I think my sponge has cooties

How am I ever going to follow a 30+ comment post? The pressure is almost too much and I've started developing a rash. So, I'm going to set the bar real low and work my way up from here. Let's get started...I'm a REAL big fan of all the Apartment Therapy blogs, especially The Kitchen. When they posted about sanitizing kitchen sponges in the microwave today I perked right up. Come to find out this revolutionary microwave method is not so revolutionary anymore and I'm probably the last female on the planet to know about it. How did this happen? I read Real Simple almost religiously, I should know this stuff. Nasty Sponge Syndrome (or NSS for those in the know) is a problem that has plagued my kitchen recently. Typically, I run my sponges through the dishwasher every few days and this seemed to work fine. But then, the most horrible thing happened a few weeks ago. My dishwasher quit, not even having the decency to give me 2 weeks notice. I would have been less distraught with even a 2 minute notice, but no. And now that I've realized that you just can't trust 30 year old dishwashers, I'm wondering if it was ever really enough to kill every living thing that could potentially be multiplying and replenishing its disgusting self on my sponges. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for breeding, just not in my kitchen. I've tried the bleach method, but found that I'm just too stinkin' lazy for the constant upkeep. I'm hopeful this microwave method will keep my temporary dishwasher working diligently until we find the perfect replacement.