Marissa K

I got my ear lobes pierced over 10 years ago; I usually wore 10-14k yellow gold posts in them... I don't remember what I got them pierced with, though. A few years down the road I began noticing that I had severe allergic reactions to any metal other than the gold (the holes became very inflamed, oozed pus, bled, and eventually scabbed over); I couldn't wear sterling silver--I even tried putting clear nail varnish over the post. Then my problem got progressively worse... I could no longer wear any 14k yellow gold; now I have to wear 18k white gold or platinum. I am not allergic to metal anywhere else on my body. Recently, I was thinking of getting another ear piercing (maybe a second hole or my cartilage) but I was wondering if I would have a similar reaction to the metal. I know I can get hypoallergenic metals--but I also don't want to pay a fortune for an ear piercing. :/

I wanted to clean it more thoroughly (I am an incredible neat-freak) and I soaked it in a cup with warm water and denture cleaner. I made sure that the water was not boiling but it was lightly steaming... When I put it in, it no longer fit. But, it's weird because the plastic does not appear to be warped, it still lines up with my teeth. It looks like the wires have adjusted or something? Is that possible or is the plastic warped? I am really paranoid that I will need to have another one made. I can't get an appointment until Monday and I am worried my teeth will move.

I just got my braces off after 14 months, my teeth were never really that bad, just some misalignment caused by a jaw injury during childhood. I got my retainer and the orthodontist recommended the Hawley retainer over the vacuum one... Naturally, I went his opinion. The retainer fits well, however it prevents me from speaking coherently. I know this is normal but I really cannot afford to be mute with six discussion-based AP courses. It is only the top retainer that prevents me from forming sounds... Will it impact my teeth horribly if I just wear the bottom one at school, put the top one in when we are doing something silently, and for all other purposes wear them both when I get home and through the night until I go to school the next morning? I am only supposed to wear them religiously for the next 3 months but I don't want to mess up my teeth in the mean-time.

I have always loved animals and I have been volunteering at a no-kill cat shelter for the past two years. They have no more room, but I have a list of other rescues I can call. I recently saw two cats by my local Kroger. They live in the wooded ditch on the side of the shopping center... They should be pretty acclimated to people since they live right by the parking lot and the shopping center is incredibly busy. I noticed that there were tons of little plates with wet-food remnants caked onto them; this means that somebody is consistently feeding them. The cats also look well-fed... I thought they might be outdoor-cats but the nearest houses are across a very busy main road. Normally I would feed them and let them on their way, however it has been extremely cold in Atlanta this winter. I am worried that they could freeze... I tried to lure a cat to me with food but it fled. Should I go back there and put a box lined with old towels down so that they have somewhere to sleep? Would it help at all? It is supposed to get very cold tonight and rain/snow tomorrow afternoon. I am worried that if I put a humane trap down, the cat will freeze and be unable to seek shelter.

I have been experiencing frequent vaginal yeast infections over the past year. I read that men can be carriers without showing symptoms; so my boyfriend is going to go to the doctors to get treated. I also read on several web-sites that a lot of friction during intercourse can make yeast infections worse. My boyfriend is large and we often have trouble getting things to fit during sex. We have tried several types of KY-lube: warming, flavored, regular, etc. None of them work that well and they sting or burn after sex (especially the warming). We have tried putting it directly inside me and putting it on him; neither one really yields results. I was wondering if there was any type of lubricant that is compatible with sensitive skin and will work well to prevent soreness after sex.

This year I am going to a big neighborhood halloween party (the people always go over the top). I already decided on a costume; a sexy cop. I am going to really get into the character this year, so I am going the whole nine yards (fake nails, real cuffs, cleavage cups, etc). I bought some fake eyelashes to complete the part. I know how to apply them but I was planning on doing a "smokey" look. I have primer and everything else I need... I am just wondering how I would go about applying false lashes AND primer, eyeshadow, and eyeliner without the adhesive bond breaking. Any tips?

