THE MOST AMAZING Potato Cheddar Bacon Chowder EVER!!! (And I made it up myself)

Here's the recipe for the MOST AMAZING and DELICIOUS Potato Cheddar Bacon Chowder.


Ingredients:


4-5 Russet Potatoes, peeled, diced
4 slices of thick cut bacon, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1/8 cup of flour
1/4 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
2 cups of water
diced onion or onion flakes
salt
pepper
minced fresh garlic or dried
1/4 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese
1/2 8 oz. block cream cheese


Fry the bacon, onion, garlic and butter together in a large dutch oven or stock pot.  When the bacon is cooked through add in the flour as needed until the bacon grease is mostly absorbed by the flour.  You may need more or less than listed.  Once the grease is absorbing into the flour add the milk and whisk until smooth and a nice white gravy roux consistency.

Combine separately your cream of chicken soup and chicken broth with water.  Mix together well and add slowly to the roux/gravy mixture in the pan.  Stir well.  Once blended add the potatoes and boil until they become soft.  Add in the cream cheese cut into small pieces and stir until melted well.  Then grate the cheese and add to the pot stirring until melted in.  Salt and pepper season to taste and serve hot with more cheese and crumbled bacon on top for garnish if desired.


*Optional add-in diced cooked chicken breast, whole kernel corn, or other veggies you choose.

Toddler Pumpkin Decorating

If you have a little one you have probably wondered how on earth you would incorporate the innaugeral pumpkin carving into their tiny unsteady hands.  You know that you can't expect them to work a knife or sharp tool, and you don't really like the look of a painted pumpkin with no face, well then this pumpkin decorating idea is totally for you!!

The Mr. Pumpkin Head method:

Tools needed:

Drill

Mr. Potato Head pieces galore

Pie pumpkin

First you will drill holes into all of the traditional places that a Mr. Whatever Head would have.

Then help you child pick out their favorite style of eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, feet, and hat for the pumpkin.  We used this as a great learning tool to keep teaching the location of each body part.  He did a great job all by himself of selecting from my eyes choices and placing them where eyes go.  Then we showed him two or three options for a nose and he chose one he liked best and placed it in the nose spot.  And son on.  Here's our progression of decorating his pumpkin this year.  He's going to be 2 in December 2013 so it was the most age appropriate and FUN filled decorating he would have possibly done.

We had some lips in an ear hole at one point lol.

Putting the finishing touches on as the last arm goes in!

Our Mr. Pumpkin Head

He has a prime spot on the porch on his little bench ready to greet our trick or treaters tonight!

Fall Fun for Tots

It's chilly but nice enough and your tot is having major meltdowns.  As mamas we know they need to be outside but we're at a loss for quick ways to be out and back in before we all freeze.  This fall activity is quick, easy, and free.

Take your toddler on a walk. Let him lead you around the block. Find fall things like leaves, acorns, mums, bugs, feathers, ext.  Collect the items in your tots Halloween pail.

Come home and glue their findings to some cardstock or construction paper.  Enjoy your fall colors.

Hope you have fun. Use the things they find to talk about colors, textures,  shapes, and more.

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie Recipe:

Pie Crust:

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of crisco

2/3 cup water

1 tbsp. vinegar

Use two knives or a pastry blender to cut the flour into the shortning.  Add the water slowly, working it into the dough, add vinegar and work through the dough.  Roll out into four balls.  Makes 4 12" pie crusts for tops and bottoms.  Make into a bottom crust for the apple pie we're making and shape the sides by pressing one finger in between the thumb and index finger to make triangle shaped indentions in the dough all around sealing it to the pie plate's edges.

Apple Pie Filling:

4 Granny Smith Apples

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter or margarine

Peel and core apples, quarter and slice thin.  (I use the Pampered Chef Peeler/corer/slicer)

Add them to the pot with the other ingredients and boil down until soft.  Add apples to the pie crust.

Caramel and Crumble Topping:

Cut butter over the apple filling once in the pie pan and then drizzle the pie with warm caramel sauce.

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp butter

Cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar with a fork until crumbly and add to the top of the pie.

