My kitchen work isn't finished, and there is one issue that rankles me. My GC told me I'd "love" puck lights under the cabs, as do all his clients. Before he started work I told him over the phone that I was considering fluorescents instead. He dismissively said they were more expensive and changed the subject. I guess I expected to revisit the type of UCL before they went in. Suddenly I had low-voltage wiring and 5 xenon puck lights. The pucks gave off harsh shadows, slightly heated the shelf where I keep my chocolate chips and when on resulted in horrible radio interference. After a few days, I told him I wanted them changed. He got pissy, then called me back to apologize and the wiring and lights were changed. I went out and bought new lights myself and he charged me extra to replace the wiring. My KD is furious about me paying extra. But I'm choosing to bide my time. There's still work that needs to be done that I want done right and not under a cloud of resentment. I still owe him money. When everything else is done to my satisfaction, we'll discuss the pucks. Depending on how I feel, I'm even prepared to let the $260 extra go by the wayside. While it irritates me, I need to put it into perspective.

Thaimommy, I think maybe I did not express myself adequately if you some how got the idea that I think sex is more important than the love of a child. My parents are divorced. There are times even now, I wish I could talk to my dad with out having to go through my sm, so I do try to put myself in her shoes. She comes to our house eow and once during the week. I try to make sure she feels like she is getting "quality" time with her dad, just her and dad, as well as trying to make sure that she knows I care about her and very much include her in our lives. My sd parents have been divorced since she was 5. She is 12. Her dad has always been involved in her life. Thats why I could not really understand the insecure behavior. Which now is more like obs. com. behavior. Her mom is somewhat compulsive obsessive and the phone calling seems to be similar. I am not trying to cut her off from her dad and I realize she is at an awkward time in her life, thats why I wanted to try to get some feed back as to how to handle it. It just did not make sense to me that anyone would call anyone every hour and half from 5:00 to 10:00 every night unless there was a problem.

Caroline, you're ok in my book, as my best friends call me Rob. I just had to laugh that anyone would think I was male; they'd have to have never seen me. All girl! That's my little fellar (LF, also my son). The exact same hair color ought to give that away ;) He is my best bud forever! I aint that young though, I look a good ten years younger than I am. I just had him fairly late in life, my miracle baby. He sure can make me feel as old as I am and then some. Teenagehood is sizing up to be fairly rocky (he's probably about 9 in that picture, not so any more), and even then, he's still my best bud.

I just watched CBS This Morning, which I record to watch later, and they had a segment on Social Security scam calls, which is exactly what I received. They said that the calls originate from India and that the Department of Justice is filing for temporary restraining orders against U.S. telecom carriers allegedly facilitating hundreds of millions of scam robocalls, including this one. It's too late for some people, including a woman in Utah who gave $150,000.00 to the scammers before admitting this to her husband. She should have consulted with him before she gave away all of their cash. I can understand how people may fall for this scam, as the callers are extremely intimidating and ruthless. However, I am not easily intimidated by legal threats, as I tend to do very well in court, and so those kind of threats do not bother me - I do not even need to call Perry Mason.