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.