HEATHER

My daughter has been invited to a classmate's quinceanera. It is a pretty formal affair, invitations were beautiful, it is being held at a hall similar to what would be like a full wedding reception. My daughter is attending alone (no date or parents). What is an appropriate amount to give as a gift?

How do I center just selected text? When I try to center a heading it centers the text for the entire document. This is using the blank document template and no fancy formatting applied.

Friend A is buying a house. It is 2 parcel numbers. One with the house on it and the other is a vacant lot which at this point looks like a "side yard".

Friend B who is a loan processor for a mortgage company is telling me it is hard to get conventional mortgages approved when there are multiple lot numbers. Does anyone have any experience with this and can tell me whether the loan is likely to be denied during underwriting? Friend A is worried because although contract was signed before 4/30 he is worried this may interfere with closing before 6/30 for the first time homebuyer credit.

It does appear from county records that the two parcels have always been sold together, although I do not have a parcel map which would indicate if this is soley because the house is effectively partially built on parcel 2.

I am looking for a nail salon in the south/southwest suburbs who would be willing to do manicures/pedicures on 6 or 7 girls for a 12 yr old birthday party. Ideally around Oak Lawn, Crestwood, Palos, Oak Forest, Tinley Park, Orland area.

Parking lights and high beams work. Regular low beam (everyday headlights) do not. I have checked the fuse and that is not the cause. What should I check next?

Ok, what do you do with stuff that you don't know where to donate it? I do the Paralyzed Vets and that at least 5 times a year. But that is clothes.. I mean other stuff. Old computer, gen 2 ipod, play kitchen, just stuff. Would like ideally for it to go to single mom (me) but do not know where to find resources.

I have a debit card that I have had for over a year. I use this card all the time. Worked fine on Christmas Eve as a debit, then not working on Christmas Day. I assumed it was a glitch at that particular store. Tried to use as a debit again 12/26, did not work. I then tried to get cash out of the ATM and it is telling me my PIN number is wrong. I know for certain I am entering the PIN number correctly as I have been doing several times per week for over a year now. I checked my balance online and there are plenty of funds in there for the transactions I was trying to make, and it doesn't appear like anything in my account has been posted that was not my transaction. I can call the bank tomorrow, but if anyone has any suggestions before then, I would appreciate it. Why might this be happening?

I am asking on behalf of a friend of mine. He was covered under an HMO, incurred expenses that the HMO according to contact was to pay. HMO later declared bankruptcy and he was on the hook for all medical bills. 1) He understands that now you have to sign a paper that says no matter what happens with your insurance, but this was almost 10 years ago and he does not recall whether that was in place or not; 2) he did not show up for any formal court bankruptcy hearing as someone owed money too; 3 he has not made any attempt to pay the debt in almost 10 years

We are in IL which has a 10 year statute of limitations on contacts (which I assume this would fall under). He is trying to clean up his credit; he was paying his insurance premiums and is of no fault that the company went under (he was actually a customer service rep for them and lost his job as a result too). Any advice on how best to clear this up would be most appreciated.

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What are the top 10 things that make you nuts about this site?

I am sure that each little division of yahoo answers has its own specific things. For me, who usually hangs out in Business and Finance there are:

1. Spam. Anything involving "for that you should see" or even more irritating the huge, long responses that apparently have something to do with Nike Shoes. I do not understand why Yahoo can't get this under control. I do know hell will freeze over before I ever purchase a Nike product. Ever.

2. SCREAMING in all caps, the entire question.

3. Typing in ebonics "So I wuz all upset cuz my bf 2be was...." Please. This is why you are unemployed to begin with.

4. No, it is not a good idea to cosign on a loan with your sister, uncle, grandmother, best friend, baby's daddy, whatever on a computer, car, apartment, house, anything. This includes your boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance, fiancee, or anyone. If you don't love them enough to have the marriage finalized do not commit financial suicide.

5. No, in most cases you can not break your lease because you have roaches, mice, loud neighbors, neighbors who smoke, the police called to your complex every 10 mins, no running toilet due to the fact that your 4 year old shoved a Beannie Baby down said previously mentioned toilet

6. Read your lease. For God's sake, read your lease. And understand state law. In most places if you give 30 days notice on Oct 2 to vacate that still means you are liable thru Nov 30.

7. Yes, the credit card people CAN do that. Apparently they can do anything they want if they give you written notice (they do, you get the mail and don't open it) or give you the option of closing your account while keeping your old terms (which hurts your credit).

8. No, you can not buy a house if you have a credit score of under 630, no money down, no income that anyone can verify, you recently had a foreclosure, etc. No, there are no grants for single moms, living in a rural area, or having a disability.

And I look to you regulars to add #9 and #10 for a complete Top Ten list. Or maybe I just needed to vent.

I am sure that each little division of yahoo answers has its own specific things. For me, who usually hangs out in Business and Finance there are:

1. Spam. Anything involving "for that you should see" or even more irritating the huge, long responses that apparently have something to do with Nike Shoes. I do not understand why Yahoo can't get this under control. I do know hell will freeze over before I ever purchase a Nike product. Ever.

2. SCREAMING in all caps, the entire question.

3. Typing in ebonics "So I wuz all upset cuz my bf 2be was...." Please. This is why you are unemployed to begin with.

4. No, it is not a good idea to cosign on a loan with your sister, uncle, grandmother, best friend, baby's daddy, whatever on a computer, car, apartment, house, anything. This includes your boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance, fiancee, or anyone. If you don't love them enough to have the marriage finalized do not commit financial suicide.

