If you’ve been keeping up with me on Facebook, you know it’s been a crazy week.
Crazy as in . . . icky.
Icky as in . . . we all had a vicious stomach virus.
My daughter started throwing up on Sunday morning, and threw up 9 times. Nine. No, this wasn’t an I-don’t-feel-so-well thing. It was an is-there-something-evil-living-inside-me-that’s-determined-to-get-out? thing.
I kept the boys out of that bathroom, did some basic disinfecting, and lectured everyone on not drinking after one another or licking shoes or such.
(You’d think they’re too old for the shoe-licking lecture, but I always try to cover my bases.)
Monday happened, and she felt better. She hadn’t passed the 24-hours-puke-free mark, though, so she stayed home from school.
Monday evening, Hubby came home from work “not feeling so good” and barely made it through the first half of our first baseball game of the night. He arranged for friends to bring our Suburban back for me and rushed home. (NObody wants to puke in those baseball field potties!)
We got home at 9:30 and kid #2 went down. At midnight, it was my turn and at 2 a.m. my 11yo joined the chorus.
It was a horrible night.
So Tuesday was a Family Sick Day as we all acted like zombies. I could barely move.
Tuesday night, I began ritualistic doorknob/lightswitch/ice-and-water-in-the-fridge-door disinfecting.
The kids’ bathroom was the worst. I tried to get every splash-and-splatter, but it was bad. Somehow, in a sleepy stupor, one of the kids had rationalized it was fine to aim for the floor just to the side of the toilet instead of the toilet itself. Obviously, that had to be cleaned up immediately (by an about-to-be-sick-herself mama).
But today, I hauled out the mop bucket and thoroughly re-cleaned that bathroom floor and wall. (Yes. I mop walls sometimes.)
It JUST SO happened that a few weeks ago, Clorox® sent me a coupon and information and agreed to pay me for my time to do a review of their new Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach anyway.
That’s good timing. Not the kind of good timing you ever want to see happen again, but good timing nonetheless.
Basically, the new concentrated stuff is exactly what I’ve always used when I enter into a War on Germs, but in a smaller bottle and you use less of it to do the same jobs. The directions on the bottle make it clear about the new recommended amounts, which is good since I’m a creature of habit. (Not always good habits . . . ) According to Clorox, it’s also easier to use in HE (high-efficiency) washing machines and improves whitening of clothes.
Since the concentrated Clorox® calls for 1/2 cup per gallon, I found a measuring cup I don’t often use (since I have two more I like better . . . ), labeled it “Bleach Only” and attached it to the handle of the bottle.
Now, I’m feeling better about our germ situation. Not completely un-paranoid (since I’m sure I missed something), but better.
And my favorite thing about the new Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach? The bottle is smaller, so it fits PERFECTLY on my skinny-rolling-shelf in my laundry room!
Disclosure: I received a coupon for Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach and information from Clorox, and payment for my time spent reviewing the product. All germ issues, pukey bathrooms, experiences and opinions are all mine.
That stuff has been going our ALL OVER THE COUNTRY it seems!! YUCK! Just a quick question…? What is the “ice-and-water-in-the-fridge-door thing” thing? I have never heard of this, so enlightenment would be lovely!
Thanks!
The ice-dispenser and water-dispenser that’s on the outside of my fridge’s door. I picture us slobbering all over our cups and then getting a refill by pushing that slobbery cup directly on the dispenser and getting it all ready to re-infect the next clean glass that comes around!
AHHH! Makes perfect sense… Seeee, this is TOTALLY funny now! I’m not blessed with a fridge that has an ice/water despenser- so I didn’t even think along those lines, I was thinking along the line of somehow “ice and water (on the inside) fridge door thing” and somehow disinfecting the inside of the fridge door in this fashion… LOL Thank you for this moment of clarity!! How emusing!!!
That happened to our family once when I was a kid. I remember all of us lounging around the living room watching Bob Ross on PBS. Good times.
We did this two weeks ago. My absolute hero of sickness is an ex-co-worker that had THREE preschool kids with the ickies at the same time. She plopped each kid in their own plastic kiddie pool in front of the TV and then used a garden hose outside as needed. Desperate moms will do crazy stuff.
Glad you’re feeling better. I’ll have to check out the concentrated Clorox the next time I’m wandering the bleach aisle.
THat’s amazing, and SO brilliant to put them in kiddie pools!!
I bleach my dishes with every load. I put 1/4th cup in each load I run. Also when anyone in the family is sick I throw away their toothbrushes AND toothpaste. Every time someone squeezes new toothpaste it’s a transfer of germs. 🙁
I know this is an old post, but have you considered probiotics? Due to a very high cost of living (Hawaii), we share a house. Two years ago there were two other families in my house. The other two husbands and one of the wives came down with an icky stomach bug, as well as many people in our church. I started handing out probiotics like candy to those who were not sick, and none of the rest of us ever got it. My family takes probiotics daily and we rarely catch a stomach bug even if everyone else in the house does. Just food for thought.
This story is my nightmare. We had FIVE rounds of stomach virus in 10 months last September through July. At least 4 of my 5 kids plus mom and dad got it each time except the last, when all 5 kids had it. When I was sobbing at my doctor’s about our terrible luck, she strongly urged me to do probiotics. I make my own yogurt now (don’t laugh, it’s amazingly easy, has almost no sugar and the kids inhale a gallon a week) PLUS probiotic gummies. I don’t think of it as a deliver bullet, but I’d do nearly anything to avoid a year like last year.
Oh wow!!
That’s a lot of clean up, and I’d be willing to wager there was more than mentioned!!
Family sick time isn’t fun.
But it sure feels nice to be done!!