Bake pie at 450 degrees for 25 minutes with aluminium foil covering the outer edges of the crust or a pie shield if you have one.  Take the foil off and bake a final 5 minutes.

ENJOY!  I like mine with a nice vanilla bean ice cream. :)

Homemade Meat Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes

Here is my recipe for Homemade Meat Sauce from Home Grown Garden Tomatoes:

You will need:

10-15 medium sized fresh tomatoes (jet stars are what I had grown) ripe
1 lb ground beef
1 can sliced mushrooms
1-2 cans of tomato paste
olive oil
minced garlic
onion flakes
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning (or basil, oregano, garlic mixture)
Large pot
strainer
paring knife


Start a large pot of water to boil and add several tomatoes to fill one layer in the pot with water nearly covering.  When tomatoes begin to peel or get soft remove tomatoes to a cold water bath.

Gather another large pot and add some olive oil, about 1/8 cup or so.

Peel each tomato, use a paring knife to remove the cores, and rinse out the seeds in each pod area.  Then take each tomato and hand crush them into a pot.  They don't need to be finely crushed just a quick squeeze in the hand should do.  You may use a strainer to strain off the juice from the seedy portions, but you will want to use that juice as well as the meaty portions, this just helps to get some of the extra seeds out.

Once all the tomatoes are crushed into the pot with the olive oil return to the stove over medium high heat.  Begin to stir as it cooks and add the tomato paste to thicken as needed, and add all seasonings, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, extra basil if you like, garlic, onion flakes, mushrooms, and cooked and seasoned ground beef.  (Ground beef seasoned with onion flakes, garlic, Italian seasoning and the grease drained off).

Let the sauce thicken and cook until it's a consistency of a traditional pasta sauce.

ENJOY!!

In response to....

The article I came across today was quite thought provoking:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/the-types-of-people-you-will-fall-in-love-with-in-your-20s/

Deep thoughts on love....I do believe you can love many people in many ways in life.  You can love friends like a family member, love family less like family and more like friends, love your "The One" and sometimes even after that love someone else in different ways.  Love can grow, change, deeper, lessen, get better, fall apart....but the truth of all of these things is this kind of Love is human emotion, raw, and wrecked.  Biblical love, the kind that makes that old couple last forever, now that kind of love takes WORK, hard work, and it takes realizing that just because you may feel emotional human love over and over again, that it doesn't mean you always run towards it, sometimes you have to let it be and just stay in your biblical love with the one you chose and promised you always would.  And most of the time if you trust in biblical love, stick it out, and choose to stay and work hard on it, you will experience the highest of emotional loves that is humanly possible.  You may even realized that the emotional love you started out attracted to your spouse by is now so much deeper that you are that cute old couple who has lasted and stood the tests of time.  Don't give up on the one you chose, and don't fall for the emotional love traps, they are great, they feel so right, but they don't last as long as holding out for your forever love. :)

Jesus didn't stop loving you, and He didn't let His human emotions lead Him to sin against His father.  So don't let you human emotions take off with your heart...use your head and your soul and that wonderful Holy Spirit to make the right choices and stick it out and work hard to have the everlasting love of both our savior to us and us to our mate.

Love you,
Rachel

DIY Patio Set Refurbish...PART 2 CUSHIONS

This is a tutorial of the Seat Cushions I made by hand with NO PATTERN and just an idea in my head about how I wanted them to turn out.  I liked the boxy look to the cushions I was researching and decided that it would make my fabric choices blend better and stand out more.

Here are my fabric colors:

I knew that I wanted to cover the woven seat (from part 1) with the coral color, but it wasn't until I set out to measure and create the custom cushions that I decided to make them square and add the blue color into them.

So having said that here's what you'll need to recreate my ideas (keep in mind that your measurements will NOT match mine exactly):

3/4 yd of your accent fabric (I used this as the accent color on the cushions and also as pillows, and chose a fun pattern here)
1 yd. of the cushion main fabric.  (I chose a solid with texture here.)
Thread
Pin cushion and pins
Sewing supplies be it a machine or a needle and thread
Stuffing or a foam cut out in the shape of your seat
a dowel rod or wooden skewer to stuff the stuffing in good and help flip inside out
iron and ironing board
good scissors
measuring tape and cutting board/surface

So the first step was the measure and cut out the main fabric for the seat.  Mine was measuring about 16x18 so I went up and added a few inches and made it 18x20.  I left the natural crease uncut on my fabric.

