Stop MRSA Now!

My name is Lisa. And I'm a germophobe. I wash my hands ALOT. And I make my son was HIS hands alot. He always complains. And my husband thinks I'm crazy. But then I hear stories like Everly Macario's and I think of that old adage, "better to be safe than sorry."

Years ago, Everly took her son Simon to the emergency room after he began experiencing cold and flu symptoms. But after being discharged he had problems breathing and was re-admitted, this time to the Intensive care unit. He died the next day. Later, it was confirmed he had an antibiotic resistant Staph infection known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

The infection is typically found in community settings, like gyms, locker rooms, childcare centers and schools. Scarey? Yes!

According to the website, Stop MSRA Now, MRSA can be easily spread through skin-to-skin contact and by touching contaminated items. But it can be prevented with these steps:

Scrub up - Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds - the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice - or use an alcohol-based hand rub sanitizer.
Wipe it down - Use a disinfecting bleach solution to wipe down and disinfect hard surfaces. Make sure to use clean cloths to avoid spreading MRSA from one surface to another. (1 tablespoon of disinfecting bleach diluted in 1 quart of water)
Cover your cuts - Keep any nicks or wounds covered with a clean, dry bandage until healed.
Keep to yourself - Do not share personal items, like towels or razors, that come into contact with bare skin.
Use a barrier - Keep a towel or clothing between skin and shared equipment.

How do you spot MRSA? According to the site, MRSA, like other staph bacteria, can cause a skin infection such as pimples, rashes, abscesses, boils or what can look like a spider bite. These infections are usually warm, painful, red or swollen.

To find out more, click on this link.

This post was written on behalf of MomCentral.com

Say "boo" to the flu!

On Friday night I missed a party. On Saturday morning, I missed my son's soccer game. And on Saturday night? I missed another get together with some dear friends I'd been longing to see. And all because of the flu.

Yes, its that time of year again. But you can "Say Boo to the Flu!" In a quest to educate families about the importance of flu prevention, Families Fighting Flu, has teamed up with the Visiting Nurse Associations of America in hosting flu vaccination events across the country.

For more information on the program, visit their website (http://www.saybootoflu.com/). You can find flu prevention tips and ways to help kids learn about washing their hands, as well as vaccination information related to your local area.

This post was written on behalf of MomCentral.

1 contest 3 winners!

"A Basket of Indulgence". Sound good to you? Well, I'm giving THREE away this week as part of the carnival hosted by Bloggy Giveaways.

How do you enter?
Leave me a comment with your name and e-mail. I will contact winners for further info at that time.

What's exactly is in this basket?
Turtle Chex mix bars, chocolate candles, caramel lotion and spa essentials like a loofah, hand massager, nail brush and spa towel.

When do we find out who won?
The drawing will be held between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2

Anything else?
If you are unfamiliar with the new Chex Mix Bars, let me tell you a bit about them. They are a combination of "crunchy Chex pieces, pretzels and peanuts with chewy and indulgent ingredients like caramel and chocolate" -- and less than 150 calories per bar.) Quite honestly? I discovered these recently and fully intend to buy three more boxes today when I go to the grocery store. And I plan to hide them so no one else will eat them because they are that awesome and I'm that greedy.

Want MORE chances to win some other cool prizes?
Go to Bloggy Giveaways for a list of other blogging participants.

Abbey the part labby gets adopted

Once upon a time, (back in January of 1991) a sweet little black and white pointer/lab mix pup was born. Unfortunately, she, her two sisters and mother were abandoned, left to roam their neighborhood with barely anything to eat.

By the time Impact for Animals in St. Louis found them, the precious pooches had worms and other health issues. But the loving people at Impact nursed the puppies and mother back to health. And soon, Abbey found herself being driven to an unfamiliar place called PetSmart. There she and her family sat and watched the people walk by. So many strange smells! All of this excitement made the puppies tired. So the young pretty pup drifted off to sleep with her sisters.

As she dreamed of chasing rabbits, a young blond woman gently picked her up and started to cuddle her. Then the woman handed her to the young man standing beside her. The young pup must have thought the man cute. She gave him a great big lick. He melted.

A few days later, the little pup learned she was getting adopted. She had a "forever" home now. She was a bit scared those first few days but soon got very used to sleeping on the bed with her parents, going for long walks, and riding in the convertible. She liked driving in the car best when there was a trip to McDonald's involved. Her name is Abbey. And I can't imagine life without her.

Now, almost 11 years later, Abbey dog still loves car rides, McDonald's, long walks and sleeping in bed with her family. She also enjoys chasing squirrels and rabbits out of the back yard and scaring the crap out of delivery/mail people with her ferocious-sounding bark.

After three years of being the only baby, Abbey became a big sister too. Some days she loves her hairless brother. Other days, she wishes she could send him back to where he was originally. But all in all, Abbeydog is surrounded by love.

(But if you're not yet ready for a real, live pooch, check out Burger King's iDogs. Kids get them as part of the Club BK toys.)

Parent Bloggers wants to hear all about your pets. So post sometime this weekend (Oct. 24-26) write about your pets. Include links to http://www.clubbk.com/ and http://blog.parentbloggers.com/. The following blurb should also be included: “This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”
Then send your post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com.

Oh and by the way?

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”

Boots and bowling pins

Let's talk "man caves" shall we?

While we don't have a mancave at our house, we do have some manly-man items that, if there did exist such a room, would definitely be on prominent display.

