Bad putty tat

We have 4 cats here, I love them all most days...today Rex is in the dog house!

Last night Rex was sitting on the back of the couch and started horfing like he had a hairball stuck in his throat. I didn't want a hairball on my head or on my couch so I grabbed him to toss him onto the floor where it would be easier to clean....he proceeded to grab my wrist with his meathooks and sink them in as deep as they could possibly go! Upon withdrawing said meathooks my wrist starts gushing blood...we're talking erupting like a volcano! SERIOUSLY! OMG I thought he had hit a vein or something! I grabbed a paper towel that happened to be on the coffee table and applied pressure while cursing the cat and resisting the urge to kick his butt outdoors as coyote bait! I got the bleeding stopped but it didn't feel right, I could tell something was wrong, I just didn't know what exactly.

This morning I get up to take the dog out to do his business and I couldn't move my wrist, I couldn't grab a door knob, I couldn't twist or grip, nothing! I could wiggle my fingers but putting pressure or gripping something with them....forget it, it just wasn't happening! I called the doctor first chance and went in to see her...apparently my wonderful kitty had actually knicked a tendon in my wrist. He didn't do so much damage that I require surgery, just enough to cause a lot of pain and swelling and the inability to bend my wrist or do much of anything with my right hand....and did I mention I"M RIGHT HANDED!!!! I get to have large doses of motrin every few hours and wrapped up in an ace bandage to help relieve some of the pressure from the swelling. I have to ice it on and off through the day and watch for any signs of infection since it was a cat meathook that got me and cat claws aren't really cleaned on a regular basis! Let me tell ya, that cat is lucky he still has a home! I think next time I'll let him horf on the couch rather than risk this kind of injury ever again! Typing one handed isn't easy, and that's what I do all night at work...I type so my life is a lot harder for the next few weeks as this heals. The doc says it'll be at least 2 to 3 weeks :(

Happy Mothers Day to me (a little early but I don't mind :) )

Yesterday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was HOT....high temp of 95 degrees! That's pretty much unheard of here in Massachusetts for this time of year, definately not a normal April day. So what does one want to do on a nice hot day like that???? If you ask me, my number one thing to be doing would be grilling! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to grill! I love the flavor the food has, I love the easy clean up, I love not heating up my house with the convection oven and I love just being able to cook outdoors with a fire.

Now the grill I have had the past few years was getting tired and old, it was rusty and falling apart. You couldn't cook directly on the racks or you would be eatting bits of rust and god knows what else so I had to use tin foil and that kinda ruins it a little IMO....seriously half the point of grilling is getting those delicious grill marks on your food! BUT since I don't like eatting metal I cook with the tin foil and just live with it....I kept telling hubby this year I'm buying a new grill....problem was the grill I wanted was a bling-bling all stainless steel, will not rust or fall apart beautiful Weber. I saw them at Lowe's everytime I went there, I had a Weber catalog here that hubby brought home and I would dream about this beautiful almost $800 grill. That's a lot of money but it's a beautiful cooking appliance and oh the use I would get out of such a thing! I even had the color selected and everything...all I needed was the bucks!

Well yesterday my wonderful husband took the boy out for a little while. They wouldn't tell me what they were doing or where they were going, just that I would like it in the end, Orion specified that it was a surprise for me. Of course I took advantage of the boy not being in the house and took the couch apart (it's a sectional) and cleaned under it then had good opportunity to swear at it and call it all kinds of names putting the darn thing back together! Next time I think of doing such a thing I plan to leave the parts out on the curb for the trash men to take because I am NOT ever doing that again!!! Good thing Orion wasn't in the house or he would have heard a few new words and would have tried to charge me money since that's what I do to him when he uses bad words lol (See, I can set a good example, I can control the flow of words when I need to) Anyway as I finished up the living room hubby and the boy returned.

Hubby tells me he needs my help getting something out of the car....Orion blurts out that they had just bought me a new grill!!

We had to put it together, but it's AWESOME! Today I did burgers and french fries on it for lunch (yes you can cook frozen fries on the grill and they come out AWESOME!) So here's my new baby sitting on my deck...she's a beauty.... and it's EXACTLY the one I wanted! The picture makes it look darker than it is, it's really a bronze color and more orange looking than this.

From the front

and from an angle

I don't think I'll be using the indoor oven again all summer long!

