Archive for August, 2008
Where to find a coffee maker
Where to Find a Coffee Maker
Many people drink coffee every day. They drink it with breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. The workplace introduces many people to coffee as they feel it keeps them awake, alert, and more productive. Coffee makers vary from single cup to multi cup but all generally do one thing. Make coffee. You might wonder where to find a coffee maker that is just right for you. There are many places either near you or on line where you can find a coffee maker.
If you ask most people where to find a coffee maker, they will tell you to go to a local retail store. This is usually a good idea because at a retail store they will usually have entire aisles dedicated to various coffee makers. This helps a great deal as you can compare all the options that the various machines have to offer. You will find coffee makers that make a single cup, eight cups, or even as many as twelve cups at a time. Some will make even more but you usually have to order those. Coffee makers are available in many different styles and colors so you should be able to find one that will match your other kitchen appliances.
If you want to make the best purchase possible, you might want to read some reviews. The Internet has thousands of places that are dedicated solely to coffee makers. Many of these have very thorough reviews by many different people. It can be very beneficial to read reviews on coffee makers before you buy them so you know what you are looking for when you go to the store. Nothing can give you a feel for a new coffee maker than knowing what other people’s experiences are with that product.
The Internet is also a great place to purchase coffee makers. There are many websites and on line stores that specialize in coffee makers and can give you some amazing deals. A common place to find a run of the mill coffee maker is a site that sells overstocked goods at discounted prices. There are many of these sites so you can search around and find one you like. You can save up to 75% if you look around carefully. Auction sites can also be a good place to look. Not everything up for auction is used and you can find many deals there. Some websites are promoted by a particular brand and for one price, they will send you a coffee maker and enroll you in some type of coffee club. This usually is a new coffee every month at a reasonable price. If you want to experiment, that might be a good choice.
The most important factor in buying a coffee maker is you. What do you want your coffee maker to do? How many people will it be serving? How much am I willing to pay? These are the most important questions you should ask yourself before buying a coffee maker. If you take your time and choose based on your needs, you will find the one you are looking for.
Once a Month Cooking
Once a Month Cooking
If you are like most moms around the world, there never seems to be enough time or energy at the end of most days to prepare the nice home cooked meal you would love to have ready made for your family. Unfortunately, cooking a good family meal requires both time and energy. A few wise moms have discovered a concept that has become known as once a month or freezer cooking to assist in those nights when time, energy, or both are in short supply.
The thought behind once a month cooking is that for one or two days (if you prefer to spread the process out over a couple of shorter days rather than one long day of cooking) of intense culinary effort your family can dine well for an entire month. Many women who have tried this have also discovered that not only does it help by always having something nice and home cooked for dinner, but also helps families stay within budget.
Far too many mother’s will guiltily raise their hands when asked whether or not they’ve ever resorted to fast food or junk food meals simply because they were too tired to cook or were missing one ingredient for a meal and did not feel up to running to the grocery store in order to pick up the missing ingredient. This practice can get expensive over time and rob your family of some well-earned fun money.
There are some important things you must keep in mind if you are considering once a month cooking as a way of life for your family. The first thing you need to keep in mind is that planning is the key. You will need to set aside a day (or two) for the cooking when nothing else is on the calendar. It is simply too difficult to see to all the details if you are planning your cooking event around car pools, soccer games, or dance practices. You need a full day that will be relatively uninterrupted. If you have a spouse, partner, or family member that can take the children for the day this will be the ideal situation. Otherwise be sure to have plenty of distractions on hand for the little ones or find a way to enlist their help with any cutting, chopping, slicing, dicing, or peeling that may need to be done.
You should also create a thorough menu followed by a list of each and every ingredient you will need. Shopping needs to be done on a day other than when you are planning to cook. This means that you aren’t likely to rush through the shopping trip and forget something as a result. Bring your menu and your list and get everything you need in one trip whenever possible. You can also save money by planning your meals for the month according to the sales circulars and coupons you have for the week in order to stretch your budget a little further.
Finally, you need to make sure that you have all the supplies, dishes, and containers you need in order to prepare and store the meals you’ve prepared properly. You should also make sure that the recipes you are using for your once a month cooking marathon are recipes that freeze well. It is even better if you have recipes that double well so that you can get twice the results from the same effort.
