Go To My Website For Future Updates

The posts on this blog have been transferred to a new blog page on my website. I hope to keep my posts more organized this way. I just noticed on my new page that I had some questions on previous posts from May and June that I was unaware of. My apologies for the delay in answering them. I have posted answers on my new blog page. All future posts will be there.

It Really Bothers Me When People Are Careless About Spreading Germs

Right now, there are three people where my husband works that have MRSA infections. This really bothers me. It started out with one person who has had multiple infections. I sent a copy of my article "Ten Things I Did To Beat MRSA" with my husband to give him in the hopes that he would take it seriously and be cautious. I was wrong. This guy doesn't seem to care who he infects. He has now infected two other people because of his careless attitude. I know my husband is being extra cautious at work, but it still worries me that he is stuck in that environment. I wish he could just quit right now. That entire place needs to be sanitized, but the problem is, this one careless person will just re-contaminate everything.

The purpose of my website, book, and this blog is to help people become more aware about avoiding the spread of germs. I know a lot of this information seems obvious and should be common sense, but from what I see, it's not. When the swine flu was a big problem, there were sick people out there running errands, going to work, or going to school with no thought of others. I know someone who works at a dry cleaning store that asked one of her customers to please go home because she came to pick up her dry cleaning when she was very sick. When we are sick, we need to be cautious about where we go. It's best to stay home until you get better because you are contagious! Everything you came in contact with during your illness should be sanitized. A lot of people died from swine flu. Simple precautions could have prevented it from becoming such a pandemic.

As far as my husband's job goes, it is my opinion that the guy spreading MRSA around should be suspended until he is cleared by a doctor. MRSA is a serious infection that is very hard to get rid of. Anyone who does not take it seriously is someone I prefer not to be around.

Public Bathroom Gadgets That Make Me Happy

A few days ago, I took my daughter to Salt Lake City to see a pediatric urologist about her recurring bladder infections. They wanted a urine sample and she needed to go pretty bad. Her regular pediatrician's office has always provided me with a medical urine hat that goes in the toilet and catches the urine. They also gave me rubber gloves to use. The urologist's office did not have any urine hats. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to get a urine sample from a 6-year-old without getting it all over me. I put toilet paper on the seat and instead of sitting her down, I stood her on the toilet. As I was getting the sample cup ready, she couldn't hold it any more and started going. I panicked and yelled "stop!" but she couldn't. I just had to stick the cup in the stream and then pull it back out when it got full. My daughter was cracking up because pee was going everywhere. It went down her legs, on her feet, on the toilet, and on the floor. I laughed with her because it was pretty funny. Fortunately, I managed not to get it all over me. I helped her clean her legs, feet, and shoes off. Then I cleaned the toilet and floor. It's a good thing I always keep sanitizing wipes in my purse. Once all that was done, we both washed our hands very thoroughly. My daughter was prescribed a low dose of antibiotics that she will be taking every day for the next six months to prevent further infections and, hopefully, cure the problem. I'm not crazy about her being on antibiotics for that long because the overuse of antibiotics is what has created superbugs like MRSA. I don't want her to keep getting these infections though so I will hope for the best.

After we left, we went to Fashion Place Mall to have some dinner, look around a little, and wait out rush-hour traffic. We took a potty break at Nordstrom because their bathrooms are pretty clean. I was thrilled  to see this dispenser by the door. It dispenses the equivelant of about three squares of toilet paper that you can use to open the door. What a cool idea! They also had a trash can right behind the door to throw it away in. I didn't have my camera with me so I had to get my phone out to take a picture of this (with clean hands, of course). It doesn't take much to make me happy. Anything that helps with the avoidance of germs is a winner in my book! This happened to be one of those single-stall family bathrooms, so I didn't have people looking at me funny while I was taking pictures in the bathroom. I have to applaud stores that take extra measures to help people stay healthy. I am happy to give stores like Nordstrom my business and also recommend them to others.

"How To Be A Germophobe; Avoiding Sickness In Today's Germy World" Now On Kindle!

My "How To Be A Germophobe" book is now available for purchase on Amazon's Kindle for only $3.95!

In this day and age of ever increasing super bugs it pays to be careful. This book is an excellent resource for avoiding germs. It was inspired by my family's experience with the superbug MRSA.

