We are become a bunch of Wimps!

While at the Zoo I noticed hand sanitizer everywhere. Parents were chasing around their little ones yelling wash your hands, wash your hands. The zoo even has a portable sink outside the Children's Zoo in case you are contaminated by alpaca spit and can not make it 50 feet to the restrooms. WHAT!! I am surprised they do not have portable hand sanitizer wipes next to the statues of the tortoises and elephant that kids climbed on to wipe them down. When I was a child they did not have all of this at the zoo. We fed the elephants, picked our noses, touched goats than ate our lunch. I never heard of any of my friends dying from "creeping crud or jungle fever." We also did not have viruses resilient to antibiotics or the epidemic proportion of people with OCD. Now I have to admit I am a bit of a hypocrite because I am a slight germaphobe, do not even get me started about magazine in doctor's office or eating out of communal chip bowsl or bags! YUCK!!
In case you do not know how to wash your hand I have provided instructions:
* First wet your hands (make sure to use warm water) and apply liquid or clean bar soap—it does not have to be antibacterial soap.
* Next rub your hands vigorously together and scrub all surfaces (under finger nails, wrists, palms, back of hands, fingers)
* Continue for at least 10–15 seconds (time equals about two rounds of singing "Happy Birthday" in your head. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs.
* Rinse well and dry your hands. If possible, dry with a clean disposable paper towels.
* To prevent chapping and cracking, you can apply some lotion after drying hands (optional)

Hand washing information above comes from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the American Society for Microbiology

By the way, in case you are one of those over protective parents you can protect your children from irresponsible hand washers and buy a sign to attach to your baby carrier before you resort to enclosing your child in a bubble.

What is the world coming to?

My daughter is a Zooteen, on Saturday I had to drop her off at the zoo for her to work one and half hours in the Children's Zoo. I decided to stay and hang out at the zoo. All and all I can say is, if the people who visit the zoo are any indication of our future, all hope for humanity is lost!! Claire was assigned to the guinea pig getting area so I though I would just hang out and watch her interact with the children. So here comes "daddy" with two small kids holding their hands walking with mom and what looks like her sister. "Daddy" was covered in "tats," but the one that caught my eye was the tattoo that covered his rather large forearm. In Old English letters it said F***!!! He had sleeves on so I do not know if his tattoo was just plain F*** or perhaps was more elaborate like "F*** You", "F*** Off and Die"or " F*** your mother"! I wonder what thought process borough him to the conclusion it would be a good idea to have F*** tattooed on his arm. Was he having a bad day? I have a suggestion, if the tattoo just says F*** he should modify it to say F***en Idiot!

That time of year! This recipe is to help reduce itching when you get bitten by insects. It would also works with poison ivy and sunburn. Let me know what you think!

1 cup of cold water
¼ cup of cider vinegar
9 drops of Lavender (not Lavadin) essential oil
3 drops of Peppermint essential oil
2 drops of Roman Chamomile oil

Blend well. Place in plastic bowl with tight sealing lid. This blend is great to keep cool in your refrigerator. Soak a washcloth in this solution to gently apply to area of skin

Grissom Masters the Treadmill

After watching the movie "I am Legend" and the Dog Whisper in which they use a treadmill for dog exercise, I decided Grissom needs to master the treadmill for the days in which I do not want to walk. Here he is TA DA!!

How Mouth Odor Affects the Pleasure of Kissing

Can you believe that a doctor is actually doing research on how mouth odor affects the pleasure of kissing! This is a blurb from Dr. Hirsch's Website: The inner essence of a person is often judged by the way they smell. If they smell good, they are seen as good; bad = bad. One representation of our essence is the odor of our breath. Mouth breath is particularly obvious during the act of kissing. But what does the ideal kiss taste like? In this study, Dr. Hirsch is exploring different kiss tastes and the perception of kiss quality based on taste. So here is my question, what is your favorite kiss taste? Personally, since I am dieting I want a chocolate cake flavored kiss!

A Rant: I hate getting old

On May 27th I turned 46 and this has been very traumatic for me. In my mind I do not see myself as being old, hell I act more immature than most 6th graders. Physically, I am aging. My body aches in places that I did not even know could ache. I am overweight and out of shape. The sad thing is even if I lose weight and was in great shape I would still be OLD!! I do not even realize how old I must look but I did figure out I could be a grandmother. When I went to Turkey it is a custom for young people to give up their seats to OLDER women. Do you know how depressing it was to step on a bus and immediately have someone offer me their seat! The Turks must have thought I was crazy, I would hold on to the wrist straps on the bus and hang on for dear life for miles before I would accept their seats. When I look at my husband and I see his hair turning gray I am thankful that I am a blond and do not have a problem dying my hair!! Thank God I have not found a gray hair yet, I think that would send me over the deep end! I know I will more than likely be a crazy old lady but not tomorrow!!!

Thank God for Al Gore!

My life is a whole lot easier since Al Gore "invented the Internet! My name is Janis and I'm an information addict. I am not a know-it-all but I sure wish I was! I cannot imagine a day in which I have not learned some piece of useless knowledge. Today, I learned how sword swallowing works. My obsession with knowledge is beyond normal. If I hear someone talking about something I do not know about, I will add it to my "need to research list." Sometimes I am so driven by the need to research I will stop whatever I am doing and jump on the Internet. Since I am aware of all the garbage on the Internet I will start my search at the Google Scholar .

I am that person that you do not want to play Trivia Pursuit with unless it is that horrid Star Wars Version. Oh and by the way, Genus V almost made my brain bleed! When I watch the show the Cash Cab with my family I am not allowed to answer the questions until they admit they do not know the answer because they say I ruin the fun for them! I do know for a fact that my name is on several friend's cellphones in case they hail the Cash Cab while in New York. This insatiable drive I have for knowledge can sometimes backfire on me. Some people expect me to know everything so I am asked question about stuff all the time. Which I do not like for two main reasons: 1. I hate not knowing an answer to their question (which means now I have to add their question to my own need to research list!) and
2. I am the Keeper of the Knowledge not the giver!
(By the way, The Al Gore comment was a joke!)

New Shoes!!

I started walking 2 miles every night to help with my weight loss. By the time I returned I could hardly walk, my feet were dying! I would wake up the next morning and have to hobble around for a few hours. The years of wearing "Impractical Shoes" (do you here me DM!) has killed my feet. I use to love pointy toe thin heels. Now, I have been left with no padding on my feet and I think I have a neuroma. I will be seeing a podiatrist next week. Yesterday, I decided to go to Dave's Performance Footgear to be fitted for a pair of shes and I learned several new things! I was told that your athletic shoes should be 1/2 to 1 size larger to keep your toes from hitting the end. Really! This would explain why my toes always hurt. Also, since I have such a high arch I should be wearing an insert in ALL of my shoes. Finally, even though I am walking, running shoes are sometimes better because of all of the features. So here are my buys a pair of Adidas Supernova. I am happy to report I wore my new shoes with the insert on my walk and my feet felt fine, I woke up this morning and my feet do not hurt!! Oh and one more thing, Americas totally mispronounce Adidas (uh-DEE-duhs) it is a German word and should be pronounced like this. (this is for Iris). I had to pass that bit of knowledge onto the sales person at Dave's and I think she though I was nuts.