Then I took the accent fabric and cut about 2" wide pieces to match the length of my cushion sides and the front piece.  I put the pretty sides together and pinned them, then sewed them together.

So here's the first strip sewn on correctly

And here's how it looked pinned together with one side sewn and one side ready to sew. see how the pretty part stays inside and now you have a pillow inside out with the strip sewn so all seams will not show.

Don't forget to leave little holes in the back for the ties to be added on later.  It also serves as a way to pull the fabric right side out.

Inside out view of hole left open

Keep in mind the whole time you are pinning and sewing that you are going to be keeping the seams INSIDE and it will all be turned right side out and you won't want any stitching showing.  Don't get scared when the whole pillow ends up sew all around inside out because eventually you will be turning it back right side out through our little holes we left open in the back for the ties to go through.


Keep in mind also that you will eventually have to add ties to keep the cushion on the chair so do not sew about an inch towards the back of the pillow where your crease side is.  Leave those small holes for filling up the pillow with the last bits of "fluff" if you are using your own stuffing or just as a space to sew in those ties and also a place to flip the pillow inside out. :)

Right side out view of the hole left at the back by the crease

As you wrap up your cushion with the accent fabric it should look like this.

Right side out view

Inside out view of the sew on accent color strips

I will show you how to stuff and close up the whole thing and then make ties and close up around those as well in this last part:

Once it's sewn all around inside out correctly, flip the whole thing right side out through the tiny holes you left.  I know it's going to be a difficult task, but it does eventually all slip through that hole and go right side out.

After it's the right way, start stuffing it with fluff stuff.  If you do this method you cannot use a foam piece.  If you want to do a foam piece instead of fluff you'll have to hand sew on whole side back together or leave a LARGE hole towards the back and hand sew that back together after getting the foam to fit inside.



I stuffed mine very full because I wanted the full box shape and the extra padding for my larger half.

When you are finished stuffing all you have left is to make the ties and close it all up.

For the ties you take the leftover square of fabric (you should have some left in a square shape) and you cut in into strips as long as you can get them to be.

Take the strips and iron folds into them.  Fold a little bit on each side inward.  Then fold those together and iron closed.  sew up the seam so they stay closed and burn off or tuck in the ends and sew again.  Then close up the hole in the back of the pillow with the ties sewed into the inside nice and neat. You can hand sew this closed or try on the machine which is how I did it.

Once you have sealed up the two holes in the back and sewn in the ties you are done and ready to tie it on and enjoy your work. 

COME BACK FOR PART 3

THE BACK PILLOWS

Pickin' and Ribbons...my repurpose project ONE

So I've decided that it's time to redecorate or actually start to decorate to begin with.  I picked up the following at various garages sales for $19.00 the other day.

Some doll sized benches and step stools
A toilet paper closet with chicken wire front
A random yellow ring with spirals and a country star on it
several baskets
a few country star candle holders
many wrought iron candle holders and baskets
and a free window from my awesome neighbor.


So project #1 was to make a Mizzou wreath out of the random yellow ring thing.  Here's the progress and final product.

I chose some Missouri Tigers fabric, a little tiger stripe fabric, some felt in black and some tulle in sparkly yellow/gold and black.  At the end I added some gold and black ribbons.

This is the ring with the first few felt pieces on it.  See the country star and the random ring with metal wound up in springs around it?

And here's what it looked like when I was all finished.

It really is just like the commercial...

YES, there is one product that I just switched to that I swear I was just exactly like the commercials.

