No wonder I’ve haven’t been losing any weight! I think I’ve mistakenly been on this “increase flesh” diet from Mary Ries Melendy’s book titled Vivilore. Drat. 1904: Diet to Increase Flesh Thin, nervous people, and all who wish to increase in flesh, may like to know that a dessert spoonful of olive oil, taken before each […]
Category: Health
Tea and Coffee. Why Do We Drink It?
This is an interesting bit of information from Professor B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols. It’s from their book titled The Household Guide, or Domestic Cyclopedia. Were it not for the use of the word “dyspepsia,” it could almost have been written for today. And “votaries.” No one uses that word anymore. Oh, heck, this […]
Colds and What to Do with Them
A bad cough and cold snuck up on me this week, so as I sat at home recovering for a few days I had plenty of time to read up on the subject. These interesting cures are from Professor B. G. Jefferis’s and J. L. Nichols’s Household Guide. Needless to say, I quickly decided to stick […]
Laughter, a Great Tonic
According to this worthwhile excerpt from The Household Guide, hearty laughs are where it’s at, folks. Stay away from those giggles. When you laugh, laugh with purpose! C’mon everyone, laugh with me! Ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ba ha ha! Whew. That felt good. 1902: Laughter, a Great Tonic Keeps the Spirit […]
Be Good to Yourself
Seeing as I’m taking a vacation for a few weeks, I thought I’d leave you with some general happy thoughts about being good to yourself, brought to you by Prof. B. G. Jefferis and his amazing Household Guide. I certainly plan to be good to me, and I hope you’ll do the same for yourself. I […]
The Summer Girl
Don’t get me wrong. I love the beach. It’s just that as a fair-skinned gal I’m a bit more comfortable in sweaters and snow than in shorts and sand. I promise you, though, by no means do I consider myself a “belle of the Winter Salon” ~ I swear. Where were we? Oh, yes. The […]
The Fine Art of Smiling
I just saw a program on Botox treatments, and boy does that look weird. No matter how many books I read on the subject of beauty, it’s still hard to understand the extent that folks will mutilate themselves for the sake of it all. Although I personally would never get a treatment such as that, […]
Foreign Substances
As I was flipping through The Art of Home Making, written by Margaret E. Sangster, I came across this most useful advice. It reminded me of an incident when I was a young girl in Auburn, N.Y. My family was on the way up the sidewalk to the public library when my older brother Chris suggested I […]
The Breath
Q Dear Miss Abigail: Sometimes I get self-conscious when talking to people because I have bad breath. It has lasted about three to four years now. I’m sixteen. Will I ever talk “carefree” again? Signed, Viv A Dear Viv: According to Mrs. A. Walker in this excerpt from her book Female Beauty, you might want to […]
Eating, Sleeping, and Speaking ~ Simple Precautions
I’ve got a bad sore throat. While recovering on the couch today, I browsed through the “Temperment and Health” section of Home and Health and Home Economics, written in 1880 by C. H. Fowler and W. H. De Puy. These tips may not help me this week, but maybe, just maybe, they’ll help someone out there! […]