State Championship Singles

I thnk I have mentioned before that Orion was invited to compete in the Massachusetts Bowling Association (MBA) State Champonships this year for boys 10 and under. Every year the top 10 boys are invited, last year Orion was number 11 for our bowling alley so he was an alternate, this year he has high average so he was number 1 to go.

This morning he bowled in the Singles Division, he'll bowl doubles and teams on May 9th. They bowl 5 games total, obviously the highest bowler wins. Today was day 1 of the Singles division so how he actually ends up placing will not be known until May 9th when they will hold the final singles division day (they need 4 days total for everyone to bowl) Orions actual average for league is 68.8 today he bowled and average of 81 and his total score was

That 101 in the 4th game...that's his best game EVER! Last years winner for boys 10 and under bowled an average of 79 so I think Orion stands a really good chance of winning a trophy and a savings bond this year! I am SO unbelieveably proud of my boy!

Congrats Orion on a job well done!

Pride and laughter rolled into one package

This morning Orion came to me and very politely asked if I could drive him down to GameStop so he could buy the newest Pokemon game for Nintendo DS. It's called Pokemon Platinum Edition and it's NOT CHEAP! I asked him if he had enough money and he said he wasn't sure how much it was but maybe we could look it up online and find out first. We saw it online at Toys R Us, Best Buy and of course GameStop for $34.99. He immediately went to his ATM bank and checked his balance, he had $38.00 saved up. So we got in the car and headed to GameStop since it's the closest. We got there and he found it on the main display and patiently waited in line to check out and when it was finally his turn he put it on the counter and reaches into his pocket for what I thought was a bunch of dollar bills with maybe a five in there as well...he had $18.00 in bills (1 five and the rest singles) and then he pulls out this little bucket marked "Quarters" The rest of his money as all quarters! He carefully counted and stacked them in groups of $5.00 and the look on that cashiers face was priceless! My boy was so proud of himself though, he was glowing! After tax was added the game came to $36.74 so Orion paid that man with $18.75 in quarters, $13.00 in singles and 1 five dollar bill! THEN he tells the guy "Thanks, you can keep the change!" OMG I just about died laughing! Gotta love kids, they really know how to make your day!

I was so proud of him though, he only gets $5.00 a week in allowance and from that I deduct money for the use of bad words and inappropriate noises. Now that may sound wierd to some people, but money talks with this kid and since I have started charging him 50 cents for everytime he says a "bad" word (words like : Crap, hell, damn, whatever (with that nasty tone) , fine (also with that nasty tone) you get the picture I'm sure) Well ever since I started charging money he has dropped those words from his vocabulary. I haven't heard "WHATEVER Mom" in weeks thanks to him losing $3.00 one week from his allowance! Over the course of the last month and a half he has lost on average $2.50 a week...that's half his allowance! This week I have only heard 1 bad word "Stupid" I know a lot of 8 year olds say it but I don't like it and it will leave his vocabulary one way or another! Instead of time-outs or soap in the mouth I use money and IT WORKS! So here's why I'm so proud of him....instead of spending his little bit of money on candy or junk he saved and saved and saved for months to buy this one game. He volunteered to do "yucky jobs" like scooping the cat box for extra money and he tries to find ways to make more money by doing odd jobs that he KNOWS I hate doing.....for instance I HATE putting away laundry, I'll wash it, I'll dry it (ok I know the machines do all that but I do have to sort it all and bend over to put it into the dryer from the washer) but I do hate putting it away. So Orion asked if I would pay him 50 cents to put away the laundry including the worst part....sorting and matching the socks! WOOHOO God has mercy and gave me a child who will do my laundry for me!!!!! YEEEHAW! Granted now whenever he does an additional chore above and beyond his everyday chores he expect payment lol BUT he'll take a quarter and be happy with that. Apparently those quarters really add up!

Merlin is home

We are so happy to have our baby kitty back home with us. He is resting comfortably in a crate in Orions bedroom where he can be closed in and kept away from the other animals.

Yet another Merlin update....

Spoke with the vet and Merlin is doing much better. His numbers are way up this morning and as long as they stay up for one more blood test this afternoon we'll be able to bring him home around 2pm. Of course bringing him home will be work on our (or should I say my) part. He'll have to be confined to a crate for at least 3 days, then confined to a room by himself away from the other animals for at least 4 or 5 more days after that. Orion has volunteered his room to be the hospital ward and we are going to set that up in a couple minutes.

