Either yesterday or today I saw a segment on the TODAY show about germs. The specialist advocated not keeping your toothbrush in the bathroom, because it's the dirtiest place in the house. There are all those microbes in the commode, and when you flush it they are propelled at great velocity into the air. It made me think of the old James Thurber story about his aunt (I think it was) who thought an empty light bulb socket dripped electricity on to you. Anyway, if you must keep your toothbrush in the bathroom, keep it in the medicine chest, behind a door--well, thank you very much, my electric toothbrush would never fit into my medicine chest. And by the by you should not keep medicine in the medicine chest, because when you shower the room heats up beyond the temperature at which medicines keep best. Shoes? Nasty things. Take them off the minute you come in the door. Well, my feet are old and were the first thing to go south as I aged--I who went barefoot all my life am no longer comfortable doing that. Women's purses? Nasty on the bottom, because we set them on the floor in public restrooms--well, I do try to avoid that, and I make it a point (most of the time) not to set it on the kitchen counter. But whenever I hear things like that--such as you should wash your kitchen towel daily--I think we're all exposed to germs all the time. If we sterilize our conditions, it's like taking too many antibiotics--we'll lose our natural immunity. Every once in a while a bug does get us--as one did Jacob last weekend--but on the whole, I, for one who is careful but not overly so, seem to be consistently healthy (I hope I won't get smitten for this). Cleanliness is next to godliness--but only if you don't carry it to extremes.
Both of my sons and their families will be here Friday night, and I have been planning menus, none of which seemed to work out. You'd have thought I was entertaining the Queen of England, the way Lisa and I exchanged emails about food for the entire weekend. Colin finally called tonight and said, "Mom, don't fix dinner Friday night. Just feed yourself and Jacob. We'll eat before we get there." Jamie said the same thing. So Jacob will probably share spaghetti marinara with me. Saturday night's meal was also up for discussion, but Lisa, bless her, is bringing pasta salad and black bean salsa, and I'll add hamburgers, hot dogs, and baked beans. Feeding my family is almost as complicated as getting them to coordinate their schedules.
A good work day--I got quite a bit done on the nonfiction proposal I'm working on. My friend, librarian Carol Roark, came to help me with databases--she's a fanatic when it comes to research. I gave her a topic, and she kept finding new leads, etc. All the while my stomach was rumbling, and I finally had to tear her away from the computer so we could go to lunch. But she inspired me, and I came back and did a lot of work. Tonight I wrote maybe 700 words on my novel, so I'm feeling smug.
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