You are absolutely not being silly. I would be fairly irate if I were you. It is ridiculous that you are supposed to act as "parent" if and when it suits BM and DH, but then all the sudden you are relegated to some form of unpaid babysitter? Of course you wouldn't force your religion on the child, of course your opinion could have been overruled, of course both bio-parents might have (privately) vehemently disagreed with your opinion - but the fact is that main caretaker of the child, good manners if nothing else would require a simple heads-up and "What is your opinion?" from your DH. I would expect the same if it were a grandmother, aunt or other relative who watched a child every day, as a matter of simple courtesy. There are actually some practical reasons for this as well - what if bio-parents decide child is going to be Jewish, Catholic or Muslim? All of them have some dietary restrictions (I realize that everyone does not choose to follow them). If DH and BM decided on behalf of SS that he was suddenly going to be very strictly religious and you were expected to prepare kosher food (with the separate meat and dairy or however that works), would that be fair to suddenly spring upon you and expect you to just cooperate? How would you be supposed to remind SS to pray five times a day to Mecca if you didn't know which direction it was in? What if you did have some strong objection to a particular religion for some reason - would it just be expected that you, as a primary caretaker of the child, just automatically comply with a decision that you vehemently disagreed with but about which you had not even been consulted? PO1 and others, I'm not sure I ever did update on our situation. DH can now unilaterally make a decision on SS's religion. In the mediation session he and BM came to an agreement, and DH now has sole legal custody. (As most of you know BM has never been involved in medical or educational decisions anyway.) One of the reasons that DH wanted sole legal is that BM has begun sporadically taking SS to a relative's church, said relative then providing a home-cooked meal after. DH is familiar with said church and is very much against it - it is fundamentalist of the worst and most hypocritical kind (i.e., these are the words of our God, which we shall pick parts of to condemn others and say that they are going to hell - the parts which apply to us we shall choose to ignore and dismiss as "outdated".) DH had been hoping to allow SS to make his own decision - of course he will still be able to later in life, but for right now DH must choose a religion for SS in order to pronounce that any other variations or religions are not compatible with SS's religious upbringing. Sigh. (DH did consult me however - he wants us all to go as a family, which I can understand).

My daughter found out her roommates two weeks ago. She unfortunately was placed in a quad (supposed to be a triple but due to over-enrollment, they added a fourth to her room!). We have no idea what the space is going to be like b/c tho' she saw the dorm during her visit, it only had three people, not four. So obviously there will not be much space or storage. Since that's the case, we really can't plan very well as we have no idea if she will even have under bed storage! Since she found out so late about her roommates, we didn't have time to coordinate bedding, even if they had wanted to. The only thing they have really discussed are things like - if anyone will bring a fridge, a microwave, a Keurig, etc. We have to fly to her school so we did the BBB Pack and Store and will pick her things up when we get there. So we don't even have bins or anything b/c we don't know what she will be able to have/use. Lynn, I remember pictures of at least one of your dd's rooms - I think it may have been the sorority room. I remember that I loved it! Next year dd will most likely live in a double, or off campus so decorating will be much easier and fun!

I would express my disappointment and concern about the change in functionality. At that point, I would promise to keep an open mind and tell the plumber that I am unsure whether the height difference is a major issue. Then, take a couple days to adjust to the new faucet and determine whether it is necessary to redo the installation to match the original height. If the plumber wants paid immediately, tell him to go ahead and set it at the original height or let him accept a payment delay while you decide if you can tolerate the new height. If the install is neat and clean and appears to be well secured, I would let it go but I am more accepting of old house quirks than some owners. Any time you deal with old house plumbing there is always a risk of pipes getting moved and stressed and springing a leak elsewhere. I am a member of the if it isn't broke, don't fix it club.

FWIW, No known grease buildup on the exterior of our hood. And we do a lot of higher heat / grease generating cooking including sauté, pan frying, and wok. Cleaners do run a rag around the outside once per week but said that they've never noticed grease or anyting that required more effort and there's no grease in any of the cracks and crevices. I think the priorities to avoid grease buildup would be: - Hood clear opening/aperture size. At least 27" deep x 6" wider than range. If it doesn't get captured it will build up on other surfaces. - Adequate containment volume. If it doesn't stay within the hood and instead rolls out from underneath it will build up on other surfaces. - Adquate MUA. This is likely more important for this than overall blower CFM as lack of MUA will result in poor exhaust blower performance but also eddie currents around the hood opening. - Blower CFM.