My 16 year old has the same situation and the only place she can buy them is at AE. She is a 4 extra long and has to get them online at AE. If you go to the store they can order them for you and you won't have to pay shipping and they come right to your house.

I have Amica and love it. I work for a huge national insurance company and Amica's rates were cheaper even with my discount. I told my dad about USAA and he called and got signed up yesterday. Now I wonder if I can jump on the wagon because he is?

Maybe I'm weird but I think that anyone who has to brag so much about their day, their family, their cooking, their super duper 5 year old sports stars are all lying! I guess I don't get why people think other people really, really, really care about how great their lives are. What's the old saying...the squeaky wheel gets the grease? I have a SIL who totally brags about her daughter, her house, her this, her that and she is probably the most miserable, fabricator I have EVER met. So, OP don't get all upset, just remember that not everything is the way people make it sound....hence why the divorce rate is so high and so many kids are a dadbern mess these days.

Wow...just wow...and I'm not sure if I should say something or just stay out of it. My daughter, who is in PS high school, has a friend (they don't hang out together but board their horses at the same barn and they go to the same school) this other girl is a year younger. Anyway, the girl has a boyfriend and my daughter knows the boy's brother. The brother was telling my daughter today that he can't stand the girlfriend and that he thinks his brother is using her because "she puts out". This girl's mom is a good friend of mine but the mom has made some very poor choices in men and is the type that always has to have a boyfriend and has several since we've known each other. She has made comments in the past about what a great relationship I have with both of my daughters by the way. So, needless to say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and I feel very badly for both of these women. Part of me wants to mention that there are rumors (brother talking to my daughter, whom I totally believe) going around about her daughter but then a bigger part of me says to just stay out of it. I've seen this girl go from a very bright, almost nerdy kind of child to...well...this...in just a few short years and the change is crazy and not in a good crazy way. Maybe I'm just thinking out loud?:confused:

How exciting! Happy Birthday too! There are so many things to look for when starting to ride. As for the clothing...yes, a good, not used, helmet is the most important thing. A higher priced helmet does not always mean a better helmet. I have heard that Tipperary makes a helmet that is rated number one for safety and it's not expensive at all. Troxel is another less expensive brand that is rated well. You need a boot with a small heel too. Breeches are always most comfortable to ride in but not needed at the beginning. As for barns and lessons.....whenever I look for a place for my daughter the most important thing I look for is an instructor with experience. Sounds silly but you would not believe how many barns have inexperienced instructors. I would look for an adult and I would go, unannounced, to a lesson to watch. Check to see if the particular barn you are interested in has a website. Also, expensive lessons don't always mean good instruction. Make sure the horses look healthy, that they're not head bobbing (which means lameness) and that the tack (saddles, bridles) look like they are in good shape. You can tell if a horse is happy or miserable by what their ears are doing. If they are pinned to their heads then you know that they are so not into their jobs and are probably lesson sour....good lesson horses are very hard to come by and very often they are used in lesson after lesson day after day. Also, make sure that the length of your lesson means actual riding time. Many barns use the tacking and untacking time as part of the lesson and I don't agree with that.

I totally disagree with many of you. I have that devotional and I think it's a good one. I believe that I have a strong enough relationship with the Lord that I can discern what is true and what is blashemy. I admit that I don't read this book every day but many times when I've opened it to read it, it spoke directly to my heart and a particular situation that I am going through. I think that sometimes people think too deeply and end up putting God in a box, sometimes that's called legalism.

If you have Verizon and get a smartphone (at least in my area) you have to pay an extra $30 a month (I'm pretty sure that's for the smartphone)but there is another line of phones that you can get for $10 extra a month and then there are the regular old flip phones that don't have internet capabilities and there are no extra charges per month for those. So if you're fine with a simple phone that you can text and call on, then I say go for the flip phones many of which you can get for free.

I work in a kennel so I know a little about Beagles! They are really, really cute sweet dogs but EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM barks (if that's what you call it) incessently. They NEVER shut up! And they are the biggest PIGS in the kennel food wise I'm speaking about. They will eat their food and any other food they might find on the floor, in the cubbies, their roomate's food! We genearlly have to separate them so that one doesn't get all of the food. Having said all of that, if you can stand the barking and the piggishness...then I would definately get a Beagle. They are so sweet. We've never had a KCS in the kennel so I can't talk about their behavior but I do know a lady who has one and he is such a cutie...but I've heard they're very expensive.

