мσσкιє ツ

I really would like to give my dog a bath tonight, as she's starting to smell and her skin is irritated (she keeps scratching at her skin, more often than normal - yes, I feel bad). Since we've run out of dog shampoo, I started looking online to find out how to make some. I'd really rather bathe her tonight as her itching's getting worse and to be honest, I might not feel up for it tomorrow. I can't go out to the store right now, either. Most of the recipes I've found online list these ingredients: liquid dish soap (preferably all-natural), apple cider vinegar, glycerin, aloe vera gel (also listed are rosemary sprigs and essential oils, but I don't think those are listed as 'necessary' ingredients). I have dish soap, apple cider vinegar, and lavender oil (I think!). Are the glycerin and aloe vera gel necessary for the shampoo? Are there alternatives I could use? In what amounts should I use these ingredients? (I'm really only planning on a one-time use until I can get more shampoo for her from the store, however I'd like to give her a nice lather because boy she really needs it.)

So, to recap: Homemade dog shampoo without glycerin and aloe vera gel? Possible? Alternatives to those ingredients? How much? Help?!

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Althea vs. Araceli (Ah-rah-SELL-ee or Ah-rah-SAY-lee)

Beatrice vs. Beatrix

Caroline vs. Catriona (pronounced Katrina)

Dahlia vs. Delphine

Eloise vs. Eve

Fleur vs. Florence

Genevieve vs. Guinevere

Helena (Heh-LAYN-ah) vs. Honora (Ah-NOR-ah)

Irina (Ee-REE-nah) vs. Isadora

Josephine vs. Juliet

Karina vs. Katherine

Linnéa (Linn-AY-ah) vs. Luna

Mary vs. Matilda

Nina vs. Noelle

Olivia vs. Ottavia

Pandora vs. Petra (PEH-trah, *not* Pee-tra)

*skipping Q because I don't like any Q names*

Reina vs. Rosemary

Serafina vs. Stella

Tallulah vs. Tamsin

Ursula vs. Una

Verity vs. Violeta

Whitney vs. Willow

Xanthe (ZAN-thee) vs. Xenia

Yesenia (Yeh-SEH-nee-ah) vs. Ysabel

Zinnia vs. Zoë

BQ1: Which names are your favorites?

BQ2: What would you name four girls (first & middle) using the names above?

Thanks! <3

~ мσσкιє ツ

I'm starting a personal blog and need some assistance with design; I have a picture I'd like to use as a backdrop for a Blogspot blog, but any time I try to edit the picture it doesn't work right for the background. :\ Anyone out there with Photoshop skills/editing skills/background skills for blogspot willing to help?

Anastasia or Araceli?

Beatrice or Beatrix?

Caroline or Clementine?

Delilah or Dahlia?

Eloise or Eva?

Florence or Fleur?

Genevieve or Guinevere?

Hazel or Helena?

Isadora or Isabel?

Josephine or Juliet?

Karina or Kaia?

Luna or Lucia?

Maria or Maribel?

Natalia or Noemi?

Océane or Ottilie? (Oh-say-AHN and AH-till-ee)

Petra or Penelope?

Quirina or Quintella?

Rosemary or Renata?

Serafina or Stella?

Tatiana or Tallulah?

Ursula or Ulyssa (yoo-LISS-ah)?

Viviana or Violeta?

Willow or Willemina?

Xanthe or Xenia?

Yesenia or Ysolde?

Zoe or Zahra?

BQ1: What's your favorite name on the list?

BQ2: What name would you have added?

:]

I've been going over my list recently and I'm thinking about nicknames (I really like nicknames and in most cases would like to use one for a child). Some of my nicknames for these more common names might be pretty... out-there, for a non name nerd. I was wondering what the consensus was, on both the nicknames themselves and if they would work with the full name.

Caroline - "Cleo" (All four letters are there, just in different order)

Mary - "Molly" or "Maisie" (Do most people know these are nicknames for Mary?)

Sarah - "Sadie" (I know Sadie is a legit nickname for Sarah, but do others know?)

Beatrice/Beatrix - "Betsy" or "Trilly"

Clementine - "Cleo"

Rosemary - "Romy"

Isadora - "Sadie"

Amelia - "Mila"

Eloise - "Lola"

Adrian - "Ari"

I'm sure I'll think of more later. :)

BQ1: Should I scrap Caroline if I already have Leo on my short list? I like the full name Caroline very much, but I don't like any nicknames as much as Cleo, and obviously I can't use Leo and Cleo together! So, should I scrap Caroline? Could I use Caroline as her day-to-day name (so, no nickname) and have it be enforced fairly easily?

BQ2: Which do you prefer: James nicknamed Jamie, or John nicknamed Jack?

Looking for some varied advice. My boy's list especially is getting a bit... one-note. Anyone have suggestions to spice it up?

