Newhomeseeker, I love the nicknames you have for your kitties Some of my kitties have nicknames, but not all Crazy bipolar kitty living outside has lots of names. She used to be very skinny and missing lots of fur when she first showed up in the neighborhood...And when she would get in fights, her fur on the back would stand up, while she did not have much fur anywhere else. Hence, the nickname Mohawk Cat. She is also Skinny Cat and Psycho cat. Her name is Violet, and she is now a beautiful long hair chubby (spayed) girl. But she still gets to keep her nicknames My main cat in the house, Pixel, has lots of nicknames. She is gorgeous, a long hair black girl, with the attitude of a queen. So, she is Miss Pixel, Pixella and Pixelina (after Angelina) Prissy Miah is often called Mimi...I do not think she cares for Mimi though Then there is Mishka (Little Bear, in Russian), an overweight and rather sensitive male (19lb! , quite a lot for domestic shorthair) So now he is Fat Boy, Chubby or simply Chubbs. Foster kids are Fuzzies, Midgets, Fuzzy Butts, Sidekicks, Chipmunks, Silly kids, Ratlings, you name it When my kitties behave, they are all Babies, but when they get me mad - I call them "Rats!!!"

She should be mandated to repay all she has taken from Ca. and any other organizations. Volunteers are doing it by choice, but the taxpayers and hospital didn't have that luxury. Frankly, I don't know how she got away with saying she was using college financial aid to fund present expenses--when she wasn't even in college! Surprised they didn't crack down on her immediately.

Mudworm - we love our floor - it's wonderful. But yes, I'm betting the samples are nonusable in some way. They may just be the top layer, without the dense board (although glue-down tiles wouldn't have the board). Or as remodelfla said, they probably have the name on them. For a 36 sq. ft. area, you'd only need two boxes - depending on where you live, there should be a store that stocks USFloors - did you check the dealer locator on their website?

I think I wrote in an earlier post to you that you need to be careful about the costs of additions -- they are expensive! That was about the construction cost, not the architect's fee. I cannot say how much it should or might be but I can say that we paid $5,000 for just a structural engineer's work and towards the upper end of the range you set out for the architect -- for a 2-story addition. I'm sure there is more than one way to accomplish all of this but here's one way. First, you shop around for an architect, the same way you would for anybody else: interview, check references, look at portfolios. While I personally would not recommend design/build firms you do want to make sure that the architect you hire really has a firm grasp on construction costs. You seek to have something that could be called "phase I" drawings or "conceptual drawings" or something similar to that. These are just the ideas -- more than one but probably less than four -- and that costs you maybe 1-3 thousand. (I'm sure that if my range is wrong someone will correct me.) Once you have that, then you can obtain an estimate on the cost of construction. This is just an estimate, it's not based on what actual ppliances, flooring, etc. you will have. It is not a firm bid. Nobody is promising that this estimate is accurate. This is where things can also go very wrong. The estimate may be way lower than the actual costs will be. This is where you have to throw away your desire to hear Low Numbers and Demand that your architect give you the really bad news. If you read mightyanvil's comments it appears that he is suggesting that you have a GC involved during this whole process whose job it is to keep an eye on the costs on a consulting basis. (I think this is the idea of hiring an expert on costs to be involved which costs you more up front but keeps you out of trouble later. I have no experience with this.) If your architect doesn't know enough about construction costs he or she will be useless to you at this critical stage because this is where you decide whether you want to plunge in and hire the architect to enter the really expensive part and you need to know what the construction costs are going to be before you make this investment. Now, perhaps your addition isn't at all complicated and you just need drawings, not really anything that's the least bit of design work...I have no experience here either but perhaps someone else can advise you.