I am currently in the finishing stage of an ebook that details my experience fighting MRSA and everything we did to ultimately beat it. Doctors say that once you have it, you will always have it. We have proven that wrong.

Eggs Recalled Due To Salmonella Outbreak

380 million eggs have been recalled because of a salmonella outbreak in 4 states, California, Colorado, Minnesota, and North Carolina. Suspicious cases have also been reported in Arizona, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

"Eggs from Wright County Egg were linked to illnesses in the four states. The eggs were distributed around the country and packaged under the names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp. It wasn't immediately clear when the eggs were produced and distributed."

This is why I recommed always fully cooking eggs. I used to love eating raw cookie dough every time I made cookies. I stopped doing that several years ago when salmonella problems started becoming more common. Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling eggs. For more tips about egg safety, go to http://www.eggsafety.org/.

I just got home from a neighborhood dinner. I was assigned to bring a salad but when I discovered that I was out of potatoes, I decided to make devilled eggs instead of potato salad. I always boil eggs for 13 minutes so that they are cooked through. I heard about the recall on the radio this morning but completely forgot about it. Fortunately, the brand of eggs I used are not listed in the recall.

I Went For A Walk And Found A Quarter

I took my 22-month-old son for a walk yesterday since I finally managed to put on my tennis shoes without causing my broken toe an excessive amount of pain. I haven't been for a walk in about a month and it was nice to get out.

As I was crossing a street on my way home, I noticed a quarter laying in the middle of the road. I usually pass up change that I see on the ground. You don't know where it's been. Technically, you generally don't know where money has been anyway. I decided, what the heck, I'm going to pick it up. Money is tight and every little bit helps. I used my thumb and index finger on my right hand to pick the quarter up. Since I didn't take any hand sanitizer or wipes with me, I just didn't use those fingers until I got home. I pushed the stroller with my left hand and right palm. I drank my water with my left hand only. I even took these pictures with my left hand.

As soon as I got home, I got a sanitizing wipe and wiped my hand, the quarter, and the cup holder where I had put it. Maybe I'm wierd, but at least I have one clean quarter in my purse and I didn't spread any germs to my son, the stroller, my water bottle, or my cell phone which I used as a camera.

It's Fun Grocery Shopping In My Backyard!

I had fun today "grocery shopping" in my backyard. Most of the stuff in the garden is not ready yet but I did get some zucchini, lettuce, one small serrano pepper, and one small red potato. The best part is, I don't have to pay for it! I still have to wash the dirt off, but at least I don't have to worry about e-coli or salmonella recalls on my own homegrown food.

For dinner tonight we had lasagna (nothing from the garden in it), fried zucchini with Nature's Seasoning on it, and a small salad with the lettuce I picked (the carrots are from the store). I planted carrots this year but I don't think they came up at all. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there are only weeds in that area. Once the tomatoes are ripe, I'll add them to the sauce next time I make lasagna.

Farm Bureau Picnic And Pool Party

We recently switched our auto insurance to Farm Bureau. One of the perks of this company is a summer picnic and swim party at the local public pool. It was extremely crowded but fun. The food lines moved pretty fast. They served barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, salad, chips, and cookies. As a germaphobe, I was impressed with the setup. They had Farm Bureau representatives, wearing plastic gloves, serving food at every table. This prevented people from sticking their grubby hands on the buns and utensils. The part I liked the most was the potato chip table. Usually, everyone just sticks their hands in the bags and serves themselves. They actually had someone wearing gloves and serving the potato chips. It was great! No germy chips!

We had a fun time swimming. My husband and I hung out in the shallow kiddie area with our 6-year-old and 21-month-old. I tried not to think about how many of those kids might be peeing in the water. That's what all the chlorine is for anyway, right? I had my son in a swim diaper.

I was the only one wearing water shoes. My husband's were full of sand because our 14-year-old had taken them on his Scout camping trip. The rest of the kids had outgrown theirs. I felt a little guilty being the only one with water shoes but I wore them anyway. They made my broken toe hurt a little but I don't like going barefoot. We all hit the showers when we got home.

