Friends (community)

I want to try birth control for cramps, and because we're planning to get  married next year. I'm a virgin and I know someone who had her hymen broken during an exam. I don't want that. Do they offer the pill without exams at Planned Parenthood? The only thing is, I have Kaiser for insurance. Would it be less expensive if I went through Kaiser? And is there any chance at all that at Kaiser they would give me the pills without an exam?
One more thing: if I do go through the exam, will the speculum stretch me more than my husband will? I'm sure it depends on the guy, but how do does a small speculum compare to an average penis? I don't want an exam to affect my first sexual experience.
Thanks!

I've never added a lining to a garment before and could use some pointers.

I want to line a pair of wool pants that I am currently working on. When I'm cutting out the lining, should I make it the exact size and shape of the outer layer (without pockets and other details)? Or do I need to modify it in any way? I know I will want to hem it a tiny bit shorter, and I won't cut a waistband. I am planning on attaching the lining to the waistband facing, and slipstiching it to the back zipper, which the directions say to do for the facing. Does that sound about right?

If it makes a difference, I'm making view A of this pattern.

I do better at eating at home when I don't have to plan myself. I have signed up for "Saving Dinner" and I like the meal plans but the interface is a total PITA for me (I use a linux web book and it hates the PDF format) so I am looking for other options.
This looks sort of like what I am looking for http://www.cookforgood.com/current_menu_month.html but the error in the spread sheet and limited choices are sort of a turn off.
Meat is ok, nutirtional info is a big plus and an interface with our smart phones for grocery shopping would be to die for.

I have a question.
I cook veggie soup (vegetable s in veggie broth), but sometimes I don't have the time to stop and make the soup (or the money to run to the store and stock up on more vegetables)... so sometimes I just have hot veggie broth as my meal.

Am I still getting good nutrition from the broth?
(I know "not as greatly as if you ate the vegetables") but it's better than replacing my veggie soup with junkfood.

So, in your opinion is drinking the veggie broth as a replacement ok?

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/28/grint-and-watson-talk-potter-reading-habits-in-ultimate-editions-special-features-clip

The newest issue of the official Harry Potter newsletter has been released, and contains a short clip of a special feature from the Ultimate Editions release of the first two Harry Potter films.    The preview, available to view via this link, features actors Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) speaking to their individual Harry Potter book reading habits.  In the clip, Miss Watson re...

I rarely eat nuts, but I eat beans (lima) in soups and salads. I use Morningstar Farms products as my main source of protein (mostly the veggie burgers and crumbles, not so much the breaded items.) Is this good? I know they are a good source of protein, but are their products HEALTHY??

I have a question.
I cook veggie soup (vegetable s in veggie broth), but sometimes I don't have the time to stop and make the soup (or the money to run to the store and stock up on more vegetables)... so sometimes I just have hot veggie broth as my meal.

Am I still getting good nutrition from the broth?
(I know "not as greatly as if you ate the vegetables") but it's better than replacing my veggie soup with junkfood.

So, in your opinion is drinking the veggie broth as a replacement ok?

I rarely eat nuts, but I eat beans (lima) in soups and salads. I use Morningstar Farms products as my main source of protein (mostly the veggie burgers and crumbles, not so much the breaded items.) Is this good? I know they are a good source of protein, but are their products HEALTHY??

So... I'm at my partners for the holiday week, and, as is probably fairly normal for such things when partners are living far enough from each other that visits are relatively infrequent (We're talking a week out of a month or thereabouts) we had a ton of sex on the 25th and 26th. By the end of the last session I was a little sore (think I had some minor subcutaneous damage from pressure to either side of the clitoral structure) which is normal and fine, but I noticed a lumpy thing, kinda like a lymph node, maybe the size of a small pearl onion and about that texture, to one side of that structure, kinda in/under the labia majora. It had disappeared 2 hours later when I went to poke at it, but it made me realize how incomplete sex ed is. I had fairly comprehensive sex ed, in high school and at church, but we never really covered the internal structures that aren't directly related to reproduction. I've known about uteri and fallopian tubes since I was a young'n but, apparently you learn new stuff every day. Yay, wiki.

