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my 20 year old brother in law, and his girlfriend just found out that they are going to be parents. this has come as a huge shock to the family, but we love them and are completely supportive of them. the two of them don't have much to their name, and are hoping to finish as much college as they can. they currently live on the other side of the country, so it is hard to really "be there" for them, but we would like to help them in any way that we can.

young parents who have been in a similar situation, what were some things that you appreciated from family/friends? any advice on how we can help our brother and his girlfriend from 2000 miles away?

i'm heading out to michigan in a little while, and i need to get some presents. one for a boy turning 16, the other for a girl, who has just graduated high school. while this question should be in the holidays section, i am thinking of getting a gift that maybe isn't as easy to get in the midwest--something cool and californian. however, i don't want to get something stupid like a fake oscar trophy or a hollywood sign tshirt. any ideas?

any other ideas besides gift cards would be appreciated as well.

so my boyfriend and i are heading back to his homestate for a week. it'll be a family reunion of sorts. included in this, we will be visiting his half-siblings, whom my boyfriend has not seen in over a decade. they are teenagers now (18-- brother, 17-- sister, and 15-- brother). the youngest one's birthday just happens to fall on a day when we will be out there.

we're just wondering what gift we should get him, and if we should get gifts for his other two siblings just because he hasn't seen them in so long. maybe one big gift that the three of them can enjoy together, and then a special gift for the birthday boy? any gift ideas as well?

i'm going to be in israel next week, and i've never been before. what is the current weather like there? i'm from southern california, and i'm kind of thinking that it will be similar "winter" weather (rainy). i'll be travelling all over the country (birthright), so i suppose a general idea of what it's going to be like would be great.

just moved to a new place, and we've been finding these annoying bugs in the shower, under the sink, in cabinets, behind the laundry basket... it's annoying. i don't know much about bugs, and i didn't have my camera on hand when i found one, but basically, it's kind of light greyish-green/tan, a about an inch long (not including antennae), has a bunch of legs... my first guess is millipede, but i looked up some pictures, and they don't look exactly like what i've been seeing...

haha, i drew a crude picture to help. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/chronicgirl...

any help? and how can i get rid of them?

my boyfriend and i fly into detroit at 6am. the enterprise we're renting a car from doesn't open until 7:30am (the on at 12510 Telegraph Rd, Taylor). is there a denny's or ihop or anything of the sort within walking distance that's open where we can kill time and eat breakfast at?

we're using the enterprise at taylor because it's significantly cheaper in case you're thinking, "why not use the airport location...?"

it's right up on the beach (you can walk from the outdoors seating to the water). it was kind of expensive, but not out of control... it had a beach-hut theme, kind of like a Bubba Gump or an Islands... i went here once three years ago, and i can't remember what it was called, but i remember it being extremely tasty.

anyone else know what place i'm talking about?

what are your guys' exact step-by-step method for cleaning hardwood floors? everyone i've asked has suggested using the swiffer wetjet mop, but i mopped my floors three times back to back today, and the floors are still not clean. it's getting ridiculous, that we can't walk around our house for more than five minutes without getting our feet filthy...

so, what can we do?

i have a pretty small bedroom, and when we first moved in, we were pretty rushed to get all the basic furniture, and we sure as hell didn't really care to think about the placement of everything. now, we do have the time, and we want our place to look good.

here's a rough sketch of my living room and bedroom. where is the best place for the couch, tv, coffee table, desk, bed, dresser(s), etc?

any tips and suggestions please!

bedroom: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/chronicgirl...

den/living room: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/chronicgirl...

my boyfriend will be getting his wisdom teeth pulled along with a root canal done on the same visit. we live literally a block and a half away from the dentist office. will i be able to walk him home that distance, or should i just pick him up in the car?

my boyfriend is such a great guy to me, and i want to get him something for him, just because.

he recently bought a sea ray sundancer, and i was thinking of maybe getting him something for that. what are some cool boating things i could maybe get for him?

for the record, i would put this in a relationship section, but i would imagine that you guys here would know better about boating gifts than anybody else on y!a.

i found a young female beagle not long ago, and no one has claimed her yet. she is very adorable, and my family and i are considering adopting her if the owners don't contact us.

the problem though, is that she is insanely hyper and whiny.

she follows me around everywhere, and cries when i go to the bathroom, or she can't find me in the house.

just the other day, i went outside to wash the car, and she was in the backyard (where she could see me the entire time). she was getting so crazy about being separated from me by the fence, that she RIPPED the plastic mesh that we added to the gate, and got out of the backyard. i grabbed her, fixed the mesh fencing, and put her back in the backyard. minutes later, i look over, and i witness her literally jumping over the entire fence (which is about 4 feet high).

she plays with the other dogs in the house, but when there are no people around, she starts to cry and whine, and wont play with the other dogs.

when she tries to chew on something, or is getting into things that she shouldn't (like the trash, or the pantry), i tell her "no!" or "stop that!" in a loud commanding voice, but nothing phases her. she'll just keep on sniffing in the garbage can, completely ignoring me. when she barks too much, i hold her snout and tell her "no barking!" and i'll let go, and seconds later, she'll start barking again.

we don't really want to take her to the animal shelter, because despite all of that, she is a very cute, loving, and playful dog.

we have a male dog named Perkins, and if we get another dog, it'll be a girl. what's a girl name that is basically on the same scale as perkins?

where can i find a gif or clip of that scene in the movie air force one, where a missile is being shot at air force one, and that jet flies in the way of the missile and takes it? that part cracks me up!

i'm getting a new car, and it's down to these two. i LOVE the way that the jag looks, and am so glad that they haven't changed it much over the years, but the audi a8 is beyond hot, and i like the appeal of not seeing it on every street corner.

i think i'm leaning more towards the audi, and my boyfriend is leaning towards the jag. i just want to hear what other people think.

i'm leaving for michigan today, and i don't know what all i should pack. last year, i was here in march, and it was literally the biggest snowstorm of that winter. then, when i went to ohio for a few weeks in mid may, the heat/humidity was beyond like hell.

what's the weather going to be like all week? is this normal for mid/late april? should i pack for warm weather, or cool weather?

due to a family emergency, my boyfriend and i need to go up to wisconsin for this weekend.

how can we get the best deal possible? hopefully under $300/person roundtrip. does showing up at the airport for last minute openings really work? what are the odds of there being a last minute opening for a flight from l.a. to WI?

we will have to rent a car either way, so nearby airports are optional too.

so a while back, my brother asked our gay friend, "would you get with ben?" (ben being my jewish boyfriend.) our friend's response was "noooo! i am sorry, but he is just too jewish."

it made me laugh, but i have to wonder, what the hell is so jewish about him? i'm half jewish, and i don't even see "too jewish" in him. is it the beard? he has a kind of high pitched voice... is that it? are there just so many more stereotypes that people have come up with that i'm behind on?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/chronicgirl...

so for valentine's day, i want to get my boyfriend some tickets to a hockey game (we live in l.a., so either the kings, or the ducks). my boyfriend is from detroit, so he's a HUGE red wings fan. however, we missed the last two times that they were in southern california...

so i want to get the next best thing for him. i was thinking of getting tickets to a ducks game (because honestly, i may not know a lot about hockey, but even i know that the kings suck). my question is, what would be another really good team for me to get tickets for?

the ducks are playing in anaheim against these teams:

--thrashers

--stars

--wild

--canucks

--sharks

--predators

--coyotes

--avalanche