Night Out Against Crime

Tonight we went to our local city park for the "National Night Out Against Crime" picnic and activities. They served hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cookies and brownies. Everything was self-serve with people putting their hands on everything. I opened up a new bag of buns that hadn't been touched  and passed them out to my kids. The potato chips were the small single-serve bags which was better than everyone sticking their hands into one big bag. My daughter saw someone lick their fingers and then use that hand to pick up a hamburger patty. That's just gross! I had a hot dog. I don't trust them to cook the hamburgers thoroughly. Overall, it was fun. They had a lot of activities for the kids and it was fun for me to visit with my friends in this great little town that I live in. I'm just careful to practice my germophobe ways the best I can.

A Picnic Up The Canyon

I went on a picnic recently with my sister, her family, and her mother-in-law. My sister lives back east, so it was fun to visit with her. We went to a park up in a canyon close to where I live. The picnic tables were really dirty and we forgot to bring a tablecloth or a sheet to cover the table. My daughter suggested covering it with newspaper since I have a paper route and had some extras in the car. It was a good improvisation. We had to put something on each page to weigh them down. I had my purse sitting on top of a newspaper but somewhere in the clean-up process, it got put directly on the table. After I got home, I took everything out of it and threw it in the washing machine. Fortunately, it is washable.

My two youngest kids had fun playing in the sand, which made me cringe a little to see them getting dirt all over their bodies. I couldn't bring myself to spoil their fun though. They went straight to the bath and shower after we got home and scrubbed from head to toe.

It was a fun visit. I enjoyed seeing my sister, brother-in-law, nephews, my sister's niece, and her mother-in-law. My sister's youngest son is the same age as mine and it was fun to watch them interact together.

Car Craziness!!

We have had quite the time these last couple of weeks! As I said in my previous post, we had problems with our 2001 Chevy Venture on our trip to Oregon. It's still running hot so it can't be driven very far. My husband recently fixed a 1995 Ford Windstar with a bad transmission.We were trying to sell it but hadn't had any luck so far. I recently started a paper route and needed something to drive, so I drove the Windstar. It ran perfectly fine for me but when I calculated the gas mileage, it was terrible. Half of my earnings from the paper route would go to gas, so we reduced the price and sold this van last Saturday and decided to buy a small, more efficient car. When we were out on a test drive, we just happened to see the Windstar we just sold along the side of the road with the hood up. The odds of us happening by when they were way out on the opposite side of town from where we live have got to be slim! We stopped and my husband asked them what was going on with the van. It had actually developed an engine knock in the short time since these people bought it from us! My husband did the right thing and gave them their money back. He drove it to the junkyard today.

We shopped around for a small, efficient, reasonably priced car. You can't test drive a car and not touch anything. We test drove several different cars over the past several days. Since we don't know who the previous owners were or how clean they are, we were careful about sanitizing our hands after each test drive. We also don't know who else may have driven these cars. The car salesmen always shake your hand too. We settled on this 2009 Toyota Corolla that we purchased from a dealership about 60 miles south of where we live. It has been detailed of course, but I doubt it was sanitized. I will sanitize it tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight. The craziest thing is, when we were driving home on the freeway we saw the Windstar that we just junked being towed in the other direction! It's wierd how we keep seeing that van everywhere!

A Trip To Oregon

We took a trip to Portland, Oregon this past weekend. Our Chevy Venture minivan wasn't doing very well in the 106 degree heat in Idaho and started having problems.

We left our van in Idaho and rented a Kia Sedona. Since it's a rental that who knows how many other people have driven, naturally the steering wheel had to be wiped.

Once we crossed the border into Oregon, we stopped at a small town to fill-up. When my husband put the gas pump into the gas tank, a man came running over and said, "You can't fill up your own vehicle here. It's the law!" We thought it was the wierdest law we've ever heard of but at least we didn't have to handle dirty gas pumps the entire time we were in Oregon.

The main reason for our trip was for a luncheon and tour at the University of Western States Chiropractic College where my daughter wants to go after she finishes her degree at USU. It sounds like a really good school. Since there is a lot of hands-on learning there, I was happy to see hand sanitizer everywhere on campus!

We stayed at the Airport Comfort Suites in Portland. The rooms were clean and really nice. The service was absolutely excellent!

