Geez, I haven't written anything in over a week now! Guess I just haven't felt like it. I was going to write about something my girlfriend told me when we were out for dinner the other evening, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. If I don't do it soon, I'll forget everything I wanted to say, as my short-term memory is quite lousy now.
Anyway, I just got off my exercise bike and need to get upstairs to take a shower, but figured I'd write this other thing down since it just happened a little while ago. I thought it might amuse all of you. How many of you are there anyway??? Oh, I wish there were millions more just like you! And then perhaps I could become rich, rich, RICH off of this little writing habit of mine! haha
So my friend from New York sent me a message on Facebook a little while ago. She said she wrote me a five page snail mail in addition to another letter she wrote earlier in the week while she's away visiting family now. She'll be mailing the letter tomorrow.
She then said: "Flu is going through here...all of us has had one symptom or another."
I then wrote: "Egads! Am I gonna pick up your flu germs by handling the paper you wrote on?!?!?!"
She replied: "I could have sent you a pair of rubber gloves but I have already sealed the envelope! LOL Worst case you could stick the letter in the freezer a couple of days!!"
I know I've heard somewhere...on the news, it was....sometime ago, that germs can live on paper for awhile. I can't remember for how long they live on paper though! I refuse to touch mail now when it first gets delivered. Who knows if the mail lady is sick? Who knows if her hands are clean? They probably aren't, as a matter of fact! She's riding around in her truck all day without use of a sink, touching everyone's mail box with countless germs on those things, let alone all the envelopes she handles and whatnot!
The hubby puts my mail on my couch, that hated piece of leather furniture from crappy Art Van Furniture, when he comes home and I do not touch the mail until I'm about to wash my hands anyway. Or I'll often wait until bedtime and take it upstairs to read in my bathroom. That way I've got more leisure time to read it and then it's so handy to be right there, ready to wash my hands after finishing bathroom business!
Okay, I see those raised eyebrows from you all. Yes, I admit I'm a freaky weirdo. There it is! I just cannot help it!
Does anyone know just how long germs live on paper???
I think you could microwave it.
ReplyDeleteJohn doesn't know if a letter should be microwaved since it doesn't have any moisture in it. It could damage the oven. Perhaps if I put a bowl of water next to the paper, it might be okay then! Yep, good idea! :-)
ReplyDeleteI came across this posting which has a lot of good points. Frequent hand washing and not touching your face, eyes and mouth are the best advice!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.enotes.com/science/discuss/how-long-can-germs-stay-alive-piece-paper-114899
Out of curiousity, in addition to anonymous' suggestion above...don't you need to have a certain exposure to germs in order to build immunities? I thought I read somewhere that the increase in asthma patients, as one example, had been linked in part to living in overly-sterile environments as children and therefore failed to develop a health immune system? I'm just trying to think of a way to moderate your germ-a-phobia, good friend! Otherwise, I'd just torch the mail and wait until they start calling you for payment! :o)
ReplyDeleteHi Kim! Yes, I know we're supposed to build up our immune system by being exposed to germs, but unfortunately for me, I have always had a lousy immune system & get sick very, very easily. Then I stay sick, extremely sick, for a very long period of time, unlike the majority of you healthy folk! *sigh*
ReplyDeleteSo that's why I'm very afraid of cold & flu & whatever else germs - they knock me out for a miserable 2-3 weeks at a time! Oy!
:-(
Thanks for your friendship & concern though - always appreciated! :-)
Oh my, this is why I sign up for e-billing, well that and I hate all that stupid paper lying around my house for no good reason. I think lysol might be the answer and lots of it, sprayed on the mail.
ReplyDeleteSkinnier, yep, we do e-billing here too. There's still mail every day, even so! Good ol' Lysol - great invention, that! :-)
ReplyDelete