Germs and A Day in the Life of a Shoe

Let’s talk today about germs and even go just a bit deeper and talk about a day in the life of a shoe.

Germs are EVERYWHERE!!!  Take for instance our shoes!  Let’s just talk about a day in the life of a shoe.  Did you ever think of all the places our shoes go each day and of all the ookie things our shoes come in contact with –  in just one day? YUCK!!!

How clean do you think you are?   I love the programs on TV that go into clean homes and do swabs here and there and test them and find all these scary germs in places that look perfectly clean.  I’m kind of like an ‘information sponge!’  I love to learn as much as I can about natural healing and living and about things we can do to be healthier.

Only 2/3 Of People Who Use Public Restrooms, Wash Their Hands

I read over the weekend that only about 2/3 of the folks that use public restrooms – and we all use them now and then – but only 2/3 of those people wash their hands as they leave.  And the people that don’t, will often surprise you.

I’m always in awe when I’m in the ladies room of Walmart and one of their employees comes out of a stall and just walks right on out the door.  I’m always thinking “GADS – HOPE SHE DOESN’T WORK IN THE BAKERY OR DELI!”    Or a woman will come out of a stall and be dressed to the hilt – all made up in her little designer outfit complete with jewelry and a make up counter full of make up ON – and she’ll leave that stall and just walk right out the door.  WHAT?   Don’t most have a sign that says “EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS BEFORE LEAVING RESTROOM”?   Have they hired people that can’t even READ?

IT PAYS – TO BE CLEAN AND TIDY!!!

Once in a while I’ll come out of a ladies room and point out some fancy lady walking away in a 3 piece suit and all dolled up with makeup and jewelry and I’ll say to Geezer, “See that fancy pants woman going there?  She didn’t even wash her hands before she left the rest room.”  Now ‘me’ – I wash my hands and then clean up and dry around the sink and shine the faucets, sometimes wipe the mirror if it’s very bad and then wash my hands again and open the door with a clean paper towel to go out.  Because I’ve seen how some of these people do and I want no part of their yuckie germs.  I’ll come out after being in there for 5-6 minutes on a 1-2 minute run and Geezer will say ‘What in the world did you DO in there – CLEAN the place?”   Well  Yup!   I’m a fanatic about things like that.  And that’s not being arrogant – that’s just being considerate.

Cleanest and Dirtiest Place in a Restroom

It’s said that the cleanest place in a public restroom is the commode.  Did you know that?   The dirtiest place is the faucet at the sink and the door knob going out.   SO – even if you are neat and tidy and you wash your hands, you’re just getting more yucky germs on you if you don’t use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door to go out.  OH YUCK!!!!!!  Just almost makes me gag.

We were out to eat at a favorite local restaurant a while back and when we sat down at the table it was dripping wet.  The lady had wiped it off with her WET rag but left it really wet.  So Geezer waved a waitress over to wipe it down again and then we got napkins and wiped it down one more time.  But then I was reading online a few days later and learned that those rags they wipe our tables with in restaurants are loaded with germs – because that one rag will be wiping off many tables in one evening!
And all those dippers, and tongs, and things at the buffet are also touched by many people in an evening and where have their hands been? OH my GOODNESS!  Just one of the many reasons I love dining in the Kitchen in the Canyon!   We may not wear designer clothes – but we’re very clean down here …

Germs that we come into contact with off and on all day – every day – can be anything from a little piddly germ to a germ that could take us out of here if it got hold of us really good.

Geezer Almost Lost a Leg to a Tiny Germ in a Cut

The geezer came in contact with a germ just weed eating the yard in 2009 I think it was.  It was such a tiny cut.  When he came in from yard work he showed it to me and he didn’t think much of it, but I knew I needed to boil it out with peroxide  to be safe, so I did.  Then I put a dab of Neosporin on it and then a band aid and I did that for about 3 days.  But it kept looking worse each day and on day 3 I said “Get in the squad car Geezer, because I’m taking you to see my colleague, Dr Patel with that leg.  Dr Patel took one look at Geezers leg and looked up at me and he said “He could be in trouble and he’s going in the hospital now.”  He was flat on his back for 5 days and Dr Patel was fighting to save his leg by the end of that first day –  because on that first day in the hospital – before drugs had taken hold – it got even worse.  It took weeks for him to get over battling the germ that got in that little bitty cut that looked so innocent when the accident happened.

