Elizabeth

Those of you that do it:

which classes do you do?

what division (open, youth am.) do you show in?

What classes does your horse do best in?

Was your horse bred for a specific purpose, such as WP pleasure or barrel racing?

I have an aussie saddle that I do not use and have never used. My stepfather bought it for me when he saw it in someone's garage, but the seat is far too big for me and the saddle is too narrow for my big QHs. The saddle is in good condition (it's used), does not have a girth, and is missing the overgirth that runs across the seat. I have no idea how to measure the seat- do I do it like a western saddle? or english?

It is stamped "Handmade Australian Stock Saddle" and "The Australian Stock Saddle" with a kangroo on the saddle flap. As far as I'm aware those are the only markings. Does anyone know anything about it or what I might be able to get for it?

I've had my bird for several years, but I haven't been the best bird owner in the sense of socializing and handling her. I've had several other birds in the past and never had any trouble taming them, but since the first day I purchased her about seven years ago she has always been difficult. I plan on changing that, and armed with a sense of annoyance at myself and some money, I plan to retrain her and hopefully get on my dear bird's good side again.

She is currently staying in the living room, but I plan on moving her back to my room. She bugs my stepmother a little and she was far more friendly when I could at least talk to her on a normal basis (we recently moved and she went from being in my room to the living room.)

I am looking for a new cage for her since the one I have is a little on the small side. I don't have $400, but I do have a decent amount. Should I get another normal, closed cage or should I purchase something that is more like an 'open cage' or playpen style? Should I keep her normal cage and just invest in a playpen area for her to be on during the day and put her away in the cage at night? Keep in mind I cats and other animals, but they usually stay out of my bedroom.

Once I get her out of the cage she's very friendly and lovable....it's just getting her out is the issue. Any suggestions on how to make it less of an ordeal? She doesn't care for treats....

Also, she is a chronic egg layer, often having a small clutch at all times. Will being out of her cage more help this issue? Is there something I can buy at a pet store to lower her hormones? I know having eggs all the time is hard on her body and I have a feeling that's why she is so difficult to get out of her cage, but once she's out she's fine. I think she's become very posessive over it.

Any help is appreciated.

My mom has been dying to redo her and my stepdad's bedroom since they moved into the place. Their furniture is kinda mismatched, there's no organization, the walls are a funky tan, and the whole thing just needs a face lift. My whole family agrees that I have an eye for interior design and every room I have designed for myself and other members of my family looks great. I'm hoping to get my stepdad on board with the idea of repainting his and my mom's room as a Mother's Day present, along with getting everything in order and restaining the furniture and (maybe) replacing some of it.

She just bought a new comforter set, so I'm working with the colors in it: Steel grey, light aqua, and a dark aqua/teal shade in a geometric pattern of squares.

Details about the rest of the room:

-mostly wooden furniture, though the bedframe is a black metal.

-small, standard double-wide "master bedroom."

-small closet and a fairly large bathroom. I'd also like to repaint it if I can.

- Budget is a few hundred dollars, no more than $300 I would assume.

-Would have to be done in a weekend with a crew of three-five people.

I was thinking these colors, with the grey being the main color and the teal as an accent:

Valspar "Backstroke"

Haven't picked out a grey yet....I'm thinking a fairly light one since the room is small, without a blue undertone. Looking for more of a silver undertone to it.

Probably a gallon of each color.

I also want to restain the furniture. I DO have experience in all this. I was thinking a matte black to match the headboard of the bed?

Ideas for the closet? It needs desperate organizing!

Ceiling needs a coat of Kilz and then a coat of white. Both it and the trim would be the same shade of white.

Any other tips or suggestions?

I got a new laptop (HP) a few months back and only just now added iTunes to it because I got gift cards for iTunes for Christmas. I don't know how to sync all my old songs to it though without losing them, and I can't add new songs until I "change" libraries so my iPod is storing stuff on my new laptop. Any advice please on how to get all my songs and apps transferred over without losing any of it?

Thanks for answers, and if that doesn't make sense above, let me rephrase:

Got an iPod Touch last year, got it set up and all to my old laptop.

Got a new laptop a few months ago and just now put iTunes on it so I can use my gift cards to get new songs.

iTunes wants to change "libraries" but says it has to erase my old songs and such to do so. How do I make it NOT erase my stuff?

So I'm hoping to cosplay America from Hetalia in the next year, but I'm running into a mild issue. My eyesight is naturally shot- without my contacts/glasses, I can see no further than four-six inches in front of my face. I have VERY green eyes though, so I'll need blue contact lens.