Another Merlin update

Merlins red blood cell count continues to drop :( He was at 40 last night and this morning at 35 then this afternoon he is at 28. They did an unltrasound of his belly and could not find any internal bleeding, the scrotum area is red and swollen still and looks like it could possibly be bleeding inside the sac a little but as there is some oozing between the stitches. HOWEVER they don't think that's enough to really drop his numbers like they have been so Merlin will need another night at the hospital and more tests. He has had a clotting test and he definately clotted within the time limit, so it isn't that. He doesn't have leukemia or FIV (feline aids) He's had all his shots and everything so they really don't know what's going on with him. I am hoping we have some answers soon because my little boy is going to be very upset about this when I pick him up from school.....Merlin is concidered unstable at this point so we can't even go down and visit him.

The only upside to all this is that the vet has agreed to do all this work and take care of Merlin for free! They have not actually said it, but I get the feeling that they think this was their mistake somehow and they are trying to take care of it.

Just a quick update on Merlin

Received a phone call from the vet this morning, Merlin seems to be doing better today, no signs of external bleeding but his scrotum area is still red and swollen. They said last night his red blood cell count was 40 which is good, this morning it had dropped to 35. This could either be from the bleeding yesterday and he is finally equalizing or he could be bleeding internally. They are going to keep him most the day and test his red blood cell count again around 2 this afternoon. If he maintains the 35 we'll be able to bring him home. We will have to keep him confined to one room where the other animals will not be able to bother him and he will be able to be quiet for at least a week.

So now I am waiting for this afternoon when they will call with the next update, I should hear from them around 2:30 or 3 this afternoon.

Waiting when things go wrong....

I'm sure everyone would agree with me here.... IT SUCKS!

Here's our story:

Day before yesterday (Wednesday night) we took our baby kitty Merlin in for his pre-op check up. He's almost a year old and a boy so it's time for him to get "fixed". He's been walking around here howling away (you can even hear the girl kitties outdoors howling back in response...CAN YOU IMAGINE THE FRUSTRATION???) he hasn't started spraying (AMAZING I KNOW) but I was sure it would start up at some point. So that was the plan, get him "fixed". The vet gave him an ok bill of health, he's had all the proper shots so he was cleared for surgery as early as the next day.

Thursday morning we get up and drive him to the vet for what is supposed to be a simply neutering. Surgery would be around 11:00 am and they would call us when he was done and they would let us know at that time when we could pick him up. Sent my son off to school with dreams of picking up his kitty after school sometime. Early in the afternoon the vet calls, she says there had been a minor complication. Apparently there was more bleeding than is usual in his right testicle but she had managed to stop the bleeding and he was resting as comfortably as could be expected. They had him on some pain meds and he would be ready to be picked up and come home anytime after 4pm. She said there was some oozing at the site of the cut but it was ok and he would be fine. 3:30pm rolls around, we're getting ready to go pick up Merlin when my cell phone rings, caller ID shows it's the vets office. Now anyone who has had to wait for things and wait after someone they loved had surgery knows that gut wretching feeling, that tightness and uncomfortable "I just know this is bad news" feeling when you see that number on the phone.....this was the case with me. I just knew it wasn't going to be good news....and I was right. Apparently as the vet was getting ready to go home for the day she decided to go back and check on Merlin one more time, he was laying in the cage and bleeding pretty badly, his blanket he was laying on was red and he looked lethargic. She check his surgical area to see it bleeding pretty badly so she had to do emergency surgery. She had to knock him out again, go back into the right testicle and try to find the source of the blood. She explained about how when you do a neuter surgery you have to cut a lot of blood vessels and it was possible that one of the knots had slipped or maybe Merlin had some kind of clotting disorder that made it hard for him to clot (I doubt this was the case since his left testicle was fine and wouldn't a clotting disorder effect BOTH testicles??) She said she felt she had the bleeding under control, but she wanted to keep Merlin overnight just to be safe. They were giving him IV antibiotics since they had to open him up twice and that gave him a greater risk of infection, they will be sending him home with antibiotics and pain meds as well. She said they would call if anything else happened and they will call in the morning to let us know how he faired through the night.

So last night before bed I called them up just to see how he was doing. They said he had eatten some food and was doing better. He's resting and being nice and quiet and the bleeding appeared to be under control, they would continue to watch him overnight and call me in the morning to let me know if he made it through the night without anymore bleeding issues.