You should also make sure you are mentally prepared for your marathon cooking session. Beginning with a nice and tidy kitchen is a great start. Folding card tables make an excellent flat surface for storing things out of the way and freeing up valuable counter space for preparing and assembling the foods that will be prepared. You should also utilize as many appliances in your kitchen as possible for maximum efficiency. Don’t limit all cooking to the oven. Find dishes that freeze well and can be prepared in the crock pot or on the range top. Once a month cooking is a challenge but many women will agree it is well worth the effort on those nights when the thought of cooking seems unbearable and the wallet has been stretched to its limit.
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Chicken Raising Terms from B M
Chicken Raising Terms from B - M
Familiarize yourself with these terms to get a hold of chicken raising.
Bantam - chicken variety that is about half the size of the standard breed of chickens. These breeds are usually bred for ornamental reasons.
Bedding - can either be shavings of wood, haystack pile, or newspaper that are added to the floor of the coop and inside a nest box. The purpose of this is for absorption of droppings and odor of chicken poop. It also provides as cushion for eggs to be safely ejected from its mother without the worry of breaking it.
Brood - this could either mean the hens incubating their chicks or a flock of baby chickens.
Broodiness - a chicken’s desire to incubate their babies - unfertilized or fertilized. Broodiness can make an egg hatch or spoil it. There are a lot of factors that may arise in being broody. And the mother is a bit moody when she is manifesting broodiness.
Candling - is a procedure wherein a candle or a light bulb is used. It is the process letting light shine through an egg to determine if it is fertilized or not. Candling can be useful especially if you are planning to separate the eggs with growing embryo and those that you wanted to sell.
Capon - a rooster that has been castrated.
Clutch - fertilized egg groups that hens tend to incubate.
Cockerel - a juvenile or young rooster.
Comb - this is the rubbery, red flat piece of flesh hanging on top of a chicken’s head. Roosters have a more prominent comb than hens. Some who are engaged in cock fighting preferred to cut the rooster’s comb so as not to interfere with the fight.
Coop - house of chickens.
Crop - Part of a chicken’s digestive system that can be found in the esophagus wherein food is first digested before entering the stomach.
Droppings Tray - a tray that collects chicken droppings, which is located under poles for quick disposal.
Dust bath - A pattern of chicken behavior wherein they dig a hole in the ground and immerse their bodies in earth that has been loosened. They will get down and dirty until they get satisfied. Bathing in dust is a kind of defense mechanism to protect chickens from lice and mites that may invade their feathers and feed on their blood. A dust bath can either be natural or artificial.
Feeder - a container that delivers and holds feeds for chickens.
Fertilized egg - an egg that came from mating of a rooster and a hen and is destined to become a baby.
Grit - bits of rock or sand bits that chickens tend to eat and is stored in the crop that is important for good digestion.
Hackles - chicken’s neck feathers.
Hen - female chicken.
Incubation - process of egg hatching in which application of heat is required. The eggs that are incubated are those that are already fertilized. Constant heat, usual turning, and an environment that is humid are the essential needs of an egg that also comes in with the period. Incubation takes about 21 days before the eggs are expected to hatch.
Layer feed - a feed that is complete and is made for the sake of laying hens.
Molt or molting - this is the process of feather shedding and re-growing which happens once a year. When molting season comes, laying season is suspended.
Learn About Making Chocolate The Advantages of Online Classes
Learn About Making Chocolate? The Advantages of Online Classes
Making chocolate is often viewed as something that you can only do through cookbooks and offline demonstrations. Au contraire, you can actually find more and more chocolatiers embracing the online way of earning savoir faire about chocolate making. And why not? There are many advantages to having online chocolate learning. It truly harnesses the technology made in this age for making delicacies and sweet treats like chocolate.
A Diverse Support System
You will find that if you are learning how to make chocolate and getting your sources online, you don’t just get information but you are also rewarded with a diverse support system who will encourage you in your pursuits of becoming a chocolatier. The support system is not limited to your local limitations, nor is it bound by certain ways of doing things.
With the diversity and variety of techniques from the Internet, you will find that you are exposed to different styles that can finally help you improvise and find your own chocolate making style. Whether you are a novice to chocolate making or someone waiting to upgrade their chocolate making skills, you will be richly rewarded by people who can help add to your wealth of information regarding chocolate making.
