Flu Fighter

Today I found myself with an unexpected day off. My regular house for today called to cancel – her baby girl was ill so we were not going in to do their home today as planned.

While talking to the mom I could hear the worry and the fatigue in her voice - dealing with a sick child is exhausting. And if you have more than one – the others all have a tendency to get whatever the first has.

So how do you prevent all the other children, or your entire household from getting ill also? Here are a few tips:

The first thing to do is to isolate the sick child. Place them in a room separate from the other children. I know quarantine sounds harsh but if you think taking care of one sick child is exhausting, imagine taking care of two or more.

Secondly, when cleaning it is important to keep surfaces, especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen counters clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant. For the toys, I use a solution of bleach and warm water as it’s easier to get a lot of toys done at the same time. I use one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water and allow to soak for 10 to 20 minutes – please remember to rinse the toys thoroughly afterwards.

It is also not necessary to go out and buy special cleaning agents and solutions. In fact any cleaning product containing chlorine (bleach), hydrogen peroxide, detergents (soap), alcohol and iodophors (iodine-based antiseptic) will do. Just read the labels on your products – you will see that most of these are what you normally use for day to day cleaning.

The next step is ensuring that YOU do not become the agent by which the germs are spread. Your mom said it a lot and she’s right – wash your hands! Wash your hands thoroughly with clean, running water and soap. Use warm water if it is available. And if clean, running water is not available use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Encourage your children to do the same.

Also the tissues and other disposable items used by the sick child should be thrown in the trash. Seems obvious right? But how many movies and TV shows have you seen with a sick person surrounded by their dirty tissues? That, my friends, is a disaster waiting to happen.

Finally, step up with your disinfecting. Now is the time to sanitize doorknobs and toilet handles and wipe your phones. If your sick child is suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea, take extra care to disinfect the toilet, floor, and sink in the bathroom. This is the moment that you would want to wash all of their stuffed toys and launder their linens.

It may seem like a lot – especially with the sick child on your hands – but really these tips are simple and they will go a long way in ensuring that your ENTIRE house does not become a danger zone.

Hope you feel better Marianna!

My Super Fashionable Weekend

This weekend was super-busy and super-fashionable. I had the good fortune of attending a charity brunch and fashion show “Shades of Pink” hosted by the Employers Consultative Association in aid of the Cancer Society of Trinidad and Tobago. To find out more about them you can visit them here.

The event was great! I was introduced to two new designers Sharon Christopher and Petra Moore of Emphasis Clothing, and met my new accessories lady You-Nique (if you like gorgeous, unique jewellery – you must visit her Facebook page!)

My earrings from You-Nique. I fell in love with them on sight!

I have been to many (many, many, MANY) charity dinners and they are all the same – a bunch of people glammed up, eating an expensive dinner, networking and making small talk. Which is fine - as networking is how many of us get business (especially poor cleaning ladies like me).

But what I loved most about this event was the intimacy that could be felt. Because the event started just before lunch, couples were able to attend with their children and I saw entire families attending. As a mother of four, I found the setting relaxed and friendly. If the ECA wanted to show a softer, more caring side they succeeded with me.

I look forward to more events like that. Besides, I always look forward to events where I can wear slippers and sandals rather than heels! 

Vinegar the Superhero?

According to your age, you may remember that TV show “MacGyver”, where Richard Dean Anderson is just fantastic at building an atom bomb out of pencil shavings and two paperclips… well I recently realised that vinegar is the MacGyver of cleaning.

Vinegar is just about the most all-purpose cleaning tool that exists! I think that with vinegar, lime and water you could clean almost anything.

Here are five great uses for vinegar – and this is just a DROP in the bucket people:

1. Clean counter tops and make them smell sweet again with a cloth soaked in undiluted white distilled vinegar. 
2. Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes and then run hot water down the drain.
3. Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odours will disappear. Wipe clean. 
4. Clean the shelves and walls of the refrigerator with a half-and-half solution of water and white distilled vinegar.
5. Cut the grime on the top of the refrigerator with a paper towel or cloth and full-strength white distilled vinegar.

The Early Riser?

This morning found me at “work” at 6:36 am. No I don’t consider myself a superhero or anything… that’s just the hour a client called to find out the answer to a request.

I decided that I could play it one of two ways: with either the biting sarcasm for which I am well-known to close and personal friends and the dispensers of poor service or with the polite, enthusiastic demeanour for which clients find me popular.

