I only need to get the pictures uploaded to snapfish... it's possible the bowl of the boy's is going to be not grouted...we don't know yet, cuz court is in an hour and a half..it'd be a fine bowl, as is..... I need to leave in a few minutes, to the juvenile court house...if his mom gets custody, they will be leaving for Oregon this afternoon. this girl/lady is the same age as my oldest daughter..eleven days apart and is the daughter of a friend of mine, that I've known for 40 years... my friend lives in Corpus Cristie and advised her to call me, when she was at the CPS office, here in town and needed a safe place, right then...man, expedited background checks and a visit from the case worker and CPS case worker, here at the house and my place was approved, right there on the spot... ( I swear, they must have had blinders on...lol cuz my place is filled to the rafters with art supplies and not a lot of space to do any square dancing, in my front room!!) that was last Monday..and here we are, 11 days later and the future is unknown for them but it's a new beginning, either way... Zach went through trama and I watched a transformation, while he worked on his glass piece.. here, on this forum, we all talk about how doing mosaics is a healing process.. Zach got a broken finger, when he blocked a blow to the head, when his dad was beating him up... the dad had also taken everything important to Zach, including little clay pieces he had made, from first grade on...the kind made in the classroom, with clay, glaze and firings...all of his favorite games, his laptop (I think I mentioned he's 14 and is a very sensitive boy)and made Zach ride with him to the landfill...then threw all of his belongings in the dump and said he would have to work to pay for the trip to throw it all away... it was a cruel and needless assault on Zach, both physically and emotionally.... This week's journey helped him take something broken, both from himself and other things and make something beautiful from it.... he first walked in the house with a rather empty look in his eyes.. this morning he's full of hope... I only wish and pray the judge sees the same thing.... I have his bowl and some of my projects, in a display case right now, with an overhead light and it's so pretty... it's a 6 hour drive to where she lives and we've already been talking about her coming up to visit friends and an aunt, or me driving there for a couple days..but not in winter...I would take grout with me...lol the lexel is in a tube just like the GE11 and is 5 oz...it was under $5...I think it was like $4.85 or so.... it's a lot cheaper if it can be found in a 12 pack but then again, I'm not going to do that...lol it's gone a very long way, with just the 5 oz... the number on the tube is 13013, evidently to be sure which one it is, between clear or white or something... at least that's what I noticed, ....it's on the bar code and this one says 31525 13013 super elastic sealant it also says it sticks to wet surfaces...guess that would be in an emergency, to maybe fix an aquarium...?? I'd better be going now, to get to the court house...

I had to buy the entire tank set up!!! I was so freaked out by suddenly having a beta with no tank (knowing he cannot go in with my existing beta!!!). I just rushed and did what I could. Apparently, people I know think you can put a Betta in a vase and I don't agree at all! I live 10 minutes from a Petsmart so I was able to pull it off. I just checked on him and he was in a different part of the tank swimming, he saw me and started going to the surface and looked like releasing bubbles out of mouth in a fun way. Then He nestled in again on a leaf and seemed to be sleeping. I just feel bad about all the different water types I used- I just did t have enough of the bottled one. I will heed your advice and just condition tap water in the future! My other Betta you gave me so much advise on is doing well. I'm glad I got into this- they are amazing!! i plan on doing 25% water changes once a week on both tanks with conditioned water. Glad this forum was here. I just hope this new guy will do well. I worried I stressed him too much in the rushed tank job.

"Soooo, my actual question is, is it fair to the builder to ask him to do business with a big box store that may not have the quality other vendors do? Gosh knows, F & D sells a heck of a lot of tile." Why are you asking us? Ask the BUILDER. Who undoubtedly will NOT say yes to any big box. and unless this is a very custom build ( guess not ) will not allow a change from his supplier. Any of them. Your builder builds homes for one reason only: To PROFIT. And as much as he can while remaining competitive. You have two threads going. You signed on with a builder. Did you not read the fine print? Your builder is at best, semi custom. You get to select WITHIN his limited range of suppliers and the selections within those suppliers. This.......IIS COMMON, AND IT IS not IN ANY WAY "CUSTOM BUILD" You have two threads, and one is better. A new question ? You add it in the comments of the thread you began.

Like Jack, my only auto-defrost freezer is the one on my refrigerator and things do seem to get freezer burned more quickly, and it doesn't seem to freeze as "hard" as the others. In addition to the bottom freezer on my fridge, I have three chest freezers and an upright, and defrost them all yearly when beef is being processed, then go help my daughter defrost her upright. Yes, I use them all, LOL. Two are in the pole barn, one is strictly for beef and the other a mix of venison and chickens, we raise meat birds every year and my husband hunts. The upright in the garage holds pork, we buy a hog locally every year and the final chest freezer in the garage is for garden produce like corn, shredded zucchini for zucchini bread, bags of rhubarb and broccoli. It's also where the raspberries and strawberries we grow go, and the asparagus from our patch. Any butternut squash left in storage in the spring will be roasted, pureed and packed into bags and stored there too, along with peach slices for cobbler and things like freezer jam, homemade bread, unbaked cookie dough, etc. Because they are not in the house, it's easier to defrost, if it melts a puddle onto the floor it's easily cleaned. My daughter's freezer in in their breezeway, so easily cleaned there too. It's a bigger problem keeping the freezer contents organized than it is defrosting them, LOL. Annie