First of all, I want to thank the sweet and kind reader who who emailed me to enlighten us as to why my family has been sick lately. Seems to her that it's because my house is dirty. If I would clean and sanitize my home, we would not be sick. Wow! I would have never thought of that ... but then again, how could I possibly think with all this filth around me masking my brain from functionally properly.
I receive a good amount of email from people who find 'problems' with my posts on occasion. It strikes me kind of funny that when people have something nice to say, they leave a comment. When the thought is nasty, they either comment anonymously or send an email. This woman in particular took the time to shoot me an email and ridiculed my housekeeping skills and even went as far to say that if I spent less time online blogging and more time cleaning my house, my family would be much healthier.
HA! I would love for this woman to drop by my house on any given day at any given time. Ya see, yes, I can be a slob. A big slob. But Big Daddy won't have it. OCD is his middle name and it shows in his belongings. He's the cleaner and boy does he clean. A lot. My job is to keep things picked up and organized ... and he scours the house with the bucket of bleach and water, the pine-sol, and clorox wipes ... regularly.
So yes, where I am completely happy to drop my clothes on the floor in the exact spot I removed them to dress into my PJ's, Big Daddy will scoop them up and throw them in the hamper before I even fall into bed. Crumbs on the counter from the toast I just buttered are invisible to me, where Big Daddy has them wiped up before I can take my first bite.
If clothes and crumbs don't stand a chance in our home, I think the possibility of scum, germs and filth are slim ... ya know, unless Big Daddy has to go out of town ... then I'm happy to entertain them for a few days.
So thanks for your suggestion, however, keep thinking of reasons because an unkept house is not it. Maybe it's the fact I never bathe them, refuse to let them wash their hands, rarely change their sheets or wash their clothes and feed them candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or maybe it's that I encourage my children to put their mouths all over public drinking fountains, especially the one in the doctor's waiting room. When they see a child sneeze all over a box of crayons at school, I tell them it's a race to see who can pick up all those crayons and color with them first. Or when they receive an apple in their school lunch, they should be good sharers and allow every child at their table to take a bite. Those are all reasons they could be sick. Not because my house is dirty.
On a similar note, last night the kids were all playing in the basement after school. The train track was out, so were the barbies and match box cars. I was walking through and the following conversation was had:
Drew: When is dinner?
Me: When the basement is cleaned up.
Drew: JAKE! EMILY! We can't have dinner until the basement is cleaned up.
Jake: Okay. (continuing his video game)
Drew: Do you hear me? There is no dinner until we clean up. We are in a crisis here, people!
Drew cleaned up ... in record time.
If there is one thing everyone should know ... never come between Drew and his food.
Alright ... okay ... I wish I was one to be able to point you to all the greatest places to shop for the holiday season ... but I'm not. 
