What germs?

If you know me, you know I've never been a germ-o-phob. If you really know me, you may think I have a flagrant disregard for them all together. I try not to be gross or anything, and having a child has made me a little more conscious of the little guys, but honestly, I think I might not even really believe in germs.

I had a teacher in college who was talking about really remote villages that have medicine men and use voodoo and that type of thing to treat what ails you. I can almost remember what he said verbatim, "You know people get sick, they don't feel well, so they go to the witch doctor, who utters some phrases and gives them a concoction to take. Then 3 or 4 days later, they feel better. We in America don't feel good, we go to a licensed medical doctor and pay them money, they tell us we got sick from germs and give us some antibiotics. Then 3 or 4 days later, we are all better." And suddenly, what little hold germs had over me just evaporated.

Now I wash my hands after handling raw meat, or doing something that actually seems gross AND touches my skin, but I do not buy antibacterial soap and I am not one of those moms who carries hand gel in my diaper bag. Maybe I should, but it's been 2 years and we're all fine. And here's a fun fact, my mother bought me 2 pump bottles of antibacterial hand gel when my son was born, and they are both still sitting around. One by the kitchen sink and one on his changing table. They are like, 1/3 full.

Today at work, I needed a cup of coffee and I was in a rush to get to a meeting. I grabbed my cup, intending to fill it on my way out the door and realized I didn't wash it on friday, I just poured out my old coffee and set it on my desk. But how sick could I get from old coffee residue? So I did a quick rinse with hot water (which did nothing to remove the brown color from the bottom of the cup...) and refilled and pretended it was a clean cup. That was about 3 hours ago, so we'll see if I make it through the night.

I eat food that falls on the floor. And I let my child do the same thing.

Now for all of you that want to reconsider being my friend, here are some things that I am actually a stickler on:

*Cross contamination when prepping food. I do NOT use the same spoon to dip out sour cream and then salsa. Nor do I EVER dip food out with a spoon I've licked. This is something my mother ingrained upon me. Not sure why this is the only thing that stuck ;)

*I wash my hands before cooking something. Unless it is something like break and bake cookies for me only. I mean, they are going into a 350 degree oven, if it lives through that it deserves to find a permanent home in my small intestines. I think I mainly do this b/c I have a dog now and you never know where those dog hairs pop up and it GROSSES me out to find them in my food...YUCK!

*hmmm, I think that may be it.

Remember, germs only exist when you give them power...