Here's the story:

So, I bought my son some cute little shorts and polos off one of the area swap shops on facebook.  Yes I've also become a swap addict, but that's a post for another day.  So I got his new clothes home and of course like any good mom I washed them in our laundry.  They smelled really good before I placed them into the laundry to wash, but I always want to rewash things that I buy him.  So I did and guess what??  They came out smelling amazing STILL.  Hmm...I held my nose into them, I sniffed them on my son's body, I was obsessed with how good these things smelled.  So fresh, so clean, so perfect.  So...so...WHAT IS THIS AMAZING STUFF?  I had to know.  So I did what any awesome person does and I messaged this woman I bought them from and asked her....WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU USE TO WASH YOUR CLOTHING?  She said the obvious...GAIN.  Oh my goodness, she uses GAIN. I've just played right into every single one of their commercials and I am obsessed with a smell.  I'm walking around with my nose buried in clothing smelling of GAIN.  So of course I went out and bought it.  And I still love the smell.  I still pull laundry out from the dryer or wash and sniff it a ton.  I'm so totally just like their commercials that it is cracking me up.  I've got it bad for GAIN.

And NO I was not paid to advertise them, or put their name in ALL CAPS, or anything else.  I really am just a normal mommy who was impressed with the smell and now impressed with how long it lasts and how clean my clothing is.  Thanks GAIN. :)

Dive In Friends...(Sermon in the songs series) Day 1

I'm going to start a new series on this blog I will call the Sermon in the Song.  It will be a serial blog post.  There may be many other posts between each sermon, but I'll try to number them so you can know how many there are and which to read to keep up.  Each sermon will be a short message based on some song lyrics.  They will mostly be Christian music, especially Casting Crowns because they are basically just sermons in themselves, but I may branch out into all genres to find interesting new ways to make a message from music lyrics.  *I may/may not have a Rock N Roll and Jesus type of book that I'll borrow from sometimes ;)

Anyways, here's today's sermon in a song.

I want everyone to really contemplate this message I'm about to share with you!!

First off I'll start with the lyrics that started this sermon in my mind to begin with...

Casting Crowns- Somewhere in the Middle
(Chorus)
Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle??

Christians ask yourselves this...are you living inside your picket fence world with a heart of a warrior but no guts to really fight the battle? Are you reckless and willing to abandon all that you are and all that you know but won't because common sense tells you it's crazy? Are you faithful enough to call yourself "deep water" but yet stuck in the shallow end instead? Are we all just going to keep God at arm's length and let Him be what we create Him to be so we can keep on with our American dream lifestyles or are we really faithful enough to lay down our lives and become true disciples and follow Him everywhere He leads, be it to Africa, Middle East, San Francisco, or across the street? People won't hear the message of Jesus if we are stuck in this lukewarm world where we just won't GO when He says GO! Don't be a Jonah. I want to be Fearless, a warrior armed with my shield and sword, reckless and deep. I want to be someone that's not afraid to loose my common sense and just GO when called.

Let's look at the scriptures on this:
Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Hebrews 11:13 and 39-40 (Read Chapter 11 in full for context) All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Matthew 14:29
“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

I don't want to be lukewarm in my faith. I want to be on FIRE. And what if all the men and women in Hebrews just used their common sense or stayed inside their little picket fence comfortable lives? They would have not furthered the kingdom at all. Yes, they may have done radical things and didn't even live to see the full results, but we know that radical things came from their choice to not stay in the shallow end.

Peter walked on water...common sense was completely obliterated here. Aren't you glad he chose to ignore the warm fuzzy of that boat and walk out onto that stormy sea? How would the world be changed if every person who calls upon Jesus steps out in faith and starts doing these CRAZY, RADICAL, and AMAZING feats that common sense would tell them not to do? We could really change the world, for today and for tomorrow. Trust in Jesus, take the leap of faith, and GO BIG!! Dive in friends, the deep end is waiting for you! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0KwqFvucdw 

Summer Reading plans for toddlers

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond.

Day 1:
Read the book of course!
If you have access to a toy mouse use him for a buddy to read with.

Snack: chocolate chip mini cookies

Craft: cookie
Supplies needed; one piece white construction paper with circle traced on it, black dots precut out for chips, brown crayon, child scissors,  glue stick.

Easy color, paste on chips, cut out. Teaches shape circle and colors brown and black.

Have your child color the cookie then use glue sticks to stick on chips.  When finished help them cut their circle out.