I did not, however, give my 21-month-old son a bath. I just can't bring myself to put a child in a hotel bathtub. I took him in the shower with me.

The hotel served a good breakfast. The only thing missing was hand sanitizer. There are a lot of people from a lot of different places there handling the utensils. I was as careful as I could be about not touching any food until I got back to my room and sanitized my hands.

My husband wanted to go see Astoria, OR because one of his favorite movies, "Kindergarten Cop" was filmed there. We saw the elementary school where most of the movie was set. Then we went up to the Astoria Column which has a 360 degree panoramic view of the area.

We had to go up 164 winding steps to the top of the column. It was quite a workout! I usually try not to touch public hand rails, but all the winding was making me dizzy. That's what the hand sanitizer is there for!

After we left Astoria, we went down the coast to Seaside and spent a few hours at the beach. My kids have never been to the ocean before. I don't know that I would have swam in the ocean if that had been an option. I prefer a chlorinated pool. It was only about 60 degrees there and the water was freezing. Just getting my feet wet was enough.

The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and looking for shells. I couldn't deny them their fun, even if it is dirt. We rinsed the sand off the best we could at a water spout near the parking lot. Then we all sanitized our hands. The two youngest kids needed a change of clothes as well. I don't know for sure how he did it, but Riley even had sand in his diaper!

I Have Such Wonderful Neighbors!

My neighbors are so great! I was seriously losing the battle of the weeds in my garden. I've been doing what I can to keep the weeds down, but catching a cold didn't help matters. The weeds were taking over! My neighbors came over with their small tiller and tilled between the rows for me. They also did some weeding around the plants and hoed some irrigation trenches for better watering. They were almost done by the time I saw them out my window. I went out and helped a little.

There are still a conseridable amount of weeds around the plants. I am mostly over my cold except for a lingering stuffy nose. So, what did I do this time? I tripped over a step-stool and killed my little toe! I suspect it might be broken, but I don't want to go spend hundreds of dollars at the emergency room just to have it taped to the other toe. I tried taping it myself but any kind of pressure on it hurts. Since I can't stand any shoes other than flip-flops right now, I had to paint my toenails for fun. I went out last night and weeded the garden for a couple hours anyway. My toe didn't hurt much while I was outside, but it changed colors from blue to purple.

I think I'll take a little break from weeding for a little while so my toe can heal. I'll have to get the kids out there to help me instead. I still believe that growing your own food is worth all the work. At least I know it's safe. The question I had on my mind as I was weeding last night was, "If e-coli is found in manure, and soil is treated with manure, does that contaminate the food that is grown in it?" I don't know the answer to this question. If I find the answer, I will post it. My garden is manure free.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus)

I want to hear your stories! Please leave a comment and tell me about your experience with MRSA, what you went through, how you treated it, etc.

I Caught A Cold And I Hate It!!

I caught a cold and I am miserable. This is the reason that I am a weirdo when I go out in public. I don't like touching door handles, credit card machines or any other commonly used public surfaces. If I have to touch something, I always sanitize my hands. I hate getting sick! Apparently, I haven't been as careful with my 20-month-old son, Riley. Sometimes I forget to wash his hands. He's so cute that I just don't think of him as dirty, yet he often puts his hands in his mouth and sometimes mine. He is at the age where he touches everything and I need to remember that. I'm pretty sure this cold started with him.

Last week, Riley had a fever for two days with no other symptoms. I took him to the doctor but he didn't find anything wrong with him. I thought it might be because of the four teeth he has coming in. After the fever went away, he got a mild cough and runny nose for a couple days; nothing too severe though. Then, my 5-year-old daughter got a fever and cough but her nose was fine. After that, my 14-year-old son started in with sneezing and a really bad runny nose. He gets seasonal allergies so I thought he was having an allergy attack. He didn't get any fever that I'm aware of, but his runny nose has cleared up. Then I started in. I had the same sneezing, runny nose attack as my son that I thought might be allergies as well. But when I was chilled and couldn't get warm a couple nights ago, I realized that I probably had a fever. I had a slight headache as well so I took some ibuprofen. My nose has been running non-stop for almost three days now. It's driving me crazy and making me grumpy! My nose is so sore it hurts to wipe it. I haven't had any more fevers but I have had a slight headache that is annoying me and won't go away. Avoiding all of this annoying sickness crap is what being a germaphobe is all about. I am definitely going to be more careful about sanitizing Riley's hands from now on. 

