From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Things to try. — Try popcorn for nausea.    Try cranberries for malaria.    Try a sun-bath for rheumatism.    Try ginger ale for stomach cramps.    Try clam broth for a weak stomach.    Try cranberry poultice for erysipelas.    Try a wet towel to the back of the neck when sleepless.    Try swallowing saliva when troubled with sour stomach.    Try eating fresh radishes and yellow turnips for gravel.    Try eating onions and horseradish to relieve dropsical swellings.    Try buttermilk for removal of freckles, tan, and butternut stains.    Try taking your cod liver oil in tomato catsup, if you want to make it palatable.    Try hard cider -- a wine-glass three times a day -- for ague and rheumatism.    Try taking a nap in the afternoon if you are going to be out late in the evening.    Try breathing the fumes of turpentine or carbolic acid to remove whooping cough.    Try a cloth wrung out from cold water put about the neck at night for sore throat.    Try snuffing powdered borax up the nostrils for catarrhal "cold in the head."    Try walking with your hands behind you if you find yourself becoming bent forward.    Try a silk handkerchief over the face when obliged to go against a cold piercing wind.    Try planting sunflowers in your garden if compelled to live in a malarial district.

I had a good Christmas with purpleglitter. "Santa" brought me all several exciting things including a cane and a viola. Many people have been suggesting I get a cane for many months now, and the one I got yesterday is quite stylish and has two secret compartments, one containing a brandy vial which I will use to keep some sort of concentrated energy drink from the Reliable Market and the other containing a built in compass which I can store a small pillbox for meds above. I am, however, most excited about the viola. Ever since I tried my hand at purpleglitter's violin, I've felt a calling to play the viola. For now I will learn the techniques, but I want to eventually play unscripted as I do on the piano/keyboard.

We had sparkling lemon Italian soda and sparkling cranberry juice and watched a Christmas Story on the television and yibber yabbed for hours. I also talked to a great many people on the phone, including my paternal grandfather whom I haven't talked to in years.

I made a huge dinner that purpleglitter thoughtly enjoyed. We started out with a salad with chards of many colours topped with shiitake mushroom and sesame vinaigrette and move on to mushroom turnovers, pesto-stuffed tortellini with vodka sauce topped with provolone, fontina, and kasseri cheeses baked to a golden brown, and roasted corn all followed by key lime pie for dessert. Decidedly decadent compared to our normal fare.

I'm very thankful I got to spend and enjoy yesterday with purpleglitter, she is my favorite piece of string.

merryperseis gave me $3 to pick up cranberry juice with, as I am completely broke and I need it for medicational reasons. I hate UTIs. I hate them. I hate them. I hope this calms down tonight, as I don't know how much fun the party is going to be if I have to spend the entire time either in the bathroom or waiting anxiously in line.

I think I'm coming down with a UTI. This is not good. Gotta pick up some cranberry juice.

The cranberry juice seems to be working.

*knocks on wood*

This UTI is coming on fast. I'm drinking lots of cranberry juice, I hope it's enough to fight it. I hate UTIs, I hate them.

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I was embarrassed about the following two posts, and posted them originally as private. But now I see nothing about them that I should be embarrassed about. So I'm making them public.

Wet the bed

Not X