Visuals and audio combined
Videos uploaded online, as well as images of chocolates from all over the world, provides you with perspective and ample motivation. This multimedia form of learning will also ensure that your learning of making chocolate is meticulous and done in good taste. Both the art and science of chocolate making is something that you can find even when there are few words used to describe it. Through pictures and video and audio, you will find that chocolates are really a universal treat and can evolve over time with technological advancements.
Excellent Follow up
Mentors online find it easier to manage their contacts. You can also have numerous mentors, as opposed to the limited number of people you can learn with when you are in an actual classroom setting. With online methods, you own your time, and you can learn your chocolate making even in the wee hours of the morning without having to worry about disturbing your neighbor. At any given time of day, there is bound to be a perky chocolate lover, up and ready to assist you.
No inhibitions and continuous learning of making chocolate
When you are making chocolate through online learning, there is distance and more inhibitions are diminished with this distance. It may make you feel safer to admitting disasters in your kitchen or other booboos that novice learners of chocolate making may commit as they master their craft. The thing is, online people are less inclined to judge your work but they are just more supportive and welcoming about your shortcomings in making chocolate.
Opportunity to branch out into other forms of making food
Whoever said that learning is limited to making chocolate? You may also find it an added pleasure that the links may lead you to other learning pursuits that are not far from making chocolate. The good thing with online learning is that you can easily transfer from one pursuit to another or even do them simultaneously without much of a hassle.
You can also regulate your learning to accommodate other forms of food making for your personal satisfaction.
Why Our Fascination with Famous Restaurant Recipes
Why Our Fascination with Famous Restaurant Recipes?
Feature articles in magazines present us with professionally snapped photographs of celebrities who cook, politicians who cook, and people with very nice houses who cook and take it seriously. It seems we are a nation of budding amateur chefs. Have we all been hypnotized by the Food Channel into thinking that culinary art is something everybody should practice? To some extent, probably, but this is not the primary source of our fascination with famous restaurant recipes.
When we examine the phrase “famous restaurant recipe,” we would do well to determine which word gets the full weight of the modifier “famous”? Are we talking about a better-than-good recipe that is famous primarily because of its association with a certain restaurant or are we talking about a recipe so superlative that its renown has rubbed off on the establishment where it’s served? It could be either, but either way, when we speak of famous restaurant recipes, we speak in ultimate terms, and we expect these recipes to live up to their reputations. They must yield cuisine that is utterly delectable or utterly unique. They must give us food that is worthy of praise and enjoyable enough to persist in our memory. On a deeper level, they confirm that we are doing okay, for such culinary wonders don’t exist where food is scarce and seen exclusively as a facilitator of survival.
In countries that are considered affluent by Third World standards, dining is best understood as a holistic experience. Sensation is everything. Food, like music, art or travel, has become something to enhance our experience of time. Memoirs, biographies and novels are liberally sprinkled with the names of restaurants. The French writer Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past dwelt often upon what occurred during mealtimes. Frances Parkinson Keyes made a post-war generation of readers long to enjoy a leisurely dinner at Antoine’s in New Orleans. Food as an occasion for conviviality has been celebrated by artists. Can any one of us look at Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party without wanting to be there with friends on that balmy, floating afternoon? And as for travel - to lunch at a certain inn has become a requisite part of our trip itineraries, all the better if we can come away or later get hold of a recipe for a signature dish we ate there.
Ah, restaurants - breathtakingly ornate, tarnished, rundown, closed, renovated, edgy, or being nudged along by octogenarian owners who would really like to give up the business but - we want to know how they make that particular salad of wild greens and edible flowers or that bowl of chili that will leave us sipping ice water for an hour after we eat it. This is color; this is Life. All establishments with special recipes are welcome to impress us. Even when we have to sit outside on a concrete step and wipe our mouths with thin paper napkins pulled from an aluminum holder that pops open, spilling its contents every time someone touches it, the culinary experience will rise to the occasion if the food is good or legendary. Location, celebrity patrons served, number of patrons served, number of years in operation all become part of the mystique of establishments associated with both formal and word of mouth cuisine ratings.