So that's where we're at, we're sitting here waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for them to call and tell us what is up and how our baby is doing. We're hoping he's ok and that he had a nice peaceful evening resting at the vets, doped out on pain meds and not bleeding. I'll let you know when we know more.

What a difference a year (and meds) can make....

A year ago I would have a knot in my stomach every time the phone rang while my son was at school. I was sure it would be the teacher or the principal calling about something he had said or done. Every afternoon I would check his folder with that same knot in my stomach because sometimes the teacher would just send home a note instead of calling. I knew that Orion was behind in his work, I knew he was struggling to get things done, I knew that the teacher was sending him out to recess with his workbook, telling him he had to sit on the sidelines and work rather than play. He hated school, he was miserable and would often come home crying about someone lying about something he did when the sad reality of it was that he just didn't realize what he was doing!

A year ago I was getting called in because he would be found swinging on bathroom stall doors, slamming doors in kids faces, yelling at other children, making little girls cry. He was loud and obnoxious, he was distracting to the class, he was mean in the lunch line and couldn't stand still to save his life. He was rough in gym class, he was a terror on the playground, he lost all but one loyal friend. This time last year I was very worried about my boy....worried and sad at the same time. He would walk home with me and cry....literally cry because he didn't understand why he couldn't keep his big mouth shut HIS WORDS NOT MINE. He would cry because he had said something to someone and it upset them, he was sorry he had hurt the other kids feelings and didn't understand why the other kids were staying away from him. He was deeply saddened by the fact that kids would tell the teacher things that he was doing or saying but he was sure he hadn't done or said those things. He would say to me "Mom that's mean, why would I do something so mean?" It saddened me to know deep down inside that he honestly was not aware of what he was doing and saying...the ADHD was controlling him, not the other way around.

But a year ago we did not have a diagnosis, we just had moms gut instinct and a teacher telling her how meds had made a major difference in her own daughters life.

So a year ago I went against my husbands best intentions and desires, I went against my mother-in-laws gut instinct and instead listened to myself. I called the pediatrician and asked what I needed to do to have him evaluated, what did I need to do to find out if my child had exactly what my gut said he had ADHD. She told me what hoops I had to jump through, the papers I needed to get from the school, the forms that needed to be filled out and what the steps would be. I contacted the school about a CONNORS report and got the questionaires from them. My husband didn't want to fill it out, he didn't think Orion needed this, he thought I was just soft and not tough enough with my discipline but he humored me and filled in the little circles on the paper. In the meantime I began researching and I gave Orion coffee every morning before school, it seemed to help. I sent the parent questionaires back to school and a few weeks later received a report back. I took the report to the pediatrician who looked at the numbers and said he was "under the radar" His number came in 1 too low for ADHD, then I got his report card from school and it totally contradicted what the teacher had reported on her CONNORS report...I took that to the pediatrician and told her I wanted Orion on meds, he needed this. She suggested we see a child psychologist who would make the final decision, was Orion ADHD or was Orion just bad at home and not disciplined well enough. That appointment took a month to get, the psychologist is apparently extreemly busy! Finally in July we managed to get in and see him and after 1/2 hour talking to me alone and another 1/2 hour observing and talking to Orion he agreed with me...Orion was definately hyperactive and had trouble staying on task, he was ADHD! FINALLY, a real diagnosis and an "I TOLD YOU SO!" for me. Mind you, it's not necessarily the I told you so I always dreamed of having, but finally I had someone else agreeing with me. It wasn't my fault, this wasnt a case of a too soft mom, this was pure and simple out of my control and out of Orions control. In August we started meds, I had done my homework, I had been giving him caffienne and paying attention to how much I gave him everyday. I told the doctor how much coffee he was drinking and how it was helping him and they came up with ADDERALL XR, within a month we had the proper dosage and Orion was a different boy. The psychologist said we should be a spokes family for Adderall because it was amazing the difference we saw. The school saw a difference, the teacher said she would never have pegged him for an ADHD child and even some of the kids started commenting on how much he had changed from 2nd grade.

Here we are, a year after we started all this and now I have a wonderful, happy boy. He has friends again, he has regular playdates and he has kids calling him once again to invite him to their house to play. We still struggle here and there, in the evenings when the meds are wearing off it can get rough, his weight is a struggle so occassionally we have to give him an "adderall vacation" so that he'll eat enough food to maintain his weight. When he first takes his meds he can get pretty bouncy as it kicks in and then when it wears off he can get moody but overall the end justifies the means. He's happy, he feels better about himself and who he is as a person. His grades have skyrocketed and now he's getting all A's and B's and the only thing he needs improvement on is completing his tasks on time...he gets them done, just not always in the time alotted.....which is why we pulled the 504 that makes it a rule that the teacher has to give him that extra time to finish up.

