Lyn's Licks & Laughs...with alter egos Bobbie Cole & Sunny

Praise, Purses, & Pusses

From my heart... thank you, for all you do.

Today's blog is partially (okay, muchly) brought to you by Janet, my friend with a slew of jokes & photos you've seen here. This bit about the purses really made me THINK of where all my purse has been before I sit it down.

(KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY Its' something just about every woman carries with her. While we may know what's inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Shauna Lake put purses to the test - for bacteria - with surprising results.

You may think twice about where you put your purse in the future. Women carry purses everywhere, from the office to public restrooms to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their purses, but did you ever stop to think about where your purse goes during the day?

"I drive a school bus, so my purse has been on the floor of the bus a lot," says one woman.

"On the floor of my car, in restrooms."

"I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of bathroom stalls while changing a diaper," says another woman. "And of course in my home - which should be clean."

We decided to find out if purses harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, then we set out to test the average woman's purse. Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their purse. Most said they usually set their purses on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their purses were at least a little bit dirty. It turns out purses are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked.

Microbiologist Amy Karren of Nelson Labs says nearly all the purses tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the purses could make people very sick.

In one sampling, four of five purses tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it.

"There was fecal contamination on the purses," says Amy. (You know... poop?)

Leather or vinyl purses tended to be cleaner than cloth purses, and lifestyle seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier purses than those without, with one exception. The purse of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all.

"Some type of feces, or even possibly vomit or something like that," says Amy.

So the moral of this story - your purse won't kill you, but it does has the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.

Use hooks to hang your purse at home and in restrooms, and don't put it on your desk, on a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop. Experts say you should think of your purse the same way you would a pair of shoes.

"Would you consider putting a pair of shoes onto your countertops? Well that's the same thing you're doing when you put your purse on the countertops," says Amy.

The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a purse will help. Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather purses.

On another note...I haven't weighed in anywhere on the authors behaving badly topics, but since I was asked what I thought, here it is. I feel that if I've put a book out for the public, anyone who reviews the book is entitled. They know and I know and the buyer knows who wrote the thing and that when a review appears, whatever is said, whether it's good or bad, is just that person's opinion. I personally would rather have an honest critique or review, so if that's what they bring to the table, I'm okay with it. I can live with it and stand behind my product if I'm gutsy enough to put my name on it (and this includes my smut monicker, since I don't hide behind it - I let everyone know I'm both Bobbie Cole & Lyn Cash...the names are just there so that readers don't confuse themselves as to what type of product they're buying...one is mainstream, the other erotica).

It's dumb, IMO, to trash a reviewer or a reader. It's dumb to even trash ourselves. It is what it is, ya know? My work isn't me...it's a part of me. It's a product. Yeah, I like what I do or I wouldn't be doing it. Same with the reviewers. As long as we do our thing with integrity, as long as we're not out to deliberately hurt anyone, where's the harm?

If Bam trashes a book I've written, that's her prerogative and power to her. If Chrissy likes me, same thing. I don't have to agree with either of them - lol. The one Bam absolutely hated has been my most consistent seller for the past year, and another that got marvelous reviews has been my slowest. I think where tempers flare is when we resort to name-calling and yelling and swearing at someone who disagrees with us. It's just unprofessional and doesn't accomplish anything.

So...just like with the war, I may not agree with whatever is said or done, but I can respect their efforts, and I can thank them for my freedom. I live in the greatest country in the world, and one of our freedoms is that of freedom of speech. I'm not a redneck, but my neck gets a little pink when someone messes with those freedoms.

Happy Independence Day.

posted by Bobbie (Sunny) Cole @ 2:52 PM 2 comments