When it comes to famous restaurants and their recipes, we are all the victims of romance, expecting a list of ingredients to be imbued with ambiance. It is the promise of this borrowed touch of atmosphere as well as the increased chance of creating delectable food that lures us variously to recipes from Paula Deen and from a relatively unknown restaurateur who runs a lunch counter on Route 66. We are suckers for package deals, happy as larks to obtain those recipes that give us a sense of location along with their “two cups of bleached flour” or “half cup of chopped pecans.” Through restaurant recipes we experience and re-experience our nation’s largeness and its history. We also experience its “Now.”
As for our own personal histories - although we cannot recapture that certain afternoon in Savannah when we ate key lime pie with friends or the rainy morning when our young son had a holiday from school and we decided to treat our child and ourselves to a fabulous early lunch at the Blue Willow Inn, we can re-make some of the same dishes we savored on those occasions. In a sense, a restaurant recipe can put time and place in our hands.
Ways to Promote Your Venture into Making Chocolate
Ways to Promote Your Venture into Making Chocolate
Is it your dream to have your own business? What do you want to have? What do you imagine yourself running? If you have a knack in making chocolate, you might as well capitalize on that talent.
Once you’ve started your business, learn how to advertise. This is a must for every business, however big or small, startup or established. You must know how to promote your business in order for people to know about it.
Here are some ways in which you can go about the promotions the affordable and easy way.
Print Ads
Print advertisements will cost less than going into the broadcast medium. And if you are a small biz and you still can’t afford such tool, you can always opt for the print medium. For this purpose, there are many ways in which you can go.
You can start with business cards. You must carry your card with you all the time. You never know when you’ll meet someone who has the tooth for what you have to offer. This is a business. So have your cards professionally made. Design a logo and a name that will carry out your brand in the market.
Postcards can be effective direct mailing piece. But this is advisable if you already are stable and can accommodate the rush of orders that you will be able to get from the responses from your ads. Make sure to captivate you market with your postcards once you tried this route. Get their attention with the design, tag lines and everything. And don’t forget to include your contact information.
Catalogs can act as a menu for your clients. You can also mail these out to people and don’t forget to slip in order forms with these. The idea here is to make the photos that you will use in your catalogs as delectable as your products really are. You must convince people that your goods taste good through the images that you present to them.
Are you ready to go big time? If you have special announcements that you want many people to know about, you can try out large format posters and banners. Make sure to place those ads on places where your target market usually goes. This way, you will be able to tell them what you have in store for them. Make sure that your ads will excite them enough that they will find ways to seek you out.
Free Promo
Always give the best to people and they will return the favor by talking about your products to the people that they know. And this will benefit you big time. Word of mouth is so vital to any business. Imagine, you no longer have to resort to spending for your own ads. You need not even think about what good elements can be included on your next ads.
By always putting your best foot forward, people will learn to like you and what you have in store for them. In any business, it is important to gain the trust and loyalty of the buying public. And you will only achieve that if they feel that they really are important to you by showing to them that you have their best interests always in mind above everything else.
Go ahead and start out making chocolate as a business. And don’t forget to promote your biz and spread out the good words about you.
Yeast Infections During Pregnancy
Yeast Infections During Pregnancy
A women who is plagued with recurring vaginal yeast infections might not give them a second thought when they happen. However if that same woman gets a vaginal yeast infection when she is pregnant she’ll probably react differently. And who can blame her, a vaginal infection is dangerously close to her uterus.
For some reason yeast infections occur with greater frequency when a woman is pregnant then when she isn’t carrying a child. The increased frequency of yeast infections during pregnancy could be due to additional stress, but it is more then likely due to the bodies hormonal changes. When a woman is pregnant the amount of estrogen in her body. The increase in estrogen increases the amount of glycogen that the vagina produces. The extra glycogen creates an environment that encourages the growth of yeast.
Even though you might be an old hand at using over-the-counter treatments to cure your yeast infections if you are pregnant visit your doctor to make sure that the yeast infection isn’t a sign of a complication. You’ll also want to check and make sure that the over-the-counter treatment you use will not harm your child. Don’t expect your doctor to give you a prescription for your yeast infection, they will most likely recommend an anti-fungal cream that can be purchased to over-the-counter. If the cream doesn’t seem to work or if it is causing additional discomfort, talk to your physician. Pregnancy can cause your body to react differently to creams that you frequently use.