Take for instance a beer glass boot. No man cave should be without one! Because beer? Is manly.

And while we're talking beer, most man caves I've seen are usually decorated with at least one beer sign. We have a few Guinness signs. They'd definitely adorn a wall.

And while we're on the kitchy sort of stuff, he'd also probably have a small bar in the corner. On top of the bar would sit a random bowling pin he got from the company he used to work at years ago. I can't remember exactly why he got it. And I have no clue why he kept it, but I would be there.

Oh and Mizzou stuff. There would be PLENTY of Mizzou stuff.

I sort of feel guilty that hubby doesn't have a man cave. He needs one! And at some point, we are planning to convert a section of our basement into a mancave. And then all of those tacky, weird things (like the drinking glass shaped like a penis that I've hidden away so well, even I can't find it anymore. Opps!) the man has collected over the years can "breathe."

Do you have a man cave? If so, what kind of "hidden goodies" lurk inside? Parent Bloggers Network wants to know! Write a post (don't forget the photos) about what kinds of objects are tucked away. (You still have time to post tonight yet this weekend) Also add links to http://shopping.billmelater.com/linkin?pageid=billmelater&s_kwcid=[PBN] and http://blog.parentbloggers.com. Then send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com. They'll link to your blog and enter you in the drawing for five $100 shopping sprees for use within the Bill Me Later merchant network. That's pretty cool, yes?

Love and Loathe

Here's a quick and dirty list of some products I've come across recently

I'm loving several products:

* "The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work" by John M. Gottman, Phd. Instead of studying why so many marriages fail, he studies the ones that succeed. He's got some great insights.

*My Ipod. I downloaded a bunch of songs and at bedtime, I chose my "soothing" category and drift off to sleep that way. Just listen to the music and relax. Course its also fun to jam out while on a treadmill or while cleaning. How did I live life without with gadget?

*Dierberg's deli chicken salad. Oh my gosh! I eat it almost every day.

But then there is one service and a few products I'm loathing now too.

*Veolia Environmental Services. Do you HAVE to keep changing dates of the recycle, trash, lawn waste pick up? I can't keep track anymore. And your customer service is sucking hard! Yesterday I called four times only to be perpetually stuck in automated hell. Apparently, whenever a live person would get to my call, I would get disconnected. I don't know if that was done out of being ornery or if they truly are being inundated by calls. Either way, its obvious I'm not the only pissed off customer.

*Uniden phones. We just bought this phone. The sound quality is horrible. Also, sometimes while you're on a call the sound drops in and out. So you only hear parts of what people are saying. Lovely. What a POS!

*Cardio Pilates with Ana Caban. I've used exercise tapes and dvd's since I was in high school. I like the convenience of being at home. But I get bored after awhile. I've been wanting a different pilates video. And well, this one sucks ass. The pilates part was "meh". But the cardio part is the most boring ever. She does the same four moves, in the same succession over and over and over and over and over. It started to piss me off. Obviously Ana didn't spend much time thinking about choreography for this section. Nothing original here.

*Reebok Stay Ball. The hose of the cheap, poorly constructed pipe easily split before I could plug it into the ball. And the ball must have a leak. There was sand everywhere. What a waste of money. So back to Target I'll go.

There's a round-up of some of the products I've tried recently. Hope it help save you some time.

A carpet cleaning product that hits the spot!

The people who owned our house previously would probably freak out a bit if they saw the house today. Sure we've made some positive changes to the house. But the boy and the dog haven't been so kind to the existing flooring.

Let's just say this... Little boys + hardwood floors in bathrooms = BAD. (Especially in that "bad aim, pee all over the floor resulting in wood around the toilet getting darker" way. And old lady dog (who's developed a sensitive stomach in the last three years) + cream colored carpet = REALLY BAD.

We have a few old stains on certain areas of carpet in our front rooms, due to Abbey realizing too late that she shouldn't have eaten the grass/dead critter combo meal. I've tried several products on these pesky stains but nothing has worked.

According to Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain Remover's website, the product, "instantly eliminates the toughest carpet stains-even OLD stains! Spot Shot works great on pet stains, coffee, spaghetti sauce, grease and oil, marker, wine and more!"

I was more than intrigued. I was hoping this would be the answer to my prayers... Would Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain Remover stand up to this HUGE challenge or would it falter due to performance anxiety? Let's do a play-by-play.

Living Room: It cleaned up the shadow of an old stain (about 2 yrs old) after two passes. Other products had failed this test completely. I had given up hope of ever getting out this stain.

Dining Room: It cleaned up a few stains the first time around with little effort on my part. These were done within the past six months.

Head of stairs: There was some mystery stain here for a year other cleaners couldn't even soften. Spot Shot took it out easily on the first try. I was floored (pun intended)!

Guest bedroom: About a year ago, Seth spilled children's grape cough syrup all over the floor. The Spot Shot lessened the stain after two passes.

Boy's Room: There is some mystery blue stain on the carpet in Seth's room. Nothing could get the stain out before and whatever it is, has proven to be very stubborn. Now at least a shade or two lighter after two passes of Spot Shot. I might just dry it and try, try again.

So there you have it. Overall, Spot Shot emerged victorious -- it left my carpets looking better than they had before. (In other words it picked up the slack other cleaners left behind.) Plus, the product is non toxic, won't hurt the environment and the bottle can be recycled when emptied. Yeay!

This review was written on behalf of MomCentral.