The Onion Factor

Has anyone ever received that email about the onions?  It is a pretty long email with explanations and success stories, but the gist of it is that onions help you stay healthy.  Supposedly if you put onions out in a bowls in each room of your house, they somehow absorb bad germs and thereby keep you from getting sick. 

I kind of just figured it was a wives tale but since I planted a whole box of onions in my garden last year (and we really don’t eat many onions) and had/have a big cardboard box full of them in my garage I figured I might as well give it a try.

I am now a believer.  Normally we go from one cold to another…literally being sick with something ALL WINTER LONG.  This winter we have all been healthy as little horses. (are horses really that healthy?)  Bug got the flu and then a cold right when preschool started, but I didn’t have the onions harvested at that point.  I got a really bad cold over Christmas break but it was during the two weeks that we were away from home.  Several times we have started to get cold symptoms and then the next day they are gone.

The girls spent last weekend at Noni and Papa’s and they have both been sick all week.  Disclaimer: that sounds like my mom’s house is germy/dirty, when in fact her house is 100% cleaner than my house on any given day at any given moment!  Her house is always “guest ready” while my house always looks like a hurricane came through, and right before guests come I sweep everything up, dump it on our bed, and shut the door.  So I am NOT saying that they got sick because they were at her house, just that they didn’t have the magical protection of the onions. :)

On Sunday we noticed that Boo’s eyes had a little bit of goop in them.  The next day there was a little more, and on Tuesday she woke up with her eyes swollen and red and very goopy.  T took her in to the clinic here so I wouldn’t have to drive her all the way to her pediatrician (one hour, one way) and they promptly diagnosed her with a form of conjunctivitis (pink eye).  We bought a teeny tiny 88 dollar bottle of eye drops and began torturing her three times a day with them.  The first few times we would just hold her down and pry her eyelids open.  I had to have Bug help me since Daddy was at work.  Afterwards I went to wash my hands and came back to find this…

I think Bug was feeling repentance for her part in the atrocity. :)  I have since learned that if I put on a show and position her just right I can sneak them in.  She doesn’t like it all that much but it’s a lot easier.

Both girls had been coughing on and off for a few days, and that night at 3:30am Bug started coughing so hard she threw up. 

The next morning she woke up with a fever so we kept her home from preschool.  She pretty much laid on the couch the entire day…very unusual for our active girl.

Then yesterday morning Boo woke up crying, with a fever, and just felt absolutely miserable.  She went through the same list of symptoms that Bug had done the day before.  I got her up and dressed and then went to get dressed myself.  I came out and found her just lying dejectedly on the living room floor sucking her thumb.  She wouldn’t even get up to let me hold her.  Poor baby.

Another day spent on the couch, although Bug was much improved so I’m hoping today Boo will be feeling better.

The other thing that has made this week so interesting is that on Saturday the mudder/taper guys came and gave us a bid and told us they could start on Monday.  The girls were originally supposed to stay only one night at Noni’s but we left them there all weekend while we worked quickly to get everything ready for them to come. 

This is what my house currently looks like.  They put down paper to keep the floor clean…very nice.  All the stuff from the laundry room had to be moved into the kitchen…including the washer and dryer.  On Sunday T said, are you sure you can do without the washer and dryer this week?  No problem, I said.  Little did I know I was going to have one child throwing up and the other with pink eye where you are supposed to change the sheets every night.  Since I only have two crib sheets and no washing machine that hasn’t happened. :P

Izzy hasn’t liked being locked out of her room while they work on it but I am SOOOOO excited to see the progress happening.  We really are in the final stages of our remodel!  These guys should be done on Monday, and then we can start painting.  I’ve got eight gallons of paint in the living room just awaiting it’s mission.  The carpet is already ordered, and then we will just have to put up trim and then we can get the girls MOVED IN!   

So so so happy.  Now we just need to get healthy.  I’m going to go change out my magical onions for some fresh ones. :)