We have a few addicts in our family. You probably know these things, but in case you don't... The first things drugs do is destroy a person's conscience. Right and wrong mean nothing to an addict--they only care about finding the money for their next fix. Addicts lie. MOST of the time. NO ONE can 'fix' an addict or their relationship with one. As long as you're trying to help him (paying for life's essentials, letting him get away with abusing you, etc), YOU are keeping him an addict. Most addicts really don't change. The few who do usually do so only after they've totally hit rock bottom. Helping him as you are, is keeping him from deciding to get the real help he needs. Look, as the others have said, YOU cannot fix this problem. All you really can do is save yourself. Get out. Take some time to heal, and find a real man, who truly loves you, and won't abuse you physically, verbally and financially. And just in case those words don't help you make up your mind--are you prepared to go to jail for this man? If the police find drugs in the car while YOU'RE driving it, YOU could be charged with the crime. And do you really believe this guy would step up and claim ownership of them to get you out of trouble? I doubt it. Whatever else you decide to do, please start squirrelling money away for the legal fees you no doubt will be paying sometime in the future, because one or the other of you will probably need to be bailed out and defended at some point

Sometimes the pretreatment can really screw things up because you are sealing the wood pores so much, not much penetration occurs when staining so you are ultimately applying the stain on top of the wood like a paint. I think maple needs no pretreatment myself but others may disagree. Maybe you can sand it down and try it without the pretreatment. A lot of the cabinet companies may spray the stain on it light fogging type coats which may be hard to simulate by brushing and/or wiping on/off.

OMG - what a horrible job cutting the tile. Looks like he used nippers to clip the tile or his snap cutter's cutting wheel is still the original one from the 80's. "...How and where did you hire the handyman claiming to be a tile setter, was price the deciding factor?..." - Tundra I think this is a fair question myself. If you are budgeting a job that is priced buy the square foot, some times the added skilled work is ommited. A skilled installer like myself or Tundra come with proper tools and experience. Check out Tundra's photos online and you can see he is a tile ninja.... I think a diamond Riffling File and some time might fix it but best to replace the cut tile with new better cut tile. Placing cut tile in the field of view is tricky unless the installer uses care and proper tools to make it look nice. And really the Dal Tile Home Depot stock is not really Top Shelf product anyway. Could be the tools where good but the glazing crap.

meaning, it's not his fault the tiles were glued on the mesh incorrectly. everyone that commented up top said what a horrible job he did installing them because they were crooked. that's why I said, "Hang on". I was letting everyone know that these sheets of mosaics often come crooked. that's what I meant by not his fault. and for the fourth damn time, yes, the installer should have done a few of them by hand. However, should he have taken each and every tile off the sheet and done them one by one??? uh, no. That's the meaning of, "not his fault". Do you actually expect him to do that? Who is in charge of this project? Why didn't they pay attention to how screwed up the tiles were on the sheet? why didn't that person know enough to catch it, advise the homeowner or give instructions to the installer to do what needed to be done?? You're faulting the wrong person. OP hired a company to do the entire kitchen. they are using one of their 'tile guys' on staff. Sometimes you luck out and get someone who's good. Most times you get someone who doesn't speak English and only installs what they're given, without thinking outside the box. they just figure, "this is what boss gave me to put up, i put it up. not my fault if they were crooked". OP said this was a 25K job. how much of that went to the tile install, I do not know. I also think, overall, it's a decent job. there are a few tiles that are off and should be fixed, but if that's all there is, then I wouldn't do a tear out. The way everyone was acting about his install was a bit much. We've all seen horrible tile jobs on here and this is not one of them.