Look. I just like things to be clean. With two cats that are indoors and in and out of the box, my disinfectant wipes are always at the ready. I’ve been known to wash the dishes three times if someone has been in the house with a “bug.” I sanitize the toothbrushes every week with rubbing alcohol and keep them in a cabinet. Why? Because if you don’t, every time you flush, millions of microscopic particles of You Know What race through the atmosphere and land on the bristles. It’s a well known fact. I cover my pillowcases with dust mite protectors. If you visit, I’m doing your sheets in the laundry right after I wave goodbye. It’s nothing personal. And let’s not even talk about how many times I wash my hands (and disinfect with hand sanitizer) at the grocery.
Why do I admit this? Well, because this week’s Raising Hope pushed a few of my “crazy” buttons. Jimmy is always learning from having a new baby around, and this week it was all about germs in the house. Jimmy and his Mom even got black lights to show exactly how dirty the house was. Which kinda made me freak. I’ve often thought if I had one of those, I’d perpetually be at my doctor, honking like Tony Randall in the Odd Couple.
After the back light, they all clean faster than Tiger Woods can spit on a green. But they realize they can never get Maw Maw clean. Man! How great is Cloris Leachman in this show?
So they move her out to the greenhouse. And in doing so, find one of her old trunks, with ancient family movies in them. (Remember the reel to reel? You don’t? Then … you didn’t get the best line in the whole show. As they watch old movies of Maw Maw at Virginia’s birthday party, Burt turns to her and says, “Hey Maw Maw you look great! You look like the horny neighbor from the Mary Tyler Moore show!” Classic.)
The upswing is everyone realizes, after watching the old films of people coughing on cake and licking knives and then cutting, that germs have always been around. And since Maw Maw is 84, well, maybe germs don’t have a whole hell of a lot to do with anything. Maybe it’s all in the genetics. So Maw Maw is back in the main house, and I’m just left to wonder … yeah. Having great genetics is definitely a plus. But I’ll still be the one sanitizing my hands in Walmart, and noticing whether or not you have hair on the baseboards of your loo at your next party. It’s how I roll.
But I do so love this show!
The blacklight scene was hilarious, but I think I laughed hardest when they pulled the buttered floor gag on Jimmy and then tazed him…again! And the nod to “Phyllis” was great. The wig definitely looked like the style Cloris wore on MTM and her own spin-off. I love this show!
My kiddo laughed at the horny neighbor quip without knowing the background story. The show is so bizarro but by the end there’s quirky family love.
. . . . .
I read the first paragraph, all the while shaking my head back and forth.
And you say I’m a freak …
Plus! I’ve heard you honk. It’s not pretty.
heh, I hate to break it to you but they weren’t saying that “maybe germs don’t have a whole hell of a lot to do with anything. Maybe it’s all in the genetics.” What they WERE saying is that the more germs you are exposed to the more antibodies you create and the healthier you are in the longterm. They were saying that by being a clean freak you are guaranteeing yourself lots of flus and colds and possibly and early grave, and they were right.
. . . . .
Michael’s got a point, Tara:
You do have a tendency to die every week … then miraculously reappear …
It’s not just me notices these things.
Dust mites are the best little thing in the world. All the do is live on your clothing, bedding, carpet, in the air and on your skin, eating your dead skin. 70% of “dust” you see in the air is actually your dead skin and the mites love it!
Have fun trying to scrub yourself in the shower 24 hours a day! That will only cause you to get dry skin and more mites to eat more of your dead skin!
:-D
. . . . .
Dollars to ding-dongs, Tara’s whimpering in a corner, cocooned in a fetal position because of you, Oreo …
I just *knew* someone would bring up dust mites.