5. No, in most cases you can not break your lease because you have roaches, mice, loud neighbors, neighbors who smoke, the police called to your complex every 10 mins, no running toilet due to the fact that your 4 year old shoved a Beannie Baby down said previously mentioned toilet

6. Read your lease. For God's sake, read your lease. And understand state law. In most places if you give 30 days notice on Oct 2 to vacate that still means you are liable thru Nov 30.

7. Yes, the credit card people CAN do that. Apparently they can do anything they want if they give you written notice (they do, you get the mail and don't open it) or give you the option of closing your account while keeping your old terms (which hurts your credit).

8. No, you can not buy a house if you have a credit score of under 630, no money down, no income that anyone can verify, you recently had a foreclosure, etc. No, there are no grants for single moms, living in a rural area, or having a disability.

And I look to you regulars to add #9 and #10 for a complete Top Ten list. Or maybe I just needed to vent.

Does anyone know of any stores that carry these in the south or western suburbs? The chocolate wafers, they look like the Oreo wafers without the filling. I know I can order them on Amazon but you have to order a whole case through there. I would like a local place that carries them so that I can purchase a pack or two at a time.

Someone bought the house across the street from me. It was a foreclosure. They fixed it up and are now reselling it. They have a sign out in front of the house for sale with a flyer. Sign and flyer say "St. [current rehabbers last name] Properties" with a little picture of a cartoon house and the phone number. The address is a P.O. Box, no street address listed, no specific agent/broker name, cell phone number only. No fair housing logos or anything. And it lists the property as 4 bed/2 bath when I know for a fact that one of those bedrooms and one of the bathrooms is in the basement.

This is in IL. I have my real estate license, but I am in commercial. I know there are numerous things wrong with this advertisement. If it is for sale by owner doesn't it need to say that? Who does this guy think he is pretending to be a real estate company when he has neither a broker's nor a salesperson's license? I googled the name of the "company" and didn't find anything. Also checked the IL Dept of Regulation and nothing coming up under that name.

As someone who keeps up with the continuing ed and fees associated with maintaining my license, this is ticking me off. Can someone clarify residential advertising rules in IL? Am I overreacting?

My daughter is going to need braces soon. We are in the South Suburbs of Chicago. I want a doctor that she will feel good about and who is compassionate. Female preferred. Anyone have any recommendations?

My 11 yr old daughter will be starting jazz classes. Where is a good place in the Chicago area (preferably south suburbs) to buy jazz shoes? Since this is her first time taking jazz classes I want to buy decent but not ridiculously expensive ones. Also, if you have any tips about which kind (leather v. canvas, split sole v. non-split) are good for a beginner, I would love to hear them.

I realilze it is very common now for the doctor to hand you a bunch of forms to sign, one of which usually says something like "I accept the responsibility for payment regardless of insurance coverage". Ok, and I sign it. Has anyone ever tried crossing that out? Or adding comments in the margin such as "unless it is a failure on the part of the provider to provide proper coding to my insurance company"? Would the doctor still see you?

I ask because I just signed a form like that at my dermatologist, and then 2 days later I got a statement from my insurance company regarding my daughter's back to school visit and it said "we are unable to process this claim due to a code that is not compatible with the patients age/gender. Please resubmit with proper codes."

Now, let's say my daughter's doctor never does resubmit, am I liable for the $200 incurred that day?

South suburbs of Chicago. 2-story house, tv on lower level (not basement) and against outside wall. No antenna on roof. I originally got the converter box prior to the Feb switch date. Have since upgraded to a $50 antennae. I still am almost constantly getting "bad or no signal errors", or picture becomes very pixelated, or stops and starts, or sound is on delay.

Am I going to have to get an antennae on my roof? Is this supposed to get better once the official change happens and we no longer have analog interference? If I do need a roof antennae does anyone have an estimate of what that costs? Please do not refer me to that government antennae website - it is useless. I am only 15 miles outside of the nation's third largest city, it should not be this hard.

I have a DVD-R that I want to copy. 1) What kind of DVD do I buy to copy it on to?

My computer is about 2 years old. There is one emblem that says DVD with the little round logo under that, and under the logo it says R/RW. There is also another logo that says RW and under the RW box it says DVD+R DL

I am having a group of people over after my daughter's play next week. I am looking for suggestions of recipes that can pretty much be made ahead of time and then heated/finished in a short period. There will be a wide age range in age from 3-63 including a couple of vegetarians. Any suggestions appreciated!

It was my understanding from researching on the internet that day camp expenses are deductible. Last year my daughter attended a day camp through our local park district during the day when I worked. They will not give me their Fed Tax ID number, and are telling me that it is a summer program, not childcare, and they are not a licensed childcare provider. (Neither are half the poeple that are paid for watching children, so I really don't think that comes into play here.) I am in Illinois.

I have 2 cats. One M, one F. Both fixed. F declawed, M not, though not a scratch in my house. If I want to sell my house I have a couple questions:

1. Where is the most appropriate place to place the litter box?

2. How do I keep the cats from trying to escape during a house showing? I am not comfortable (nor do I think it should be the realtor's responsibility) to keep the cats in the house.

How do I handle this?