My hypothesis is that the lump was the Skene's gland, which appears to work by filtering plasma from the blood, and that it was hard and swollen because there was a back log of filtered blood materials (platelets, leukocytes, that sort of thing) that hadn't been fed back into the blood stream.

Did anybody else know about this Skene's gland? How did you discover it existed? Am I the only one that's gotten this onion-lump thing? I'm mostly just stupid curious, and looking for a sense of what the 'common knowledge' is and some reassurance that I'm not a freak for not having known about this thing that's been in my body for 28 years.

chime on in, I'm v. v. curious.

My stove is, according to the nice repair man, trying to kill me. So while I am waiting for a replacement, it is unplugged and inoperable.

I have two crockpots, a tempermental toaster oven and an electric teakettle. I also have a camp stove and a gas barbecue, but it is supposed to be cold and rainy all week, so I'm not thrilled with the idea of trying to use them.

I do not have a stove, broiler, rice cooker, steamer, oven or microwave.

The meals I bought groceries for this week were:

Sweet Potato black bean enchilada casserole (pantry mole from vegan brunch, steamed, cubed sweet potatoes, layered with beans and tortillas and baked)
Asian veggie stir fry with tofu and rice (I have mushrooms, onions, shredded cabbage, peppers, carrots, zucchini, tofu and broccoli for this)
French onion soup topped with Daiya cheese in a bread bowl
Reheated lasanga leftover from Christmas- I guess I can reheat that in the toaster oven, maybe. I hope. Because it was yummy and I'd hate to waste it.
Veggie burgers and sweet potato oven fries (I can reheat the frozen burgers in the toaster oven, but they need a side, and I'm stumped)
Uncheese fondue with bread, apples, and blanched broccoli
Tofu Florentine with mock hollandaise and oven roasted potatoes
Maple baked lentils (which I can manage in the crockpot), baked squash, steamed broccoli, and quinoa.


So I need help figuring out how to cook the veggies and the grains, or alternative recipes that will use the same ingredients. Gah. I am SO not amused.

I've got a well stocked pantry and spice rack, but I want to make sure to use up the fresh veggies so I don't waste them.

Hi, I was wondering if there are any other tips on how to speed up your game. This is what I already do:

-defrag at least once a week
-clean up my system (delete unused files, have uninstalled unused programs)
-close any programs I'm not using when I play the game (including the internet, IMing, and some other processes that show in task manager).
-my antivirus system regularly cleans up and deletes files.

My cc is very minimal; most of what I've downloaded have been some patterns, objects, some clothing and defaults. I don't really plan to expand further. I don't have the biggest wait while I'm in something like CAS (it'll take maybe a minute or longer to switch between tabs) and the animation isn't the smoothest in CAS. It also lags just a bit in Buy/Build mode, when going into the design mode or choosing objects. I'm not sure if there is much more I can do to speed up the game.

Oh! I'm on desktop with vista and my C: drive says it has 103 GB left of 325 GB, if that helps.

( infirmity: winter of life )

Parvenu: 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2
Download a Parvenu

I woke up this morning with some slight discomfort if I put pressure on my crotch area. I can feel a small bump underneath the skin on the left inner labia lip. It's colorless, and I can't really see it if I look with a mirror, I can just feel it. It only hurts if I put pressure on it.

I know it's not an STD or anything...I've been married for a year and a half and my husband and I were both virgins when we met. We haven't really even had sex for the past week or two because we've been at my parents for the holidays. These are the only possible reasons I can come up with:

-A few days ago we did TRY to have sex. I have an IUD, but we were using condoms for easy cleanup since I don't have my own bathroom at my parents. We were using Lifestyle Skins, which we have never used before. Also, the lube on them dried out pretty quickly and it was really dry so we stopped and didn't finish. Could it be irritation from that?

-I used a new Lush Bath bomb last night. And I probably didn't rinse off as well as I should have because my parents tub and shower are in separate bathrooms, so I didn't rinse off in the shower like I normally would.

-I was wearing fairly tight pants yesterday and went shopping in a really crowded, hot mall. So I was probably sweating some.

