It is so very frustrating, isn't it? My kitchen took 9 months from demolition to completion (well, we still have a punch list of stuff, but no one has been here since before Thanksgiving, not pushing because completion of punch list means last payment). I was assured it would be done in the spring, and then certainly by July 4th, and then I realized I'd better cancel the party I had planned for my husband's birthday in August. When my mother said that I would be lucky to have it done in time for Thanksgiving, I laughed, but she was right. We had a major mistake midway that required a big redesign, and some brand new cabinets to wait endlessly for. Weeks where no one came, vacations that interfered with the job, a million little problems that added up to big delays. But you know what? I had a party on Sunday. Late Saturday night after I finished cleaning my kitchen to perfect, I sat staring at it, and I love it. All the bad times are just a funny story to tell. I was discussing the whole process with some women, and we decided renovations are like pregnancy. It feels absolutely endless while you are in the middle of it, and it is so unpleasant and painful at times. You swear you will never do it again, and you'll never get over how much harder it was than you thought. But then when it is done, you forget all the pain and agony, and just marvel at your creation. My advice? Vent like crazy here. Read stories about people's much worse experiences to make yourself feel better. Remain calm, and realize that just about any problem can be fixed, and human beings make mistakes. And as my mother likes to say "this too shall pass." And in the end, it will all work out, and you'll be thrilled with the end result. It really is worth the wait.

Ima,my mother in law made the complaint to myspace today. It was infact her fault that BM was able to obtain the pictures, and now all family members profiles and pictures are private. Yes, I know that once they are "out there" there is nothing I can do, I'm sure she has them saved to her computer and will always have them. As for her having to believe the things she says, it's more of a way for her to prove to her family out of state that she is who "they" think she is. We (my husband and myself) did in fact get it easy where gaining custody was concerned. Dhr/Cps was involved because of some health issues reguarding one of my step sons, with many DHR visits to the home she left them living in and her home, I was granted temporary custody per her request (dad had been trying for 2 yrs before hand) because of his job.A year later my husband and myself were granted full custody with no support and only supervised visitation from her on the first and third sunday of each month (she has never once followed through with a visit). It has since been ammended to no visitation and we have a protective order on her and her husband. My step kids were beaten, threatened with weapons and not fed for over a week the last time they were with their mother over 4 years ago. Not only do we have the protective order but our local ymca, ballpark and their school also have them. She has shown up numerous times and still continues to do so, to all of the above screaming they were kidnapped and are being held hostage. She has even tried to "kidnap" my youngest step son and my own son from walmart and they were in the buggy I was pushing. So in that aspect no we arent lucky as you tell me to consider myself. I know of the emotional damage a BM can do to a child, I see it daily times 3. As I said, I have a 9 yr old who thinks he should be a girl and a 7 yr old who vomits at will to not have to eat. AND FOR THE RECORD... I never in my post accused her of being a bad parent for giving up custody, I simply chose to post a FEW of the bad choices she has made over the years, but I will say now; I think she is a bad parent (not for giving up custody) for how she has emotionally and physically abused her children and allowed others to do the same. I think she is a bad parent because she still allows her husband to abuse her and their child together, instead of seaking help(and before you say I dont understand what an abusive relationship is like, I was in one for 7 years before I met my husband all of my teenage years and into my early 20's, eventually everyone knows enough is enough). Now, you asked why I wanted to contact a lawyer. No, not necessarily to sue her, she has nothing to sue for and she wouldnt show up in court anyways. To have it documented, yes. She shows up and causes enough trouble without aid of pictures at their school, ymca and sports activities ect. It does scare me to think she has updated pictures that she can wave around and them possibly have the chance of seeing. They know she wasnt there and Im unsure of what that could do to their stability, their mental capacities(they have alot to work through as it is) and their all around behavorial issues, even if it's only for that day or week. Do I think she will use them in that manner, yes. So again, no I dont want to sue her. I dont want to waste money we dont have to waste, energy I am completly drained of already or time that I never seem to have either. As for her myspace page, today was the first I knew of her having one and no I dont care to go back to it. All of my focus does now and has for almost 7 years gone into MY KIDS, I do love them and they know it and with their father's job I am 99.999% the only PARENT they have. I do also try and ignore her, I have only one other time fed into her pity party and that was her email, she isnt worth it. But yes, this makes me angry and I feel I have the right to be, as you stated you were doing the job of "your" BM, so am I. I have a myspace page, I dont post pictures (for this reason) of any of my kids, yet here she is posting them, ones she didnt take, from a holiday she was absent from and claiming MY son as her own child also, when she didnt want to be a parent to her own kids. No matter her reason behind it, I cant seem to want to let it lie. And your right, its not going to change or fix thing nor will it make them better, but I cant help how I feel. Maybe this is all too fresh having all happened today, and Im sorry if this post seems rude, but I didnt expect to be reprimanded or attacked for my earlier post and thats kind of how it felt.

