Back in 2008, Taylor Swift wrote a song called " Hey Stephen". She freely admitted that it was about Stephen Barker Liles from the band Love and Theft. Well, Stephen returned the favor and wrote a song with Taylor in mind. It's called " Try To Make It Anyway". Watch the video here.

You know how sometimes when you see someone scratching ,  suddenly you find yourself scratching too?  Well, you’re not the only one.  

The reason I bring this up is because I sat with my daughter last week as she had allergy testing done by our friend Dr. Snodgrass “ The Sneeze Doctor” at the Allergy Clinic.  

They marked the inside of her arms with a purple marker and then they proceed to do little pricks of numerous things that she could be allergic to.  Then you sit and wait to see what causes a mosquito bite  type bump. The thing is, you can’t scratch no matter what.  Just watching those bumps made me scratch my own arms. 

I know, I was a big help. LOL !  In an effort to help keep HER from scratching we decided to Google and see if there was science to back up the reason I was scratching or if I was just having a mother/daughter connection.

Well guess what, we found that according to a study at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, itching really CAN be contagious.

The researchers found that when you see someone scratching, your brain instinctively becomes hypersensitive . . . and thinks you have an itch too.  So, before you know it, you start scratching.

It’s the same way that yawns are contagious.  When you see someone yawn, your brain thinks you’re tired too, so you also yawn. So the next time you see someone scratching, see if you get the urge to scratch too!

I am a real believer in hand sanitizer, washing hands, Chlorox wipes and Lysol. Just ask anyone I work with or who lives with me.  I am the “germ police”.  I don’t think its an OCD thing. I don’t have to wash my hands 100 times a day, but I do wash them atleast 20 probably. I loathe being sick. When one of my kids get sick and I have to set foot in a doctors office, I literally break out in hives. I envision little germs in the air just waiting to get in me. Don’t laugh… it just truly grosses me out!  So, when I read stories like this I want to share. 

You know how most grocery stores have a little container of sanitizing wipes next to the grocery carts? For heaven’s sake…. use them to wipe down your cart’s handle before you shop.

We all know grocery cart handles are filthy.  But according to a new study by the University of Arizona, they’re even filthier than you could’ve imagined. 

In their study, they found that 50% of shopping carts had E. COLI on the handle.  In case you’re a little fuzzy on the math there, that’s one out of every two carts. It gets worse:  72% of the shopping carts they tested, quote, “contained a marker for fecal bacteria.”

While some strains of E. coli are basically harmless, other ones can make you legitimately sick.  And even if you wash your hands, the E. coli from your cart is still getting awfully close to your food.

Charles Gerba is a professor of soil, water, and environment, and led the study.  He says, quote, “There’s more [bacteria] than you find in a supermarket’s restroom. 

“That’s because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms.  Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts.”

So, the next time you grab a cart… remember this story. Most every store has those containers right as you walk in. USE THEM!!!  Thank you!