A year ago I was right and this year my son has proven to the world that there's nothing like good ole' Mommy Intuition! Listen to your hearts girls, no one, not a single person in this world, knows your child/ren like you do! When you think something isn't right, chances are it isn't! It's not 100% but it's pretty darn close and today even my husband and mother-in-law will happily admit.....I was right, they were wrong and they should have listened to me a long time ago!

Just a couple of nice photos

Took these of Orion just the other day :)

The black & white version

Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmm good

I ran out of sugar and NEEDED my coffee to make it through my night at work so I made a quick decision that I knew I was either going to love or hate.....I grabbed the squeeze no-mess bottle of smuckers caramel sauce for ice cream and poured some into my coffee. Now I have a new way to enjoy coffee...caramel coffee. It may sound gross but really it's quite good.

A vent....because I need to

Why don't parents set better examples for their kids? Why don't parents teach their kids how to follow the rules and do things the right way??

I've mentioned before how Orion bowls in the Junior Boys League down at the local candlepin lane, well today was one of those days where I end up shaking my head and walking away in frustration before I say something that makes my kid look bad.

Just some basic rules so you know what I'm talking about:

When a ball rolls into the gutter and then bounces back out and hits pins it's called a "gutter foul" The pins do not count and the gutter foul should be recorded using the gutter foul button on the computer, which will deduct those pins from the score.

Also, if your foot goes over the foul line it's called a "foot foul" and any pins hit do not count, you use the gutter foul button on the computer to record it and the number of pins you hit will be deducted.

Now all the kids should know these rules by the time they get to the Junior Leagues, these are 3rd grade through 8th grade boys, they aren't stupid and they should know how to play by the rules. Occassionally the boy won't pay attention and won't realize they have a gutter foul and their team mates should pay attention to this or the parents. I often pay attention for my sons team and remind them when they have a foul and either ask them or one of their team mates to record it and if they don't I will do it for them...it's only fair.

So today, as usual, I'm paying attention. The team that Orions team was playing against was NOT paying attention, they did not record their gutter fouls and one of the boys had 3 foot fouls that he did not record even though I nicely mentioned it to him and his team mates. So I started doing it for them. The boy that kept getting foot fouls went over the line and hit a pin so I recorded it knowing he wasn't going to. I even mentioned it to one of his team mates who was standing right in front of the computer and even though I metioned it he didn't record it so I did. Plain and simple, you aren't going to play against my kid and cheat, it's just not right and it's not fair to the kids who work hard to play an honest game and get an honest average! Well the kids mother comes up behind me and demands to know why I changed her kids score, I explained that he had gone over the line and that was a foul so the pins did not count. She started yelling at me that if that was the case then everyone should do it and that she had seen numerous people not recording those things, I told her I agreed with her, everyone SHOULD do it. She said that since not everyone does it then her kid didn't have to either, I told her that wasn't a very good attitude, that her kid should play by the rules. She tried to tell me that it was all for fun and that I shouldn't get so technical, I told her if her kid was only playing for fun then he shouldn't be on a league team where there are rules that are expected to be followed. She then got right in my face and told me not to mess with her kids score again! Well this got the owners attention and he came over to see what was going on. She told him that I had changed her kids score, what she didn't tell him was WHY I had changed the score. The kid started complaining at this point too. He told the owner that it wasn't him that went over the line, it was his shoe.....apparently his foot is not inside his shoe????....Anyway the owner then explained what I had already explained about it not counting if you go over the line, the boy continued to complain. The owner stayed there for most of the 3 games watching them and making them record their fouls. At one point the boy went over the line and then complained that it wasn't his fault, he had tripped on his pantleg, the owner told him it didn't matter it was a foul. The boy argued, and the mother as well and he asked the boy "Did you or did you not go over the line?" The boy says "It wasn't my fault, it was my pants" so the owner asks again "Did you or did you not go over the line?" The boy replies "Yes but it wasn't my fault" The owner then stands up and says to the entire team...."it does not matter WHY you go over the line, if you go over it you do not get to count those pins. It's a foul and you must record it!" So the boy then looks him square in the eye and says "And what if I don't record it?" The owner replies..."Then you're cheating and if you cheat too much I'll kick you off my league!"