My favorites at the moment are James, Leo, Nikolai, John (nicknamed Jack), Julius (nicknamed Jude), Benjamin, Victor, Theodore, and Rhys, if you want to know my style. For the record, I'd prefer if more J names were NOT suggested... I'm upset enough and three out of my top five alone are J-names, since I hate matchy names. ;)

Suggest away!

Yup. In case you've been living underneath some huge-a$$ boulder and haven't seen these games before, name some fictional octuplets of yours using my favorite names. Choose your genders. Feel free to use variant spellings (if any are available; for example, don't use Carolyn instead of Caroline, they aren't pronounced the same).

Girls:

Rosemary

Eloise

Florence

Petra

Susannah

Evangeline

Caroline

Clementine

Karina

Amelia

Beatrice/Beatrix

Fleur

Gillian

Isadora

Serafina

Maria

Genevieve

Guinevere

Juliet

Lucia

Anastasia

Luna

Estella

Josephine

Elodie

Boys:

James

Leo

Nikolai

Nicolas

John

Jonathan

Julius

Charles

Benjamin

Victor

Archer

Jude

Theodore

Sebastian

Rhys

Caspar

Finlay

Avery

William

Lachlan

Adrian

River

Stellan

Jeremy

Wesley

BQ1: Do you have any children? If so, what are their names? If not, what do you want to name your future children?

BQ2: Guilty pleasure names? What are yours?

BQ3: What are your favorites/least favorites from my list?

BQ4: You're having boy/girl twins. What do you name them from names on your list?

Star if you had fun :)

I have every other starter available for trade, as well as other rare Pokemon, including a Feebas I just got recently. If you have questions on other Pokemon I have available, don't hesitate to ask. I just need a Totodile, though I'd be happy to trade more if anyone has a Croconaw and Feraligatr as well. Friend code or whatever will be shared. Thanks again :)

I bet my *** (that's A-S-S, for the prudes that run the swearing cover-up here at Y!A) that 99% of the people that go to Planned Parenthood for a pregnancy test did not plan to be parents. Anyone else agree that it should be called Unplanned Parenthood?

If your girlfriend/wife/partner was unable to have sex, as in, they were mutilated or have some other impairment that stopped them from being able to have sex, would you stay with them?

I saw another question on a similar subject and wanted to ask men in this section what they thought. So, if your lover couldn't have sex, would you stay with them?

Hubba Bubba Classic Bubble Tape, to be precise. Every damn time I start to chew the bubblegum, it seems like someone presses a fast-forward button on my digestive system. Within 5 to 10 minutes after I've started chewing the gum, I need to go to the bathroom, and I have really bad diarrhea. Now, I've never had a great digestive system at all. But I find it strange that just recently, this keeps happening to me right after I start to eat gum. Can anyone explain why this is happening?

Girl/Girl, Boy/Boy, and Girl/Boy.

If I had twin girls, I'd name them Lydia Caroline Anita, and Josephine Maria Karen (Liddie and Josie/Effie). If I had twin boys, I'd name them James Daniel and Archer Leonard (Jamie and Archie). If I had girl/boy twins, I'd name them Lydia Karen and James Daniel (Liddie and Jamie).

What about you?

Because, in all logic, (if we are willing to see any argument of this sort as logical), wouldn't a firefighter be able to put out the burning pits and fires in the hellhole?

...Couldn't it be a strawberry?

Okay, so I was about to go to bed, when I (out of the blue) started remembering details of a book I read when I was much younger. (Well, probably about 4 years ago, but you get my point.) I remember some crucial things, but I know I will not go to sleep without at least knowing the name of the book. I tried googling with the details I know, but nothing turned up.

So, here are the details:

• It's a fantasy novel for kids, with a female protagonist.

• The book is a part of a series.

• It includes a magical green stone, which *I think* lets the girl talk to animals.

• She finds the stone in a pond/waterfall scene.

• There's a library involved at some point.

• I think she works at the library, but she may just frequent it.

• I think she has a male friend that also plays a large role in the book.

• She lives in a city that's connected to 3 or 4 other cities, but they're all surrounded by brick/stone walls.

• I think one of her parents is dead. I think it's her mother. But it may be that both of her parents are dead, and she lives with someone else. In any case, I'm pretty sure that at least one of her parents is dead.

• I can't remember her name, but I think it's something like Ella or Eliza.

• I think that there's a secret passageway through the library that leads outside of the walls, and she then goes into the forest, finds the waterfall/pond thing, and finds the stone.

I remember that the cover of the book features her in a dressing gown/robe/dress of some sort, that I think is green. She has brown hair, she might be wearing a necklace, and she's holding the stone that glows and makes everything else in the picture in green.

And that's all I can remember. If anyone has heard of a book like this, knows the name, or even just knows the author's name it would be a real help. Now that I know the details of the book, I want to read the series again, because I remember liking it. Thank you for any information you can give me.

