iBeth

e-coli on handbags

Here's what I don't get about this story:  who sets their purse on the restroom floor by the toilet?  I have never done that, and I've never seen anyone else do it either.  (Granted, I'm not in the habit of looking in the other stalls.)  Just about all public restrooms have a hook or a shelf or something.

[S]wabs from 50 purses were sent to a lab for analysis. While a few of the samples did not show evidence of bacterial growth, most did, and nearly 1/4 of the handbags tested proved to have E. coli on them. . . .   None of this should come as startlingly new information to anyone, given where the typical purse carrier will unthinkingly place her handbag — the floors of public restrooms, at her feet in restaurants or on buses or subways, the floorboards of her car, the fold-out child's seat of shopping carts (where the diapered bottoms of little ones have likely been placed by the cart's previous users).

I do occasionally put my purse on the floor of restaurants, however, when I have no other choice but to keep it on my shoulder or in my lap.  Darn those rounded, strap-unfriendly chair backs!  Now I will need to break out the disinfectant..

Happy Sister's Day

"We have mother's day and father's day . . . why don't we have a sister's day?" Emma asked me.

"Good question." I answered.  "We can make a sister's day.  What day should it be?"

Emma picked June 21.  So . . . to all you sisters out there:

Happy Sister's Day!

In our family, we're going to celebrate by giving the sisters a gift of matching apparel of some sort (still to be purchased, since I didn't have much time to prepare for the holiday) and surprising them with a trip to Twistee Treat.

Emma's ABC critique

"I've looked at lots of kids' ABC books," Emma reported, "and none of them have the word  airport or apricot for A.  And they don't have binoculars for B."

"You're right," I said.  "What word should they have for C?"

As Emma pondered, her dad and I made suggestions.  cochlear? cryogenics?  She settled on California.

I'll let y'all know when she gets a publishing contract.