Should I get the contacts with my prescription (-4.00 in each eye) and see if the eye doctor's will sell/give me a pair of simple silver glasses with non-prescription lens in them? Or should I get non-prescription contacts with glasses that have my prescription, since contacts are easier to replace and all? If I did that, I could get the glasses at the eye-doctor obviously, and in the correct style (more choices than the average drug store reading glasses) that should also last for a decent amount of time.

So which would be the better idea?

Also, would this wig be a good one? I don't really like a lot of the darker ones, as they look fake to me.

[url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hetalia-Axis-powers-Americ...

Thanks for any and all help!

I just moved from Alabama to Kentucky, so my basic (but very much loved) Denali NF won't do much here. It's pretty typical of me to get a new one every two years since they start to look a bit worn and are a bit short, but my parent's have gotten their money's worth.

I've looking at NF's Triclimate jackets since I will need a heavier coat to deal with the snow at my new home. I have a big coat that I use to go out and feed/work on the horse farm in that I got last year as an early Christmas present. It's very bulky though and not something I want to wear to school because of it's size, hence why I was looking at the Triclimate jackets to wear for school and such. What can you tell me about them? Are they worth the price? Which one is the best (in terms of lightness, ability to keep you warm and dry, colors, etc)? How easy are they to clean? Are they light enough to ride in and move easily? my 'work jacket' isn't something you'd want to ride in because you'd cook after a little while.

The ones I'm really interested in are the "Women's Atlas Triclimate" along with the "Women's KaliSpell Triclimate" and the "Women's Kira Triclimate."

Also, snow boots? What is a good brand? And please don't tell me UGGs, as I hate them. With a passion. I will never wear a pair of them- they look awful in my opinion, so what other options are there?

My father got a job offer in Kentucky where he could stay with the original company, but be a nurse at a different place and get paid better. He took it, and we've been living in KY since my high school in Alabama got out for summer.

I'm going to be a sophomore this year at my new high school. My old one back home was a small town one- 800 students total, and that was actually two cities combined. My new school is almost 3,000 because it is a county school, and not a city one.

I'm a bit of an oddball personality wise. I'm extremely smart, so I have the tendency to be lazy when it comes to schoolwork if I don't get a hard enough class, and can be a bit cocky at times because I almost always know the answer to a question, and it bugs me if no one raises their hand to answer. When you meet me I'm pretty quiet, but once I warm up to someone, I'm really talkative and kinda loud, but loyal to my friends. I'm kinda worried about making friends, but only because the school is so large. I'm used to knowing just about everyone, or at least knowing names, so I'm a little unsure of things because of how big the school is. I take a while to make friends, as I make plenty of 'friends', but it takes a while for me to develop close ties to people, thanks to how my personality is very much ' if you don't like it, well, sorry, but I'm not changing for one person.'

I've got my new schedule, and that's another thing. At my old school it was a block style, and here it isn't, though you can get half year classes. Also, because I have almost twice as many credits as the average student at my new school (I have eight, they only have 5 or 6. Block scheds meant my credits, and my old school required 28 to graduate, this new one requires only 22) I've got several classes with juniors and seniors. I took Spanish 1 and 2 already, and there were only four freshmen in my Spanish 2 class, counting myself in that four. So I've had classes with upperclassmen before, but I'm still kinda worried, because in those kind of classes I have the tendency to stick to myself and just work on my own and not make many friends.

My schedule:

AP U.S. Government (junior/senior class....this is my biggest worry.)

Pre-AP English II

Health

Honors Chemistry (11th grade course. At the new school they don't take Biology until 10th, and I took that last year)

Art

Geometry (I'm not a star math student. I get the work and never miss anything on my homework, but I've have problems taking math tests ever since the fifth grade. That doesn't stop teachers from using me as a tutor though. )

And the next semester I'll have Vet. Science instead of Health and Animal Science instead of Art since I am planning on becoming a large animal vet. I know my work load is a hard one, but I need it to be hard or else I'll get bored. In 8th grade I made the mistake of letting my laziness get a hold of me, and my grades dropped from 98 As and a single B to Cs because I didn't push myself. In two weeks though, I had my grades back up.

I guess my biggest worry is that I won't know how to make friends. The last time I moved was when I was in 3rd grade, and I didn't really settle in and find myself until my freshman year :/

what.do.I.do.to.fix.it

My bust measurement: 36

Waist: 27

Hip (I had a belt on that had a large buckle, so might be slightly off): 36

*Especially* to my mother....

