TNT Down for the Count

The Taplett household is under a sickness watch. The little man came home from daycare yesterday very sick. We came home and ate dinner—tuna fish, pickels and grapes with two Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies for dessert—and snuggled in for Curious George 2: Follow that Monkey (BTW, awesome movie). While laying on top of mommy, my son promptly puked the aforementioned dinner and dessert combo all over both of us. I'm sure you are asking yourself, why the heck is she telling me this?

From June 2009 to February 2010, Tucker and I were pretty much by ourselves, except when the next door neighbors came over or we went to preschool. Since I've been back to work and Tucker is back in daycare, we've been living in a giant petri dish. I sit in my cube and I hear people coughing up second and third lungs. I hear noses sniffling and being blown. Then I go to the restroom and I hear people leave without washing their hands. I mean WTF? Yes, mom, I said WTF. (side note: she called me a dirty word the other day, Liberal. That is a whole 'nother blog).

No wonder Tuck Tuck is sick. I mean come on, people. I never used to be a germ-a-phobe but after last year when Jeff was sick with a mysterious flesh-eating virus I've invested heavily in germ-fighting products like Purell or Clorox wipes. I actually get the oogie-boogies from shopping carts which are the dirtiest, yuckiest things on the planet. And don't get me started on things people forget to clean like the caps and pumps of the Purell bottles littering the office.

I harken back to a movie I saw when I was a kid (this one's for you, Toni), Creepshow. One of the episodes was called "They're Creeping Up On You!" and told the story of a man whose Mysophobia (look up the word of the day) has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment, but is helpless when he becomes overrun by cockroaches. Now I will spare you the gorey details—one of my favorite, all-time movie scene endings—but the point is, I can see myself holed up in a sealed house in the near future.

Point of the story, we are being overrun by germs and ookie things that are wreaking all kinds of havoc on our immune systems. Let's work together to keep the germies at bay, clean your carts, stay home from work and for goodness sake, wash your hands when you go to the bathroom.