I have to be honest - polite and enthusiastic is hard to come by before 7:00 am. Before coffee.

But I managed … and made a firm decision to NEVER forget to turn off my phone after 9:00 pm. 

The trick is to remember to turn it on in the morning! 

My Night in Arima Police Station

Last Thursday night I decided to stay late at my business – which operates out of an internet cafe - to finish off a project. I asked my last four customers to stay with me for safety reasons. Three of the four – Redman, Silent and Dog readily agreed. In fact they were overjoyed by the situation – as avid gamers, the idea of “free internet time” was akin to receiving an early Christmas gift.

Although Dog et al were eager to stay they are extremely diminutive in stature, however, Tallman, the fourth customer, is over seven feet tall and almost just as wide. I had thrown out the invitation to everyone – but he is the person I was really thinking of. Tallman, I guess, realized this in the way he smiled and said, “No problem.”

As the evening progressed, I became engrossed in my work and the gamers got deep into their game.

The first warning was Tallman getting up and saying apologetically, “Boss Lady I have to go yuh know. Is 10 o’clock. Dem fellas could stay cause dey live Arima – but I HAVE to go.”

To be honest my eyes never left the computer screen. I waved in his general direction and bade him thanks and farewell.

The second warning came when the office phone rang. It was my husband, concerned and surprised that I was not already on my way home. Again I was dismissive, eager to get back to my work, “Okay honey I leaving now, now, now. Bye!” I hung up the phone quickly before he could make any further comment.

Even the person for whom I was doing the project became concerned and asked “if I was all right where I was?” I was confused, but reassured him that I was fine.

It was not until Silent screamed out, “OH MY GOD! Is 10:24! We have to reach home before 11:00!”, that the situation sank in…. CURFEW!

In three minutes flat we were out the store and running like four mad fools across Queen Street, Arima.

In between trying to breathe and move my overweight, unfit body the fastest it has ever gone in 15 years, I managed to ask the guys where they lived. Silent and Redman had no problem – they lived Arima proper and were going to run all the way home. Dog and I were not so fortunate. Dog lived Maloney, which was about 15 minutes away from Arima and I lived Curepe – a full 30 minutes away!

Redman and Silent wished us good luck as we parted by the vacant spot that should be the Arima Dial and Dog and I picked up the pace (I did not think that was even possible) as we ran pell mell down Broadway towards the maxi stand.

Needless to say there was not a maxi in sight. Two empty maxis drove past us – but they were uninterested in answering our calls for help and only drove faster when Dog tried running behind them.

It was 10:40 and a decision had to be made soon. I stopped six cars (only one of them a taxi) but none could help. They were sensible Trinis and were all living nearby.

I told Dog I was going to the Arima Police Station, which was just a little more than a stone’s throw away from where we stood. My plan was that I would ask them to drop me home. He scoffed at the idea and I left him on his phone trying to convince a partner from Maloney to come for him.

I reached the station only to be greeted by my old friend PC Andy* (*the names of the officers have been changed to protect their identity). He seemed genuinely pleased to see me and wanted to know how he could help and where was my business partner.

SIDE NOTE: Here is where I should probably explain something – since starting operations in Arima six months ago, my business partner and I needed to make two police reports. Strange but true – on BOTH occasions we encountered the same shift of police officers even though one visit was at 9:00 am and the other a little after 4:00 pm. And now here it was at 11:00 pm and I was once more dealing with that same shift!

I told PC Andy that she went home long time and explained my situation. He laughed, invited me to sit down and let me know that as soon as the vehicle returned – my ride was booked! He asked if there was anyone else with me who needed a ride. I told him about Dog. He smiled and nodded knowingly. Five minutes later a dejected Dog walked into the station.

The hour spent waiting on the vehicle flew as the different officers kept themselves and us entertained with the various people who came in as well as with those whom they had to detain for breaking curfew (that’s another story).

Finally PC Willy and WPC Sweetness returned with the vehicle and were able to take us home. I had to comment to them both that I had never met a more pleasant bunch of officers and that I would spread the word about the Arima Police Station as I felt both protected and served.

They assured me that that this was intrinsic to their shift as they were so close knit.

In fact PC Willy set me straight that if I was stranded on Friday, I would’ve met PC Wolf’s shift:

“You woulda spend the night in the station cause dey wasn’t going to drop yuh no whey AND they woulda charge yuh to boot!”

Allyuh know I going home early today