Oh man. My house is a toothless wonder. I have built and must paint 102 linear feet of cabinetry. I have a grill I bought 3 years ago in November, still in the box on my living room floor. I have the cardboard on the floors to protect them from the drywall finishing that should have been done 10 months ago. ($$) I have unusual circumstances, but I know exactly what you mean by one little thing changing everything. I had primed 16' of cabinet doors but hadn't put on any paint. I go SO SICK of looking at all the CRAP I was sticking in the open cabinets I put them on just primed. The peace it gave my eyes was astonishing. I've finally given them their 1st coat ... without taking them back down. I have a habit of sitting and staring at something I'm making, seeing it finished in my noggin. Then I'll build something and sit and stare at how great it looks. I can't imagine having all the walls up, finished, primed and painted, then with all the electricity finished AND moulding and trim installed. I won't know what to do with myself!

This is wayyyyy more than I'd planned to share here or online-- as honestly, I am still dealing with the emotions around it all... but i am part way through getting bone implants and full upper all-on-4 implants. My situation is different -- my teeth were fine. I never had a root canal, caps or tooth breakage. I have severe bone deterioration -- likely due to a number of causes but genetics didn't do me any favors (mom got dentures in her late 30s). I am about 1/2 way through the process. I had tooth extraction and a large number of bone grafts in Oct. I will be getting the implants in a few weeks. They need to bond with the bone grafts and heal-- i should have the snap in all-on-4 denture in June/July timeframe (in the in between here I have a temporary denture-- which I HATE but my sisters tell me it looks great (and at least one of them would not LIE to me). I don't know that individual implants are even done for a whole upper but it wasn't an option for me. There was an option for a permanent (vs removable) prosthetic but it was MUCH more expensive (approaching 80K) and there were some downsides (including some hygeine-related challenges) that concerned me. I opted for the all-on-4 approach which is going to end up being more in the 18K range -- only about 1/4 of which is covered by insurance. I could have opted to do a partial or limited implants to start-- but honestly, my bone loss didn't improve with preventative efforts and it was escalating so I sucked it up and pressed forward with the whole upper. It would have been much more expensive to chase the bone loss-- and would have been years of major dental work. Eventually, I will need to do the same on the lower jaw also. I would have much preferred to have had a beautiful, healthy mouth but since I do not, I am so far pretty ok with where I am going. The process wasn't fun but it wasn't the worst surgery Ive had. The pain wasn't horrible-- in fact, my eye surgeries were much worse. Eating was an issue-- but it wasn't horrible and I made it through. I have a severe lactose intolerance so much of what they recommend you eat was off the table for me. Thank god for Rita's Italian Ice-- as I lived on that and scrambled eggs for the first 2-3 weeks. I had my surgery at the end of October and by Thanksgiving I could eat very finely cut turkey and many of the sides. I only just graduated to apples (sliced-- not biting into it whole) and yesterday I had steak! Probably shared more than you need just yet-- but I am hoping my experience helps you to make a decision. Now that I have openly shared this online-- feel free to ask any questions. Again, i am only part way through the process but the first part is the scariest and the most emotional (at least it was for me). I skipped over some of the challenges-- all with the temporary denture-- but would be happy to address them if you go this route.