like about the furniture piece is that I was able to get away with a different look and feel as I already have built-in bookcases...which I would have had to replicate in terms of style to make the room look right. Biggest thing for me is that I am concerned that as TVs change...furniture need change. And I feel that I have much more flexibility by going with my furniture. If someone shares with me how to copy a picture here into the message text...I will share an image of what I did for my entertainment center. Thanks for everyone's assistance.