Hello again.  Many thanks to all that helped me in my first post about finding my cervix, etc.  I really appreciated it :).  Now, I'm trying to find out which size and which brand of menstrual cup will fit and work best for me.  Here's the info I've recently compiled about my body.  The week before my period started, I carefully located where the cervix sits.  When I'm not on my period, it's more or less in the center, about 2 inches in.  Four days ago, my period began for this month, and I again felt around for the cervix.  It was lower, now about 1 inch in, and had moved a bit further back towards the tailbone.

With this information, I no longer think a Diva is the right brand, but I could still use some help.

And one last question on a minor note, is it normal for your period to go super heavy after feeling for the cervix?  'Cause that's what happened this time around.  I felt for the cervix on Monday, ('cause my period started up slow on Sunday and usually hits full force the following day) and it was like super heavy.  I had to change pads almost every hour for the next 2 days, and leaks were CRAZY.  Did I mess something up down there?  

Again, tips appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

"Brass Tacks" by Gloria Lancaster

http://hatstand.slashcity.net/gloria/brass.html
http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/3/brasstacks.html

I am very grateful to a good friend of the Reading Room for this week's rec:

This is one of the older stories on the Hatstand, and has a hard-edged feel to it which I like. It is written first from Bodie’s POV, then Doyle’s, which also shows how each of them can get things wrong about the other, and the ending is satisfying although possibly a little too sugary-sweet. Not enough to ruin the rest of the fic though!

Costumes, a bag. Fun fun. Behind the cut as usual.

( *clicky clicky* )

Tyger – part 1/4
Author: lunadeath02
Pairing: Gene!dog/Sam!cat
Rating: PG this part (will go up for later parts)
Warnings: None yet (besides AU), but will have bad language and two animals being naughty (with each other), oh and slightly cracky
Notes: This idea popped into my head one evening while I was daydreaming, and it wouldn't let me go until I wrote it. So, I spent the majority of my Veterans Day writing this. :-)
‘…’ indicates animals talking (not human speech though)
“…” indicates humans talking

Summary: Gene is a police dog and Sam's a tabby cat. Even differences in species can't keep them apart.

Words: 1,252
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

The next part to Bisexual will be posted later today, in case anyone is wondering. For now, have a little fun in AU land. XD

~**~
( He panted as he raced after the baddie )

Inspired by this pic from ausmac, posted here http://community.livejournal.com/the_safehouse/776958.html I had to make a collage with Lew in it *g*


( under the cut )

I am looking for a BPA-Free water filtering pitcher (think Brita). Not too sure what the best brand is out there for your buck. I know filters get expensive so how do the ones that attach to the faucet work?? I was also thinking of just getting one installed for my whole house. I heard after a while it pays off.

Anyone tried this one??

http://www.amazon.com/Seychelle-FAmily-Water-Pitcher/dp/B0019AK4II/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258036016&sr=8-1

OK, I'm very new to this and this is only my second day of using the MCUK, but I've just had what can only be described as a horror film moment and I just had to share:

Flow has been manageable so far and on emptying my MCUK after about 3 hours, my flow has barely reached the first ml marker.

However, an hour ago, I noticed I was cramping a lot more and I felt a little light-headed. I'm only CD2 and so figured it must be starting to kick in.

As I had so much room last time on emptying I figured I could leave it a bit longer. Not so!

After 4 hours, I went to the bathroom to remove. As I was removing the cup, it leaked all down my hands, legs and underwear. I haven't got any spare so am having to wear them. Yuck! I had a liner on, but I hadn't really leaked that much onto the liner, it was mostly during removal.

Well, when I got it out, the cup was almost overflowing! My flow seems to have picked up dramatically in a short space of time. I was never really aware of this before when using tampons.

