Not much to say except kuds to Andrew O'Hehir for an excellent review and not jsut for making want to read the book, but also giving me some food for thought this early in the morning ;)

www.nuvaring.com

It's not an IUD, but it does go inside your body (just for the three weeks you would take the pills, then one week out you have your period, and put a fresh one in). I've only had experience with the pill, and it wasn't so much that it made me gain weight or moody but that it was just too annoying to keep track of and I kept missing it. So now with the Nuvaring I only get the side-effect of some discharge, but other than that, it's quite fabulous.

You can put it on yourself and don't need a doctor for it, and it costs the same as the Pill (at least on my health insurance). Anyone had any experience with this versus an IUD?

Except my parents are Catholic and still married. But I'm about the same age, in grad school, living with a European boyfriend.

My boyfriend and I have gone to visit my parents twice, and both times we've stayed in their house and in separate bedrooms. One time I told my little brother to sleep in his own bed (the guest bed was bothering him) and I slept with my boyfriend. My mom yelled at me for 10 minutes about "disobeying her authority" during which I bit my tongue until she'd gotten it out.

The last time we visited we were about to move in together. Now we're going back for Christmas and will be staying with them again. My boyfriend's parents are also coming all the way from Germany to stay with my parents. We'll all be under the same roof and my mom has made it clear that no matter how little space there is, we will be sleeping in separate beds. I told her if that was the case, we wouldn't stay as long as our schedules would allow because I did not like it, and we lived together. She said that was fine, that we could stay the 6 days and then leave.

Although I'll still try to get her to let us sleep together, I'm okay with it. We could get a hotel room but we're broke and where they live, it would also mean renting a car. It's just too much hassle (we'd also never hear the end of it). Outside of the sleeping arrangements I insist that my parents treat me like an adult, and walk away (quite literally) when they forget. I also sometimes act as if they weren't such sticklers about things -- like after we moved in, I sent my parents (and brothers) pictures of our new renovated apartment -- including of course the bedroom. They didn't say a word.

When my mother would try to argue with me about something moral on the phone, I would say to her quite sternly that I didn't want to talk about it. If she continued, then I would repeat what I said. The third time I would tell her I was about to hang up on her and then would do it unless she changed the topic. That happened three times before she got the hint. Now she stops at the first time.

Good luck, it'll take a little while, but eventually your parents will just be bugging you about when you're going to get married and give them children. Now THAT'll be annoying :)

Should be required for every woman

But Victoria's Secret didn't force you to wear the wrong bra, and unless they don't carry your size (and they've improved in that department, but are clearly not there), I don't see why you had to "banish." them.

An occasional and satisfied VS wearer