Birds and the Bees

I started dating a guy back in April. We were both not looking for something serious as we both have busy lives and we live an hour apart. He also had, a couple years back, a nasty breakup and has since sworn off committed relationships (which, for other reasons I m not into either). We talk daily, often texting when we wake up, then during lunch, then before bed. He initiates most of our interaction. I request, simply, that we see each other once a month. Months ago we were seeing each other every two weeks, but now every time I try to plan something, he bails right before. As I m not into having anything serious, this doesn t bother me aside from the inconvenience of it. But it s been three times in a row with decent reasons, but often not informing me until literally last second (yesterday was 7 minutes before I expected him and he hadn t even thought to let me know). However our interactions via text message are still amazing, talking about stupid stuff until far past his preferred bedtime. In addition our sexual chemistry is amazing both in person and via text. Yesterday he asked for space (he says he s upset about a work issue but this issue has been going on for months). I ve been giving it to him. The question is...is he not interested? If yes, why wouldn t he just say so? Or is he afraid of having greater feelings for me, and if yes, how do I approach that?

I m a 28yo, f, in upstate ny. I have a desk job with low stress. I have not been out of the country in years. About 3 weeks ago, my neck became stiff, was painful and made a cracking noise when I moved it. I exercise often so I assumed I must have done something working out. A week ago my pain travelled. My shoulders and neck now always hurt. Often times the areas around my joints feel painful too (knees, elbows, etc) like fever pain except they are concentrated around my joints. I have dull pressure headaches multiple times a day. I began having heart palpitations and despite being athletic, I m often short of breath. I m so exhausted that I ve been napping on top of a full night sleep. My oral body temperature was 98.7F. This isn t high but I often have an oral temperature of 97.4F. I visited my doctor who suggested I have Lyme disease (which would make sense as I often do trail runs in the woods), but I haven t seen a tick or rash. The other suggestion was that I developed tension headaches. I am uncertain that makes sense. Yesterday my neck hurt so bad that I couldn t keep my head up. The Lyme test takes 2 weeks, so they put me on a steroid. They ran a standard blood test. My white blood cell count is normal and there are no markers for inflammation. I ve now had the steroid for a day. My pain is now only tolerable. Can anyone take any guesses as to what is going on? With my basic blood test coming up with nothing abnormal, I feel a bit crazy.

My dog is an, almost, two year old golden retriever. He is a great dog and we have had him almost a year. Aside from being energetic, he is the most well-behaved dog. He is gentle and loving, even to our two cats. In the past two weeks, however, he has started pacing around with his toy ball in his mouth and growling (sounds more like grumbling). He will do this for several minutes and usually does it several times a day. I have never heard a dog do this. Why is he making this noise?

I have a naturally low body temperature. When healthy, my body temperature always ranges between 97.4F and 97.6F (orally). For a normal person, 99.6 is a low-grade fever and 100.4 is a fever. But I feel like crap anything above 98.0. What is considered a fever for someone with a low body temperature? And do doctors recognize that? When I had the flu last year, my temperature didn't rise above 100.1, but I felt like crap. The doctor assumed (because I tested positive for the flu) that my fever wasn't that high because I must be taking an antipyretic. I wasn't.

So I am about $45,000 in student loan debt. I work for a non-profit making a little over $12 an hour. Last year my student loan payment under an IBR plan was about $85 a month. But, in the last year I also got a promotion and a $1 raise. Under the IBR plan, I have to submit my taxes every year so they can evaluate if I am still eligible for the plan. Sure enough, I still am, but they decreased my payment from $85 to $0. I now make more money. I also got married (though we file separately). So why am I now paying less?

My husband and are young adults with good jobs and are handy people. My husband has helped redo nearly all of his parents house from roof to plumping and heating. My parents are considering selling their gorgeous house on a giant chunk of land that, in excellent condition, would be a $300,000 house. My husband and I had just started planning to get a house but are still several years away from actually buying one. We currently rent a house. My parents have not kept their house in excellent condition so I'd estimate the actual value at about $175,000. My husband and I are considering buying it since we know 90% of the work we can do ourselves and then turn it around to sell it for it's real value. My parents would sell it to me for the cost of the remaining mortgage: $86,000, but my husband and I have only just started saving for a down payment and do not have 20% especially because we'd also borrow against the equity to begin doing the major repairs. However, I know one can buy a house without a down payment with mortgage insurance, but that you no longer pay it after the loan to value ratio is below 80%. How does that work with a "flipped" house? Is it based off what the loan is for? What the actual accessed value is? Would I even have to have mortgage insurance since I may not even borrow up to 80% of the actual value of the house?