The good news is that yeast infections seldom affect the unborn child. If you have a yeast infection when you go into labor there is a chance that the child will contract an oral yeast infection when it passes through the birth canal but this is easily treated.
When you’re pregnant there are several things that you can do to help prevent a yeast infection. Purchase toilet paper that doesn’t have any patterns printed on it. Wear long skirts, loose jeans, and comfortable sweatpants. Turn away from Lycra and spandex panties in favor of plain white cotton underwear. Don’t wear pantyhose. Avoiding perfumed powders and lubricants will lower your chances of a vaginal yeast infection. Resist taking long bubble baths. If you go swimming take a shower, dry off, and change out of your wet bathing suit. Use water based lubricants instead of lubricants that are made out of petroleum jelly. Try to sleep sans underwear. Some women feel that eating one cup of yogurt that contains lactobacillus acidophilus lowers the chances of developing a yeast infection, even if the yogurt doesn’t improve your vaginal health it is an excellent source of the calcium and protein your body craves.
If you already have a vaginal yeast infection applying an icepack to the infected area will help alleviate some of the discomfort. Another way to increase comfort is soaking in a cool baking soda bath.
Protecting Trees with Bird Netting
Protecting Trees with Bird Netting
If you have a problem with birds, you have probably tried many solutions. Some of the most popular include plastic animals, scarecrows, wind chimes, or highly reflective tape. All of these things can do a great job of reducing bird problems. I have quite a few cherry trees in my backyard, and I used to struggle a lot with birds. After I applied all of these solutions, my problem went almost completely away. Unfortunately, the solution only lasted a few months.
Apparently, birds have a natural tendency to get bolder as time goes by. While at first my scarecrow scared them senseless, now I look outside and see them sitting on his shoulder. And munching on cherries from my tree. Those insolent little fiends! I’m not saying I mind birds. I love having them around my yard. But you see, I’ve already designated one tree specifically for allowing birds to eat off of. But it seems that birds can’t be content with what they’re given. They always feel the need to go over to my own trees when there is a tree just for them that doesn’t have any scary things around it.
I saw many gardening stores marketing a type of bird netting. I decided to use it. Bird netting is basically a giant net that you throw over the entire tree. The holes are about one half of an inch wide. I purchased enough of this to cover one whole tree. It was quite a hassle to install, but it definitely worked after that. I didn’t have any more problems with birds taking cherries from that tree. But one day I woke up and made my daily rounds. On that day, I found 2 birds caught in the netting that had been choked to death. I felt absolutely terrible. I buried the birds and immediately took down that netting. I didn’t want to protect my tree at the cost of the birds’ lives! Sure, I’ll kill off a few bugs, but birds are a little too nice for me.
For a while I felt too guilty to prevent the birds from eating any more. I thought that I would make it up to them by letting them feast on my cherries. I even took down my scarecrow. But a few months later I saw something in a fabric store that made me rethink my generosity. Almost every fabric store sells a material called “tulle”. It is very fine netting with holes too small for any bird to fit its beak or head into. While it is easy to find, it is also extremely cheap. Buying enough to cover one tree ended up costing less than half of what it cost for the lethal bird netting.
I installed the tulle onto my tree (I’ll admit it was a lot harder to install than the bird netting was. I had to attach several large pieces together at the seams) and watched it for a day. I wanted to keep an eye on it every second, so that if a bird got caught I could quickly help it out. Fortunately, no bird ever got caught. Tulle is a much safer and cheaper alternative to bird netting, and I suggest it if you have any problems with birds. Just remember to let them have at least one tree for themselves! Sharing with birds is an essential part of being a good gardener.
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Yeast Infections in Infants
Yeast Infections in Infants
New parents have enough to worry about when their infant is healthy and happy. When they suspect their child is having a health problem their world falls apart. One health problem that can affect a newborn is thrush.
The good news is that thrush is, for the most part, a minor illness that is easily treated. It is an oral yeast infection. Diapers can also cause an infant to develop a yeast infection.
Thrush is something that a child might develop naturally, the fungus that causes thrush is a fungus that is already in the body but the mouth is a warm, dark, moist area where the fungus thrives and reproduces. Sometimes, if the mother had a vaginal yeast infection when she went into labor, the child might have contracted the condition when they passed through the birth canal.