Now the Geezer is like my Jolly Green Giant!  He’s my rock and strong as an ox and can work circles around most 30 year olds you want to put him up against. So I was shocked beyond words when the situation got really, really scary.  Because the geezer, even in his 70’s, takes no medications and never has.

Where to Find Germs

Germs are EVERYWHERE and we come in contact with a gazillion of them a day.  But here are a few places you may not think about where you could come into contact with deadly germs.
Sponges, rags and cutting boards or cabinet tops. Do you work with raw meat in the kitchen and then touch your knife, the faucets, the skillet handle, a cabinet door handle? Do you wash your hands before you run outside to toss some fat you’ve cut off?  Because you have to get in and out of your kitchen door, you know.  And everything you touch going out to throw that fat, is going to come in contact with the germs on your hands.

Money!  Did you ever stop to think where those dollar bills in your wallet have been in their lifetime?  A bunch of paper money in all denominations was gathered at random and tested in a lab and every single one of them were found to have traces of bacteria, drugs and even fecal matter on them and how often do we wash out hands after handling money?  OH GADS!!!

Ladies purses!  Where do you put your purse in the ladies restroom?  SURELY not on the floor!!!  If there isn’t a hook on your stall door, I guess you’d need to try to hold it under your arm.

And then there’s the remote, cell phone, water fountains, shopping carts, the pump handle at the gas station, the lemon they put in your tea, all those fresh fruits and veggies at the store.  GOODNESS – a study found that in 76 lemon wedges tested in a fancy restaurant, 53 were found to contain germs or bacteria.  And what about the menu’s at a restaurant?  How many people do you think have handled that menu you’re going over with a fine tooth comb before you pick up your roll at supper?   Soap dispensers in restrooms are covered with germs!
Handrails!  We go to the races in Springfield twice a year and we always set in the same seats up about row 25 or something.  And those steps are SO steep – but I don’t use the handrail going up OR down because EVERYBODY slides their hands down that rail as THEY go up and down and I am NOT touching that rail.
Buttons at the soda and candy machines, ATM machines, oh my goodness the list is endless!  Dr Oz said recently “NEVER handle the remote control in a motel room.”  Always carry along a gallon bag and put it over the remote because no TELLING what is on that remote and he also said the dirtiest place in a motel room is not in the bathroom – but it’s the bedspread on top of that bed.  Because sheets are changed after each person leaves and a new person comes in – but they rarely change the bedspread and no TELLING what is on that bedspread.  First thing I do when we go in a motel room is turn down the bed and roll the spread all the way to the foot.

We LOVE buffets and the geezer LOVES the peanuts in a huge vat at Rural King.  But how many people stand around those places and sneeze and cough?  When Geezer’s getting peanuts out of that vat I always say “Dig down deep and get some from near the bottom”   But at those buffets – we can’t do that there.

NOW, let’s talk about shoes.  WHAT does your shoe come into contact with on any given day.  Here’s a little poem I wrote about our shoes.  I found this info about 3 years ago in a book on organizing our homes and I dug it out to use in the blog.  I ‘thought’ it was a poem, but it was a run down of where our shoes are at like 7am –  10am – 2pm so I just made the details into a poem:

A Day In The Life Of A Shoe

So we know germs are every where and all we can do, is do the best we can.  Wash our hands often and I mean OFTEN.  I’ll bet I wash my hands 20-30 times a day – maybe more – and I make our own antibacterial soap.  I just add a little alcohol to our soap dispensers and we carry hand sanitizers in the car.  But more often than not, it’s just a little tiny thing of rubbing alcohol.  That’s really all you need!

Well – this is just something to think about.  We talk about healthy food all the time in this blog and I love studying health and healing.  So here’s some ‘food for thought’ today on germs.

I’m not posting this stuff to be an alarmist.  I’m not a grumpy fanatic.  I don’t go around all the time talking about germs and hidden dangers. I’m a blabber mouth and a giggler and I don’t know about ‘you’ but “I” want to be ‘aware’ – so here it is.  I could have written pages on this and almost did.  But compared to all the information I found, this is just a ‘briefing’

From Prevention Magazine…..8 of the most germ infested places….

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