So, I work at a day camp as a counselor for 5-year-olds. The camp is in a relatively wooded area but they seem to have some sort of insect repellant because I haven't really gotten any bug bites, in fact I have yet to see a mosquito. There are a lot of gnats, though. I have been working for three weeks so far without incident, however when I got home today about 2 hours after camp ended I noticed my buttocks were very itchy, I scratched figuring a mosquito had flown up my shorts... that's when I felt that there were about 8 other bumps on my buttocks that were painful and itchy. I figured they were bites... but they kept spreading and eventually about 4 hours later my buttocks are covered with these sores. I put calamine lotion on them, which helped for a few minutes. I showered and made sure to scrub the area to get any allergens off however they are still spreading around my buttocks and still itching (I took a benadryl tablet as well). I have no idea what these bumps are... they itch, hurt, and burn and they are the size of normal bug bites. I don't have any diagnosed allergies (I've been tested) and I didn't sit in an anthill. It wasn't from my shorts because they were loose... I am at a complete loss. All I know is that I had an outbreak of staph about 2 years ago and my bug bites at the beginning of camp swelled and started oozing pus, which isn't normal for me. Can someone offer some help?

I recently had an impulse to go to the hairdresser and have my 18" locks cut, rather than trimmed. She cut too much off the ends, but I'm not really concerned with that, what really bothers me are the "layers" that were chopped into it. Basically, my hair has two major layers... one is at my jawbone with shorter layers ranging up to 2 inches from my scalp, the other layer is at the top of my nipple. Kinda a BIG difference. I just figured it would grow back and I really didn't have the money to pay a more qualified person to fix it, as I would never go back to the original stylist. I recently noticed that she cut these choppy layers into the back of my hair too! From the back, it looks like I have a bowl hair cut on top of my long hair. I read that hair grows about a 1/2 inch every month and I'm not sure my hair is growing enough... I read that medications can have an effect on hair growth, but I cannot find a list of any that would do so. It doesn't say on the warning labels... so I was wondering if anybody knew some medicines that could impair my hair's growth.

My hair was really long and it's naturally straight. I thought it looked too flat at the top. It's far too fine textured to really work with, plus it gets greasy really easily. I decided to get a "scene" haircut to add volume to the top with some short layers, leaving the hair underneath long. I really regret getting it cut, it looks more like a mullet to me! I really miss my long hair and cannot afford hair extensions at the moment. I know it will take forever to grow back and I'm completely unwilling to cut the long part short. I was wondering if there are any ways to help hide my shorter layers until they grow a bit longer. The shortest layer is about 2 inches in length and a majority of the layers are about 3-4 inches in length, meaning they come to about the top of my eyebrows. I have some of my old, long cut hair pieces and I was also wondering if there was any way to make at-home extensions. I really need advice!

My dad found a kitten beside the highway on Wednesday night, we decided to keep him. I want to determine what breed he is but I'm not sure. He's an orange mackeral tabby with bright green eyes. One thing I noticed is that his hair (especially on his tail) sticks out in every direction... his hair isn't particularly long either. He looks like a normal garden variety american shorthair but without a smooth coat. I'm not familar with kittens, he's 8-10 weeks old. I was thinking an american wirehair, but I'm not positive. Is it too early to tell what breed he is?

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7383/112dv8.th....

There's a picture, can somebody help answer my questions?

I'm 16-years-old and a sprinter. I do short distances because I have asthma. One night I was wearing my brand new flats and it was freezing outside... I got a tad of hypothermia and I couldn't feel my feet but my right heal stung. When my friend got me into a warm place, I tried to take off my shoe and noticed the place that the skin had been rubbed off on my heal (about the diameter of a pencil eraser) it was raw, so I thought nothing of it since I get irritated skin pretty often. I had track conditioning the next day and before that I had P.E, during which I noticed that I couldn't stand to have a back on my shoe touching my sore. I had socks on and I didn't have a bandage, so I went to conditioning and just ran with the back of my sneaker smushed down on the right side. Running that day opened the sore and made it ooze and bleed, I put band-aids, gauze, neosporin, bactrium, peroxide, etc on the wound but it won't heal! It's been over a week, almost 2, and the sore hasn't healed!

I am taking my driver's license test soon, but I was wondering what was on the Georgia driving test, or just any driving test, so I know what to practice in order to get my license. I also heard that as long as you follow every instruction they give, you will pass. Is this true?

I'm doing a project for back-to-school. It's a timeline of all the dates in history mentioned in this book we had to read. I bought one of those foam poster boards and glued the descriptions of the events onto construction paper, which I glued to the poster board. I don't have enough space to complete the project and I want to remove the glued construction paper without leaving residue. Can this be done? I tried steaming the paper and it's not really practical. Freezing kind of works, but we do not have a freezer big enough to fit the posterboard. Help!