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The answer to Menstrual Woes according to a 1900’s newspaper

This little beauty is just another perk of doing genealogical research. You never know what gems you’ll find.

Published in the Ralls Co., Times (Missouri) Oct 19, 1900, pg. 3
TRANSCRIPTION:

QUESTIONS FOR WOMEN
Are you nervous?
Are you completely exhausted?
Do you suffer every month?
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you have ills which Wine of Cardui cures. Do you appreciate what perfect health would be to you? After taking Wine of Cardui, thousands like you have realized it. Nervous strain, loss of sleep, cold or indigestion starts menstrual disorders that are not noticeable at first, but day by day steadily grow into troublesome complications. Wine of Cardui, used just before the menstrual period, will keep the female system in perfect condition. This medicine is taken quietly at home. There is nothing like it to help women enjoy good health. It costs only $1 to test this remedy, which is endorsed by 1,000,000 cured women.
Mrs. Lena T. Frieburg, East St. Louis, Ill., says: “I am physically a new woman, by reason of my use of Wine of Cardui and Thedford’s Black Draught.”

That’s right, for YOUR menstrual woes be sure and get yourself so flippin’ drunk during the week of your period that you don’t remember any of it.

In all seriousness though, if they were looking for a cure way back then and we still haven’t found one now, I highly doubt there is one. *sigh*

I enjoy a busy winter

It distracts nicely from the dreary landscape. I’m not a big fan of doing update posts, not that they’re below me or something. I simply like to try and be more creative in my writing. However, today is a day for an update post.

1. We are likely going to be going to law school this fall.

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I paused for dramatic effect. Did it work?
I’m not going to law school of course, it would be the hubby. He wants to be a Biotech Patent Lawyer. At least he’ll finally be getting his PhD and at least he now has a specific goal in sight. Honestly, I’m on board with it. Well, in so far as we don’t end up doing BYU. I’ll of course adapt if we go to Utah but all my dreams of experiencing someplace new will be crushed. :)

2. My oldest child will be turning eight very soon and I am planning on making this birthday a very memorable one. The eighth birthday is a special one for most LDS children. It’s the age at which they may choose to be baptized into the church. So anyway, I have planned a fun party for him.

I came up with some birthday themes for him to choose from and he decided to go with an outer space theme. Since we’re tight on money I am doing as much as possible from scratch. I cut out 50 poster board stars in varying sizes and as of today, they are all hanging from the ceiling. I also created all 8 planets (r.i.p. Pluto) using paper mache. The boys painted the various details on each planet and then I hung the planets from the ceiling as well.

Right now I have some fondant cake decorations drying on the counter top and I’ve put together goody bags for each guest. It’s probably crazy, all this work I’m putting into it, but I’ve found it very fun. I had never done any paper mache before so it was a great excuse to try it and it’s been a long time since I’ve made any homemade decorations. Made me feel like a kid again.

I promise to post pictures of the decor and the cake when it is all finished. I know Count Dooku we’ll appreciate my efforts someday when he’s looking through photographs.

Nine years of Marriage

It was on December 19th of this last month, our anniversary, that our middle child started throwing up. Then we all followed suit. I was the last to get it and recovered just before Christmas Day. So much for celebrating our anniversary. Maybe in a week or two we’ll get to go out.

Anyhow, I was thinking today about an amusing thing that happened on the day we got married and wanted to share it with you. You see, if I could go back and do things over I would have rented a wedding dress. But for some reason I had it in my 19 year old mind that I wanted to buy an insanely expensive piece of clothing I would wear but once. So I went dress shopping, looking for the perfect dress and knew that if I found it, I must fit into it no matter the cost. Eventually I did find it, the dress that perfectly represented me. I tried it on in a size 3/4 (I was a lot smaller then) and it was too large in some areas. When I asked about alterations, I was told that due to the style, it couldn’t be taken in in the problem areas. So then I asked to try on a size 1/2. It was tight around the middle, but fit fine everywhere else so I bought it.

I had only worn it for a few moments in that dressing room and didn’t realize how very tight it was. I also didn’t take into account that I would be wearing the thing for around 7 hours total

As I dressed in my gown on my wedding day I felt really beautiful, but I also noticed that I felt light headed the longer I had it on. It was really constricting my breathing. It was pretty much the equivalent of what I imagine a corset is, but I knew I would just have to endure and take slow, deep breaths. What I didn’t realize was that during the entire ceremony, my slow and deep breaths were very noticeable and a little shuddery, as I tried to expand my lungs to take in the air I needed to stay conscious. I later found out that my soon to be husband was truly wondering if I was about to bolt from the room, leaving him at the altar. Poor me. Poor him.

So a word of advice for future brides. Just rent the dress and use your money for something better, like a good photographer, and never try to squeeze into something that might make you pass out on your wedding day.

Photography Blog

This is just to let you know I’ve started a blog specifically for my photography and the things I’m learning. If you’d like to follow along here is the link:

Summer Owens Photography

I hope you all had wonderful holidays and that you have a safe and happy new year celebration!

Playing with a new camera

It’s been 10 years since I had my hands on a really great camera. I was designated sports photographer for my yearbook staff at one point in High School and really loved it. I’ve been wanting a professionalish grade camera ever since but have never purchased one due to cost. But the urge to jump into photography has been steadily growing since then and this past Black Friday I made my move when I found a Canon XS with 18-55mm lens for an outstanding price. Since then (and in true “me” form) I have been learning everything I can as fast as I possibly can. Library books on digital photography? Checked out by moi. Online tutorials on digital photography? Researched by moi. And I’ve read/skimmed through them all this past month. I have a long way to go but here are some fun techniques I’ve been playing with:

Zooming out/in while in mid shot.

Making select objects look like ghosts. Whoooooooooooo…..

The ‘making pretty swirling colors’ technique. Yes, I am aware that these things have official names but I don’t have them memorized yet. This is our Christmas Tree.

This is also of our Christmas Tree. Shot using the ‘I forgot to focus while in Manual Focus mode’ technique. P.S. I actually like the lovely blurred light effect.

I have also been experimenting with shutter speed. With a very fast shutter speed I was able to get a detailed picture of a pot of water boiling:

And after turning the shutter speed down just a bit, it captured the steam rising up from the pot as well:

I am having a blast! More pictures soon to come.

‘Tis the Season

A Christmas Outing

Tonight we decided to visit the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor’s Center. If you’re not sure what an LDS temple is, you can read more about them here. We didn’t go inside the temple tonight. But it sure looked beautiful:

Instead we went to the visitors center. The surrounding trees and shrubs are decorated beautifully every Christmas season:

We went to a 45 minute hand bell concert. I don’t have pictures of that but it was enchanting. I love the pure sound of bells in harmony with each other. After that we went to the nativity display. Every year the visitors center sets up a large room full of nativity sets from around the world. We saw sets from the Congo, Bethlehem, Haiti, Germany, Madagascar, Ireland and many other places. This was my favorite camel, made all out of straw:

And below is my very favorite nativity scene:

It’s from Australia and is the most unique set I’ve ever seen. Made all out of sand and shell and real pearls. It’s just lovely isn’t it? We had a wonderful night!