Ok it's about time I really did something to loose 20 lbs before I'm still trying to at 500lbs :)

So it begins,  it's time to move my butt, eat better, and loose this weight and get back into shape.  There is no more excuses or reasons to feel so bad about myself and my saggy and fat body.  Time to get it back to high school hotness.  Here's an article to motivate me TOP 10 WAYS to Lose 20 Pounds and a picture to help me eat better. 

I'm also going to start logging my eating habits and exercise into My Fitness Pal app.  Please join me on my journey and blogging my healthy living start up.

Also for those reading that have know me dealing with my PPD and other issues, I have finally weaned off medication (zoloft) down to about 25mg every 3-5 days when my head gets a tad dizzy.  I feel more energy (even when I was dealing with severe  RLS and not sleeping at night) and I feel myself again.  Sure I'm a tad moody at times and I definitely have my burst into tears at every sentimental moment, but that's really me and I'm glad to have me back versus the emotionless pit that I was before who slept til noon before she could function each day.  I'm glad to have my life back and hoping it gets better as I try to exercise and eat better. :)

I'm also now using emeals.com recommended by Dave Ramsey for our meal planning.  One week's menu is lasting our small family about 2-3 weeks due to leftovers.  I'm also doing freezer meal parties through Hy-vee so if you have one of those check out their club room for programs like ours.

Have a great night!

What I'm Reading Now...Christian Mama's Guide series review

Just wanted to give a review of "Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year" written by my new blogging and writing friend Erin MacPherson.  First off let me say that I adore Miss Erin for all her hard work and dedication to getting these books out to us moms.  We have the usual books on pregnancy and surviving mommy hood such as the series of What to Expect books, and even some humorous books by Jenny McCarthy.  But none of those books can give you the spiritual insight and good Christian humor that comes from Erin in her series of Christian Mama's Guide books.



So here goes:

I loved the book!  I think Erin MacPherson is a fabulous writer.  She inspires me to be a better woman, mother, and wife.  Her scripture additions to the newest book I've read are really amazing.  There are moments that I look back on in my son's first year and think how did I ever do this without those prayers and scriptures to help me?  Erin's encouragement through her book makes you feel like she's there with you, as a friend, as your MOPS table member, as your church Sunday school classmate.  She doesn't talk above your head but rather tells her story as a fellow mom and friend.  She makes things easy to understand and makes you feel like you are right there with her for all her silly and fun moments as a mom.  She tells the truth about post pregnancy and newborn care.  She doesn't leave anything out that I can recall.  She gets information from her sisters and other friends for things she hasn't done herself but still manages to write it down so honestly and so heartfelt.  I love learning about all her advice for mommas and feeling her encouragement that I can do this!  Thanks again Erin for yet another great addition to your series.  I look forward to reading the Christian Mama's Guide to Parenting a Toddler right away!! :)


BY THE WAY...click the link of the book title to buy your copy now on amazon.com :)

How to teach your kids about EASTER through an egg...

As I was up late tonight rocking my son to sleep I started to think about how I could merge the worlds of Easter bunnies and eggs into the reality of what Easter is all about.  Then it came to me, in Sunday school we compared the trilogy of God, Christ Jesus, and The Holy Spirit to an egg's shell, white, and yolk.  So here's the story of Easter's true meaning in an "egg" shell. :)


Here is a simple little egg
There are three parts to this egg
There is the shell
Then the white
And finally the yolk



The egg as a whole represents the God-head, all three in one.  There is God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.  Each are separate parts and yet all make up the same thing, just as the egg is three separate parts all making up one egg.

The egg's shell represents God.  It is hard and protects the inside parts like God is strong and protective of all the things He made and loves.  It is also gentle and with a simple tap can be broken up to reveal more just like God is gentle and loving and gave us the Bible to reveal more to us about Him.

The egg's white represents Christ Jesus.  The white reminds of that Jesus died so that his blood would wash us white as snow.  Our sins are covered and gone and we are made new and pure as white as the whites of an egg.

The yolk represents the Holy Spirit.  It is at the center of the egg just as when we accept Jesus the Holy Spirit enters into the very center and core of our hearts and lives.  Also when you crack open the egg and poke the yolk it spreads everywhere it can.  The Holy Spirit also will spread anywhere and everywhere there is a heart willing and ready to accept the gift God gave of his son Jesus.

