fudgebudget Member

Is there a place where you live where you could take a cooking class or something? It will be cheaper for you to try new things if you can cook it yourself, so try learning the basics. Also: bulk bins are your friend. If you've got a Whole Foods or something around you, the cheapest place there is usually the bulk bins,…

Like most cats, mine loves boxes. This is why we don't buy her an actual cat bed.

If I'm going to indulge in alcohol, I'm going to do it for a taste that I really love - not just for the sake of drinking. Find a drink you really love and budget for it - or, you could just enjoy the special occasion and really enjoy yourself drinking something that you think is worth the calories. I'll echo the other…

It's not uncommon for a woman's cervix to be repeatedly hit during sex, and if an IUD isn't displaced by that kind of pseudo-direct contact then I really don't think you need to worry about a fall. My doctor basically said that the only thing that would dislodge an IUD is the uterus itself rejecting it, and that any…

Exactly. IUDs have also been shown to significantly reduce the risk of cervical cancer - http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/13/health/iud-lower-cervical-cancer-risk/index.html

Sounds like they trimmed your strings too short if they were poking your husband for that long. Mine were left long enough to curl around the cervix and I've never had that issue. Had your Dr done many insertions before? I can't believe they're charging you that much to take it out. All they have to do is pull the strings…

Having a child previously just marginally decreases the chance of expulsion, not perforation of the uterine wall. In fact, women who have an IUD put in >6 weeks after giving birth have a slightly higher chance of perforation because the uterus may not have finished contracting back to its original size. To answer the OP's…

I'm going to echo the other poster and say lead by example. It's not your SO's responsibility to cook special things for you. If you want something different then you can make it yourself, you're a grownup. My boyfriend knows that I am going to eat a lot of stuff that he has no interest in (or just flat out doesn't like),…

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. You have to take the time to understand each other's communication styles (because you can talk all day and not really understand each other if you haven't taken the time to decode), then you have to communicate BEFORE an issue becomes a _big_ issue. Physical attraction is of course…

I believe Margaret Cho compared this to eating while watching the Food Network. It's just a bonus.

It's naive to think that one's partner doesn't think about other people in terms of aesthetics. We can all appreciate an attractive person without wanting to cheat. Porn (to me, at least) becomes cheating when it is used as a substitute for intimacy with one's partner. Emotional cheating hurts just as much if not more than…

She sounds petty and vindictive. She would have every right to be pissed about you going to a "gentlemen's club" (and really, let's call it what it is, a shrine to objectivity), but that's not a reason to flaunt her ex right under your nose. You're 44 - if you're not dating an adult you have every reason to move on.

I hate it when men tell me to smile at work. And it is ALWAYS men. Women never do this to me. "You should smile!" No, I don't work for tips, I don't have to smile, actually. It's pretty sexist, and while I don't fly off the handle, it REALLY ticks me off. Almost as much as the guy who called me "little lady" last week,…

When I find recipes I like, I copy and paste them in an email to myself with a direct link. Since I use Gmail, I've got all of those emails under a "recipes" label, so I can easily scroll through them. If I wanted to, I could create sub-labels for "entrees," "desserts," etc. Plus, I can search my inbox and find recipes…

Eggs have gotten a bad rap for their cholesterol, but recent studies have actually shown that they can help lower your cholesterol. The World's Healthiest Foods site does a pretty good job of interpreting studies into layman's terms and always cite their sources- here's their page on eggs:…

In theory, you should comb it when wet and only brush when dry. I've never had a doctor ask me if I brush my hair. The only thing I ever do with mine is comb leave-in conditioner through my hair when I get out of the shower. I try not to mess with it too much lest it get oily.

I had a gynecologist named Dr Woody-Gross.

HP Touchpad (discontinued): 4 with the improvements I've made, 3.5 otherwise. It's amazing how much computing power these things have - my HP runs better than my Acer netbook. I'm not crazy about WebOS, but when they come out with an Android ROM for it, my Touchpad will be pretty awesome.

Internet meltdowns are quality entertainment.

Cool thread! I'll bite :) Name: Jess Gender: Female Age: 27 Lives in: Santa Fe, NM Want to lose: Another 50 pounds or so ... whatever ends up feeling healthy and comfortable. Fave movies: Spirited Away, the Goonies, Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally Fave books: Kushiel series by Jaqueline Carey, Harry Potter, Red Azalea by…

Amen. My motto when dealing with difficult people is "You cannot have a rational conversation with an irrational person." There is only one way to deal with someone like fit4mom: speak calmly and avoid personal attacks. They will do one of two things: 1) they will calm down with you, or 2) they will escalate themselves to…

Whoa. Did you really just link the "decline" of America to its diversity? Because that comes awfully close to some serious prejudices and greatly undermines your credibility.

As a former teenager, I know that they are all dumb. There are so few exceptions that it's not even noteworthy. Consequently, birth control for any teenager is a FANTASTIC idea. Best case scenario, they don't need it and will have some time to get used to being responsible enough to take it on a regular basis to ensure…

Never tell a woman, "I'm planning on getting a job next year" unless you don't want to start dating her until next year. A lot of women are willing to overlook a past as long as you have your s*** together currently with a plan to KEEP your s*** together in the long term. Also, that's awesome that you've only had a few…

A big part of your immune system is in your gut, and while eating lots of probiotics hasn't turned me into Gisele, I am regular like clockwork and don't get sick nearly as much as I did when I wasn't eating probiotics.

I would recommend buying shoes online so you can get them in the wider sizes - Zappos and the like will carry wider shoes and they do free returns. You might also want to consider some insoles - that way once you buy something that fits length-wise, you can make sure that you're getting custom arch support to go with it. A…

I like cutting them into strips and eating them raw with some homemade tzatziki - use fat free greek yogurt and you get some good protein in there, too. My favorite thing to do with bell peppers, though, is to roast them. Stick them under a broiler (or on an open flame if you have a gas stove) and rotate them until the…

Just my two cents, but after reading all of these "habits" I still think that the key to it all is more related to activity than diet. I mean, sure, eating a dozen doughnuts a day is dumb and will, in turn, make your stomach look vaguely cruller-like, but I gained a lot of weight eating whole grains, not eating late,…

Yerba mate has a good amount of caffeine and is pretty tasty - easier on the stomach, too. I drink a lot of tea and like to switch it up - I actually keep an electric kettle in my office for fast water boiling and it keeps me from having enough time to convince myself that I want to go out for coffee.

You might consider tracking your sodium - I saw a good amount of pre-packaged meats in your diary (as well as lasagna, etc), so it may be an issue where you're retaining water. Also, I don't know what kind of exercise you're doing, how strenuous it is, whether you're changing up your routine a lot, but depending on how…