Jill

A good friend of mine is getting married in July, and both my fiance and I have been invited. The wedding's in Illinois and we live in Ohio. I know it's typical to buy gifts off the registry for the happy couple and give them at a shower, and to give cash on the actual wedding day. However, they did list the stores where they're registered on the back of the wedding invitation. So, should we buy some things from the registry and bring them with us when we road trip to the reception, or should we stick with a cash gift? Or is either appropriate? Thanks!

I have an interview for a teaching job on Wednesday, and I just got the call today. It's my first one, and I've been losing weight, so I've held off on buying a suit for interviews. In order to save money, I was wondering if I'd be able to squeak by just by getting a black blazer/jacket and wearing them with blank dressy pants I already have. As long as they're the same color texture, will people be able to tell?

On my Samsung Brightside, my text messages used to be grouped by contact, where I would just see a contact's name once. Click that contact, and all sent and received messages from them are grouped together. I must have pressed something and changed the settings, because now in my inbox it shows each and every individual message instead of grouping them. Anyone know how to change it back?

I saw a very bright object in the sky from my driveway and I was trying to figure out what it is. I live in Ohio and it's about 10:40 PM here. It's to the right of Orion. I don't know how to explain directions in the sky but the Big Dipper is very high and above us, and this bright object is much lower than it. Unfortunately know little to nothing about astronomy, so that's about as specific as I can get. Thoughts?

Today is my last day of student teaching with fourth graders. It's been an amazing experience. I got along great with the kids, they've really respected me, and I'm going to miss them dearly. They keep asking me for my email address, and I'm wondering if it is appropriate to give it to them. This is my last day in their school and I graduate from my college in about a week, so I'm thinking it would be okay. Or is there a line there that is being crossed? Thoughts, please!

I'm student teaching in a 4th grade classroom and I just realized I accidentally wore the same top I wore yesterday! It's not dirty or anything, but these observant young people are going to notice! I'm thinking of just saying, "Well, I liked it so much that I washed it yesterday and wore it again!" because I just know one of them will point it out. What should I say?! Help!

I really need to lose some weight and get myself in shape. I'm currently student teaching, working part time, teaching karate, and trying to stay active in my church. All of these activities leave me with little free time, so when I do have a minute to myself, the last thing I want to do is work out, and I also rarely have time to cook up healthy foods.

A typical day for me is student teaching from 8:00 to 3:00. Then I either stay at school working for about an hour or head home to relax and/or grade papers. Then it's off to karate, work, or night class, which I'm not done with til at least 9:00.

I do karate twice a week, and one of the two days per week, it is almost always a solid hour of vigorous exercise. Since I don't have much time to give up during the day, would I see any kind of change in my health and energy if I walked about 2.5 - 3 miles each weekday morning? I'm really trying to cut down on fast food, and I pack my own lunches to take to school every day. I've switched to baked potato chips and usually try to eat carrots, celery, mandarin oranges, and/or pineapple chunks with my lunch each day, and I drink fruit juice instead of pop.

Given my busy schedule, any suggestions on how I can work more activity and healthy eating into my lifestyle? Thanks!

We put some small pumpkins outside on our front porch just for fall decorations. One got torn up by animals, which we didn't mind so much. Put out another one to replace it, and there is one very fat squirrel outside eating it to bits by himself. He's been eating for literally 20 minutes now. Do squirrels have any concept of hunger, or do they just eat until they die? :/ Any suggestions?

My family is having my boyfriend and his family over for a cookout in about a week. My mom and I are trying to avoid the more typical summer cookout foods since we're all getting a little tired of them! Instead of burgers and hot dogs, we're going with kebabs of chicken, pineapple, red onion, and green peppers with some sort of bbq or teryaki sauce. However, we are struggling to come up with some sides that are not pasta salad or baked beans. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I want to make Jello shots for an upcoming party, and I've never made them before. I've looked up the basic recipe online and it seems simple enough, but I was wondering...would it be a good idea to use flavored vodka in the Jello? For instance, use cherry vodka in cherry shots, orange vodka in orange shots, etc.? Would it be a noticeable difference, or is it not worth the extra money to buy the different flavors?

Also, what ratio of water to vodka works best? I've heard many different opinions.

Thanks!

Hello, fellow Yahoo Answerers!

I don't have any tattoos yet, but have pretty much settled on getting one as soon as I'm done with this semester of school. I've thought about it for months and honestly don't see myself ever regretting it, and I've pretty much decided to go through it.

