Bored Again

So, since I'm moving I'm starting to clean out my closet and sell it all on ebay. This is leading me to have an excess of space and cash (both dangerous when you are a habitual over shopper :).

Anyway, I'm looking to change my style, I'm always seeing cute things on people or the mannequins in the store and I want to have something like that. I've literally stolen an entire outfit from a mannequin (pathetic). Thing is, I never think they look nearly as good. Maybe 'good' isn't the word, I guess 'Right' would be better. Its not that they don't fit correctly, it's just that it's always so different from what I normally wear that it just looks wrong (if that makes sense). I'm just really not sure how to get over that weird feeling I get. It's hard because someone will tell me it looks really good but I'm never sure since it's so odd to me. So I have a closet that's over flowing with clothes that I rarely (if ever) wear, it's wasteful and I hate it.

I'm 24, I need some style, I literally wear the same pair of jeans I bought then I was 15....to say they're starting to get worn would be an understatement (although I have to say, Levis makes one damn good long lasting pair of jeans). My usual day to day wear is the above mentioned jeans with a t-shirt or tank top (which may or may not be 5+ years old as well), flip flops.

I'd like to break that 'creature of habit' trait when it comes to clothing.

I like having acrylic nails, I *hate* spending 2 hours in a salon every couple of weeks and shelling out $35 a trip. So I've starting doing them myself, not quite salon quality but hey for the price ($11/full set) it can't be beat.

I've been looking at the electric nail drills like they use in the salon, I think that would really help give me a better finish (and speed the process up a bit) but I have no desire to spend upwards of $150 on a machine. I was wondering if I could just get a regular cordless Dremel tool and put the nail bits in there. Has anyone ever done this? Will the bits fit? Or am I going to have massive problems?

Failing a Dremel tool, I've been looking on Ebay and found a few decently priced ones but they are all from Hong Kong and I'm wary of buying something like that over Ebay and internationally. Has any one had any good success with going that route?

I have a down featherbed on top of my mattress. Well I had asked my roommate to clean the litter box last night since I wasn't coming home til late....guess she didn't and the cat peed on my bed (he's kind of picky on having a clean litter box). Anyway, he did this same thing 2 months ago and it cost me $60 to have it dry cleaned, I really don't feel like shelling out ANOTHER $60 to have it cleaned again.

I've read online that machine washing down is a nono and this featherbed actually belongs to my Mom, so I don't want to accidentally destroy it. But is there ANY other way I can clean it? Is it really that big of a deal if I throw it in a washer just this one time? Spot cleaning isn't an option, it soaked all the way through.

I say 'bedroom' since it's a studio, pretty much I'm redoing the whole place and am tackling my bed at the moment.

Problem is I can't really think of any stores that sell bedding stuff besides like Macy's, Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I even checked out Nordstroms and didn't see much (plus while I do plan to drop a few bills on bedding I'd rather NOT spend $600 or $700). I'm leery of buying off overstock.com since I can't actually see or feel the products (bought some sheets off there a couple of years ago and was disappointed, great for like 3 washes, then awful and they weren't cheap).

I'd say my budget for bedding is around $400 total, sheets, down blanket and duvet and a couple accent pillows. I'd like something really nice and luxurious, puffy and comfy. Pretty much, I want a bed no one wants to ever get out of.

Any ideas for stores where I could find a LARGE selection (I still haven't made up my mind on what I want and so I'd like to see a lot)? If it helps I live in San Diego. Also, I'd love some decorating ideas, I'm thinking white duvet and maybe dark plum colored sheets? Nothing overly girly, more classic than trendy.

So I work about 50 hours a week on top of being a full time student, so I average anywhere from 16-18 hours a day or more and usually after about hour 12 or so my make up just isn't really cutting it anymore. It's not bad, it's just not really good either (and the cute guy shows up during my last hour when I'm at my worst). I do get slightly oily but a couple of blotting sheets and I'm good to go so I don't think that's the problem. Also, just re-washing my face and reapplying really isn't possible, I go straight from school to work with barely enough time to eat.

Currently I'm using Smashbox primer which seems to be helping but I really need a makeup with some staying power. I'm using Lancome foundation and Lorac powder. I was using Lorac foundation but I noticed the color just wasn't quite right. I *HATE* that caked on, dear-god-is-that-a-mask type of makeup, so super heavy is out BUT I do have some acne scarring so it needs to have decent coverage. And of course, you can assume I am somewhat prone to break outs although it's really not to bad.

