Germs, menu planning, and a working day

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.

Home again

Much as I enjoy visiting my children and granchildren, I am always glad to be home again. The girls in Frisco had no school today, so they went with Jamie to take me to the train, and Maddie raced along next to the train as long as she could to wave goodbye. Then they were off for a b'day lunch at a place of her choosing, and later I learned that Jamie, who planned to take them to his office and work, ended up at the Dallas Aquairum with them. Last night we had a b'day dinner for Maddie--leftovers that were very good, but a yellow cake with cream cheese frosting, candles and the whole works. It was, her mom said, her intimate b'day party. Next week is the big shindig.
In spite of b'day cake (1/8 piece) and my disastrous encounters with corned beef hash and a hash brown potato cake, I lost 2.5 lbs. this week, so that makes 4.5 lbs. since I strted Weight Watchers. I am very proud of myself. Today I ate well, except pimiento cheese, even 2 Tbsp. to fill a half sandwich, is a bit heavy in points and so is a lamb chop. I'll need to go back to chicken and fish.
Riding the train from Dallas to FW was difficult for me--I had panic attacks about open space, though in Dallas Jamie made me laugh about them. But in Fort Worth, I steeled myself and worked my way (with suitcase, canvas bag and purse) from tree to tree until I was at the head of the parking lot. Jeannie, meanwhile, had gone over to the train, couldn't find me, went back to her car, and saw me--so she rescued me, by which time I was having one of my can't step from here to there attacks. She gave me a long lecture in the car about changing my lifestyle and how she and Jean were worried about me.
My good friend Jean has had major surgery last week--for a long while she didn't want anyone to talk about it and she still doesn't want visitors. But she's doing very well, still not on even a soft diet, but walking the halls and sounding chipper on the phone. So tonight, on the phone, when I called out of concern for her, she ended up giving me the same lecture Jeannie had. It's so wonderful to have good friends--and I am blessed.
Jean said I sounded much better tonight and I said, "Of course. I'm home and safe." Moksha, the petsitter, said my animals missed me, so now I must go let Scooby in. Wywy has sat on my desk all afternoon. I think he's telling me he's glad I'm back too.