A Government Employee Who Is Careful About Spreading Germs!

Today I took my 16-year-old daughter to get her driver's license. After waiting for a very long time for our number to be called, we finally went up to the counter to take care of business. The lady that was helping us felt a sneeze coming on and quickly grabbed a tissue to sneeze into. She covered the sneeze really well with the tissue. After throwing the tissue away, she rubbed some hand sanitizer on her hands before touching anything else. How refreshing!! It's rare but wonderful to find someone who is actually careful about spreading germs around! I thanked her for what she did. It made my day!!

My son ate dirt! Should I be worried?

I was outside this evening pulling weeds in my garden yet again (a never-ending battle). My 20-month-old son was outside playing with his 5-year-old sister. I wasn't paying much attention to them other than looking up ocassionally to see where they were. When I finished, I noticed that my son had a ring of dirt around his mouth. Apparently, he must of eaten some dirt. Ewww! Should I be worried about him? What's done is done and I can't reverse it. I'm choosing not to worry about it. It's good for him to build up some immunities. I would not intentionally expose him to germs, but it's impossible to avoid all germs.

All babies that are in the crawling stage put everything they find in their mouth. My son still puts things in his mouth sometimes, but not as much as he used to. I have a family of 8 people tracking dirt in from outside. While I do now have a vacuum cleaner that sanitizes, I'm sure there are still plenty of germs on my floor. I don't freak out if my son picks something up and puts it in his mouth. If it's something he might choke on, I will go dig it out of his mouth. Otherwise, I don't worry about it. Maybe it's because he's the 6th child and I'm not as uptight as I was with the first.

What about scary germs like H1N1? Again, I would never intentionally expose my son or any of my kids to germs. When the swine flu was circulating last year, I was extra cautious when out in public. I am generally cautious in public anyway. I watch out for people who are coughing and stay away from them. I try to avoid touching things as much as possible. I sanitize my hands and my kids hands often. As soon as the H1N1 vaccine became available to everyone, I had my whole family vaccinated. I know someone who almost died from swine flu, and I don't want to take any chances with that. My family also had an experience with MRSA that I absolutely never want to deal with again! That is another big reason that I am very cautious about germs. I am a germophobe and proud of it!

Do adults still need to build up immunities? My opinion is no. I have had enough colds, stomach bugs, food poisoning, etc. I prefer to avoid germs and build up my immune system through diet, supplements and exercise. I plan to stay healthy! Go to my website, http://www.howtobeagermophobe.com/ and sign up for a free report: "How To Boost Your Immune System."

Spaghettios and Marie Callender's Food Recalls

Three varieties of "Spaghettios" with meatballs are being voluntarily recalled due to possible under-processing. According to CBS News the under-processing is due to a malfunctioning cooker that was not getting hot enough. There have been no illnesses reported so far and much of the recalled product has probably already been consumed.

ConAgra Foods has also issued a recall on Marie Callender's Cheesy Chicken & Rice frozen dinners after a salmonella breakout in 14 states involving 29 people. "While there is no definitive link between the recalled product and any illness, the company is proactively recalling the product after being informed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of a possible association between the product and eight people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with salmonellosis linked to Salmonella Chester."

It is important to stay informed the best you can about the safety of available food. Never eat anything that doesn't appear to be right. If a canned food item is bulging, don't even bother to open it. Just throw it away. If pre-packaged food has any strange, unusual odors either return it to the store for a refund or throw it away. Always cook meat very thoroughly, especially ground beef. I always remember the phrase "when in doubt, throw it out." It's better to throw food away than it is to get sick from eating spoiled food.