One of you mentioned that I said my daughter could get a job anywhere because of her looks. Well, I NEVER said that, what I think I said was that because of her looks it is easier for her to get jobs....being good looking (and trust me, I would NOT know about this!) is as much a deterrent as being overweight (as my other daughter is). I want my children to get jobs based on their abilities, not on their looks...good or bad. Both of my girls (who are total opposites) are very hard workers, even to the point of it making their co-workers mad (hence why I think this one girl is lying about my daughter) and instead of getting a pat on the back for it they are getting blamed. She is going to talk to him tonight and if need be, she will walk right out the door. All of these things are good for teaching lessons and most of you are right, she does need to (and will be finding) a new job but I want her to be the adult here and talk to the owner and let him know that she is not going to let people walk all over her. I think she needs to do that to prove to herself that she isn't the problem. You would think, that with so many teenagers being the way they are these days that these people would be thankful to have a hardworking, HONEST person working for them. Wow....utterly amazing what some bosses these days are willing to hire.

Thank you so much. I know, I really do want her out of there but she wants to stay because of her horse. Oh my gosh, I don't know what to do...I will be praying....can you guys be praying too?

Organicann...they don't have power or control over my daughter, actually. She is free to walk out of there anytime she wants as I'm pretty sure they don't tie their employees up! Anyway, she is going to talk to the other owner tomorrow and fill out applications too (she just filled one out for another place down the road). I actually just told her that she doesn't have to go back there but her response was "well I need a job because I can't let you pay for my horse yourself." That's how responsible this child is. Since it's only 9 hours a week, I think I may let her stay until she finds something else...I hate to say this but with her looks, she can get a job at any one of these places...sad to say but true...when she started filling out apps a few weeks ago, she got two calls the same day the applications were filled out....but that is a whole 'nother' "problem" that she has to deal with.

could use some suggestions or advice. My 16 year old daughter got a job in a local pizza shop/resturant a few weeks ago. She works around 9 hours a week, could use more since she has a horse to help pay for. This is a child who I am very, very proud of. She's smart, very, very funny, pretty, confident and a perfectionist and herein lies the problem. She had to memorize the whole resturant menu, she even went so far as to write the items down on index cards to memorize them. Let me say that this place is not a very busy place and most of the delivery boys and "cooks" are known pot heads. The owners are from a different country and barely speak English and I wonder if they too smoke pot. Anyway, the one owner sat my daughter down tonight and said that the other owner is mad at her because she's not catching on quickly enough, and he was also upset for some other reasons and when my daughter asked what those reasons are the guy told her he didn't know. Well then, why are YOU talking to her, why isn't the other guy doing it? Anyway, he told her that she wasn't going to be fired but that she "had to pull her weight more". She thinks that one of the girls that she works with (who the other girls say is a jerk) is telling these bosses things about my daughter. I told her that she needs to go to the boss who is upset with her tomorrow when she goes in to work and talk to him and to stick up for herself. I also told her that if she wants to walk out after that then it is okay for her to do that. She doesn't enjoy going to work...she does ask alot of questions because she wants to make sure she's doing things the right way and apparently she's asking too many questions.....my boss is the type who tells me to ask questions, that I can never ask too many and that she'd rather me ask them than to do something wrong.....I just don't get it. So would this place rather have pot head delivery drivers and total snots at the front counter instead of a girl who takes pride in her job and only wants to do the right thing? The register has been coming up short and these owners told these kids that if it keeps happening that they would have to make up the money.....oh no, that is NOT going to happen. They need to give each employee a register number NOT have everyone dipping their paws into the register. By the way, my daughter's register has been coming up even these last few times after she went to them and told her that she wasn't comfortable paying for someone else's mistake. I am so angry with these owners. I just don't want her to take the easy way out but I also don't want people telling untruths behind her back. Thanks for letting me vent and if anyone has any advice or suggestions I would like to hear them.

Yikes those are some ugly wounds. Poor girl. I don't really have any suggestions as I have never, praise the Lord, run into anything so gruesome (sorry). I do wonder about the continuous cold hosing though. I'm thinking that keeping it moist is preventing it from drying up and healing. But, it needs to be kept clean so it's like a rock and a hard place kind of thing. The ligament...are you keeping her stalled? There is a horse in our barn that did something to her ligament and has to be on stall rest for 6 weeks. I'm thinking, does your horse need that type of rest/confinement? If so, it might be easier to keep her leg clean thus not so much cold hosing but more careful drying with a hair dryer and then antibiotic ointment (oral too) as needed? What has the vet been saying lately?

What is the injury and are you sure cold hosing is the right thing to be doing? My mare is on a daily calming supplement that we get from SmartPak. Let me know more about the injury and if you want to know more about the supplement.

That was funny. I am NOT a fan.