BTW, my parents are divorced.

I'm 15, and at the moment I'm only into Hetalia, but I plan on reading Black Butler and a few others when I get the chance. My mother fully despises anime/manga/cosplaying, and I've tried to explain to her what it is, but she doesn't want to listen. She thinks cosplaying is for, "Immature adults that need to grow and get a life. The same goes for those backward books of yours- they make you look like a kid."

My dad doesn't really know that much about it, but he is usually pretty supportive of my hobbies as long as I do well in school. Anime/manga is not my only hobby- I'm an avid horseback rider and have been since I was five. I also love to read and write, and I study history like nothing else(that's why I love Hetalia so much- it puts a funny twist on history and makes it me love history all the more). I'm an honor student and I have a good GPA. I can take care of myself without any problems and I have a good work ethic. I consider myself to be extremely mature, but I love to have fun, which is why I want to get into cosplaying.

As mentioned earlier, my mother is completely against it. I want to cosplay as America from Hetalia because we have very similar personalities and my friends (I got several of them into Hetalia and now they all love it) have said from the first time they read the manga that I was America. Whenever I bring up cosplaying however, my mother barely listens and does her best to ignore me. I can sew but it has been a few years since I've done it, so I could-and want to- make my own cosplays. I asked her if she could maybe help me with picking out fabrics and doing America's uniform, and she basically ingnored what I said and told me it was "silly for me to want to dress up, especially as a guy." I tried telling her about the genderbent characters, and she still didn't approve.

Does anyone have some tips on getting her to change her mind, or at least not be so against it? I really want to go to a con with my friend Lia, who is 'Italy' in my group of friends, but I have no idea on how to get my mom to understand that cosplaying isn't a bad thing.

My aunt recently gave me a purse that another woman gave her. It supposed to be a Louis Vuitton, but I have no idea if it is real or not. I'm 15,so I'm obviously not an expert with designer purses, and my best purse is a new Coach 2011 spring one that I bought at a Couch Outlet store with my own money when it was on sale- and I'm happy to have it since I had been carrying the same purse for three years until got to buy the Coach. If it is real, I believe it is the Speedy 25.

Here's a description of the purse my aunt gave me:

Height: It is about 9 and half inches tall and 12 inches long. It has four sides (not counting the bottom).

Material: it feels like real leather. My mother works with a woman who owns a real LV, and my mother says they feel the same. The leather is slightly rough, but doesn't have any blemishes. The lady who first owned it did use it, and I guess it to be at least a year or two old, but it looks brand new.

Pattern: Has the LVs and has the flower like things that are on most standard brown leather Louis Vuittons. On the bottom none of the letters have been cut off and the back has the pattern upside down (I've heard it is supposed to be like that since the real ones are made from one piece of leather.)

Handles/Piping seams: are a light leather, almost appears to be a pinkish color if there isn't any bright light. The same goes for the piping around the edges of the bag. On the side panels none of the LVs have cut off.

Zippers and such: Gold colored. The zipper has 'LV' on it and a leather piece so that when you zip it up, you can use a lock that is on a leather tab on one side to lock it close. I also have the key to the said lock. The lock has LV engraved on one side, the other side says

" LOUIS VUITTON

PARIS

made in France" along with the copyright 'R' above Louis Vuitton. There's a pinkish leather tag thing on the other side panel, minus the lock on it.

Other things on the outside: Has a gold plate with the light pink leather behind it on the front side. The plate reads:

"Depose en France Etal'Etrancer" in all caps, then the next lines are-

" LOUIS VUITTON

Inventeur (again all caps)

101 avenue des Champs Elyseese, PARIS" there are four gold gromet like things that read Louis Vuitton that hold the plate to the leather behind it. There isalso a zipper just above it with the LVs front and back and 'Made in France' written in tiny letters.

On the front and back panels only, there is extra stitching that make little boxes. The stitching is a yellowish gold that is the same stitching for all the light pinkish leather as well. The boxes are 3 inches by 3 inches and in each corner there are the golden gromets (they aren't on the back though).

Inside: A soft tan suede. Looks lightly used, but I did get this purse 2nd hand. There's a pocket inside and the light pink leather around it reads:

"LOUIS VUITTON

PARIS

made in France"

The only thing I can't seem to find is some form of serial number, but I may have seen it and not realized it. Do you think it is real or is it fake? It appears to be real, judging from what I've seen about Louis Vuitton purses, but I just want to be sure.

