This isn't rocket science, it's a billion dollar industry who only wants your money and will sacrifice your sanity to get it; or, Don't Be So OCD

I don't normally watch TV, and that's mostly because I don't own one. But the other day I was in the dentist's office and they were playing one of those morning talk shows on the big screen TV in the waiting room that lets you know exactly what that big check you're going to write in an hour is paying for. Today's inane chatter by people who don't know what they're talking about and don't expect their audience to know the difference was centered around the subject of house cleaning, and it made me remember why I started this blog in the first place (and also reminded me that I hadn't posted in over a month).

Don't get me wrong; there were some good tips given, for instance, washing your kid's toys in the washing machine or dishwasher, depending, or freezing them to kill germs if they can't handle either one of those. But unfortunately those kinds of ideas were in the minority; most of the program (hosted by a woman "expert", my inner feminist would like to point out)(accompanied by a male host, my inner fairness referee would like to also add) consisted of appalling advice such as "How to disinfect your garbage can."

Excuse me?

I was always under the impression that the purpose of a garbage can was to put garbage in; and I further held the view that garbage consisted of things like dirty diapers, rotting meat and vegetable peels (apologies to the faint of stomach). I was further mistaken in believing that one could put a garbage bag or some kind of liner in the can so as to avoid the smells and germs and general yuckiness from sticking around after the garbage got taken out. I was also much chagrined to discover that the proper garbage can should be some kind of expensive looking metal (probably silver plate) rather than cheap plastic that is easily replaceable.

Thank you, ABC America, for correcting me.

This sort of thing makes me mad: perpetuating the stereotype (despite protests to the contrary) that stay at home mothers (or any other kind, for that matter) have unlimited amounts of time and energy with which to perform household tasks of a kind that are only important to talk show hosts who all probably have maids and whose kids go to private schools and wear clothes from Gymboree and Baby Gap and who never get dirty in the first place. And meth users.