If so, can you answer a question for me? My ex-landlord is trying to withhold more than 1/2 of my security desposit (after he told me and my daughter that the places "looks great" and that he'd get my check out in the mail. I have asked him for reciepts (I'm taking him to small claims court but I'd rather not go to court) and he hasn't produced them yet. This all happened last night. Anyway, the place is now up for sale and I want to contact a realtor to get them to show us the place and go in and take pictures (we already took pictures when we moved out) but I want to find out if he did any repairs at all because from what I've already seen all he has done is replaced the little plastic lock things on the sliding glass doors. We would make it look like my friend and her husband are interested in the place. I know that's not right but I don't have any other way to get proof. My security deposit was alot of money, and 1/2 of it is also alot of money to me and I can't afford to lose it especially when the guy is a no good liar. I don't even know if it's legal though!

I work for the company where you are in good hands and I've never heard of that. Which isn't saying much!

I can tell you about my situation. When we first got our horse, we met some people who had a barn. They told my daughters and me that we could keep our horse at their place if we bought the grain, bedding, hay...and everything else that was required to keep our horse. In exchange we cleaned stalls and cleaned up around their small farm. It was really hard work but what it taught my two daughters will never, ever, ever be able to be replaced. Having horses is very hard work. Riding the horse is the best part of course, but that comes in last compared to what else needs to be taken care of in owning a horse. I didn't read all of the responses but there are some things to take into consideration...I don't really think you need an iron clad agreement....if a lawyer was to get invovled, a contract written on paper can very easily be shot down. You have to be able to know and trust the person you are going to be working with. If you do, then I think that is good enough. Yes, horses are expensive, shoes, trimmings (even with no shoes) winter/spring vaccinations, emergency vet bills....foreheads ripped open by a nail in the stall....ask me how I know....feeding and cleaning in 100 degree and 1 degree weather....frozen water buckets...., the list goes on and on. It is all very hard work but it is so very worth it and I think you have a great opportunity here. You can read books and magazines to learn so much about horses. What these animals can teach us (especially children) is priceless. I say give it a two month trial and if it doesn't work out then at least you call all say that you tried. Remember though, horses (unless they have been alone all of their life) will get very, very lonely even to the point of depression if they are all by themselves. Please don't do that to this horse, get it a friend. And as for the goat that you're going to get....do you know anything about them? I wouldn't get another goat if someone gave me a billion dollars (well, okay I would but!) goats are a HUGE pain in the behind. There truly is nothing good about a goat!

You should tell the coach to tell your son. Let him be the one to let your poor son down. I feel so badly for you. I am so sorry you are going through this and I feel even worse for your son. I will be praying for him.

online services that you can find out information about people? I am trying to get any information I can get on a former landlord but I don't want to spend $40 on one of those services if they aren't what they advertise to be. So, have any of you or do any of you know of anyone who has used them....or anything else to find out backround information about a person? Also, can you look up more than one person on these things or is it one person per $40 (or whatever amount)? Thank you!

Oh my gosh, if I weren't at work I would be balling. You handled the situation so wonderfully and I thank you for that. I have two daughters and I would have done the exact same thing. They made a mistake. It's not the end of the world. My youngest (16) wouldn't be here right now if I didn't have understanding parents (I wasn't a teenager but I was unmarried so it's not too, too much different if you ask me). I am so grateful that my mom and dad didn't shut me out or make me feel like some kind of tramp or worse. Love your daughter and love your new baby, but I don't need to tell you that, you're going to do that already.

Thanks guys! I KNEW from the beginning that his "man" was going to be trouble and I think I was right. I've never, ever had trouble getting back my security deposits. I just pray the check comes in the mail so we don't have to go through all of this stuff.

I'm thinking he already got it. I got mine at the beginning of last week so I'm guessing that he would get his around the same time as I got mine but then again, I'm not sure how all of this works.

You can get the screen on the laptop replaced. My older daughter just had her replaced and she paid $140 for the screen and the labor to get it fixed. Much less expensive than buying a whole new computer.

Greeny....I think what most of the posters on this thread are saying (and trust me, I don't usually agree with most of them) is that Kate has become very far removed from who she used to be. I too am a single mom of two daughters so most of the time I try to look my best (not high heels though, I usually fall off my flip flops) but I have to say that Kate is SO not who she used to be. She used to talk about her Christianity ALOT on the old shows, now I would never know she was a believer (not that that is what the show is about but it's just another way she has changed). She is SUCH a show off. If you ask me, she is loud and obnoxious and it seems like she want the camera on her all of the time instead of her kids. She really has changed and for what the show started out as, she has not changed for the better. While I was watching it last night, I though to myself...why am I wasting my time watching this ridiculous woman but I still watch week after atrocious week!