"We have sandy soil. Drainage so good that unfortunately when it rains or we water we can see where it isn't staying. Even though we did have 4-6 inches of topsoil put down prior to sod & seed." This is not necessarily a bad thing. Sandy soils can grow very nice grass (Yankee stadium, most golf courses, football fields, etc). Good drainage also reduces fungal outbreaks. Sandy soils allow for deep roots as well. Where you run into issues is water and nutrient holding ability. You will have to tailor your irrigation to be more frequent with less water, as one inch all at once will be wasted. Maybe one inch spread out over 2 to 3 waterings per week will be better. Also applications of fertilizers should be broken up, again so less of it is leached away and wasted. The good thing with sandy soils is they require less amendments to correct deficiencies, but without a soil test (one better than "you need lime") those levels are unknown. When our pasture (behind house) was tested at Rutgers it needed lime. Front yard - full sun. Back yard - gets mostly sun, then to partial shade. Our land is flat. The problem is - we really don't know what chemicals to buy - when and how much. What kind of chemicals? You mean fertilizers, lime, and weed killers? It's not that hard. Most cool season grasses use 3-5 lbs of nitrogen per 1000 square feet per year. Most of this should be applied in the fall. If you go organic, which will add organic matter to your sandy soil, you can use it more often, and the rules don't apply as much. Other amendments can only be determined with a soil test.

sieryn, Beleive me, things will continue going this way if you and only you decided that enough is enough. Been there, had the T-shirt. I've been a step parent for 18 yrs. I've always made more money that DH. Which means, i bought HIS children xmas gifts, i bought the groceries, i bought this, bought that, etc. etc. etc. etc . for YEARS until one day i said enough is enough. I am not saying DH didn't or hasn't contributed to our lives but i was always the one who was the first to spend the money. I stopped this almost one year ago when behind my back he gave his oldest daughter 500 $. Stop paying and it doesn't mean you don't love these children, it means you are not the only one who has the pay for the happiness of these children in your home. As long as you keep doing it, hubby will support you alright! what am I supposed to say? I can't afford to raise YOUR kids and OUR kids by myself???" yep, that's exactly what you are supposed to tell him. Don't be shy. When xmas comes my DH always wants to overspend for his children who are now 19, 20 and 27 - the last one has two little girls. For years, i have been paying for these xmas gifts and again got caught last year when DH asked for 500 $ extra so he could get more gifts. Stupid me ...i took it off my credit card with the understanding that HE would pay it back. I am still waiting for the money and I've mentionned it often to DH. His response is always the same. Well, you know where my money goes and of course you can see that right now i couldn't give the 500 $ back! Ya, ...well believe me, when xmas comes this year.......he will gbe sorry he hasn't paid back the 500 % back yet. I've been telling him that his adult children are of an age now where they don't need five presents under the tree anymore, and money in envelopes, etc.etc. Especially considering they have never, never, never given their father or I in the last 18 years a descent xmas gift. Always JUNK! I've always started telling DH that this year i will not be home for xmas. I am going to the cottage. I don't care if he comes or not but one thing is for sure I don't want to be home with HIS ADULT CHILDREN. P.S. I've also began to have 50$ deducted every two weeks on my paycheck so it can go to a savings account. DH doesn't really like it but who cares. For years and years, i am the one who paid for this and for that for his children and also for things for him. Today, i am thinking more about me.I am so glad i have 400$ to my name. I've already started thinking what i am going to do with it. Perhaps go see Celine Dion in concert next summer! YES" So, all of this just to say ......don't hesitate to start thinking about yourself and your needs and stop thinking so much about his needs and his children's needs! It's not only his ex-wife's fault. It is also a large part your DH fault if you pay for everything. Keep posting.

My best granite fabricator's lead time is 4-6 weeks after template. He's pretty busy. I have another (solid surface) whose lead time is only 3 weeks. Due to the lessing popularity of Corian, he's not doing as much business as the first, as you can imagine. I had a fabricator start up in this town a couple of years ago with 7 day turnaround. He didn't last. Couldn't float the overhead of such a commitment long term. It's NOT "BS" that only full truckloads are shipped. If you start shipping partials, the price goes up and the business suffers. One tankload of diesel per slab is a pretty poor overhead expense unless the customer is willing to accept an upcharge for expediting the job. Longer lead times are more "normal" than shorter ones in the industry as some of the fly by nights are getting weeded out. Overall though, jobs have picked up. More people are renovating and staying put than moving these days. But, you should still be able to pick your slabs. They should allow you to do this as they already have time and effort spent on the job. And that's the same reason you should stick with them. They've already spent time with you and they have your money. They're not giving you an unreasonable scenario here, other than not being able to pick the slabs. Demand that, and everything else should hopefully be OK.

Kath, do people say "Oh" or "Zero" for naught? I noticed that there was some comment about this on a current affairs TV show recently. I say "Oh". I have a problem with the "s" in my surname as apparently it can be heard as an "f" and I was told sternly by someone that I had definitely told him "f" ! As though I don't know my own name! Now if I have to spell it, I say S for Sugar. I do get some unwanted calls but usually there is a pause or background chatter before the person starts to speak and so I can hang up! However, this was a problem to me recently as usually the calls are before 8pm but I got one at 10.30pm and I had a worrying time in case I had cut off someone who genuinely wanted to speak to me in an emergency. I have a free landline service but available for incoming calls and emergency outgoing calls only. I cannot monitor who is calling.