Weird Padding on top and bottom of text

So im working on my side nav but im having some issues with the Text. Its adding about 15px on top and bottom of the text causing there to be gaps between my divs.

http://pichost.superkipje.com/images/17725332534949093836.png (http://pichost.superkipje.com/)

Then because its not centered i try to add a padding of 5 to the top, but then it expands the top image and still leaves that random space. Ive tried alot of things but i cant get it. Anyone have any ideas?

Another question: If i add a float:left how do you add a padding to it because it doesnt ever seem to work. I googled and found somthing on a clear or somthing but i didnt really understand it. So if someone could clear that up.

My site is www.kbmapping.com/testpage.htm (http://kbmapping.com/testpage.htm) if you want to check the code.
Its a bit sloppy right now but im still trying to learn CSS layouts, could do this with tables but i heard css layouts are better and more flexible so im trying it.

Try adding *{
margin:0;
padding:0;
} into your CSS.

PS:
<ul id="buttonstemp">
<span class="nav">
<li><a href="http://www.kbmapping.com">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kbmapping.com">Contact</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kbmapping.com">Buy Maps</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kbmapping.com">Gallery</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kbmapping.com">Tutorials</a></li>
</span>
I've already told in your other post. You can't expect a standard output from an INVALID markup!

Ok, i got rid of all my errors and now both my main page and my style sheets are validated. I didnt work on the Text issue but i think i got a clue on how to fix it after doing the other things to the site. Thanks

Ok, i got rid of all my errors and now both my main page and my style sheets are validated. Not really in the given page, see http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fkbmapping.com%2Ftestpage.htm

Not really in the given page, see http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fkbmapping.com%2Ftestpage.htm

I know, that's because i started editing it again and i had to go to bed so i left it with a lot of errors. I did have it all validated.