Meanwhile the mother is seething, complaining about me to everyone around her that will listen and giving me and my son the dirtiest of looks. At one point Orion asked me what he had done and why the woman was giving him such nasty looks. Near the end of the last game the owner had to go take a phone call and left us there, and as soon as he walks away the boy makes a gutter foul and looks me square in the eyes, picks up another ball and proceeds to bowl. So I said to the boy in front of the computer "That was a gutter foul can you record it for him please?" The mother freaked right out on me. She jumps up, gets right in my face and says "Excuse me but I tought him how to do those and you don't have to do that. He would have taken care of it!" I pointed out that he hadn't and that he had just continued to bowl and that you had to record it before you bowled the next ball, and she again starts saying how it's just for fun, that they're just kids and I shouldn't make them follow every single little rule because it was messing up her kids average. At this point I needed to walk away, I was at the point where I ws ready to make a scene. This woman thinks it's ok for her kid to cheat just so he has a higher average?? What the hell is wrong with her? What kind of person will that boy grow up to be when he has a mother that thinks it's ok to cheat to get ahead? Say nothing about the fact that the owner just sat there and told the boys right in front of her (and I KNOW she heard him) that they need to follow the rules. It just pisses me off to no end when I see this casual attitude. I know it's just bowling and I know it's not life and death, but isn't there something to be said for honesty and playing a game by the rules? Shouldn't parents take these games and use them to teach children right from wrong? Isn't that part of why we let children play sports in the first place....so they can learn how to work with other people as a team, learn how to follow rules and be good honorable people? Seriously, even when my son was little and we played Candy Land he was tought not to cheat in order to win, in school he is told not to cheat, cheating (in any form) is not looked upon with respect. How can this mother expect her kids to understand that it's not ok to cheat when she has this kind of attitude?? I can only hope that the owners will keep a tight eye on this team for the remainder of the season and they learn a lesson that she is not willing to teach them herself.

WOOHOO I'm celebrating lol

According to this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29409056/ coffee fights skin cancer! SERIOUSLY! Now I know the article is a couple of months old, I just found it tonight through a different Blog I was reading...I now have a good excuse to drink coffee.....this makes me happy because I LOVE my coffee and can't function without it. My hubby is constantly commenting on how much I drink and tells me how bad it is for me. Now I can tell him that coffee will actually help reduce my risk of skin cancer...that's awesome IMO!

Finally, it's all done!

After days and days of tedious work, I have my shower back! I still have to paint, but I haven't fully decided on colors yet but that's just minor details in the big picture! The new enclosure is white and makes the shower look bigger, hubby did a great job with all the caulking around it and I fully expect it to last at least a good 5 years until I get sick of it and want something new lol

Nightmares from the bathroom........

OK so hubby and I have been saving up some funds to do some home repairs. We decided the bathroom was the most important room because of obvious issues with the taps leaking...we thought it was going to be simple but no, not in our world. We tear off the old enclosure only to find we have to redo most of the pipes inside the wall. We get those all soldered and such, go to do the test and oops theres a leak. Get that one fixed only to find another...and another....and yep another! We go out and buy a new enclosure, get it home and oops we forgot to measure the depth and when the box said "fits all standard tubs" we figured ours was standard....well apparently standard in 1960 isn't standard anymore cause the enclosure is about 3 1/2 inches too wide and just won't work....so we have to return it and get something different, something we don't like the look of quite as much but will actually fit our tub. On the plus side....the one we are returning cost in the range of $250 and the one we will be getting costs in the range of $75 so I get to spend the money on other things like maybe some sliding glass doors for the shower instead of using a shower curtian. Onward...the giant piece of blueboard we have downstairs doing nothing we thought we would use to repair the area where we had to cut out to fix the leaky pipes....we can't use. It's 1/2 inch and we need it to be 3/8 inch....amazing how 1/8 inch can make such a drastic difference but it might as well be an entire inch....seriously! SO tomorrow we'll go return the first enclosure, buy the second one, buy the correct blue board and come home to make all our repairs. We are hoping to have the shower area completed by tomorrow night. In the meantime we get to take baths instead of showers and my bathroom is a disaster with tools everywhere. I just keep trying to remind myself that we'll at least be able to look back on this job and smile knowing we did it.