Plastic ones.

Just make sure to dust frequently.

It can be as easy as saying "I am an introvert". Popular culture has painted introverted people to be psychopaths or automatically autistic.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  You like snuggling up with a good book (or a warm laptop) and because of your love of relaxing and controlled enviroments. The rest of the world looks, sounds and smells like utter chaos.

Introversion is not a disease. You do not need to be cured of it.

But!  Just as extroverts need to learn to cope with being lonely sometimes, we have to learn to live with the outside world.

Be proud of your sensitive nature.  You notice a million things that others don't.  And if the price for that is needing time alone to collect your thoughts?  Well, that probably makes you smarter than the people who have tuned out everything except the sounds of their own boisterous conversations.

What workd for me is that you divide the hours spent working on the piece by the minutes spent weeping over your master of arts degree that week and subtract 120 dollars. If the number is less than zero, go read http://clientsfromhell.net/ and proceed to videos of kittens until you list a price higher than it's actually worth but say that you're open to haggling.

The haggling part is extremely important.

It is acceptable if you are walking jauntily at a brisk pace, hands in pockets, sans iPod.

That's something I encourage, in fact.

I have both a very large dresser (waist height, six feet wide, very sturdy) and a very large bed (queen size) and a VERY small apartment.

I cut some sturdy lengths of... um... they're very thick pieces of wood, I don't remember the exact size, I just went to a lumber yard and said "I want that one!". Those became the supports for the wall side of my bed and the visible side is supported by my gigantic dresser of doom.

I use a step ladder to get up and down (I highly suggest using glow-in-the-dark paint so you can see where you're stepping in the dark) and there is a metric shitload of storage space underneath.

And if you have a cat? "Cave Explorer" becomes their new favorite one-player game.

An additional bonus is that when it's bath time, you know exactly where the little stinker will be hiding.

When my cat won't stop meowing at me, I scoop her up and moosh my face into hers while making kissy sounds.

The general reaction is "OMG YOU ARE INVADING MY PERSONAL SPACE" and after she extricates herself she's happy to chill someplace else in the house. The next time she comes crying for attention, she'll be decidedly less demanding.

... until she completely forgets again. And starts yowling. And then the cycle starts all over again.

If it's a headcold, killing all the germs with salt water is the way to go if you don't feel like doing NyQuil shots for the next week:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_irrigation

It helps with allergies too, and I've found that if I flush my nasal passages early enough? The headcold might last as little as half a day and I'm feeling fine again. Gargling with salt water helps with sore throats too.

The only downside is that you learn all-too-intimately what drowning feels like. Basically, you're water boarding your cold to death.

Sweet jalapeno pepper jam + cream cheese on crackers = happiness.

Wait for her to ask it in a straightforward manner. Interrupting a conversation where 'whore' comes up will result in an awkward silence and pre-teen embarrassment.

Liken it to drugs, in an even-handed and honest manner: It's illegal, it can have nasty consequences, but sometimes perfectly average people engage in it and they don't get messed up at all.

If she's mature enough, mentioning the underage sex trade is worth it. Sometimes kids get snatched up (very rare) and sometimes boyfriends pressure girlfriends to have sex with other men for money. In both cases, tell her to talk to you and you won't judge her. You love her very much (and I'm sure she knows that).

And on a semi-related note, Vulvodynia might be worth learning about too. Sex is NOT fun and I spent decades in terror and being told I was psychologically messed up (the then-diagnosis was repressed memories of sexual abuse as a child) because EVERYTHING hurt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulvodynia

Random addendum, I know. Humor me. ;)

[Rec] - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/ - good documentary-style zombie movie.
The Orphanange - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/ - Ghost movie, not the same as "Orphan", slow but psychologically satisfying.