Sounds like you are on a roll. If I gave you any ideas you did not already have, I am glad you could use them. I have not used them all myself. Here are things that I have done: Someone's bags of leaves once blew onto my property. I was going to put them back on the curb, but I put them under a tree - the trash bag! My husband has picked up veggies scraps at the health food store. Mostly lettuce and tomatoes, but it helps, even if not all that bulky. I have had a tomato volunteer because of this. I already mentioned the moldy hay, and grass clippings. I stay home due to my severe reactions to man made chemicals, so I order stuff on-line a lot. I save the boxes. Any I can't use, I free cycle. Many sell stuff on ebay, and love the free boxes and packing peanuts. Someone once told me you can compost those corn packing peanuts, although they just melt when you add water. I use my own tree leaves but I hate doing this as it leaves the ground under the tree bare. I am going to promise to let the trees have their own leaves this fall. What else... I also save all organic food scraps. I am the only one that eats organic in my house so it is not much. Bean pods, beet peelings, broccoli peelings, squash shells and seeds, etc. End up with lots of volunteer squash. I also use trimmings from giving my houseplants hair cuts, and dead houseplants. I save this stuff in a zip lock bag in the frig. This saves me from making many trips to the garden to dump it there. I compost in place. I also hate the idea of one of those compost buckets under the sink. I am allergic to mold, so this would not work for me. I almost forgot all the garden debris. You know, the plants that are done for the year. Corn stalks, sunflower stalks, beans plants, squash plants, beet tops, tomato vines, etc. I plan to plant a lot of sunflowers next year to block the wind, slow water flow a bit, and cause they are pretty. They should provide lots of mulch material. I will also be planting lots of wild flowers next year to attract the beneficials. Hmm, will make great mulch! I would like to get to the point where I am no longer begging for mulch, from outside sources. I used leaves last fall and by spring I had nice humus. I don't think using compost, if you don't already have some, is really necessary. I saw a hug pile of wood chips in the park down the street. I called the city to see if I could have some. He said, please take it all. Apparently they had a bring you tree limbs day and they mulched up every one's limbs. I am using this under my trees due to my allergies. He also said they always have mulch there so I I wanted some to call and they would open the gate. So if you do not have a local free cycle, call the city to see if they have free mulch. I have already made 2 trips with my new yellow garden dump wagon to the park, to get chipped trees. I must be a sight, dragging mulch home for over 10 blocks in my wagon. I wear dirty garden clothes. I must look homeless. On the organic subject: If mulch materials are left to decompose the (man-made) chemicals will be detoxed so to speak. I was talking to a person that raised worms to sell them and their castings on-line. She said worm castings have been tested for chemicals and their were none. So the worms made the stuff OK to use I suppose. Kinda neat. I think the cities should have garbage, and regular trash separated, and feed the food scraps to the worms, and sell the castings. Cities can always use more revenue. I am a firm believer in governments working for their money, not just taking our money for free. Many schools already have worms eat their cafeteria waste. Enough rambling for now. Mary

Look at other's mosaics for inspiration. I spend hours and hours and have saved soooo many pics on my computer. I have copied a picture and resized it (I use Paint Shop Pro) and then just put a piece of glass or plexiglass over it. You can pick up an ugly picture at a thrift store just for the glass and frame. That is what I'm doing with

Thanks to all of you for your comments and help! I think I need to start over and try M Tex again. Although I would still like to hear from happy Dorado folks, if you are out there. I did get a response back from Dorado and was told that a mistake had been made. I was also told that while I only need 24.6 sq. feet, he's gonna round it up to 25 and charge me for the 25. Why does this seem to not be ok to me? Part of the problem is that I have a small kitchen, only need 25 sq. feet of stone, and am trying to stay on a budget, ie: keep the shipping costs low, and install myself. Maybe I should get one of my male friends to do all the talking for me and see if I get better results! I'm going to call Michelle next week, and I'm also going to check out Soapstone International. Thanks to all of you, so much! I will keep you posted with the result.

They do sort of look like the Wizard of Oz feet! That must be why I like them, they are sort of a double take and chuckle item. Thanks for all the suggestions and links. I have found the ones that look like the Pippy Long Stockings with the red and white stripes but it's very hard to find the ones that have the little boot heels on them. I did find a set of two on e-bay but so far that's it. Probably an older item not out this year. Thanks so very much again, very helpful.