Thank you for sharing these, Tom. They would be perfect for my garden/yard. Who knows when I may find the time to make one or more... but I love their simplicity! I was looking for ideas for building a potting bench when I ran across your benches and just by raising the height this would work perfectly! Stacy

I dealt with a "crazy lady" on my first house sale. She started with a low ball offer the first week the house had been on the market. I did not counter, or rather countered with the asking price. (It was a strong market and while I was confident on the pricing.) She came back a few weeks later with an offer I could work with and we agreed on a price. She found tons of crazy "inspection" items and few legit ones. I offered to repair the legit ones and denied the crazy ones. (i.e. "needs new AC" the AC was 6 years old.) She backed out. I got her earnest money. She came back a week later, with the price we had agreed upon. I had fixed the legit items (things like the shower diverter was a bit stiff and we needed a GFI in the kitchen.) She missed the first closing date because of funding. In the end, it all came through. I was fortunate. She did not know it, but the house was paid off and I had low carrying costs and the market was good. Was she crazy like a fox? Her behavior definitely could have worked to her favor in another circumstance, but I really thought she was nuts based on my conversations with her.

Yasmina, I wish you'd stop being so immature about this thread and our responses. Your age is showing and you haven't even told us. If nothing else, consider the source. Consider how many respondents think you have made a big mistake. Count them if you will. Did we all imagine it? Do we all have the exact same imaginations that brought us to the exact same conclusions? Is everybody wrong but you? That last question is one for life. Ask it of yourself often for the next 50 or 60 years. Any prudent, self-reflecting person would. Now consider the information and the source of the information on which we based our opinions. We had only that which you conveyed - the background of factors for us to examine and scrutinize. If there was more to the story; if the story wasn't nearly so bad as you initially expressed, then the failure this time was completely yours. You come back in anger to explain things a little better, but you surely cannot blame us for what we understood of your first and subsequent posts. One or two people might not catch something, might read it wrong, or might misconstrue, but surely not all of us and not most of us. You are again transferring aggression and blame, just like you did with the 5 year old. doesn't require lashing out. We can be angry and not lash out because what holds us back is gratitude of no regret. Everyone on this earth has experienced something like what happened with you, the kid, and the medicine. In every case, there is someone to answer to, someone who exclaims "Woo! Thank goodness nothing bad happened!" but without lashing out about it. Why? Because nothing bad happened. So, why did he lash out in anger? What was there to be angry about and call stupid? I disagree with BF and those here who say you should have known to ask the parent. I believe we do not know things until we learn of them. It didn't occur to you to check with dad about the medicine. It wouldn't occur to anyone without pre-disposure to the concept, whatever it might be in their history and experience that made them aware that this is something you have to ask about. There was nothing in your past, but now you know. Sorry, I stick with my original opinion and previous two posts. Your last ones did not change my mind although they did shed some more light and probably offered a different perspective. However, they didn't change scenario or the logical, analytical review. For the record though, I did not say or intend your relationship was a mistake. I think it was a mistake to leave everything you knew to be with a man it doesn't sound like you knew so well and to be entirely dependent on him. Perhaps you have plans to find work in order to gain independence so that if you ever have to pick up and go, you can do just that. For all I know, you have considerable savings to fall back on. I hope one of those two possibilities is the case with you. Incidentally, my age comment wasn't to offend you, just stating a fact that you are acting just like I did and practically every woman here when we were young(er) and inexperienced. A mature woman (someone older/more experienced) would not have written your posts, not the way you wrote them. Most of us are of an age and been through enough to have some wisdom to offer......to those younger ones who will listen so we can spare them some regret.

Chispa, Thank you very much for responding to my "plea". Your idea of figuring allowances prior to is spot on. I recently found a great interior designer to work with and that's one of her mantras. We have planned two to three days of appointments with kitchen, bath, lighting & flooring vendors over 3 days the week of Monday, Nov 9 which is the first full day I'll be in town. The plans have already been sent out for bids with a side note about the likelihood of allowance "upgrades". I wanted to wait until we had those numbers to send out with our request for bids but my husband told me to push thru due to the fact we're "locked" in on a construction mortgage loan. Locked in unless and until interest rates rise which is what my husband thinks is going to happen soon.