I'm wondering...

Little Miss, Mr W, and I were out the other day.  She conked out, and he was tired, so I dropped them off and got a treat.

A trip to Target....alone.

Sure, how exciting can toilet paper be, but I was alone.  No need to hunt down missing children in the gaming section.  No need to walk very quickly by the girly toy section.  No need to quickly run to the nearest bathroom.  No need to hurry at all...

I'm lucky I could stay focused and get what we needed, and didn't start browsing.  I swear, I do better with all the kids in tow, timewise, than when I go alone.   (It's all about focus, so I can get the heck out of there before they break something.....or I wind up with yet another pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, with a My Little Pony chaser.)

At the checkouts, of course, 3 people were working, and 40 people needed to leave.  I had a little time on my hands, and glanced over at the magazines.

Surprise, surprise.  Something on the cover of Cosmo caught my eye.  I picked up the magazine, and turned to the page in question (88).  I scanned it quickly, and it made me go hmmmm.  As I'm walking out into the parking lot, I'm thinking about what I read, trying to remember it so I could discuss it with Mr W and my more experienced friends, when I stopped myself. 

Duh.  <<<forehead slap>>>  Buy the magazine, dork.

What's this?  Hesitation??

I'm 37 years old, for pete's sake.  I can certainly buy an issue of Cosmo without anyone batting an eyelash. 

Yet I couldn't shake the blush, and felt like I needed special permission from Mom to do it. 

I need to get out more.

I reread it.

Apparently, I really need to get out more.

How is that new naughty number even physically possible?  I can see it....but at the same time...it seems a bit ahm, technically difficult.   

(Did I mention the bonus back cover, with Matthew McConaughey on it?  Dimples, drawl, and a new move.  I'd say it's a decent issue.)

Anyway.  Gotta get my mind onto other things, like the Saturday Six.  I'm feeling a bit dirty, and the Six this week is all about "antibacterial."  That should do it.

Saturday Six - Episode 80

1. How many products throughout your home are labelled "antibacterial."   I'm sure I have several, but not for lack of trying to find things that aren't marked "antibacterial."  It seems like everything is "antibacterial" these days.

2. As a general rule, and assuming any required knocking on wood, how often do you get anything more serious than a sniffle or mild cold?   Well, I have four living petri dishes sharing my house.  Colds-r-us is a way of life during some parts of the winter.  With as much Children's Tylenol and Motrin I can go through during the season, McNeil Pharmaceuticals should send me a Christmas card.  Some stock would be nice.  Even with all that, I'm lucky, though, I usually only catch a bad bug maybe once a year.  After they bring it home, of course.

3. John Scalzi ran this story about research that suggests the increased use of "antibacterial" products aren't necessary for people who are generally healthy, and might be causing the creation of "superbugs" that are resistant to antibiotics.  Are you more likely to avoid these products after reading about studies like this?   I've got a degree in microbiology.  Believe me, there's no end to the horrors my imagination can bring me.  But I was avoiding these products before any studies came out, just for the superbug angle.  (Don't mess with Mother Nature, or you'll piss her off and she'll bite you in the ass.  Natural selection can be a bitch, and just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it's not out there, lurking, biding it's time...)  

This next part is special, for the Moms who carry antibacterial whatnot around all the time, just to make them cringe: Sometimes, when I want to live dangerously, I let my kids pick up their candy and eat it after it falls on the ground.  

You can't avoid everything that's out there, and it's silly to try (unless you need to, in an immunocompromised condition, that's a different story).  Just do what your Momma said, and wash your hands.  Use common sense--plain old soap and water will do.  Really.  No need for napalm.  

4. Take this quiz:  Will you pass the U.S. Citizenship Test?   Si.  8 out of 10, to be honest.  (I went back to figure out what I got wrong, because the quiz won't tell you, and it was getting to my retentive self.  I had to know.)

5. Now that the gas prices have dropped just a little (but nowhere near enough), what's the most you've paid for a gallon of gas so far?   I think, $2.89 (or was it$2.79?)  I don't remember, it's so much any more, I just try to keep it full.

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #76 from Psychfun:   What was your favorite cereal as a kid?  When was the last time you had a bowl of it?   Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.  I admit, without much guilt, I had some last week sometime.