it's as if i've never seen snow before.

I'm all ready for the apocalypse. I'm not usually this prepared for the kind of snowfall that's predicted to hit us in the next day or two, but we were getting close to being out of milk and bread so I thought I'd run to the store and pick up those necessities before we get a foot of snow and it becomes much too difficult to, I don't know, put on boots and drive a mile to the store? Winter brings out the Lazy and Wimpy in me.

Anyway, I wrangled the girls this morning and we headed to the store with promises of snacks and rides on the penny pony. I had my list of three items, and coupons to match. We got inside the store... and that's when things went terribly awry.

It was like Supermarket Sweep in there. Hundreds of crazy ass Michiganders preparing for record snowfall. It reminded me of when we lived in North Carolina and the forecast called for rain-- every business in the state shut down and there was nary a loaf of bread or gallon of milk to be found on any store shelf.

This was not unlike that.

Call it gang mentality or the herd instinct or something but when we got inside and I saw everyone's carts packed to the brim with toilet paper and batteries I was all, "I need those things! I don't have those things! And also taco shells!" I tossed a bag of Goldfish at Iris and proceeded to race up and down every aisle, throwing things in the cart. Mostly on top of Iris.

So that's how I simultaneously lost the respect of my three-year-old and ended up substantially going over my grocery budget this week. And it's only Monday.

After we were safely home both my mom and Phil's called to make sure we had food in the house. Which should tell us all a little something about my usual preparedness. Or lack of. I was thankful for the calls, and I did feel proud that I thought of grocery shopping all by my big girl self.

I must note that the woman checking out in front of me had in her cart a dozen boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and about twenty bottles of wine. And that was all. She's seriously hunkering down for this storm. Clearly a wiser investment than all the actual food crap I bought. I want to get snowed in with her.

If anyone needs taco shells though, give me a buzz.

an ounce of prevention

When I was eight years old I was playing in a neighbor's yard next to a construction site and I fell on a piece of wood that had a rusty nail sticking out of it. The nail went into my shin, essentially nailing the piece of wood to my leg, and I had to pull it out. I then hobbled back home where my mom took me to the doctor and I ended up having to get a Tetanus shot.

I'd rather experience that entire ordeal twenty four times in a row than get a stomach virus.

Nothing scares me more than a stomach bug except the prospect of our whole family getting a stomach bug. For a couple of weeks I've been watching families around me dropping like flies and my paranoia is increasing.

In the past I've used various remedies as a preventative for myself, and it seems to work. But this is one of those things that you can't really test since I never really know if I was, in fact, going to come down with an illness or if that milk just wasn't really fit to drink after all. All I know is, I start to feel that icky feeling in the gut, I wash some probiotics down with pure cranberry juice, follow it up with colloidal silver and within a half hour I'm as good as new.

My kids hate cranberry juice though, and I think I'm pretty convinced that's what helps the most. I've been reading a little bit about grape juice having the same effect as cranberry juice on tummy bugs so I'm trying it over here. A cup a day for my kids (and we never drink juice because the sugar makes them cray-zay so this is also an experiment in ridiculousness and tomfoolery) along with probiotics once a day. If I know we've been exposed, I'll give them a little colloidal silver also. So far so good, but I know we have a long way to go before the risk decreases enough for me to let up a little bit.

Do you guys have any success stories about using cranberry or grape juice to prevent stomach yuck? Or any other tips other than the usual hand-washing, not-touching-your-face stuff that my family can't seem to remember to do, or not leaving the house (which was our preventative method last year)?

I wish you all the best in staying barf-free this winter.