Buying Clothes From Yard Sales or Thrift Stores

I am not above buying clothes from yard sales or thrift stores if they are in really good condition. It is much more budget friendly than buying new most of the time. I recently went to a local thrift store and bought a few items including the dress pictured to the left. My daughter loves to dress like a princess. She found this dress and couldn't be talked out of it. It had some light yellow stains down the front and I tried to convince her to get something else. She is a very stubborn child and wouldn't change her mind, so I bought it for her to play in. I took it home, put some laundry stain remover on it and washed it. The yellow spots actually came out! This leads me to the purpose of this post. When you are buying from thrift stores or yard sales, you don't know if the clothes are actually clean or not. I never try used clothes on. I just take my chances and hope they fit. I look for the right size and hope for the best. I found a pair of denim capris at my last visit to the thrift store that were new with the manufacturer's tags still on them. I still didn't try them on. I don't know where they've been. All secondhand clothing that I buy is washed before I will try them on or allow my kids to try them on. If I do get the wrong size, I just give the item back to the thrift store. It's for a good cause anyway. Most of the time they do fit.

Hands Free Soap Dispenser: A Great Idea For The Home!!

Lysol has recently come out with a hands free, motion sensing hand soap dispenser. I think this is great! It is priced reasonably well at about $20. This is something that I plan to put in my kitchen for sure. Often times, when preparing a meal, I end up handling raw meat or raw eggs. I am hesitant to touch the hand soap pump knowing that I am putting germs on it as I touch it but I really have no other choice. I do put the pump in the dishwasher from time to time to be sanitized. ONLY the pump can go in the dishwasher. I put the bottom part that holds the soap in the dishwasher once and it melted. That part has to be washed by hand.

If you are concerned about germs on the faucet handle, it should be sanitized at least weekly if not more often. If you have a handle that can be turned on with your arm when your hands are dirty, then do that. If you don't, then either ask someone to turn the water on for you or get a paper towel or napkin out before you get your hands dirty. Then you can use it to turn the water on and then throw it away.

My bathroom faucets can also be turned on with my wrist or arm. If you have to use your hands, you can always grab a small piece of toilet paper to turn the water on. Again, faucet handles should be sanitized often anyway.

Gardening Is Hard Work!!

When Adam partook of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, God said to him "...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field..."  --Genesis 3:17-18
Isn't that the truth? My garden is already producing an abundance of weeds, including the nasty, prickly one in the picture. Don't get me wrong. I am thankful for the choice that Adam and Eve made. We wouldn't be here otherwise. While gardening is hard work, I find satisfaction in providing safe food for my family. Not having to worry about food recalls is worth it.

The good news is I do have some little sprouts coming up. The picture to the right is corn, I also have some squash and lettuce sprouts coming up. Last year, I didn't do a very good job of weeding. I think we had more weeds than vegetables. Part of the problem was that I wasn't sure which ones were weeds and which ones were plants. I marked the rows that I planted better this year and now I am more familiar with what the weeds look like. As I've said before, I'm learning as I go.

My Garden

I finally finished planting my garden last Monday. It has been so cold and rainy here, I haven't been able to get any seeds planted. I started last Friday since the weather had been dry for a couple days. I planted six rows of corn and some serrano peppers for my husband before it started raining again. I was in Salt Lake City all day Saturday, so I finished planting on Monday since the weather was dry again. This is only my second garden ever. I actually enjoy going outside and working in the dirt. I just make sure to wash my hands thoroughly when I am done, including under my fingernails. This year, I'm growing sweet corn, blue corn, red potatoes, carrots, spaghetti squash, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, lettuce, serrano peppers and jalapeno peppers (my husband likes to torture himself with the hot stuff). I also planted strawberries in my flower bed. Last year I planted watermelon seeds but, like this year, it was cold and rainy well into June. Watermelon needs heat and sunlight (which I didn't know last year) so it didn't come up at all. I am going to try again this year, so I'm waiting for warm weather before I plant those seeds. Again, I am a total amatuer at this. I'm learning as I go. I will be happy with whatever survives and provides me with food. At least I won't have to worry about recalls due to e-coli or salmonella contamination on the food I grow.

My Eventful Saturday

My husband and I along with two of our kids spent the day in Salt Lake City on Saturday. First of all, we dropped my mom off at the airport. It was nice to have her visit. I told her to read the travel tips page of my website before getting on an airplane to come visit us. She didn't, but I told her about it while she was here. She made it home safely and, hopefully, germ free.

My dad also flew out here with my mom, but he had to leave a few days before she did for work. He had a cold during his visit and I had to tell him to stop coughing on his hand and touching everything. He has a copy of my book, so I thought he would know better. He was a good sport about it. I did take a sanitizing wipe and wipe all the light switches, doorknobs, etc.

