It's not so much "tidy" as I hate to lose all that other great info. ;) And P.S. Dave - to my defense, I didn't realize the vinegar issue until a couple of hours after my first post. I didn't see a way to add or edit a post, hence the second post. It isn't a question of editing a previous post. As medcave said all you had to do was just post the added the question to your other thread. That pops it right back up to the top of the list. There is a 30 min. time frame where the programing won't let you post again on a thread unless you change the subject line in that particular post - something like "oh, I also forgot to ask...". It is there to try to prevent duplicate postings. Dave

I just found your blog while doing my initial research on pool builder (found it in your Yelp review). I loved reading about your experience and seeing the pics along the way! Thank you so much for the wonderful insight. I have to say that your pool installation has made me so excited to pull the trigger on our own, and now when I need a break at work, I go to your blog -- my new "Happy Place".

Sjhockey Last I looked everyone was wearing clothes. LOL Clothes may or may not be clean depending on how they were cleaned and where they were before your kitchen. I avoid putting purses(I seldom carry one as they are notoriously full of germs) and other grungy things on the counters. A few years ago, we had a bad case of campylobacter food poisoning. It was most likely due to cross contamination from someone cleaning or prepping salad greens in a contaminated environment. We were at a pot luck and never identified the culprit but at least 7 became ill. Two very icky pieces of clothing- lab coats and ties. My former boss wanted to implement lab coats. I produced the research study and also tried to explain that kids are fearful of lab coats. Fortunately, the idea was dropped. So keep DH from dropping his tie on the counter. Here is an interesting fact- people who constantly wipe their counters tend to have a higher bacteria count on their countertops. Turns out you just keep spreading germs around. I had a neighbor who wore out her Formica from constantly wiping her counters In health care, you are taught to spray the contaminated spot, allow the solution to sit for the required time and then place a towel over to absorb the contaminated area vs wiping it off. I must not be too obnoxious as my friends always vote to come to our place for events.

Al, thanks for this excellent tip. I always knew there had to be a better way to drill drain holes in hard ceramic, but I never managed to figure it out. I have spent many hours swearing and sweating trying with a variety of carbide and diamond tipped "glass/ceramic" bits that were recommended to me by local hardware stores, but it never worked out well. I gave up on buying cute little dishes with the hopes in converting them to usable plant containers some time ago. So after reading this tip, I took a trip to my local big box and pick one of these bits up. Was about $15 for a 1/2" "lenox diamond hole saw". Seems like the correct term (at least when searching online) is "diamond hole saw". The right thing looks different than a normal bit or hole saw - in particular it does not have anything resembling saw teeth or a normal drill bit at the end, but what looks like chewed up metal (which I guess is impregnated with diamond, and works by grinding rather than cutting). I just made a perfect 1/2" hole in the bottom of an old coffee cup, and it took only a few minutes and wasn't difficult at all, at least as compared to my previous attempts with the wrong tool. I used wd40 as lubricant - maybe not ideal but it's what I had handy and worked alright. The only hard part was getting it started, it's absolutely critical that you hold the work piece to be drilled securely, ideally in some kind of vice. And while this may be obvious, GO SLOW, especially as you reach the end of the hole, or it'll probably make a bigger hole than you want by breaking out the back. Anyway, this is just great, and thanks again. Daniel ps, here's what I got basically, so you can see what it looks like: http://www.lowes.com/pd_511346-28303-121096DGDS___?productId=50325481&pl=1&Ntt=lenox+diamond+hole+saw, though I got a 1/2" one.