 

So you see, the eggs at Easter really can mean more than just a colored prize to find in the grassy hiding spots they are placed by a bunny.  They can also show your child the wonders of Christ and tell the true story of why we are celebrating Easter.

I suggest dying hard boiled eggs RED to show Jesus Blood was shed to make us PURE on the inside (show the whites).  And you can do a runny egg yolk experiment as well to show the spreading of the Spirit.

The most amazing thing I as an adult am just coming to understand is how if God/Jesus/Holy Spirit are all the same thing then that means the when I asked the Holy Spirit to enter into my heart, He came in and brought God and Jesus along too.  So that means that I have God inside of me and I am far more powerful with Him than I can ever possibly imagine.  



Happy Easter to all my friends and loved ones and I hope you can use this to teach a short but simple message of Jesus to your little ones.

Chicken and Dumplings Recipe (Pinterest tweak)

So I borrowed this from a couple pinterest recipes and combined them with my own ideas to come up with this final product:

 

Chicken and Dumplings

5-6 pieces of thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tbsp butter or margarine

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1 can mixed veggetables

1 can 8 ct. buscuits

Place chicken in the crockpot, add butter, cream of chicken and broth.  Cook on high 4-6 hours until chicken shreds easily.  Shred chicken and add can of mixed veggies.  Cut biscuits into small pieces (about 9 sections per biscuit) and add to the top of the chicken mix, make sure they dunk a little for flavor and cook another 30min-1 hr until they are no longer doughy.

THIS IS REALLY YUMMY!!

So today was the midwest snowpacalypse.  We were buried under 11" or more of snow and it's still snowing again tonight.  It's been a fun day inside baking and playing and watching movies with my baby boy.  Hope everyone stays safe on the roads tonight and tomorrow.  Hugs.

Top 10 Most "Dirty" Things You've Never Thought About

This list is NOT based on any kind of data or research, but if you think about what I'm suggesting I think you'll agree that these things are filthy and often overlooked.

10: You vehicle steering wheel (do you ever clean it? nope. me neither. think of all the germs you have had on your hands all day that get displaced on the wheel. yuck)

9: Your credit/debit cards think of how many times per day you hand that card to someone else to swipe and they hand it back.  does anyone ever clean theirs?  they are probably covered in germs from other's hands and your own. ewww

8: Your purse/wallet both items are gross.  Your wallet contains your dirty cards and money which is one of the filthiest things on earth, purses often get put on the floor of bathrooms or the sinks where who knows what germs lie.  Also purses go on the table and spread all the bacteria they picked up off the floor to your dinner  tables. yuck

7: Light switches How many times have you ever wiped down the light switch in your home?  You touch them all day everyday as well as people out in businesses touch them in public bathrooms and such.  Think about it.



6: Your pillow case Now some people may wash them frequently but not everyone does.  Your head, slobber, and skin flakes are all over that thing nightly.  Please wash them!

5: Remote control/computer keyboards/cell phone These objects are all touched daily by several people in the household and no one ever thinks to wipe them down with disinfectant.  Now maybe you will do that.

4: Refridgerator handle Who remembers to wipe down back behind there daily? Not me.  We touch it often though. Imagine the ones in breakrooms not just at home.  Who's nasty hands have grabbed that handle today?

3: Stair/escalator railings and elevator buttons if you think of all the thousands of people going up and down stairs, escalators, and elevators in one day that's a lot of germs to place on those objects that never get wiped down.

2: Money most people realize that currency is exchanged by many people's hands and is not cleaned at any point.

1: Your belts/pants buttons or snaps Now you wash your pants we hope, but if you're like me you sometimes wear them for a few days before you wash them.  Think of the first thing you touch after using the toilet?  Usually it's your button or snap on your pants and then your belt.  No one that I know of ever washes their belts down but think of how many germs from your restroom usage over the course of a belt's life get  placed on that buckle BEFORE you ever wash up from the toilet.  Bet you are running to clean that belt now :)



Well hope you enjoy my random blog today about all the things that creep me out in this dirty would.  It's part of my OCD to be a bit grossed out by lots of things and overthink how germy things may be.  But we should pay attention to the things we use and clean them more often. Thanks.