Okay, more thoughts from the side of the practitioner here...this is THE SECRET to obtaining comprehensive care: because all clinicians are so pressed for time in today's health care climate, a patient must triage their problems in order of priority and then feed them into the purview of their primary care provider one at a time. Its a great idea to bring in a list, but don't expect everything on the list to be managed at that one visit--know yourself what THE thing is that must be addressed at that visit, tell the clinician, then either hand the physical list over for reference at other visits to be put in your chart or just mentally make a note of where you are in your internal list of needs. Then go back for another visit until you've knocked all the problems down. The second thing is that communication between the people to whom we refer and the person doing the referring is uniformly shoddy--I think its a great scandal in medical care. Anyway, take the referring clinician's card, stick it in the hand of the person to whom you've been referred and ask them to send a note back on the visit to that person. Your chances are improved with this maneuver, but by no means guaranteed. Then, after a suitable amount of time has gone by--enough time for a transcribed note for the specialist visit to have been generated and sent--call the referring clinician and leave them a message as to whether they've received the results of your specialty visit. Ask them to call you with the results. This will prod them to ask someone on their staff to call the specialist and get them to FAX the note from you visit that they've not been sent, etc. etc. You've got to be an active participant in this game.

Macy, Live_wire_oak, I searched ebay and the big mosaic sellers and even emailed them pictures. I didn't have any luck so far. Also local tile stores, no luck. They all told me if you come up with a design, we can have an artist copy it onto tile or mosaic. I am not a good enough artist to make a design. If I don't find either of these, my default plan is to use a monochromatic raised fruit bowl that I did find in biscuit color and whitish color, probably with the same color field tile and black marble frame. Would biscuit or whitish backsplash go best with neutral white cabinets and black stone countertops?

I don't keep much cleaning stuff. I use vinegar, nature' s miracle (for pets), bleach occassionally and baking soda. I don't have too many rags etc. Everything fits into one caddy under my kitchen sink. I just carry it to the bathroom. Our bathroom was renovated with no perminent cabinetry, so I bought an old 50's kitchen larder with three shelves on top, one drawer and three shelves below. We make everything fit in here or we get rid of it. Daily use items sit on a small set of shelves beside the sink. My hubby has more stuff to clean his car with than I have to clean a house (or two) with!!! How do we keep organized, I just get rid of "stuff". Now, we are stuff people! Collectors...but we built in shelves and display areas and what I don't have room for I make decisions and edit. I grew up with parents who had closed in built in shelving in the basement and you could hide a lot of usless stuff in there. I decided I wasn't going to do that. One of my best girlfriends is a professional organizer. She is very helpful with my hubby and gives him hints to try and get into the mindset of editing out uselsess stuff in life. I still haven't gotten him to edit paper clutter (he will hide piles, and doesn't even know he's doing it)...although now the "offical" paper clutter must be kept in a portable file or two working photo storage boxes and nowhere else. They get full, he must take the time to edit. Fear of random tossing of piles gets action :) GGG

YOu might look for the picnic table type single bench seats that have the x-legs, and then just put them with the x side facing out, not turned the way you normally would sit on them with the x on the sides. Stain or paint them, add a cushion on top. Probably can find them on sale now at garden or pool centers since it is the end of season. In the alternative, consider a couple of smaller trunks with cushions on top. SOmething like this might work: trunk Get some antique gold rub 'n' buff and do the lock and handles with it.