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!