What I great find, keep digging I bet you get some more great stuff in the section. I hope you find enough bricks to do all that you want to. All I find here is old PVC pipe. Well that's not true, I have found about 7 or 8 old rusty horseshoes I tacked up on my grape arbor fence. Years ago I saw an ad for some free brick in the newspaper in the next town. I knew if I didn't go get them right away, they would be gone. DH had the truck on a job and I went by to ask him about it - he said he needed it. So at the time I was driving an old cadillac - you know the kinds that are just huge - I went by the house with the bricks and decided to load them in my car (the car was just a ratty old thing anyway) I filled the trunk and then I put some on the floor of the backseat. It took me quite a time to load all of them. Then I started driving home - we lived up a winding mountain road - the car was swaying so bad I had to go 40 miles an hour the whole way - most folks drove 60 on that road and I had quite a line of traffic behind he. I got home and started unloading them. When DH got home and saw I had hauled them in the car he almost flipped. He is real safety conscious and he said I could of killed myself - anyway I ended up making a brick walkway with them in what we called our lower 40 at that house. Who can pass up a free item.

bnicebkind, I am sure you are suspect about my advice. However, I have an exact replica of OP's MIL. MIL is the most overbearing, rude, miserable, critical (and those are the nice descriptions) individual I know. I found that once I stopped taking her comments to heart and let it go in one ear and out the other (rather than engaging her and allowing her to make me feel insecure), I was able to straighten my back, listen to her comments, consider the source, respond politely and wait for her to leave. My MIL is a person who's thoughts never process in her brain, they come straight out of her mouth without thought that one or another comment may be offensive, hurtful, critical, etc. If you don't allow someone to hurt you, you take the power away from them. Fake it at first if you have to, and eventually you will actually feel it. I spent years crying to my husband when I would have to be in her presence and she belittled me. DH gave me good advice. Call her on it. When she says something that you don't like, tell her. I do now. I never raise my voice, I never get worked up, I just tell her straight up what I don't like. I do not let her ruffle my feathers. It works better to disagree with her in the moment and then there aren't residual feelings of hurt or insecurity. It actually works like a charm. The incidents are fewer and further between. I also realized that I did not want my husband to fight my battles and I certainly did not want my husband to insist his mother like me. If she doesn't like me, I no longer care. When I started realizing that my life was none of her business, I did have the backbone to tell her so when she asked an improper financial question or a question I felt was too personal. Everyone has to go with their own comfort zone. I hated that she got to me regularly. I was feeling insecure, which I hated since that is not me. MIL knew she was pushing my buttons and worse, I was letting her. I have now diffused her and she no longer has that power to aggravate, hurt or insult me. I posted about just taking a seat in another room rather than ruin the whole family dynamic. That is what I do. I don't want to be the cause of everyone not being able to celebrate a holiday together. If MIL has pi$$ed me off recently, I just say hello when I walk in and go on my way to a different room. Of course, we will have to sit at the same table for dinner, but there are usually other family members and actually, they all know how she is. It isn't just me she unleashes this behavior on. She is rude to everyone at times, including strangers in public. We joke in the family that she has Turrets. Who would be hurt if I refused to go to family functions that she was attending. My DD wouldn't see her cousins, I love my SIL and the other family members. Actually, I'd be spiting myself. When I came into DH family, the dynamic was different, I was younger. I soon had a baby with many health problems which were not expected. MIL found a place to be critical and be overbearing in the advice department. I finally just told her that I was following what my DD's doctors wanted me to do and that when she completed her medical degree I would take her advice. Now, I don't feel insecure at all, I ignore her, come back at her, listen and let it go in one ear and out the other, or whatever it takes so as not to give her the satisfaction of upsetting, insulting me. I think as I grew older I also got alot wiser and realized that in the whole scheme of things, MIL was a blip on the radar. Example - new floor laid recently in kitchen, laundry and my office. MIL comes over unannounced/uninvited. Comments how nice the floor looks but the color really isn't right, such and such color would have been much better. Response: This is the color I chose because DH and I like it. End of subject, diffused her. Do I hate that she is the way she is, yes indeed. Will I allow her to abuse me the way she did for years, never again, nor will I have my husband fight my battles for me. Example: I attend a family (DH relatives) shower. Arrive with MIL & SIL. We sit down to eat at a very long table full of women. MIL stands up and introduces SIL to several women SIL did not know. I knew a few, but not many. She did not even acknowledge that I was seated in the room. When she was finished her introductions, I stood up and introduced myself as my DH's wife. It got the point across that I am worthy, whether she thinks so or not. I think she also looked badly to the relatives whom I did know who were watching her intentionally ignore me. I am sorry if my examples seem pollyanna, but they have worked for me. I don't feel badly, insecure, hurt or any other adjective that I formerly felt when MIL would descend on my home or when I had to interact with her. I also have never asked my husband to choose to one of us. That would be wrong in my opinion. As much as dislike her, she is his mother, the only mother he will ever have. I wouldn't want to have to choose my husband or my mother, why would I ask DH to do so? The way I deal with this situation is not for everyone. You need to have alot of self-esteem and a bullet proof vest over your heart. It starts with mostly false bravado, which eventually becomes actual bravery.

Like pdxgal, I've had my fridge and wall ovens next to each other for 20 years with no problem. I, too, don't want to change my electrical service for those appliances, so the new ones will occupy the same positions. That said, you should be sure to e-mail customer service of the company that manufactures your new refrigerator and ask what their policy is regarding ovens and refrigerators next to each other. GE customer service told me it would void the refrigerator warranty. KA customer service told me the warranty would still be in effect, but they recommended 3 inches between the appliances if it was possible. I am going with the KA built-in side-by-side, and I have their answer IN WRITING (love e-mail!) regarding this appliance issue. FYI: When I asked GE customer service by telephone whether their policy was "carved in stone", they said yes. But their own marketing brochures have at least two photographs where their ovens and fridges are right next to each other!

Xedos, Not sure I'm understanding (but thank you so much for advising me on this). For the contract, I will have as much spelled out as I can. As for speaking to the contractors initially to get estimates, I have not been asking for specific waterproofing methods. Based on the conversations I've had with contractors around here it looks like Laticrete is the only vendor around here with a real presence. It's the only product that multiple contractors mentioned using. I haven't spoken to anyone who has said .. I've used laticrete, redguard and ditra ... which one would you prefer. After weeding through the contractors that don't waterproof the walls, and the ones that don't preslope the floor when using a vinyl pan, I feel like if I filter contractors by a specific kind of waterproofing before they even give me an estimate, I will never find someone. Ok, I'm off to email my newly drafted scope of work to a contractor that I got off the CTEF website. Please continue to advise!