I've never had anything like this, so if anyone has any idea what it is, please let me know. Thank you all so much.

We get the "What is this bump?" post here a lot. Sometimes there are multiple ones in a day. I can understand why this happens; there are worries about STIs, even for people who couldn't be infected, and describing a bump requires a subjective process. You never know if your bump is truly similar to the one in the post before yours, so you err on the side of caution. That's totally understandable. Hey, I've even been there. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from making a post about a lesion because I'll always be happy to help to the fullest of my capacity, but I do want to talk about what you can do if you find a lesion.

I am not a gynecologist or a specialist in skin care. No, I can't provide scientific citations for anything I say here. I have done a lot of research throughout my life, and much of what I know has been picked up through books, being a hormonal teenager prone ONLY to huge cysts, and articles. Nothing I write here is intended to be medical advice.

Pimples can occur anywhere on the external part of the body, including the anus and the internal and external vulva. You should never pop a pimple. I'll explain why below. You should never attempt to pop a lesion of unknown origin, especially if you believe you're at risk for a sexually transmitted illness.

- How can I tell if this is a pimple or something else?:

That's the tough part. Deciding whether to visit a doctor is a big deal. Who has the time or the money to go to a doctor only to be told, "Yep, that's a pimple." However, only a doctor can give you a proper diagnosis. When you make a post, we can help you distinguish between a pimple and a contagious lesion, but we can't diagnose you. You'll have to visit your doctor for a swab and blood work. That's why we're happy to help. Visiting Google Images to see what various lesions may look may help. I'm uncomfortable giving general guidelines for how to distinguish between the two, as this post is meant for generic, broad information.

- Why and how do pimples form? Why should I not pop them?:

Pimples, otherwise known as cysts, are basically infections of the sebaceous glands. The follicles release oils, but the oils turn rancid and waxen. They can't come out, and the follicle can't clean itself. An infection begins. When a follicle gets infected, our skin stupidly begins to reproduce cells, which traps the infection. Think about all the differences between black heads, white heads, and cysts (big and small). In that order, the reason for their appearance and demeanor is due to how much skin can be reproduced to cover them. The cysts develop the most skin cells, and, as the infection grows, it pushes out on the cell walls, causing expansion and death. The more you squeeze a cyst, the deeper into the skin you're pushing the infection, thereby making it worse. Really, the only pimples you should attempt to extract yourself are blackheads, because they're not usually infected. An infected black head turns into a whitehead.

- What can I do to clear this pimple up?

The healing time for cysts is dependent upon a number of variables. They can take anywhere from a week to half a year to clear up. Sometimes the pus never goes away, so the infection dies, but a pimple is prone to coming back in the same area. It's not uncommon for a cyst to recur in the same place. It's always a good idea to try to verify what your lesion could be. If it could, indeed, be a sexually transmitted illness, and you'd like a diagnosis, waiting to see if "the pimple" goes away could reduce your chances of a proper diagnosis. Always ask your doctor if they check the blood for viruses. I've heard of some doctors doing swabs. Even though I know my fair share about STIs, I do not know how to treat them or take care of them.

This advice is designed to interfere with a possibly contagious lesion as little as possible until the possibility of an STI can be eliminated.

1. Wear breathable cotton underwear.
2. Do not apply warm compresses. Yes, the people who tell you that it will pull the infection to the surface are right. This is unnecessary, however, because you shouldn't pop the pimple.
3. Do not apply any topical treatments, especially ones intended to dehydrate the skin tissue such as benzoyl peroxide, unless it has been cleared by a doctor.
4. Epsom salts may provide pain relief.
5. Avoid touching the pimple.

- Wait! You didn't answer my question!:

I apologize. Since I have no formal training in the treatment of pimples, I don't know everything. If you have a question, feel free to ask in the comments. I can't guarantee that I'll have an answer, but I will try my best to find an answer for you.

(I'm in a rush now, so sorry for any errors!)

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/28/happy-birthday-maggie-smith-6

Let's raise a glass to Dame Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), who today celebrates her 75th birthday. Many happy returns, Dame Maggie!