After we left the airport, my husband wanted to test drive this car that he found online that is located in Salt Lake. Since it is an older car and was rather dirty inside, we sanitized our hands really well after the test drive. If he ends up buying this car, it will be thoroughly cleaned inside.

The next thing on the agenda was lunch. It was around 2:00 in the afternoon and we were hungry. We decided the best place to go was a local all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant since we were headed for the Real Salt Lake soccer game at 7:00. This normally wouldn't be my first choice but we wanted a rather large meal to tide us over until after the game. The food was okay. I was a little disappointed because they don't have any of my favorite dishes anymore. I was happy to see hand sanitizer placed around all of the serving areas.

After we pigged out on food, we hung around a mall until time to go to the game. We found our seats and I noticed a lady sitting in the next section cleaning her seat off with a wipe. I love it when I see a fellow germaphobe. It warms my heart. I must confess, I don't wipe seats unless they are really gross. Instead, I change my clothes when I get home and wash the clothes I was wearing. The game was really fun. Real Salt Lake won 4 to 1. I have a lot of fun watching sports when I'm there in person, but watching it on TV gets boring for me.

Antibacterial Soap Vs. Regular Soap

Is antibacterial soap better than regular soap? According to the FDA, it is no better. All of the antibacterial products on the market today are creating more superbugs. I have personally dealt with the superbug MRSA and it terrifies me. I mostly use regular, liquid soap. I do occasionally buy antibacterial soap because it does give me an extra sense of security but I have not had any problems using regular soap. As long as you wash your hands thoroughly for as long as it takes to sing the alphabet song in your head, you should be fine. I do not use bar soap because it can harbor bacteria, although it is better than nothing.

No self-respecting germaphobe like me goes anywhere without hand sanitizer or antibacterial hand wipes. I carry both. Hand sanitizer is good but there are some messes that just need to be wiped off. The bottom line? Be careful, stay clean and avoid touching things as much as you possibly can.

Salmonella Causes Alfalfa Sprout Recall

Salmonella found in alfalfa sprouts has sickened 23 people in 10 states. The FDA issued a recall on Friday, May 21, 2010 on raw alfalfa sprouts labeled as "Caldwell Fresh Foods alfalfa sprouts" from Maywood, California. My daughter bought some sprouts last Thursday, the day before the recall because she likes them on sandwiches. I don't care for sprouts. In my opinion, they taste like dirt (not that I eat dirt, it reminds me of the smell of dirt). We checked the label on Friday after seeing the recall in the newspaper. Fortunately, the sprouts she bought are from Utah and not part of the recall. As I have said before in previous posts, be careful and wash raw fruits and vegetables very thoroughly before eating. Also, keep an eye out for news reports about recalls. Avoid higher risk produce like prepared salads and pre-cut fruit and vegetables. It may be more work to do it yourself, but it's better than getting sick and also less expensive.

Sanitizing Your Make-up And Purse

I went to visit my friend Megan a last week and she told me she had recently heard a news report about germs found in make-up. She threw all of her old make-up away.

I have heard of eye infections from old mascara or eyeliner before, but never gave it much thought. I always handle my make-up with clean hands and I don't carry it in my purse. I decided to do a little research into this and I found a great Dr. Oz video. Here are his tips:

"Lipstick and Mascara


Take a tube of lipstick and dip it in alcohol for 15 to 30 seconds, then wipe away the top layer of the lipstick. Or leaving it overnight in the freezer will also kill bacteria and viruses.

Leave a closed tube of mascara overnight in the freezer, thereby killing the germs.
 
Foundation and Eye Pencil


If you use a powder foundation, scrape off the top layer of the powder occasionally.
If you use a liquid foundation, scoop out the top layer.
Sharpen your eye pencil to a fresh point, making sure to remove the first layer.

Oz suggests disinfecting all of your cosmetics every three weeks, including using alcohol or freezing them."

I found this very interesting and useful information. I never would have thought to freeze my make-up or put lipstick in alcohol. I've never been big on lipstick, but I love lip balm! Dr. Oz also talked about cleaning the inside of your purse weekly. I clean the outside of mine from time to time, but I rarely clean the inside.