Any suggestions for a good brand that will last through the day and won't destroy my skin? Not too concerned with price, obviously I don't want to pay $100 for something but I don't mind paying a little extra for good quality. Anything I can get from Sephora or Macy's is a huge plus (I like to try before I buy).

Well, you know how it goes, get one flea and you end up with 50,000 of them. I do have cats and treated them for it, the problem went away for about a week but a couple of days after treating them I sent them to my Mother's since I needed some work done on my apartment and shortly after the fleas came back (possibly since the cats aren't here they don't die from the advantage right after jumping on the cats, so they just hatch and bite me). Unfortunately, I'm already having allergy problems from some medication I was on that has made me super sensitive to EVERYTHING, including flea bites.

I'm wary of using poisons for a number of reasons (see above about allergies and sensitivities), I also live in a very small (less than 300 sq ft studio) and am worried about setting off a fogger since they can be dangerous in small spaces. I also don't want it seeping under the walls and getting into my neighbors apartments. Lastly, I don't like the idea of coating my apartment in poison.

Any good remedies? Or should I just wait until my cats get back and let the Advantage take care of the problem as it has in the past? It may be a while before I can get them back, I've already been waiting 3 weeks and my multiple complaints about the work not being done have yielded no results, so I'm not expecting it to be done any time soon.

This might be an odd question but does putting on moisturizer decrease the effectiveness of benzyol peroxide? Personally I *HATE* benzyol peroxide with a passion because it severely over dries my skin, even though I only use it once a day. Because of that I haven't used it in years, however I just switched birth control and had a moderate breakout that my normal routine just couldn't handle. I broke down figuring I might as well try it before going to my Dr for antibiotics since I seem to have recently developed a severe allergy to a couple of them and don't feel like pressing my luck.

It is helping but as usual is SEVERELY over drying my skin, it wasn't this bad even when I was on accutane. I know that's how benzyol peroxide works to cure the acne so I've just been using it at night and putting massive amounts of moisturizer on in the morning but by mid afternoon I'm already dried back out. I was thinking that moisturizer at night would help but I don't want it to counter act the benzyol peroxide since I don't want to use it any longer than I have to (i.e. the second my break out is gone, I'm dumping the stuff and going back to my regular routine). Other than a very mild organic soap to take off my make up and a gentle face wash with low % of salicylic acid (from Philosophy's On a Clear Day System) I'm not using any other acne products in an attempt to minimize the drying effects but even then....

So simply, will putting on a heavy moisturizer over the benzyol peroxide decrease the effectiveness?

I have a MacBookPro, it's not too old, I got it at the end of August for the new school year. I don't have a lot of anything on it, just papers and a few photos. I'm also pretty careful about what files I open and I have really good anti-virus that was provided by the school. I don't download music or videos (except from iTunes). So, I'm fairly sure it's not a virus. All the programs on it were installed by my school's IT department and I can take it to them to take a look but if possible I'd rather see if I can't get it figured out on my own (since I'm pretty much attached at the hip to my laptop and can't bear the thought of leaving it with a stranger for a day or two). I haven't owned a Mac since I was about 5, so I'm still learning the programming and whatnot.

Anyway, I prefer Firefox over Safari although I do use Safari on occasion (one of my classes requires access to an online thing that doesn't support Firefox). But it seems to run rather slow, I'll get loading icons more often than I should. I know FaceBook chat is buggy to begin with, but if I'm chatting with more than one person or doing something else at the same time it'll take FOREVER to load. I'll be trying to type something to one friend and nothing will show because the other friend sent me a message and the computer is lagging like crazy. This is one of their top of the line models, there is MORE than enough power to handle a freaking chat program. Same thing happens when I'm in gmail chat too, so I know it's something to do with the internet. At first I thought it was my home connection since I have high speed but it's the slowest they have but it's the same at the school (which has MUCH faster speeds).

Any suggestions on what the problem might be or how I can fix it? I do periodically clean out my history on Firefox and that hasn't made any difference.

This is really bugging me, PCs I can fix but I'm still new to the whole Mac thing, I don't like not being able to fix my computer problems >.<

It's not bad and I've managed to get it better but still noticeable. I've only got a couple of hours but I figured it was worth a shot to see if anyone has any tips to make them less noticeable for at least one night. I've heard visine but don't have any and can't use it anyway since I wear contacts (i.e. I'm not going to buy it for just zits). I've heard icing helps but will it work for the whole night? I'm doing a mask right now to try and get every thing toned and even.

