Emily Dew

About a month ago, I switched toothpastes to Sensodyne Extra Whitening. About a week or so later, I noticed swollen, painful gums and sides of my tongue. I stopped the toothpaste and it went away. About a week later, I tried to use it every other day and the swelling came back so I stopped it completely, but swelling and pain did not go away.

Went to the dentist last week for my twice annual cleaning and he said he could find no reason for my gums to be swollen. Since then, I've been brushing with just plain water. It started going away until I ate an Odwalla chocolate peanut butter bar the other day and then wham it started back up again. I began looking into a possible vitamin deficiency, though I take a multi-vitamin every day. Today, on a whim, I tried an allergy pill and within a very short time, I felt great relief. The swelling is down considerably! It's still painful, but I think it might be healing. I have no idea what is causing any of this! Is it an allergy? If so, to what? If it was an allergy to something I'm eating, wouldn't I be seeing an allergic reaction somewhere else in my body too? The only thing I'm allergic to is penicillin.

This is driving me crazy! Thank you so much for reading this. I would appreciate any answers or ideas given. I have another appointment with dentist tomorrow.

Hi!

My friend recorded my daughter's play performance and made a DVD for me. I'd like to save it to my computer and e-mail it to my mom. How do I do that? I have Windows 7.

Thank you!

I want to plant a red maple tree in my front yard. How far away from the house should it be planted so as not to interfere with anything? I've heard of tree roots messing up sewer pipes. My house does not have a basement.

Thank you!

I'm supposed to be a judge and he's an idiot constable. While he's examining the prisoners, I'm writing down their answers. He kind of acts like Barney Fife and asks some very stupid questions. I'm supposed to show a lot of irritation with him. Already, I glare at him, yell at him while poking my finger into his chest, slap my forehead behind his back, roll my eyes and snatch my notepad out of his hand after it falls off my desk. It's kind of a long scene though and I find myself resorting to a lot of glaring and eye rolling. What else can I do?

This computer is my teenager's Dell Inspiron laptop. I installed AVG free on it last night and ran a scan and it uncovered and removed a few threats. Afterward, it told me to restart the computer. I did and then got a message that I needed to use Launch Repair to fix whatever problem was causing it not to restart. I ran that and got the message that Launch Repair couldn't fix the problem. It said something about a bad hard disk. What do I do from here? How expensive are those to replace?

I have two disks that came with the laptop ... one says Drivers and Utilities and the other says Operating System.

Thank you!

I need to re-install my HP 6940 printer and the only installation disc I can find for it says Windows 2000, XP and Mac OS X. The sticker on my computer tower says Windows 7. I know I wouldn't have thrown on an installation disc so this must be the only one I got. The label on it is half green and half white. Can I use it? Thank you!

HP Deskjet 6940 is not working. The lights are all on. It has printed out things on it's own like a connectivity status and something that was left in the print queue, but whenever I try to print something new from the Internet or Word, it won't print it. I've tried switching the USB cord to different locations on my computer tower, but it doesn't change. I switched over to Comcast a few days ago and am now wondering if that could somehow be the problem. Any ideas?

Thanks!

For instance, which of the following is correct?

A. In the Daily Herald article "Why Hamsters Dance", the author points to ...

B. In the Daily Herald article "Why Hamsters Dance," the author points to ...

Thank you!

My elderly father, on his own, bought an AT&T GoPhone. It's his first cell phone with Internet access and he doesn't seem to know how to use it. He lives in a different state so he keeps calling me for help, which is difficult because I'm not there in the room with him. His biggest problem now is signing on to Facebook with it. He has an e-mail account and I set up a Facebook account for him on my computer. I can get into it and my sister can get into it on her computer, but whenever he tries to sign into it on his GoPhone, it tells him the login and password don't match or are not valid, something like that. He's called AT&T probably a dozen times already for help, but no luck. Any suggestions? Thank you!

I have always wanted to become a nurse, but for a variety of reasons, never had the opportunity to pursue it. Now that my youngest child is about to graduate high school, I have begun to wonder what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I'm 52 years old, in excellent shape, easily look 10 years younger than I am. I'm thinking about going back to school to become a nurse. I checked my local college and understand I would have to first become a CNA, but even if I wasn't allowed to become an RN, I'd be happy being an LPN. What do you think? Is this crazy or what?

Thanks!

I have a 1997 Toyota Camry that I take EXCELLENT care of. A couple of days ago, I had a cracked motor mount replaced. Now my car seems to vibrate even more! I called my mechanic, whom I've had for years and trust totally, and he said that the motor mount needs to "soften up" a little. I have to admit that over the last couple of days, it has stopped vibrating as much. Now it only vibrates when I step on the brake like at a stoplight. It drives fine ... no vibration ... just at the stoplight. Has anyone ever heard of this? I'm having a tune up in a couple of weeks. Do you think that's problem?

Thanks!

Am finishing up a show with a cast of about 20 adults and I need to put together a cast party. I want to make it nice for them because they've worked so hard and put on a great show. I've been to other cast parties where it was basically just pizza, chips and drinks, but I want this to be a little more special ... a tribute, a thank you. Any ideas?

That was my favorite brownie recipe, but I lent the book to a "friend" who has not returned it and is gone on vacation. Would love to make these for an event I have this weekend. Thank you!

I am trying to come up with ideas for a program for a play I'm producing. Ideally, I would like the cover to be green with a white tree on it. I have a very small budget for printing so I am wondering if I can pull this off with a color copier or with green paper in a regular copier. Thanks for any and all ideas!

Doing a play with very minimal props. One bench must be turned into a log for some scenes. Any ideas how to do that on a shoestring budget?

Thanks!

I am producing a small show where the admission is free, but the theater company wants to "pass the hat" for free will donations. They have never done a show like this before and neither have I. Any ideas on how to "pass the hat"? Thanks!

I just noticed this yesterday, which was the first hot day we've had and I turned the A/C on in my car. Shortly after I did, I noticed that the car seemed to be increasing speed at times even though I wasn't pressing on the gas pedal. Also, when I shut it off, it shuddered. For the rest of the day, I did not use the A/C and did not notice any more problems. Tonight I used it and the same thing happened again. This time I noticed the RPM dial at 2 even though I was doing about 40 mph. Stopped at the store and when I returned to my car, I did not put on the A/C for the drive home. When I got into my driveway, I put it in park and saw the RPM dial bouncing between 1 and 2. I shut off the car and there was a little shudder.

What could this be? I have to drive two more places before I can take it in to my mechanic tomorrow morning. Is it safe to do so?

Thanks!

I am in a production of The Wiz, cast as Evillene. At one point in the play, Evillene offers her beauty tips to Dorothy. I thought it would be fun to write some of Evillene's beauty tips on a poster to be displayed in the lobby at the end of the show and the director agreed. I came up with a couple, but need a few more. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Had trouble turning off my laptop last night. Eventually had to just hit the power off button. This morning, it turned on, got the gold Microsoft bar and then the black screen with white arrow. Eventually, I got a menu that offered me several options, including Startup Repair. I clicked on that and it "repaired" my computer for about 45 minutes and then said it needed to reboot. I clicked Finish, it rebooted, ran the gold Microsoft bar, downloaded some files and then I got the black screen with the white arrow again. Now it's been that way for two hours! If I turn it off again, I'm going to have to hit the power off button which is what started everything!

I do have the Toshiba Recovery Media disks that I got when I bought the laptop two years ago. Should I run them? Never had a bit of trouble with this laptop until now!

Thanks!