Don't think I'll be leaving it as long next time...

creative commons: 'fruit cake' from flick'r courtesy Ringo Ichigo
 
[AH: thought of you with the lace crochet]

Fruit cake mixture [nuts-fruits-spices-cognac-molasses-mincemeat] now tucked away in fridge for the next week. Feel very happy about this. Stage next: continue cleaning the **** oven ****. Off to work today; have decent lunch, but am hugely anxious still about real estate snafu. The legal bills are going to be horrendous, at the very least. One big positive: my hands are healing from my skin picking out-of-control episode. The Gehwol oil helps too (store at corner of Heath): I will be ok for scrapbook beginner class on Saturday. Some notes on the music afternoon tempo regulars, as found out yesterday at our bi-weekly get-together:

• SG has swine flu, very ill: so she couldn't come to the gathering
• PH has scoliosis so extreme now, that her lungs are being affected: she has gained a lot of weight (meds?) but still was well groomed and cheerful
• CMC's broken wrist is healing but looks awful. She looked better in general, and her mom is doing fine in the residence.
• MK's cancer exploratory seems to be zeroing in on a tumour in the neck; surgery + radiation? Her cataract surgery went well, and she played ok.
• We commiserated over Shirley: the family is selling her viols, as she is now too far gone (dementia). Thankfully, they are taking action NOW and not waiting until the viols are deteriorated tooooo badly.

I realize that I have lost many tempo friends to death (Lois, Heide, Joyce M, Joyce R, George) plus there are many who are no longer able to play (Doug; the B's; Fran B; Anne) from health reasons. Plus the folks who moved away, lost interest, whatever. I was honoured to be among the little group yesterday who SOLDIERED ON, regardless of problems.

today's triumphs

• got out of bed before 7am
• metamucil
• more work on oven: as much as I can do, still not clean but it will be ok
• compost to bin (uda brought to street)
• open-close-lights-compost: at Flirt Home (they are away)
• so agitated i am getting sick
• tried to work in craft room: this did not make me feel better, but I learned something (do acrylic stamping FIRST; then rubber stamps; do rub-ons LAST)
• somehow succeeded in making card for SG: swine flu
• more recycling to street
• two phone calls with mom re: real estate worries (she is as frantic as i am, we don't understand why clare hasn't called agent)
• set table for supper
• made bed
• tiny tidy upstairs
• breakfast, cleaned up
• put away UDA's down jacket (downstairs)

ok, so i asked my gyn today about using a cup post partum and she said that after the first week (where i probably wouldn't feel like stuffing anything up there anyways) she doesn't see any problems with using a cup.
the main points in not using tampons are 1) the chemicals and 2) that you can't really control the amount and consistency of fluid you loose, both problems that don't occur with the cup.

of course i don't know yet how i will feel after giving birth and if i will have stitches and stuff, but so far this is good news for me!

just thought i'd let you know ;-)

Hi ladies. I'm not so new to cups, but so far, the one I have (the Diva) has yet to work well for me. Tried twice and had to have it removed by medical professionals both times, after digging, poking and prodding for HOURS. The first time I was told it was suctioned to my cervix. Suffice it to say, when I went home that day my cervix hurt! :-( I have no idea whether I have a high or low cervix, so that may be the problem I'm running into especially since I've read that it's positioning changes throughout the cycle.

I feel like I wasted the $ I paid for my diva, as I'm too scared to try it out for a third time and possibly have to go to the emergency room to have it removed. Anyway...I know everyone's body is different and therefore what works for one will not work for another but..UGH, I just want to not have to buy anymore stupid tampons and pads!! Is it common to go through several cups that just "don't work" (or in my case, you can't get OUT) before finding the one that works for you? How did you all decide which (other) ones you were going to try out? I have SO many more questions but I think i'll leave it at this for the moment.

After stirring the contents of the composter a bit, I discovered some huge roaches running around the box. I'm kinda new to this compost thing. Is that normal?