Yesterday night I was running outside, barefoot in my yard. I stepped on something sharp. My husband says "oh, I think you stepped on a pricker bush [nettle]." So I cleaned off my foot and inspected it. I didn't see any wound or any needles from the bush inside my foot. If it's what I stepped on, I've stepped on them before with no reactions. It hurt a bit to press on the area I felt I was pricked, but other than that, I felt fine. This morning I woke up and a quarter of my foot feels sore. It feels like walking on a bruise every time I step (with no discoloration) and my "ring finger" toe is stiff and hurts to move. I was vaccinated for tetanus but I think my booster is due at some point this year. And I have no symptoms of tetanus (aside from muscle stiffness, but the stiffness is only isolated to my toe...unlike tetanus). Other than the spreading pain, I feel just fine. Anyone have any ideas?

I had a tooth filled for the first time almost a week ago. At first there was a little dull pain, but now the entire left side of my jaw hurts. The strange part is that I got my upper left molar filled and my lower molars and my jaw are what hurt most. I noticed at first that my teeth on that side didn't sit together right. Is this simply that he filled it with a high spot? It hurts more after chewing food.

So, I bought a car in October and my credit score was 659 (I'm young still so I haven't established it long and my parents kind of screwed me over since they insisted they'd pay my student loan bill until they realized they couldn't pay it and handed me over a bill 120 days late). Anyway, I just checked it. Still 659. So I want to try to improve it since simply paying my existing bills on time has not changed it even a smidge. So, the biggest thing my report said was a problem is the amount of credit I have available. I am using 85% of my credit apparently. But what counts toward this credit? It says I have $1862 in available credit. I have a $4000 line of credit that has no balance. I have a credit card of $1500 with no balance. I have an auto loan and a student loan. Do those loans count toward that 85% credit even though I can't reborrrow that money? And if I have at least $5500 in available credit, where did the $1862 come from?

So I went to the doctor yesterday. I wasn't feeling well, and it turns out I have the flu. However, what's weird is when the doctor looked in my throat. He asked me if I have ever had my tonsils taken out. I hadn't. He told me I have almost no tonsils left. In my dazed state I didn't even think about it. Then I remembered it last night. What would make tonsils disappear?

So, my mother has decided to lose weight. She is in her 50s and morbidly obese. She has rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. We have joined a gym together. I used to be in great shape and am just looking to get back into shape, so I know how to exercise. My mom, however, is completely lost about how to exercise and with her health problems, she needs to be careful with how she exercises. I'm used to heavy lifting and 5 mile runs, I have no idea what kinds of exercises to teach her that she will be able to do given her size, her difficulty moving her legs, and are light enough not to spike her blood pressure (she has the pressure under control with medication but I still don't plan to have her doing bench presses any time soon!). Anyone have any advice? She is already feel overwhelmed and intimidated and can't really afford a personal trainer. She really needs to stick with this.

So, in July I missed my first period. I have taken my birth control pills religiously for about 5 years. I've only ever missed one pill which was years ago and ever since have not been more than an hour late (rarely). Also, my husband and I always use a condom. So, I decided to take a pregnancy test. It came out negative. I figured its normal to miss a period on Loestrin 24 Fe and shrugged it off. August came and I missed it again. Took another test. Negative. Again didn't think anything of it. September I had three drops of blood for a "period." That was it. October no period. In this time I have gained several pounds including larger breasts. I always feel bloated. I have developed some pretty bad acne. I am getting some abdominal cramping on one side and some odd muscle twitching in my abdomen. Stress may also play a factor in this, but I am just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I have a gyno appt in Dec. but would really like some comfort since I am not ready for kids.

I am feeling unfulfilled in the job I am currently at, and really looking for a new job, but, unlike my current job, I don't want to go into the job unsure of what I am getting into. While I am up for challenges, I am really looking for the ideal job, one I can do really well, and one I plan to be in for a long time. I applied to a job and received a call from the potential employer saying they thought perhaps another position they had open would be perfect for me. At first, the other position sounded perfect, but after talking to my potential employer, they made it seem like the one skill I didn't really have, was a fairly large portion of my job. They wanted me to think about it and get back to them. I am concerned about that skill, and want to inquire further before I make any moves. How do I ask about my concerns without sounding completely unqualified or uninterested?

