I had a *complete* pet peeve with one set of grills on my front windows. I paid extra to have beautiful black aluminum clad windows with 1/3rd-2/3rds grills and when they arrived I discovered the kitchen one was 1/2-1/2! I was DEVASTATED! It's the first thing you see and made the house look completely mismatched! You could just see the flaw. And it looked dumb in the kitchen too, as the grills came down into your viewing space. I was so sad. And because it was in the order sheet this way (I triple checked sizes but didn't notice the grills stupid me), there was no warranty :( I called the window company but the cost to change them was supposed to be really high because it's labor intensive. I'm a young, single woman building her first house with NO sub contractors (just ma dear ol'dad), so it just wasn't in the budget. ...until the window company came out last week to fix some mis-sized screens and a broken pane. It actually bugged the repair guy enough that he fixed them!! At no cost! I was stunned and happy and thrilled and could've hugged him. It was such an ease on my mind to have those grills match the rest. How's that for piddly things you hate?!

Don't think that I'm sitting here plotting here revenge. When I say "she'll get hers" I'm just expressing my belief that the universe will move in such a way that she will get punished one day for all her bad acts. Yeah, I guess it is a negative thought but, given what she's done, and that she continues to walk around with a clean conscience, I think it's okay to be negative for a little while longer. I'm still amazed that she's managed to snow everyone for so long, and that someone can behave this way. As for the new purchase, DH and I have decided that quick and dirty is the way to go right now. Then, depending on how the economy goes, we'll re-visit our outside area again next year. But I'll try to post once we get something.

I feel the same way about my husband's exwife. I am custodial stepmom of 3 chlldren. My husband has always had custody because the exwife decided one day she no longer wanted to be married or a full-time mother. Before I came along she constantly dumped 99% of her time on my husband, he of course never said no, she had full control of her old household only she lived in a differnt place and had her own life. It was a very unhealthy situation. My husband just never stood up to her, he struggled to keep a full-time job and take care of 3 children. I give him tremendous credit because many men in his situation would not be able to take on that responsibilty. Well, then I come along, we get married and all of a sudden she begins to take a deeper interest. Mainly because I would not allow her to control my household and my husband began saying "no", She always used us as her babysitter, whether it was a work meeting, an exerecise class or a European vacation. She has been nothing but a major PIA, she wouldn't pay child support when my husband enforced the order she opened a full blown custody case, suing us for full custody because she did not want to financially support her children. We also have a screwed up schedule. During the school the chldren visit their mother Mon&Tues 4-8pm with alternating weekends. During the summer they visit her Mon-Wed 4-8pm with alternating weekends. The exwife wanted some crazy, they live with her 3days one week, then us 4days, and the next week it was the reverse. Mind you, she only had a 2bedroom condo. All three children sleep in the same bedroom. 2 girls 13&10 and a 8yr old boy. The master had enough sense to reconize that the living arrangemnents were not appropriate and would not grant anymore overnight visits except for the already standing 2 weekends a month. The schedule is crazy. The exwife is crazy. She teaches the children it is ok to lie to us. She is NOT supportative of myself or my husband. She has harrassed us to the point that she is not allowed on our property, she can not contact us by phone, she may only communicate via email, unless it is an emergency related to that day's schedule, then she may leave a message on our cell phone. She would call my husband at work and pull him out of meetings with the CEO of the company for some nonsense question. HE would get numerous calls on a daily basis. I never saw 2 divorced people talk on a daily basis. We have insulated ourselves as much as possible but everyday there is some new issue. She never returns clothes that the kids wear over there, one day she sent my ss home with no shoes on. She won't take the kids to baseball games and then tells them we did not give her the information. I could go on and on. But your words say it best I HATE HER!!!!! If I had hindsight my posting would be alot differnt. I would be like that one woman who used to be involved with a man with children. Trying being involved with a man who has custody of his children. The rewards have been few and far between. I have lived this from the first day I moved to where my husband lives (I moved from a different state). So the entire two years of my marriage have been filled with this crap. My husband's relationship with his children has also suffered terribly. I was divorced for 11yrs before I remarried and never experienced one ounce of the trouble I have in this life, and it isn't even my divorce. The best advice I can give you is stand your ground. Say NO, she is responsible for her custodial time. It took my husband a long time to be able to say no, it is very easy for me. I know that he is still uncomfortable with saying no but I help him, Remember you can't let her control your life. Good luck, God Bless. I understand, it's one hell of a way to live.

IMO, the more you section off your pantry into individual compartments which need to be opened separately, the less organized it will be. Or else you have to be super meticulous about where you store stuff. For example, even if you ALWAYS ALWAYS put tuna cans in the middle shelf, and tomato sauce cans in the bottom shelf, etc. etc., then the one time you come home from the grocery store with one more tuna can than will fit in that middle shelf, what do you do with it? If you put it in the top or bottom shelf, then forget about it... well, there goes your organization! To me, the ideal is a closet pantry where you can see everything at a glance, and move things around fairly easily. If that is not possible then the fewer compartments and divisions you have the better. When you buy that jar of artichoke hearts for a particular recipe, and you don't ever buy artichoke hearts, well you have to store it somewhere... now a week later you need the jar - where DID you put it? Again, the fewer different places you have to look the better. That picture reminds me of all those ads for reorganizing your closets. Miraculously, the people in those ads always own 3 white shirts and two tan ones, three pairs of tan pants and two brown ones, five pairs of shoes, etc. OK, well MY wardrobe is a tad bit more diversified. I'd just like to see one of those ads where they take a REAL person's closet and reorganize that with their product. And the same goes here. Let's see that same set up with food from a real person's pantry. THEN we'll see how practical it is.