Toothpaste in the Toilet...the rest of the story

Okay.. so my poll about whether or not you'd continue using a tube of toothpaste after it fell into the toilet results are extremely interesting. I'd thought for sure there would be more "no's" than "yes's" but it seems there is a tie. So, thought I'd share this little bit of information with you.. check out this website to see just where bacteria/germs lurk in your household and what the #1 spot for them are... yep, you guessed it... the toilet! I mean, we're talking 3.2 million bacteria per square inch!!!! Did you know that? I didn't know there was that much bacteria/germs, but really didn't need to know that to make the decision that I wouldn't reuse the tube of toothpaste, even if the lid of the toothpaste was closed (which it was) and even if there wasn't any current "waste" in the toilet when it fell in (which there wasn't). So, here's the rest of the story....

The night this happened, I had brushed my teeth, placed the tube of toothpaste in the medicine cabinet which hangs above the toilet and then went to bed. A couple of minutes later, I hear this noise but couldn't figure out what it was. So, I go back into the bathroom to discover the toothpaste in the toilet. I first though it was no big deal, got it out, dried it off, and then wiped GermX all over it, thinking that would probably take care of disinfecting it. Then I got to thinking.. 'Hmmm, there are lots of germs/bacteria in that toilet and who knows when the last time I had actually really cleaned it, so probably not a good idea to reuse it. Plus, water could have seeped into the flip-top lid, so on second though, yuck.' So, I put it in the trashcan and go to sleep, knowing that there was still a little bit of toothpaste left in another tube so Kevin would have something to use in the morning.

Next morning... (Kevin gets up and leaves for work before I even get out of bed).. I notice in the bathroom that the toothpaste is not in the trashcan, but sitting on the back of the toilet! Surely not (I'm thinking to myself).. Kevin wouldn't have taken this toothpaste out of the trashcan and used it (which I'm sure was equally as germy, since there was a DIAPER (just wet, not poopy) in there. Surely not!! But then I see the other tube sitting on the sink. I then decided to call K and ask him... here's how that conversation went:

Me: "Hey Kevin. I was wondering if you happened to use the toothpaste that was in the trash can this morning?"

K: "No... I used the other one, but wondered why it was in there."

Me: "Whew... good! Well, it had dropped into the toilet last night, so I took it out and thought it probably wasn't a good idea to keep using it so I threw it in the toilet. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that this morning before you left."

K: "No problem. But we could have kept using it... it already fell in the toilet once before."

Me: "WHAT?!?!?!? You mean the same tube?????"

K: "Yeah, why? It's like soap.. no big deal."

Me: "No, it's NOT like soap and you put it in your mouth! Gross!! I can't believe you let me use toothpaste that had been in our toilet!!! AHAHAHAHAH!"

End of that story. Of course, K can't believe I'm even blogging about this, much less taking a poll on it. But, I guess the good thing is that it hasn't killed us YET!!!

And to my dear hubby's defense, he has been getting on me ever since we got married that we really should keep the toilet lid closed after we use it and I have a bad habit of not closing the lid. So, in the end, it's my fault the toothpaste ended up in the toilet (the 2nd time at least) since I didn't close the lid. Lesson learned well!! (By the way, did you know that if you don't close the toilet lid when you flush it, that all that waste matter gets all over the rest of your bathroom anyway, including your toothbrushes???? ICK! I have since closed the lid EVERY time!!!!)

Thanks for participating in my little poll. If you'd like to share which way you voted, I'd LOVE to know!!