How Germans Eat

Recently, I had a very busy day and by four o'clock hadn't had any time to run out to the grocery store to get food to make dinner. Of course I had nothing in the house, and to complicate matters, my Baba called me and told me she made spaghetti for me. The reason why this complicated matters was that I'm still afraid to eat dinner at her house. She thaws meat on the counter top and uses the same cutting board for raw meat and raw veggies. She has always done this, and has never ever gotten sick. I have eaten her food all of my life (until I came down with this phobia) and I also have never ever gotten sick. So, I was faced with this serious dilemma--drive 10 minutes to my Baba's house and eat spaghetti that is already cooked and waiting for me, or figure out what to cook, go to the grocery store, buy the food, come home and cook it, then finally eat, 2 hours later. I decided that it would be good for my phobia if I used "exposure therapy" on myself and ate dinner at Baba's. First, I got the opinion of two different people regarding whether or not they thought it was safe to eat the spaghetti. Then, I headed over to Baba's.

The spaghetti tasted GREAT. Even so, I played with my food for a bit, and took tiny bites, so that if I were to get sick, I would get LESS sick than if I had eaten the entire dish. I also moved the food around on the plate so that it looked like I ate most of it. My Baba sat down across from me, and said, "You know Svitlana? Germans would never eat like that. This is what they do." And she took the fork out of my hand, scraped all the food on my plate into a big pile, and said, "You have to eat this."

The spaghetti sat in my stomach like a lump for the rest of the evening. Was it because it was greasy? Or, was it just my anxiety? This is why I prefer to eat bread, soups, and kashas.

Thanksgiving--One Year Anniversary

Thanksgiving was the one-year anniversary of my physical meltdown. Although I was able to actually eat at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year, I had chest pains for three days leading up to the meal, and a few difficult days after the meal where I panicked about what to eat. The IBS flared up for the three days AFTER Thanksgiving, and I had stomach cramps. I also had that severe weak feeling as if I hadn't eaten in 12 hours. I took the sedative twice during this past weekend, and it didn't cure the symptoms, but made me not care so much that I was suffering.

Yesterday, everything tasted bad, but I shoved it down anyway.

The Today Show Talks About Germs!

Every morning I put on The Today Show while I make breakfast and coffee. Although I'm usually annoyed with Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera (Katie Couric look-alike), I keep it on because they show the weather and I know if anything big has happend over night.

Yesterday, they had a special segment which "exposed" the fact that shopping carts are covered with bacteria and fecal matter. It's apparently part of a series they're doing on germs. Today, they talked about how vacuums have E. coli on their brissles and when a person vacuums, the bacteria are dragged around the room. If I wash my hands any more, the skin is going to fall off.


If you'd like to scare yourself, read all about the Today Show germ series here.

Autumn on a 69 degree day.

Claritin D

I just took my first Claritin D. It was a big pill, and had to take it by chewing off a piece of a granola bar and then slipping the pill in my mouth so that I wouldn't feel it. Adverse reactions to this medicaion are not listed on the box, so I'm hoping that means it's extremely safe.

Bleach

I discovered something wonderful today--Chlorox Anywhere Hard Surface daily sanitizing spray. I bought my first bottle a year ago, but was afraid to use it, because I was afraid of chlorine bleach. It's corrosive. If swallowed, it can be fatal. But today I mustered up the strength to try it based on something that's written on the label.

Now I know that most of the United States probably cleans with bleach, but I personally know someone who actually burned her eyes with the vapors of bleach when she was cleaning a stain out of a shirt. She didn't go blind, but had to use drops for a while. And, my Baba personally knows someone who put bleach in her toilet, forgot about it, and then used the toilet only to be burned and taken to the hospital. (Always flush before using the toilets in other people's homes and in public restrooms.)

My Baba uses bleach for everything. She cleans her entire kitchen with it, her bathtub, even her sidewalks, and I've never died after eating in her kitchen, or using her bathroom, or walking up to her house. But still. As much as I wanted to use bleach for cleaning purposes because it disinfects and kills all possible germs, I was terrified of getting it on my hands, or in my eyes, or in my mouth. Thus, I haven't been able to use it. Until now.

Chlorox Anywhere Hard Surface daily sanitizing spray actually says on it's label that it can be used on children's toys, and that there is no need to rinse. Since children put their toys in their mouths, this means it is safe enough for me to use it on my kitchen counter tops, which I don't put in my mouth, but do touch, and then touch food, or utensils, or plates, which do go in my mouth. I am happy.

So I used it today and it left behind the faintest smell of it's full-strength self, proving to me that I disinfected.

Radon

The other day my brother mentioned that I should have my new house tested for Radon. I didn't think too much about it at first, but then I decided to look it up on the internet, and of course, it is one of the leading causes of lung cancer, so I decided to buy a Radon Testing Kit. Then I decided that I would prefer to have a professional test our house, because I might do it wrong and then the test wouldn't tell us the truth. I somehow was lead to the City of Chicago Web page and learned this:


All Chicago Residents who own a Single Family Home can have their houses tested for Radon at no charge by calling the city's non-emergency line: 311.


My fellow Chicagoan Single Family Homeowners--take advantage of this perk--you paid for it!