On babynames.com, they have a feature that lets you enter in your first, middle and last name; your gender, and your personality, and then randomly renames you! So follow the link, tell me what the personality was, and what your new random name is! (You don't have to tell me your last name, just the first and middle they randomly gave you.)

http://babynames.com/Names/rename.php

My three relatively normal results under Philosophical were:

• Annabelle Anatona

• Zoey Skyla

• Eglantine Linda

(PS: Don't worry if they give you a name that makes you go WTF?, because most of the results are very out there.)

Okay, so I'm having a pretty big issue with my best friend... You see, she's a die-hard Christian, very self-righteous, thinks every other religion besides Christianity is wrong, reads the Bible in her down time, goes to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, etc. I, on the other hand, am an atheist. A Secular Humanist, to be specific. (If you don't know what it is, look it up on Wikipedia.) Before I became an atheist and was just doubting religion, I went to NC (where she lives) for a visit, and told her that I believed in God and stuff but that I didn't believe in the Bible. She was a little ticked even then. Anyway, I have a facebook and took a Bible quiz and got the result "Bible Scholar". (So yes, I AM an informed atheist.) As the tag line of my result, I put "I know it, but that sure as hell doesn't mean I like or agree with it!" This was before my friend got a FB. Now she has one, saw my result, and sent me this message:

"Emily you're horrible!! how could you say that about the Bible!!?? i thought you got saved at camp a few years ago [When I still lived in NC I went to a Christian summer camp with her. Honestly, I signed up before I was even aware it was a religious camp.] ....i guess you've changed a lot since then....and i'm not saying you changed in a good way."

Now I don't know what to do or say. We've been best friends since we were 7, but religion/politics is something we really butt heads with. I really don't want to lose her as a friend, but I can't just lie to her. I'm afraid our friendship will weaken if she knows that religion isn't a priority in my life, like it really is in hers. I'm just confused, and hurt, and close to tears... I don't know what to do or say to fix this. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I can do? I'm scared of losing my best friend, and I need help...

PS: I posted this in Adolescent to get advice regarding the friends aspect, but I think people here in R&S could help as this involves religion as well.

Okay, so I'm having a pretty big issue with my best friend... You see, she's a die-hard Christian, very self-righteous, thinks every other religion besides Christianity is wrong, reads the Bible in her down time, goes to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, etc. I, on the other hand, am an atheist. A Secular Humanist, to be specific. (If you don't know what it is, look it up on Wikipedia.) Before I became an atheist and was just doubting religion, I went to NC (where she lives) for a visit, and told her that I believed in God and stuff but that I didn't believe in the Bible. She was a little ticked even then. Anyway, I have a facebook and took a Bible quiz and got the result "Bible Scholar". (So yes, I AM an informed atheist.) As the tag line of my result, I put "I know it, but that sure as hell doesn't mean I like or agree with it!" This was before my friend got a FB. Now she has one, saw my result, and sent me this message:

"Emily you're horrible!! how could you say that about the Bible!!?? i thought you got saved at camp a few years ago [When I still lived in NC I went to a Christian summer camp with her. Honestly, I signed up before I was even aware it was a religious camp.] ....i guess you've changed a lot since then....and i'm not saying you changed in a good way."

Now I don't know what to do or say. We've been best friends since we were 7, but religion/politics is something we really butt heads with. I really don't want to lose her as a friend, but I can't just lie to her. I'm afraid our friendship will weaken if she knows that religion isn't a priority in my life, like it really is in hers. I'm just confused, and hurt, and close to tears... I don't know what to do or say to fix this. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I can do? I'm scared of losing my best friend, and I need help...

Just one random question, what celebrity voice do you love most?

I know it's a very random and weird question, but I wanted to know! My favorites are probably Alan Rickman (plays Severus Snape in Harry Potter), Ben Stein (his voice always stays completely and utterly monotone, which amazes me), and Morgan Freeman (he could say he just murdered your entire family with a chainsaw and his voice would keep you completely calm).

I have a VERY interesting question my sister brought up regarding getting involved in political warfare, and I wanted to see what other teens thought of it.

This is the question: (Pretending that you're an adult with children), You become aware that your neighbor next door is beating his wife, throttling her, hurting her. If you knew that if you went over there this man would attempt to kill your children, would you go over there to try to help this poor woman being beaten? (Because this is a metaphor to involvement in world affairs, you can't just say "I'd move my kids away and call the cops", because you can't just transport an entire nation, and there isn't a worldwide police enforcement you can phone up to help you.) So, what would you do: Go over to help the woman knowing full well that this man may try to hurt your children, or keep it to yourself and don't help the girl to protect your kids.

Personally, even thought this is a REALLY hard question, I guess I'd keep it to myself to protect my own children. This relates to the global scale by saying something like this: If a country was hurting and killing off its own citizens, would you want your nation to go over and help them, even though the bully nation could declare war on you? Or would you keep it to yourself so that your own people aren't mercilessly slaughtered? It's a really complicated no-perfect-answer question based on neutrality and world affairs. I'm anxious to know your opinions so as to know what you'd do. Thanks!