What about make up tricks? Again, I'm pretty good at covering them but any thing helps. And I already know about green concealer to cover the redness, what else you guys got?

I was planning on just flat ironing my hair but I realized the top I was going to wear is very flowy and romantic and that some soft waves or curls would look better.

Here's the problem, flat ironing I can do (and with awesome results) curls......not so much. Here's what I have: small set hot rollers (not enough to do whole head), blow dryer, 2 curling irons in large and small and a triple barrel roller....don't ask me why, I have NO CLUE how to use it, it's just been sitting in my cabinet for the last 8 months. I'm also short on products, I have some mouse, some surf head texturizing stuff (never got the hang of that either) and hair spray.

I'll be washing my hair so I'll be blow drying it, thing is, unless I straighten it afterward it tends to look stringy and separated. My hair is in VERY good condition, I rarely heat style (I think the last time was new years) and deep condition regularly so I know it's not a side effect of damage (although I could use a trim).

Anyway, tips on how to go from wet to sultry hair?

Well all know the economy is horrible, add to that the fact I live in CA which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Add into that, I'm a college student, broke and desperately needing a good job. I have enough money to cover my bills for this month and that's about it. I have a job interview in the next couple of days, it looks like a good job and would fit well with my school schedule. It would also give me some much needed management experience.

Here's the problem: It's at a tanning salon. I know that doesn't sound like a bad thing, but knowing the massive amount of health risks and the fact that I would literally be selling these people the skin cancer that will more than likely kill them in the most horrific, painful ways possible does bother me slightly. I don't agree with the industry or how it tries to use misinformation to cover the fact that tanning is just as dangerous as smoking (some say more so because unlike smoking tanning is becoming very socially acceptable and even encouraged). And that as an employee I would be required to uphold those mistruths.

On the other hand, like I said, I really need a job, this one pays well and there's commission and bonuses possible. Plus, I also hold the belief that if people are so vain and shallow that they would rather be tan now than healthy and beautiful later in life, it's their own stupidity and they'll get what they deserve: wrinkles, age spots and death. Still.....I don't know if I'd feel ok willfully contributing to that.

Any thoughts? I'm kind of stuck between taking a job I feel is somewhat morally and ethically irresponsible and having to start selling off what little I've worked hard to get just so I can continue to eat ramen 2 times a day (everyday).

I recently moved into a new apartment in my same complex and I think the previous tenet broke the disposal. Unfortunately, I can't just have the building guy fix it since I have a cat and I'm not supposed to (I'm a college student, I don't have an extra $600 for a deposit or an additional $100/month in pet rent). Whoever was here before just kept pouring food down the drain and it's starting to smell a wee bit. I've already tried to dissolve it with draino foamer but it hasn't helped. I tried unplugging it and replugging it to see if that would restart it but nothing's worked.

Any tips? Either to get it working again or to dissolve the crap that's in there so it'll wash away and stop smelling.

I just bought a used car a couple of weeks ago, everything on it is great except it was raining ever so slightly this morning and I realized the wipers need replacing. Here's the thing, I live in So Cal, and it's the beginning of summer, really not to much rain in the near future. But still, I like to have everything in top condition for safety reasons (you never know what might happen tomorrow).

What I'm worried about is if I go spend $40 on wipers now, when I don't really need them, will the summer heat and sun just destroy them and I'll have to replace them again in the winter? I rain-xed a couple of weeks ago, so I do have that working for me.

I've been going through a lot lately and I think I just need some help. I had an amazing therapist in college but had to stop going when I graduated because she worked for my university.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a female therapist that was very good here in San Diego. I don't like the idea of just throwing a dart at a page from the phone book when it comes to something this important and personal.

I've heard stories over the years that one reason drug companies don't put the money into research for an effective male birth control is that men won't take it, that even though they don't want children they still want to know mentally that they are able to do so. Not entirely sure how true that assumption is, it's just something that I've read.

Now, it seems as a lot of the arguments about men having no say in regards to unplanned pregnancy could be avoided by this, i.e. a man wouldn't have to rely purely on condoms which can fail (or be sabotaged) or on their partners 'promises' to take birth control, or drunken accidents, or what have you. Just like women, men who wish to have sex but are not ready or do not want the responsibilities of parenthood can protect themselves.

