Friday, October 12, 2012

AAAACHOO! Gesundheit!

Gotten your flu shot yet? I am getting my kids done next week (little do they know). Tell me: how do you feel about flu shots? Ever had the flu? Blech! I'd rather have a stomach flu than the actual achy, week long miserable influenza flu. No, I'd rather have neither!

Ah, but here in the US, we are in the beginnings of cold & flu season, the only drawback to Fall =) Don't fret, Friday 4 U brings you some lovely LHW tips for October, to help stave off infections of all kinds! Plus a few Halloween ideas...

  • "Wear a hat or you'll catch cold!" - debunked. You cannot catch a cold by being cold. However! When we are cold, we are more susceptible to invasion by germs. And heat leaves our body easiest from the head. So it is a good idea to wear a hat in cold weather!
  • To keep germs away... You know to wash your hands/use sanitizer (which I overdid one year and now my skin is extra dry, peels all the time) Here are a few more sickness stoppers:
    • When doing laundry, spray the dirty clothes baskets with disinfectant (Lysol) before putting clean clothes into them
    • Sneeze or cough into the elbow, not the hand
    • Keep sanitizer/wet ones handy - I have some in my purse and in the car
    • Use rubber gloves for laundry and cleaning - this is age old, but it keeps me from having to wash my hands so much and keeps them from drying out so badly
    • Sickie supplies - I try to have these items on hand all sick season long - crackers, bananas, Coke (the real thing!), tissues, tylenol and ibuprofen, Lysol or Oust and
    • Coldeeze!!! I swear by this, take it as soon as you feel a cold coming on and it lasts less time and symptoms are milder.
    • And when someone does get sick, quarantine them to one "sick" chair that can be sanitized when they get better - Clorox wipes and Lysol are awesome for that (with gloves!)
  • Halloween!
    • I transform the scarecrows in the yard into scary creatures with old masks and capes
    • I love my skeleton - he gets dressed up or posed in precarious positions every year - this year he's hanging in a lighted web!
    • Window clings and gels are so cute! In addition to windows, they can decorate mirrors, too! (they stick best to clean flat surfaces, but be careful, some gels can stain, esp red!)
    • Been Boo'd yet? I always buy some cute things on sale after the holiday for next year's Boo-ing!
    • Morph suits are the big thing this year - single color, full body suits to wear alone or with a costume, for more anonymity?...strange, but whatever.
As for exercise - nada besides work and housework. This week I was preparing for my little guy's big bday sleepover and some company coming...I'm pooped! Sorry, guys. I'll do better next week!

25 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sickie supplies - funny! I must be doing something right because I'm almost never sick.

Dana said...

Love the decoration ideas!

Angela Brown said...

Did the flu shot this year for myself and the nasal mist for my Chipmunk. But my Chipmunk stays stuck with a runny nose from all her allergies. Not easy being allergic to life lol!!

Your Halloween decor looks great and Boo-tastic :-)

Jennie Bennett said...

Cute Halloween decorations! I've only gotten the flu shot once (during the pig flu scare and I was prego) but it didn't seem to make a difference I have about the same sickness flu shot or not, so I don't really bother!

Laura S. said...

I like your Halloween decorations!! You reminded me that I have window clings. But I'm trying to remember where they are because they weren't with my Halloween decorations I already put out. Hmmm. A mystery!

J.L. Campbell said...

We don't flu shots here. Very useful tips. Thanks.

Rena said...

yeah, I'm a fan of flu shots. I was even trying to get the flu shot for the swine flu, but lucky me, I caught it first. That was fun.

Kimberly Gabriel said...

Love the Halloween decorations and the tip about spraying Lysol in the laundry basket. Genius! ;) Hope your little guy has a fun bday sleepover!

M.J. Fifield said...

I've never had a flu shot. My sister got one once and she was so sick for a good week afterward.

Jenny S. Morris said...

I've never gotten a flu shot. But my kids usually get them. Love your decorations. So cute!!

Emily R. King said...

I get a flu shot because our insurance says we must to keep it. Otherwise, I wouldn't. Needles aren't my thing.

Cute spider! (And that's saying something. I hate spiders!)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Morph suits . . . maybe it's to keep the cold away? I haven't seen them yet so I don't know.

Flu shots contain eggs, so no one in our house can have them unless we want to get really sick. So we just wash our hands and get dry skin. We've discovered that ballet barres and dance studio floors are a place that we often have bugs passed to us . . .so washing hands after dance is really important for my kids.

Sherry Ellis said...

Thanks for the reminder - we have to get our flu shots. I like your Halloween decorations!

Amrit Sinha said...

Yeah ... got to be careful of flu !!!

Christine Rains said...

Fantastic decorations! Have fun with the big bday sleepover. :)

My son and I will be getting our flu shots next week or the week after. A little earlier this year than last because it's getting cold earlier. Thanks for the tips!

~Sia McKye~ said...

I always have *sickie* supplies only we also have a couple of cases of real gingerale--truth is, if you don't have Ginger ale, you can add a teaspoon of ground ginger to water. Taste less than stellar but will settle a queasy stomach. It's the ginger, you see.

Flu shots? Not on your life (and especially if your immune system is down or damaged). I don't get them nor does anyone in my family. Besides they are all based on last year's ickies with a bit of a guess for what's possible for this year.

I'm one of those weird people who doesn't like Halloween but then, I don't horror type things at the best of times. We have a guy in town--about 7 miles away--who has a ghostly looking carriage with a headless coachman. Has it rigged out with a fog machine and and eerie lights and sound effects. His whole yard is rigged up with all sorts of things.

Carrie-Anne said...

I've been getting flu shots for the last few years, and I'll continue to get them. I think I had the flu twice in the past, at 17 and 21, but I didn't realize it at the time and thought I was just having a really bad, long cold.

Halloween is my favoritest holiday. I love all the fun decorations.

Jessica L. Celaya said...

Cute Halloween decorations and excellent advice. I also can't live without vitamin c cough drops. They seem to make colds shorter and the citrus flavors taste delicious.

mshatch said...

not getting a flu shot but I love your sickie ideas - esp. sneezing into elbow and con fining the sick person to a single chair. Those a re good ones!

LD Masterson said...

If I don't get the shot I may get the flu, but if I get the shot I will definitely get the flu. And I don't like needles. So no shots for me.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tara .. never had a flu jab - had a very healthy upbringing ... lots of dirt and so I seem to have a very good immune system. Thankfully .. I'm looking forward to seeing your halloween scarecrows - your spider man is brilliant - such fun being around kids ..

Cheers and enjoy the weekend - perhaps recovering?! Hilary

Gwen Gardner said...

No flu shot for me. But then again, I'm not around people up here in the mountains, so none of the germy back and forth stuff. And I do adore the Halloween gels for the window! I love Halloween!

michelle said...

There are so many new strains of the flu virus, that a flu jab cannot guarantee maximum protection... the vaccine only helps to a certain degree.

Stina said...

Your decorations sound great, Tara. We've done nothing so far. They're still in the basement.

We've been getting the flu shot every year. Ever since my husband was hit by the flu a few Christmases ago. He swore after that he would never go through that again.

They haven't started the flu shot campaign here yet.

Tara Tyler said...

Thanks for the compliments on the decorations =)

And I don't always get the flu shot either. I do it more to help the kids get theirs. I have one with asthma and bad allergies who gets really sick when he gets sick and it's recommended so I just have them all get it...to be fair

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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