Thanks for any and all help!

Does it bother you when you have trained your dog a certain way for specific reasons, and you've told people these certain commands, and yet they go on to use something completely different?

My stepsister and stepfather do exactly that with my dog. He lives with my mom in TN, but I still see him fairly often. Since I got him as a puppy over the summer, I got to spend two months training him so that he was exactly how I wanted him. I like to have slightly different commands from everyone else so that my dog listens better to me.

Des' commands (I've used this same list for several other dogs I've owned):

Sit

Come- my come is a weird whistle that I do since I can't really whistle. It is also the word 'come' or the hand signal of me patting the side of my thigh while walking

Stay- hand up in a 'stop' motion. If I turn around and walk off, he's not allowed to follow until he sees me pat my thigh or if I whistle for him.

Let it be

Lay down- the hand signal is me moving my hand to the ground

Down- means off the couch, off that person, etc. It doesn't mean go into a laying position!

*me patting my shoulders at the same time*- means up.

Beg- refers to him truly begging, him sitting on his rear with his front legs tucked in. It does not mean that he stands on his back feet!

And a few other things. Oh, and his name doesn't mean 'come' so please don't shout "DES!" to try to get him to come.

I've told them repeatedly what commands he has been trained with, and I've asked as politely as possible for them to not use anything else. He's my dog, I trained him the way I want him, and I'd appreciate it if you would quit confusing him by using other commands....and they still do it!

Am I the only one who is bothered when people use words that my dog doesn't know? Such as 'down' meaning lay down, when he knows that down means off of something, and lay down is when I actually want him on the ground? And what can I do to get them to understand that it bothers me when they use something else? I don't want to be mean, but I'm also tired of it because it usually ends up getting my dog in trouble because he gets confused by them using somethin other than what I've taught him.

Seeing as summer is coming up, it means I'll be able to spend more time with my Aussie who lives at my mother's house named Des. I usually only see him every other weekend, but since I got him in the summer three years ago and got to spend almost two solid months with him, we're very close and he is truly my dog.

Anyways, I was wondering what would be some fun things I could work with him on this summer? He loves to swim, go for runs, wander in the woods with me, and run alongside me while I'm on my bike. I usually don't restrict him to a leash since he rarely goes more than in a 10 foot radius from me, and with a quick whistle, I can call him to my side. I've done this with him over a quarter of a mile away and out of sight. He knows his basic commands, such as sit, down, come, stay, "send ___ them out", leave it be, and jump on/off ____. He also knows a little bit of agility and likes to jump things.

His mother was an agility Aussie, and his father was a show dog/herder, so he's extremely active and loves to work. When he was 4 months old he was helping build the dog pen by pulling lightweight things in a harness, but nothing heavy so he wouldn't damage his body. He also has a very strong instinct to herd (and my mom lives out in the country...I live out in the country with my dad, but in a different state.) so I was wondering if I could teach him some basic herding commands even though he's already three? How difficult would it be to teach that kind of thing? And what other stuff do you recomend going and doing with him? I thought about taking him to a drive-in or a small town fireworks festival...think he would be ok there? He's your typical Aussie in that he's friendly, but he doesn't go out of his way to meet new people and dogs. I think he'd be fine because I take him on public trails all the time and he does fine, but what could I do to make sure he'd enjoy both of those experiences?

thanks in advance :)

My grandmother and aunt both have uprights, and I've always wanted to learn how to play. I'm 15, and I'd like to teach myself. I know the piano is something you usually lear when you are little, but I really do want to play. I can already play the alto saxophone and the guitar, so I already know music pretty decently, but I want to try something new, and I've always loved listening to pianos. So I want to try and learn the basics this summer, or more, depending on how much I enjoy playing it.

What are good books that teach the basics of piano? And also, do I have to have the piano in tune to play? I'm not sure if either one of them are, since neither my aunt or grandmother have played in years, but I have a friend who has been playing since he was 5, and his piano isn't tuned at home (but when he goes to lessons, he plays on a tuned one, so he notices the difference in sound). Also, I'm left handed....will that affect learning how to play in any form?

Thanks in advance!