The number of unwanted children would most likely drop as would the number of abortions and paternity fraud and men/women trapping their partners into a relationship with a baby.

Now what if I also told you that there IS a way for a man to become temporarily sterile but it involved basically soaking your scrotum in very very hot water repeatedly in order to damage them so that they would no longer produce sperm and that with the correct upkeep is not only effective but the damage will heal itself within a sort time giving a man back his full fertility if he stops the treatments.

I've read about a guy who did this (it's I believe an old Indian thing, but I'm not sure, it was a couple of years ago that I read it). It was just a grad student with a microscope but his research showed very good results (zero live sperm).

So men, would you either take a pill or boil your balls to protect yourself aginst the possiblity of being screwed over with a baby you don't want?

Honest question here, I truly believe that giving men the same options as to birth control as women would be a good thing, helping to level the playing field for both sides.

I was reading a blog that was linked by another poster and starting thinking about the domestic abuse laws in some states. Some have gone quite far in trying to protect the victim, including mandatory arrests and the inability to drop charges if requested (even child abusers have the possibility for charges to be dropped for no reason other than the prosecutor doesn't want to deal with it).

I'm curious, do you think that these laws go too far? Or do you think that they are a necessary evil in the idea that many many abused victims will be coerced or mislead into returning to the abuser and that these laws are a way of protecting them from themselves?

I'm not trying to start and argument about who beats who more, men or women, but more along the line of how far should the government go to try and protect a victim, considering, there will be people who abuse the system (i.e. calling abuse on some one when none exist and causing hell in that person's life).

95% of the times I'm a flip flops or sneakers type of girl, unfortunately, my boss would fire me if I tried to get away with that at work. My flats that I use as work shoes are full of holes and no longer acceptable (I'm working to find another pair but it's hard to go shoe shopping when she schedules you for 9 days in a row, plus I don't really feel like spending the money on a pair, I'd rather use it for something I'd enjoy rather than work shoes). So for the last 2 or 3 weeks I've been wearing plain black pumps but I've heard this sort of thing is hell for your feet, your knees, your hips, your back, your whatever.

They're high quality designer pumps and I usually can get away with taking them off once I actually *get* to my chair, but I'm still walking around in them quite as bit.

Since I mostly wear normal flats, will the little time that I do run around in heels not really make much of a difference? I mean, I don't want to do this now and then screw my self when I'm like 50 with back or feet problems.

For the record, it's probably like 2 miles total that I'm walking in the heels 5 days a week.

I'm on Accutane so I *need* a great moisturizer, I was using some cheap drug store thing and while it was working it wasn't that great. So I hit up my local Macy's and got some Clinique Super Defense SPF 25. Now the girl gave me the one for oily skin, even though I told her I was on Accutane and my skin isn't oily (anymore), I told her it was really dry. I decided to try it anyway and it BURNED!!! I had done a scrub and a face mask so it might have been because of that, but it's been a few days and while it doesn't burn as much it still does. And it's also not working, I mean, I put some on at 6am and before 10am I already had dry spots and flaking.

I have to go back on Tuesday to pick up a preorder and was going to give it til then before I return it but should I wait longer and give it a better chance or is it one of those if it's not working now it's not going to? Should I exchange it for the dry skin version or something else entirely?

I'm kind of pissed, I paid $50 for it and I look worse than with my cheap drug store crap.

I found what seems like an awesome deal, it's a 04 Tiburon with 33K miles for $7500. It's got a few bells and whistles and the photos have it looking in perfect condition, paint looks awesome, carbon fiber hood with scoop, inside clean as hell.

I'm going to call the dealership later and ask a few more questions but since my first solo car buying experience was less than perfect (the guy kind of really lied to me even though I did get a decent deal) I'd like a few outside opinions.

Thanks!

So, I'm not vegan, but I prefer to use products that are cruelty free and as natural as possible since I don't like a lot of potentially cancer causing chemicals soaking into my body and I believe that cosmetic animal testing is wrong. Victoria's Secret's Pink line has just come out with some new body care products. The packaging has the cute little cruelty free bunny on it and says that it's made from 100% vegan products but doesn't say that the product itself is vegan. And I can only pronounce probably one out of every ten ingredients.

http://www2.victoriassecret.com/commerce/onlinePro...

So, is being made with vegan ingredients enough to make a product vegan? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but usually if something can be labeled as vegan and not just vegan ingredients it'll say so.