I just wanted to thank everyone in this community for all the information and opinions available! I haven't used my LJ account in 4 years and had to reset my forgotten password so I could get on here and share how happy I am!
I was looking into cups after getting so sick of cloth pad laundry and this is by far the best and most informative source with so many of you wonderful women. After browsing around for hours and hours, I finally decided on a larger size Lunette (Selene, because it's pretty blue!) and I was able to find a link to a site that sent them to the US.
I'm not even done with my first cycle using the cup, but I am so hooked. With all the insight available on here, I was able to get things worked out within hours. Got it in perfect the first time, not so perfect the second time, and after about 5 minutes of trial and error the third time, figured out how to fold and the angle to insert to get it in there just right!
It's so great! I was a little nervous because I was out and about and active all day the first day, but other than that one tweak (which I was at home for, much easier to deal with) things went awesome.
Thank you every one!

beads, wire, about 8 inches high
TC is a name of the firm :)

I just finished my 2nd cycle and my DivaCup pre-childbirth is leaking leaking leaking.
-It takes up my entire vagina and I'm sure my cervix is in the cup
-I use it inside-out because it is too long for me even after i cut the stem
-I think I insert it properly every time
-I have no idea if i have a good seal but when i run my finger around the rim it has opened fully, i can't really grab the bottom and turn it because its inside out...at least it's difficult
-I love the cup it has made my period much less stressful but I still have to wear pad. Not a pantyliner... A PAD!
-It always leaks, light, heavy, moderate...doesn't matter, LEAKAGE!
-I REALLY want my DivaCup to work. I'm hoping that no one will tell me to try another size/brand because that's not feasible at the moment after going through all the trouble of convincing my mom to order this "soo groosss" [amazing] product for me.
-BTW im a 19 year old virgin dancer in Jamaica and at the moment I cannot swim or dance with it alone. So I'm kind of in the same position as i was in before i got it, which defeats the whole purpose of buying it in the first place.

PLEASE HELP!!! =]

and i had a ton of turquoise beads... so i spent the day making this stuff

( more stuffs! )

and i still have a ton of the turquoise beads left!!!

Not too long ago, someone had a post about problems she experienced with her cup while flying.  Something about the air pressure change breaking the seal?  I have looked and I can't find the post.  I guess if our ears can pop, could the pressure change cause the cup to do something funky?

I'll be flying day after tomorrow and my period started today.   What are some of your experiences with cups while flying?  Anyone have seal issues due to the air pressure change?

I'm not worried about emptying it in the teeny tiny rest rooms on the plane and trying to get a good seal.   I can do that in the rest room before I board and make sure all is well.  I just don't want to be sitting there and have my ears pop and at the same time feel a "pop" somewhere else! 

So I've been tryin to come up with some cute stocking stuffer type things... usually I fail pretty bad at Christmas, so this year I'm trying to plan in advance, heh.





Petite <3 pendants! Tiny and cute and just dorky enough for most of my girly friends. They're super simple to make too, except that I had to make the steel "<" symbol stamp first. Originally I was going to make earrings, but I hate making earrings hehe.

"I realized just how effective the demonization of welfare has been when I was actually shocked to hear kids, in a show targeted at other kids, being led in a chant that said being poor or on welfare shouldn’t be shameful and did not reduce their worth as human beings. Can you imagine a TV show, even on PBS, putting something like this on the air today? Our public discourse at this point says that being on welfare is shameful, and that those receiving it in fact aren’t “somebody.” They are dependents, lazy loafers, and their kids are just additional burdens on the state; they don’t have the same rights to dignity and respect as other citizens, and they certainly shouldn’t expect to get it."

[Source]

This picked up my mood considerably today. And while it's not specifically advice or a suggestion of some kind, maybe it'll pick up someone's mood too?


------------------------------------------------
// edit: Throughout the course of the night I have been touched by so many of these stories and replies that I just wanted to say thank you. Just imagine.... For someone to reply, I think, there's someone else out there that isn't replying but might have been touched by this video, what you said, or what you're going through. And I think that's powerful. I also think it's evident that this is message has uplifted and made some of you stronger today so for those of you who would like, I have converted the youtube video to an MP3 so you can download it and listen to it when you need it.

Just hold on everyone, it'll get easier. We're not in this alone. (hug)