Which chicken breed would do better as a beginner chicken? How many should I have? I'd like to have between 2-5, and that's about it, but a few more is fine. How often do they lay eggs? How well suited are they to a place like Kentucky, where it gets warm, but the winters can be pretty cold? Which breed would be better in a coop & run setup instead of free range? What size of coop & run would be best? Do they have any special requirements? And what other types are good chickens? I also am not a big egg eater, so would these types be the 'must lay eggs constantly' type or would I be able to handle the egginess because they don't lay too many eggs?

Thanks in advance for your help

I'm a 15 year old girl. I'm 5'7" and weigh around 130 pounds. I have a TRUE 'hourglass figure' (Going by the measurements that is considered hourglass) and I'm an equestrian. I want to do some exercises for these things:

Toning up abs/love handles

Toning up thighs/lower legs

Strengthening my arms

I can already do: 50 sit-ups a minute, not sure how many push-ups in a minute but I do the "mens' style", jog/run two miles in under 10 minutes (roughly around 8 and a half minutes)

I'm not looking to have the ultimate body- I know I can't have it because I enjoy snacking far too much lol- but I'd like to tone up.

Hello!

I'm a 15 year old girl who loves history, specifically war history. I started my collection of war medals last summer when I bought a small necklace box full of medals from an estate sell. The medals weren't ones of any high value- they had belonged to a local NG veteran that had died and who had served in WW1 and 2, but I loved getting to research them and find out about the medals. In my search, I had even managed to find a photograph of the 31st Division (The Dixie Division) that they had belonged too.

For Christmas, I got to add to my collection with the following medals:

U.S. Navy S&A Order 28675 Asiatic- Pacific Theatre Campaign Medal (U.S. Mint is what the box says that it came in. Not sure if this means it is a gov. reproduction or if it is an actual war-issued medal)

Iron Cross ribbon pin with crossed swords

The British Commonwealth 1939-1945 Star with original ribbon

And as a gift from my great-grandmother, I have an original photo of the treaty signing aboard the USS Missouri in 1945 between America and Japan.

I want to continue with my collection of war medals and other military things, so I was wondering what books would be good to get that show different medals, their value, history of the medal, etc? At the moment I'm not collecting any certain type, but I'm interested in collecting WW2 medals, along with German/Prussian/Austrian medals.

Also, I have a few other questions:

Why is it that some medals appear to have been 'cut' away from the bars/pin they had been on? It seems as if every one I find with it's ribbon looks like it was cut off the bar/pin.

Is there anything you can tell me about the medals I mentioned above that I got for Christmas? I haven't been able to find much on them.

What is a good way to display them all? I thought about having my dad build some kind of board where I could organize them by war/ or from the country they are from...any better methods?

Thanks for any and all help!

-Ashley

Hello!

I'm a 15 year old girl who loves history, specifically war history. I started my collection of war medals last summer when I bought a small necklace box full of medals from an estate sell. The medals weren't ones of any high value- they had belonged to a local NG veteran that had died and who had served in WW1 and 2, but I loved getting to research them and find out about the medals. In my search, I had even managed to find a photograph of the 31st Division (The Dixie Division) that they had belonged too.

For Christmas, I got to add to my collection with the following medals:

U.S. Navy S&A Order 28675 Asiatic- Pacific Theatre Campaign Medal (U.S. Mint is what the box says that it came in. Not sure if this means it is a gov. reproduction or if it is an actual war-issued medal)

Iron Cross ribbon pin with crossed swords

The British Commonwealth 1939-1945 Star with original ribbon

And as a gift from my great-grandmother, I have an original photo of the treaty signing aboard the USS Missouri in 1945 between America and Japan.

I want to continue with my collection of war medals and other military things, so I was wondering what books would be good to get that show different medals, their value, history of the medal, etc? At the moment I'm not collecting any certain type, but I'm interested in collecting WW2 medals, along with German/Prussian/Austrian medals.

Also, I have a few other questions:

Why is it that some medals appear to have been 'cut' away from the bars/pin they had been on? It seems as if every one I find with it's ribbon looks like it was cut off the bar/pin.

Is there anything you can tell me about the medals I mentioned above that I got for Christmas? I haven't been able to find much on them.

What is a good way to display them all? I thought about having my dad build some kind of board where I could organize them by war/ or from the country they are from...any better methods?

Thanks for any and all help!

-Ashley

Is it considered to be one of the Germanic Nations, such as Germany, Austria, and the fallen Kingdom of Prussia? Or is it not considered a Germanic country/nation because of how varied it is compared to the other countries that are established as Germanic/German?

Thanks in advance,

Elizabeth

** by the way, this isn't for school, but it's for a story I'm working on.