Kate

We are an active duty military family, moving from TX to GA. We want to maintain our TX residency and plan to keep our cars registered in TX and our TX driver's licenses. Our registration is good for several years, as are our licenses, so we don't need to worry about how to update them. My question is: do I need to (and how do I?) notify Texas of our new out of state address? We will not have a physical address in TX while we are living in GA.

I have a two story home, built in 2003, with a small covered back porch (about 8x10) sticking off the back of the home. Just outside and above of the backdoor, there is a small pipe protruding down from the ceiling of the porch. It is about 1 1/2" in diameter, and is sticking out about 3-4". I've never known what it does before, but this morning it is dripping water. It has never done this before, it did not rain last night, and I can't see anything on the roof above it to indicate what it might be draining. Any clues? We have had some water damage from various leaking appliances lately, so now I am afraid of any unknown water source!

If it helps, the layout of the house is that there are two bedrooms along the south (backyard) wall upstairs, and a bathroom and laundry room along the east. We have a heat pump, and the furnace unit is also located centrally upstairs.

Not witty enough to come up with it, myself!

Sorry if this is hard to follow! I am a first-time home buyer. There is a FSBO property I am very interested in, which I did not find through my realtor (in fact, found in advance of working with her). The realtor has sent me listings, but she has not yet showed us any homes (we live out of state and will be going this week to do a house hunting trip), and plans to have us sign a contract with her before looking at homes. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, but I am heavily leaning towards the FSBO. I am planning to go look at the FSBO first, and then see what homes the realtor has to show. The FSBO already has two offers, but the owner is an acquaintance who is willing to wait until we look and potentially make an offer, and we therefore know that we have a much better chance of getting the house if we will not be requiring them to pay a 3% commission. Sooo... in this situation, if we have signed an agreement to have her represent us but then decide we want to purchase a home outside the scope of what the agent has shown us, what is our obligation to her? Will she still have claim on a commission, or can we just say, "we have decided not to buy?" and proceed privately with the transaction?

I am not so much interested in people's personal opinions-- I need to know what the law says, and where it says it.

I want to play a game at Thanksgiving where my family writes down things they are thankful for in different categories, and then we read them aloud and guess whose answers they are. For example: "Which modern convenience are you most thankful for?" or "which physical possession are you most thankful for?" Help me come up with some more good questions! They could be serious or silly. 10 points to the best questions!

I want to play a game at Thanksgiving where my family writes down things they are thankful for in different categories, and then we read them aloud and guess whose answers they are. For example: "Which modern convenience are you most thankful for?" or "which physical possession are you most thankful for?" Help me come up with some more good questions! They could be serious or silly. 10 points to the best questions!

I live in Texas, and pay my rent via mail to my landlord in another part of the state. The lease states that the rent is due by the 5th of each month, and if it is late I must pay a 10% late fee. I always put the rent check in the mail a day or two before the first of the month, and it has never been late. I placed the rent in the mail on 8/31, and due to some freak thing with the mail, it did not get delivered until 9/8. The postmark shows it was mailed 8/31, but my landlord is insisting on charging me the late fee, "in order to maintain the tenant/landlord balance and honor the contract." I feel this is totally wrong and unfair; it does not honor the spirit of the contract to be punishing me for a problem I did not cause and could not have foreseen. I feel like if I had mailed it on the 4th, then yeah... ding me. But 5 days should have been plenty of time, when it usually only takes 2. Is there anything in rental law that would back me up? Or, conversely, shut me up?

My family will be traveling through Orlando with two small children, and we will be stuck at the airport for about 5 hours. I have tried to find out if the airport has a USO lounge by doing some internet searching, but have had mixed results. One site says the airport does have one, but the USO site does not list it as one of their locations. Does anybody have any first-hand knowledge to help me out on this? I don't want to just wait-and-see, I want to know what to plan for!

It is freezing out and there is a foot and a half of snow... I don't want to haul two toddlers out to the store to pick anything up. What should I make?

Here's what I have around...

orange bell peppers

acorn squash

chicken tenders

ground beef

tortillas

cheddar & jack cheeses

whipping cream

a few bags of various frozen veggies

apples

oranges

plus all the basics like cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, tuna, dry pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, etc.

Whoever comes up with the best menu for me gets the points for best answer! Come on, get those creative culinary juices flowing for me. I'm spent!

I have a 97 honda civic, which is only driven around town-- and not even very heavily. We just found out that, for the second time in just over a year, our front axle boot has cracked and now the whole axle needs replacing. I understand that it is not normal that we should be replacing axles on an annual basis... what could be causing the boot to keep cracking, and is there a way we can catch it before the whole axle needs replacing AGAIN?

We live in Cleveland, and moved here two years ago... the roads here are seriously the worst I have ever seen. Could it just be that the shelf life of one boot is one year of Cleveland roads?

If so, is there a particular brand that is best? Don't just tell me I should ask my doctor, I can't get a hold of her tonight and I have a really bad cough!

I'd prefer an ISO image that I can download and burn onto a cd

I'm flying alone with a baby so I'm looking for the most convient way to get us and our luggage into the airport and to our gate. Secondary to my question about sky-cap tipping, I'd also appreciate any advice on how best to get myself, a big piece of luggage, a car seat and a baby in a stroller all checked in and to the gate.

I'll be flying alone with my 10 month old daughter (she'll be on my lap) next week, and want some ideas for how to keep her (well, ME) from going crazy. She can't walk yet, but she hates sitting still for very long.

I already know the basics of air travel with baby (making sure she's sucking on something so her ears can pop, etc.)... I want to know the lesser known tricks!