Wash Your Hands!!

I'm not a doctor and I certainly never played one on TV or am in no way fit to give medical advice, except as a mother. But if I can give advice on anything, it is this: WASH YOUR HANDS!

I have been reading and seeing about the swine flu everywhere I go today on the internet. It has even infiltrated my Twitter which I love like delicious cake. I'm getting a little paranoid here. My husband called and I was all so what about this swine flu? Apparently the girls at his work are getting paranoid too. But from what I understand it is mostly passed from person to person and not swine to person, as most people don't go around with pigs all day. And the best way to prevent getting it, like any flu or sickness, is to wash your hands! The fact that anyone needs to be told this worries me. I thought people washed their hands periodically, just for cleanliness sake and if nothing else then after you've used the restroom. It's just gross if you don't (sorry). Thanks to Peeps by Scott Westerfeld and the afterword (and having a baby), I wash my hands obsessively. I think the best way to make sure you wash them long enough is to say the alphabet to yourself (or aloud if that helps) while using soap and scrubbing your hands together. Warm water is best.

I also use hand sanitizer but you are not suppose to overuse cause it can lead to sickness (is that ironic? I'm afraid to say it). I can't use Purell or the regular gel sanitizers since I have eczema outbreaks on my hands and it is basically like pouring pure alcohol on open wounds (well, it is actually pouring pure alcohol on open wounds but I digress). I use Clean Well All-Natural Hand Sanitizer which is a spray and smells like an herb garden. The one I like the best is Burt's Bees Hand Sanitizer which has aloe and witch hazel so it smells really nice. It has alcohol but doesn't burn like the others.

Anyway, if you have learned nothing from this but one thing, it should be this: Wash your hands, esp. after petting your pet pig.
Now I'm off. I'm feeling a little paranoid now, gotta wash my hands.