How did people survive without Antibiotics?

We are all going on week 2/3 of this nasty cold/flu/fever/cough thing that's going around. A few of us have had complications, sinus infections, ear infections, lingering fatigue. I am still feeling pretty worn out but very grateful for the antibiotics that are starting to work in our bodies.

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that 100 years ago people didn't have antibiotics to deal with these sorts of infections. Did that mean that everyone who got a sinus infection or ear infection just died? Or did they just live with extreme discomfort for weeks at a time until their bodies were finally able to fight it off?

I can't imagine being a Mom on the frontier and having to get all the heavy labor of chores done while fighting off a UTI or a sinus infection. I am barely functioning as it is and I do very little manual labor type things. Cooking dinner and loading the dishwasher are about the extent of my exertion.

Talk about #firstworldproblems: it's so bad at my house that all 4 kids are sick, my husband and I are sick, and even our nanny/housekeeper is sick. She had to go home early yesterday and I had to FORCE the kids to watch a 2 hour movie just so I could lay still on the couch without having to move my throbbing head.

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Sweetpea and I are enjoying our little business venture. Like I mentioned last week, I had been looking for something a little creative to do that would get me out of the house once in a while for some girl time. I also need a reason to get dressed and put make-up on most days, because I'm just not a natural primper.

I've been searching around for an at-home type sales opportunity and I found what I think is a great fit for us. I have become an Independent Designer with Origami Owl. My website is:

Origami Owl + Tricia Jennings, Independent Designer

The founder was just 14 years old when she started the company so she could raise money to buy a car (talk about a kid who isn't entitled!) Now, two years later her Mom helps her run the business and they have moved from a mall-based business model to a social jewelry selling model, a modern Tupperware party as it were. I'm in the suburbs for sure, now!

Sweetpea and I have already made a few sales and she is excited to work on it with me. I am glad she will have the opportunity to get a little sales experience - that's the one thing about not participating in Girl Scouts that I think is a disadvantage vis a vis Little Flowers or American Heritage Girls.

Selling those cookies really does make you have to get out of your shell. At least with these jewelry selling parties we'll have a chance to help women be creative in a low-key social atmosphere. I love that even though I'm not that particularly gifted in handcrafts I can make something beautiful and personal in just an hour or so.

One of the other things I love about the party model is that it is a hands-on party where people can actually make and take their projects home that same day(assuming I have everything in stock of course). That is so different from a Pampered Chef or Stella & Dot party where you have to wait weeks for your order to come in.

We have yet to do our Launch party - having been sidelined by illness - but we are looking forward to getting creative with some friends and helping women put there stories into a locket. It is a gorgeous product and it's so much fun to be able to switch out your charms for a whole new look.

As a Catholic Mama I also like the fact that as new babies arrive I can just add a new charm - I do not have to buy a whole new "Mom necklace". I could also do one for my Mom, she is already on her 3rd Grandma necklace because more grandchildren kept coming, which means the older necklaces are now useless for her.

Not so with an Origami Owl Locket, you can just add another affordable charm. Plus, the large lockets can hold so many charms that even a Mom of a large family can have a Mom necklace with each of her children represented by a birthstone or a little boy/girl figure with a birthstone.

If you are interested in hosting a party, in real life or via catalog for me, please let me know. There are of course great hostess incentives - but if you want to waive the hostess gifts I could donate the 10% to a charity. This is also a great time to consider becoming a Designer yourself, with fewer than 20,000 designers nationwide the company is still positioned for lots of growth. Compared to Mary Kay that has  hundreds of thousands of sales consultants, this is really an opportunity to get in on the ground floor. No matter where in the country you are, you can still join my Team and I can walk you through the easy steps to get up and running.

I'm thinking of also offering a Little Girls birthday party package - because it would be great fun for the girls to have a craft/activity during the party and then get to take their own custom-designed locket home as a party favor. Better than the usual party favors the girls take home. I know it's the type of party Sweetpea would like, so hopefully I can market that idea to local Moms. People pay a lot of money for their kids birthday parties in our area and I think this is really a much better value and more interesting concept than another day at Laserquest.

Here is the picture of my first Phi Mu locket.

I took this picture on my bed with my iphone5 - the picture quality just blows me away. For everyday pictures it just doesn't seem worth it to lug a big heavy camera around anymore.




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Well, we're gearing up for a big weekend of sports around here as the kids try to ease back into their normal routine. Softball, baseball, basketball, and rugby are all on the agenda for this weekend.

Thank goodness Saturday night is pizza and ice cream night because I don't think I'd have the energy to do anything else today.

Sweetpea searched 14 different brands of icecream yesterday looking for Butter Pecan without any HFCS/corn syrup in it. We couldn't find one. :( What happened to icecream with just cream, sugar, and fruit/flavor? Now it's all gross "frozen dairy dessert" - what the heck does that even mean?

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If you have time to add a couple of prayer intentions to your Lenten prayers this week, I would appreciate prayers for two friends.

The first is having a difficult recovery from shoulder surgery and is in quite a bit of pain. She really needs to feel God's loving healing.

The second friend has just embarked on a Mission trip to India. It is her first time to the "real third world" and I am worried about her safety and how she is acclimating. I am grateful that she has been able to email me to let me know she arrived okay and is settling into her duties.

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God Bless you all and don't forget to keep slaying those dragons with your love!

These mugs are available at Jennifer Fulwiler's cafepress shop. It cracks me up every time I drink out of it. If you haven't seen all 3 episodes of "Minor Revisions" you really must. She always seemed like a nice and interesting person on her blog, and when you see her on the three episode reality show you can see that she really is a nice, interesting person who you'd want to be friends with in real life.

Stay well my friends, wash your hands often, and Lysol the begeezers out of your house.

This is no standard virus that's going around.