Parents who routinely examine their child’s mouth will quickly see the signs of thrush. They will notice that their child has developed some oral lesions or that their is a white mucus covering the mouths surface, when this phlegm is wiped away the tissue underneath might look red, irritated, and sore. If the parent notices symptoms of thrush developing in their child’s mouth they should call their pediatrician and arrange an appointment as quickly as possible. Although yeast infections are usually easily treated, because of the infants underdeveloped immune system, the yeast infection can turn into a more serious condition called Candidiasis.
When the pediatrician is examining your child’s yeast infection they’ll often ask about the mother’s health. If they suspect that the child developed a yeast infection from the mother they’ll recommend treatments for both child and mother. Some physician’s will recommend a prescription treatment while others will recommend an over the counter treatment.
One of the most important things to do when an infant develops a yeast infection is to take precautions to make sure the infection doesn’t spread. Disinfect and sterilize the child’s pacifiers. If you bottle feed the child, throw away all the old nipples and replace them with new ones. If the baby is breast fed the mother needs to use a topical ointment on her nipples. All family members should wash their hands several times a day with an anti-bacterial soap. Stop using cloth towels to dry your hands, use paper towels that can be thrown away instead. Continue these precautions for at least two weeks.
Parents should know that a yeast infection can sometimes look like a diaper rash. If you have been using a cream to treat diaper rash and haven’t noticed any change with forty-eight hours, you could be dealing with a yeast infection. Set up an appointment with your child’s pediatrician. Giving your babies bottom a chance to air dry before replacing their diaper will help lower the chances of them developing a yeast infection. Another step parents can take to prevent a yeast infection from starting is to replace the diaper as soon as it is soiled.
Babies who are breast fed and babies that are already on antibiotics seem to be particularly susceptible to yeast infections.
Symptoms of Yeast Infections
Symptoms of Yeast Infections
Yeast infections are not limited to one certain area or one type of person. A man, a woman, a baby, a teen, or an elderly person can get yeast infections. The infections may be a one-time occurrence or they can return time after time, sometimes maybe months or years later. The reason is that yeast is in our bodies all the time and the infections are caused when they acquire the ability for abnormal growth. So, the potential for an infection is always there.
Some symptoms of yeast infection are:
Diaper rash, white coating of the mouth or tongue, skin rashes under the breasts or folds of skin in other areas, mouth sores, itching, burning, redness of the infected area, lethargy, painful urination, cottage cheese-like discharge, painful intercourse, irritability, depression, and headache.
A yeast infection is considered chronic when it occurs at least four times a year. It could be confused with other illnesses, including vulvitis, which is why it is important that you consult your doctor if you aren’t sure of the cause of the infection.
It’s possible that simple lifestyle changes can significantly reduce your tendency to get a yeast infection. The way you wipe when relieving yourself, tight pants, pantyhose, underwear that doesn’t absorb moisture, bras that trap moisture, wet bathing suits or sportswear that is worn too long repeatedly, and diet can all be contributors to yeast overgrowth that can be overcome. Learning good hygiene and putting it into practice can make a big difference in this area as well as your overall health and well-being.
Consider the process of dough rising. What makes it possible for the yeast to activate? You must prepare the yeast in a container of warm water, let it sit for a few minutes, and then mix it with other warm ingredients. You let this mixture sit in a warm place for it to rise. Our bodies have many warm places for the yeast to multiply. They thrive in the heated areas that can hold the moisture. When they multiply, they cause irritation. We get unpleasant feelings of itching, burning, swelling, and overall discomfort.
It’s usually nothing to worry about and can be easily corrected. Changing your lifestyle to improve your recovery success is one step toward achieving yeast control and combating infection. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, although it can be embarrassing to admit to others. Some people are extremely sensitive about yeast infections because they feel dirty about having one. But everyone is susceptible to them. Should a baby be ashamed because it gets yeast infection? What about diaper rash? It can be a form of yeast infection. What about oral thrush? It’s another form of yeast infection. Babies can get both, yet no one is ashamed to speak of this.
People who keep themselves clean and dry more than most can still get yeast infections. But it is not an excuse to be careless about your personal hygiene, only a way to reassure you that it is not necessarily because of lazy hygiene. The lazy hygiene just doesn’t help matters, especially during recovery.