I have been on the pill for years. And about 6 months ago my period got shorter and shorter until 3 months ago, I stopped menstruating altogether. I take my pill religiously every day (I am never more than 30 minutes late, and I have only missed the pill twice and that was years ago). I also use a condom every time. I took a pregnancy test after my first missed period and then another one when I skipped it a second time. Both were negative. I have every intention of visiting the doctor but I don't really have any other symptoms. I also know very well that hormonal birth control can cause missed periods but I have never actually known anyone who has missed more than one. Has anyone else experienced several missed periods in a row on hormonal birth control?

So I am getting married on Saturday. We budgeted and saved and while we did a magnificent job of paying for nearly all of our wedding and honeymoon by ourselves and without a loan, we have come down to the wire and realized we are about $800 to $1000 short. We are going to have to use a line of credit. And while we'll definitely be ok (we make enough money to easily may it back in under two months) I still feel completely stressed out about it. Has anyone else had to use a line of credit or loan to pay off their wedding? I feel like I am the only one who has to do this of the people I know.

I am spending a day at Universal Studios Orlando and Island of Adventure in early September (labor day weekend). It will be only one day and we plan to get a "park hopper" to do both parks in a day (or what we can). Is it worth it to get the express pass?

So, I am planning a Disney World honeymoon. Because I am staying for 10 days (9 nights), I was recommended at some point during my research to consider purchasing an annual pass because of the discounts it may give me. Well, passes for two people is over $1400 and the cost of the tickets themselves for 2 people is only a little over $500. So, I had a question, does everyone in the party need to have an annual pass to get the discounts? Can I order two eight-day tickets with one annual pass? Can I book a hotel room for two people under one pass (if discounts are offered at the time)? Are there are other real benefits to being a passholder? Are discounts offered often? Any information or advice is appreciated.

I am going to NYC for a day trip this Saturday. We are there to find wedding dresses and we will be around the fashion district. We are arriving at Grand Central. We figure if we are going to NYC for the day, we might as well do something else aside from just going to a wedding dress appointment. We'd like to go out to eat. My mother and maid of honor will be going with me. My mother is not usually a fan of exotic food so we might be looking for something a little more american or italian. She is also overweight and has arthritis so wandering too far the grand central or fashion district area would be tough. I am a vegetarian so I would need some place with both meat options and non-meat options. As long as it is not meat, I'm not too picky, pasta, grilled cheese, a veggie burger, I don't care, I'll eat anything that doesn't have meat in it. My maid of honor is not picky. We also want a place that isn't going to cost a WHOLE lot. Good price is probably no more than $25 a person. Any suggestions?

My fiance and I want to go to Disney World for our honeymoon. Our wedding budget and honeymoon budget is a little tight. If a car, for example, were to severely breakdown, we may not be able to have the honeymoon we really want. However, knowing that Disney is a popular place, we really want to make reservations for the honeymoon we want. Is it possible to downgrade our room reservation at a later time? If an act of God prevents us from being able to stay in the room we want, can we downgrade to a cheaper room if we need to (provided the room's available and so forth)?

I have a laptop that caught an awful virus. After using one option after another to fix the problem (without spending money) and failing, I decided my best option was to wipe my hard drive. I have a Dell laptop that had windows already installed, but me not knowing COMPLETELY what I was doing, I formatted all the partitions (or so I think....I cannot honestly remember if I reformatted the OEM section). I had an old Dell desktop before this, and when I needed to wipe my hard drive for that, it came with a nice handy disk to reinstall windows. Assuming my dell laptop had the same thing, I formatted the partitions and began over again. Sure enough, I scrounged for windows 7 amongst my CD and found one. After installing it, I realized it was my fiance's copy of windows 7. However, I managed to read the slightly worn product key sticker on the bottom of my laptop and after several attempts, I got my laptop back in working order. Several days later, I get a message saying my windows product key is invalid for activation. My computer nerd friend said it was fine to use a different disk to install windows 7 provided your product key belongs to the same version of windows as the disk you are using. So, since I figured my laptop probably had the same windows 7 home version as my fiance, I assumed this would not be an issue. I am guessing because I already used the product key once before on my computer, that it thinks I am using the product key on a different computer. The computer is the same, just a reinstall. I would try to reinstall windows using the partition from the OEM section but I have no idea how and I do not know if I formatted the section or not so the section may be gone anyway. So, how do I correct this? I have no support from Dell as my warranty is up and I have no support from Windows since my operating system came with the computer. Is there a way Microsoft can see this is just a reinstall and not me using product keys on different computers?