Lbrook: Yes, I do love the tub. The manufacturer is Jason International. The tub is the Carrera oval. The three tubs in the Carrera line are made of a solid surface material in a matte finish. The surface is very smooth and holds the heat well. Just the other night after a day of doing battle with weeds, I spent just under an hour soaking in the tub. Because of the relatively straight sides, it's easy to clean. The GC and plumbers all said to get a stool for getting in and out of the tub, but I have no problem just stepping in and out. I'm only 5'4" and not as limber as in my younger days, but it still is not an issue. Because no stores near us had the tub on display, I had lots of conversations with the Jason folks. They were very good to deal with -- even sent an engineering drawing that showed the angle of the tub back. The list price is quite high. A local plumbing supply company sold it to us for just above half that, however. If you have questions about it, I'd be happy to answer them. I think I've sat in every tub out there! Good luck in your search.

Thanks Melissa, Jle, Susanelewis, Suero and Jacobse, for your suggestions and comments. I bought my 22 yr.old house 4 years ago. No probs whatsoever with the exisiting 22 yr. old toilets. I'm having a tile floor put in the guest bath though, & was advised that now is the time to change the toilet if I think I may want to do so down the road. I hate to replace a trouble free, perfectly fine-looking toilet with something that gives me grief! I have frankly never used a plunger at this house or the at the 100 yr. old one I owned previously for 13 years which had toilets at least as old as my current ones. Have never seen a leaky toilet. Obviously, toilets have always just kind of been there in my life; a real non-issue. Now that I may need to buy one, & have started doing research, my eyes have been opened to the potential pitfalls of toilet ownership. How I yearn for the days when I never knew that a toilet could be such a troublesome loo! Nothing is simple anymore is it? Like so many things...they don't make them like they used to (for better and for worse.)

Best thing was my husband's 2002 Saturn SC2 bought brand new...worst thing was after someone ran a red light and totaled it out, my husband was so attached to that car that he HAD TO HAVE the exact same car type...that was the worst purchase. He bought it used from a used car lot and it was a total money pit. Whoever owned it, really ran it ragged and come to find out later, it had been wrecked. We finally got rid of it before we had to spend even more money on it. It looked beautiful on the outside...but it was worn out after only 125,000 miles! It may have been an OK car for someone that can work on their own car...my husband is not a handyman by any stretch of the imagination. Another best car purchase are my two trucks, I have a Tahoe 1996 and a Chevy truck 1992...these vehicles haven't hardly given me any problems throughout the years. I still have both of them...they only ever need regular routine type repairs. Biggest issue was the 4 wheel drive had to be repaired on the Tahoe...the actuators went out. I better knock on wood, never fails to brag about something only to have it go out the next day! HAHA! Another best purchase is our house. It's built in the 50s back when they built things to last! It's a well built home in a decent neighborhood full of elderly and young families just starting out. Seems the people buying are young families. The houses aren't very large. It's a great house for us two and our dog. We have a great area to walk daily...no riff raff. I can't think of any other bad purchases other than that car.

Thank you so much for thinking of us. She went to sleep very peacefully in my lap and after they gave her the meds, she ran in her sleep- I like to think she was dreaming of chasing her ball again. When she came home 18 years ago, the first thing she did was crawl into my lap. It was so fitting it was also the last.