Sunday, March 18, 2007

Warning: Clorox Disinfecting Wipes Are Not For Hands & Faces


A few years ago while I was shopping at Sam's Club, I spotted these wipes. I picked up a bunch thinking they would be great for the car to clean up my kids before & after meals.

When I got back to work and showed this purchase to one of my much younger and smarter associates, she looked at me as if I was a complete moron.

" You will poison your children if you use this on them!" she said. " Don't you know that bleach is a poison?!!!! (This came from the same employee that disapproved of my using Comet Cleanser to get stains out of coffee cups that were left unwashed in the sink because it contained bleach.)
In reading the label, we found that while the wipes do not contain bleach they do use
Dimethyl Ethylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride to kill bacteria.

I guess it would help if I read the label. Another interesting sort of related bit of household cleaning trivia: Did you know if you mix Comet ( contains bleach ) and Mr. Clean ( ammonia ), you create a bio-hazard / poisonous gas ( Chlorine Gas )? I discovered this while trying to get rid of bathtub scum. Luckily I have a husband that is smart & picked up the scent in the early stages. Just call me the housework terrorist!

Lesson: Pay attention to product labels and be more aware of what household chemicals can be harmful to friends and family. Disinfectants meant for laundry and non-porous surfaces are not healthy for the human body.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Importance of Reading Glasses After 40

"No, Colin!", he shouted as my then 9 year old son pushed his 5 year old brother out of my reaches. "Don't let her give you your medicine! Let Dad do it!"

It was at that moment I realized my children were afraid of me and my label reading abilities.
Sadly, I had given slightly higher than recommended doses of cold medicine a few times. The last time my 9 year old was given a much higher dose of cold medicine and was drowsy all day.

I was about to relinquish this duty to my husband but he stood firm. " You need to learn how to do this properly. Go get your reading glasses!"

I found one of the many pairs I have scattered about the house and found that the labels are much easier to read with magnified vision. Correct dosage was given and I have never made that mistake again.

Lesson: Reading glasses may hurt your ego but your family will be safer!

Welcome

Happy St. Pat's Day!
This is my first entry as well as my first attempt at a blog.

One of my favorite ways to view my mistakes in life is as "teaching moments". I have a lot of these.
As I stumble along the way as a late-in-life wife and mom, I realized I could be doing a great service to others in sharing my life lessons.

Such as:
Reading Glasses are Important - especially when dispensing medicine
Clorax Disinfecting Wipes are not meant for cleaning hands & faces!
Short Cuts in House-Keeping
Fast and Easy Meals for the short-order cook
How to Shave Time Off Your Morning Routine and get to work & school on time

and much, much more.

Bear with me as I get this posted & play with formatting! Thanks for checking my blog out!