ANYWAY. I'd like a place that can be easily seen and easily covered when necessary. I'm going to school to be a teacher, and would like to teach in a private school, so I'm not looking for something that will be constantly visible. I do NOT want it on my lower back or on my shoulder or anywhere where I can't normally see it without being a contortionist or needing a mirror. :P

Sooo I was thinking about the top of my foot, but I have concerns. I've heard they fade and/or lose their vivdness/sharpness quickly, is this true? I want the tattoo to be fairly small if that matters. And as for the healing process, how many days does it need to be uncovered my clothing/socks? Like, will I need to take off work for a week because of this since I won't be able to wear shoes?

Any other tips would be great.

Thanks for your help!

I will probably kick myself as soon as someone answers this, but it's been a long couple days. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to draw a hexagon with exactly two pairs of parallel sides, because I'm stuck thinking of three pairs no matter what I come up with. Any help? A very detailed description or a link to a picture would be best.

Thanks!

Is there no Split Screen Multiplayer feature on Black Ops for the Wii? I've been looking around for a solid half hour and am finding nothing. Coulda sworn I'd read about a Split Screen feature...anyway, if anyone knows how it works, let me know?

Grrrr.

I took on a large, albeit fun, project of baking up about a bazillion sugar cookies for a great volunteer program in my city. ANYWAY, I'd like to decorate them and not just give out plain, boring, cookies, but I'm also on a bit of a budget. I was thinking about basically putting some kind of frosting or icing on all of them, and sprinkling them with red sugar or green sugar or sprinkles.

Herein lies my dilemma, Yahoo Answerers. If I use a typical cake frosting, the sugar/sprinkles will stick well, but then the frosting will not dry and I'll have a mess if I try to stack them. Basically I need some kind of icing which the sugar/sprinkles will stick to really well, but then will dry/harden so that the cookies can be stacked. I was wondering if a basic powdered sugar/water glaze would do this? Help, please!

I applied for a job at a toy store about five weeks ago. Two weeks-ish after submitting my application, I called and spoke with the hiring manager to check up on its status. She seemed pleased with my experience and with the fact that I'm friends with an employee there, and said she was moving my application to "interview status" and would be "giving me a shout" within the next two or three weeks. I haven't gotten a call yet, and am just wondering if I should call back and speak with her again. I feel like I'll be bothering her, which I guess is maybe stupid. I don't know. Thoughts?

Hi,

I'm filling out a job application online and it asks for my desired hourly rate of pay. (Just for a part-time retail position, nothing major.) It requires an actual dollar amount and won't let me put "negotiable." Honestly, I'd be totally fine with making what I make now, as I am reallyyy dying to get out of my current job. But obviously it'd be nice to make a little more. Should I put my current pay rate, add a quarter...?I guess I'm just afraid they won't want to pay me that much and won't want me. Thoughts?

Thanks!

I need to write a news story on a report of a missing statue on a fictional college campus for my journalism class, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to make this sentence less awkward:

"A statue of the founder and first president of Suburban College was found missing yesterday morning from the campus quad."

"Was found missing" just sounds awful to me and sticks out like a sore thumb but for some reason I'm at a loss for how to improve it. Any suggestions?

I've got a pair of tickets for a WWE event that I'd like to sell. I only have them on ebay right now, and am kind of new to online selling. Can I post them on more than one site (ebay, stubhub, craigslist, etc.) and just sell them to the first person who buys, then remove them from the other sites, or is that not good online selling etiquette?

Thanks for your help!

I'm a second degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and have been very into sparring for the past year or so. I don't even think I'm very good yet, but I do have to say I've improved a lot. Anyway, for the first time tonight I sparred with someone (just for fun during class, not a tournament or anything) who had nooooo control at all whatsoever. Swinging to take my head off, absolutely exploding with crazy nonsense hits, putting 110% behind all his strikes. I understand that someone people spar like this, but what's a good way to deal with it? When that's all going on, I feel like I can't get in on him at all, so I get very very defensive. Just wondering if anyone has any effective suggestions. Thanks!

I rented Stephen King's "It" and the disc must have been pretty scratched up because it skipped frequently throughout. The last part that I saw was Stanley's wife walking into the bathroom and seeing him dead in the tub, and then it just stopped and took me to the main menu. I feel like I missed something. Anyone wanna fill me in?