Germs

Oh wow...I've gone almost a month without posting anything. My blogger creativity went ker-plunk, so I took a break. Can't guarantee that I'm off that break, but I actually have a few random thoughts running about that I decided I needed to let loose via a keyboard and the world wide web. Because, of course, sooooo many people are interested in the crap I've got floating around in my brain! Right? (I'm rolling my eyes....honest!)

So I read an article in a magazine last week while hiding in the bathroom from a rambunctious 16 month old. (you've done it, too! Admit it!) The article was about the top ten germiest places you need to protect yourself from. As I was reading it, I was trying to remember if I washed my hands after wiping K-man's booger off my shirt - which he deems as a darn good kleenex. Anyhoo, it listed all those standard places - kitchen countertops, bathrooms, door handles, grocery cart surfaces (whatever), and the most surprising - the ketchup bottle that's setting on the table at your favorite restuarant. As the article so kindly and disgustingly pointed out, there are a lot of people who went to the restroom, didn't wash their hands, and then handled that ketchup bottle before you sat down there. Ewwwwww. The article suggested you slather your hands and the bottle with sanitizing gel because a napkin is a porous surface that the germs can get through. So, two thoughts here...

1. If I douse my hands in alcohol gel and then eat my french fries with my now sterile ketchup, my french fries are gonna taste funky from the gel. Who wants that?
2. All those times I used to put toilet paper on the public restroom toilet seat before sitting down, I was apparently just fooling myself into a lull of germ safety. If those germs can go through a napkin, they sure as heck can go through toilet paper. Furthermore, if they can go through toilet paper, then they can probably go through those toilet seat covers some restrooms supply. There's no winning!!!! So just sit down and take it like a big girl - you're gonna have a germy butt. Wasn't it that way to begin with, though?

And after that last thought, all of a sudden I wasn't so concerned about getting santizing gel on my french fries.

The kicker here is that I don't use "sanitizing" stuff at our house. Not the labeled kind, at least. I don't want ya'll thinking I'm all gross and stuff (just pay no mind to the kitchen floor - there's no winning with a baby in the house) We "green clean" around the house - baking soda, borax, and vinegar. They kill the germs and mold and get things all nice and sparkly- they just aren't labeled for "sanitizing" or "disinfecting". About the only time I'll break out the Lysol and Clorox Wipes (yes, I do keep them handy) is when a daycare bug is spreading amongst our family of three. When I see that coming, I start fumigating and wiping down all surfaces. Since the baby has decided that he loves to give big ole slobbery kisses, I find myself ever more on the watch for the slightest tingle of an impending sore throat or the teeniest gurgle from a stomach about to hurl its contents. If you happen to drive down our street and think you smell "linen fresh" lysol, don't bother ringing the doorbell - we're sick and you don't want it - and you'll have to use the sanitizing hand gel.