Germaphobe

Happy Tuesday to everyone!! I know I have been a horrible, horrible blogger lately. I have been so tied up with life in general that I have not kept up with my duty of blogging. Hopefully I will be able to get back on track shortly and get you guys up to speed on everything.

Anyways, last night after I cleaned up the house, as always, I curled up in bed and grabbed my new issue of Shape magazine (normally I go for my Cosmo..Glamour or Vogue, but wanted to read something different). Jenna Fischer is on the front cover looking cute as always. I glance at the cover as I always do to cheat and get a sneak peek of what is within. Just as I was about to flip to the front page, the word "germaphobe" caught my eye. Naturally I flipped to the page that was next to it and began reading this woman's story. I will spare ALL of the details, honestly because it kind of made me ill to the tummy. The woman sounded a lot like me, maybe a little bit more extreme actually, taking every measure to avoid and/or destroy germs surrounding her. She took swabs from everyday items she touched but thought she protected herself from & had a doctor study them over a period of time.

Well, long article short, some pretty disturbing things were discovered. Vaginal and rectal yeast on the elevator buttons she touched everyday, fecal matter on just about everything that she came into contact with and swabbed. Large amounts of fecal matter on the children's' jungle gym at the park, but the most disturbing, her kitchen counter top. This lady is a vegetarian so had no change of raw meat contamination. The end result to the study of the secretly dirty counter top, her sponge. Where she thought it was clean, it was actually full of germs.

So, where do I leave you, besides with disgusting thoughts and probably the need to wash your hands a million times after reading this as I did? Well, I will pass along a couple of the tips I gathered from the article. You can always go pick up a copy and read the full article.

Tip #1: ALWAYS wash your hands after using the bathroom (duh!). You should lather your hands for at least 20-30 seconds and rinse with warm water. You should sing the "happy birthday" song at least twice during this process in order to assure you have killed all the germs. Make sure to pay attention to under your finger nails. When grabbing the paper towel to dry your hands (germs LOVE wet surfaces so make sure to dry thoroughly) use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door to exit the restroom.

Tip #2: If someone sneezes by you, walk diagonally away from the sneeze. Also, the myth about holding your breath....not a myth at all! It takes a certain amount of germs to get you sick, so by you holding your breath and potentially keeping out so many germs, you can actually avoid getting sick! Crazy!

Tip #3: Counter tops should be sprayed or wiped down with Clorox or other anti-bacterial substances BEFORE AND AFTER meal preparations (yes, not just after!) in order to keep from contamination.

Tip #4: Use separate cutting boards for different types of foods (this is a given but still thought I'd mention it). You shouldn't use the same chopping board for meat as you do for your veggies.

Tip #5: Last but certainly not least, to keep your sponge from becoming a breading ground for all the nastiness, after each use, still in a bowl of water and place in the microwave for two minutes.

If any of you guys have any nifty tips for us germaphobes, please share!