A Stinky Affair

It’s not the most creative of titles but it’s the only way to describe how this week has been.  Just stinky!

It all started when one day last week when we noticed a slight stink in our house.  The smell of dirty diapers filled the air.  But I knew it wasn’t dirty diapers.  Those are always properly disposed of.  Never left around because because first of all, that would just be gross and second of all, we have two large dogs with exquisite taste… they LOVE themselves a dirty diaper.  EW!  Makes me shudder.  I will never understand why dogs eat poop. 

Anyway, we knew there wasn’t a pile of diapers being stashed somewhere.  Yet when my parents showed up the next day (and the stench was still there), the first thing they noticed was the smell of ‘dirty diapers’.  By that point I had already come to the conclusion that it had to be our laundry since the smell was strongest in the laundry room.  I had a mountain of it that needed to be done and I figured that the towel that cleaned up a milk spill had been mixed in.  Milk STINKS!!

Fast forward a few days… the smell was getting stronger and stronger but it no longer smelled like diapers.  It just smelled awful!  I hadn’t gone through all the laundry yet but I had picked it up in small bundles and frantically tried to find the source of the smell.  It was overwhelming in the laundry room!  The smell was saturating the whole house and I had resolved by then that there was just no way it could be the laundry.  I was just about done with every bit of it and it still kept getting stronger.  My parents kept noticing it too.  It was starting to get embarrassing but we could not find the source.

Then this past Sunday after church, the smell was so overwhelming when Anthony walked in the door from church that he just couldn’t stand it any more.  After walking into the laundry room for the umpteenth time, he finally found it!!!!!

THE FREEZER!  The one that stayed from the previous owner of the home.  It had stopped working!!  Who knows how old this thing is?!

Anthony had only just cracked it open and the smell about killed him off.  I think there was even a green mist in the room. 

And we went straight to work!  The boys had just gone down for their naps so it was the perfect time to get something done. 

We both about lost our lunch a couple of times.  Then we called for help!

Thank goodness for my willing parents who came and helped unload 3 whole turkeys, a couple of hams, several pounds of ground beef, a rack of ribs, some vegetables, chicken, and few unrecognizeables.  The yucky juices were sucked up with a shopvac and the freezer was bathed in bleach. 

OH MY STINKY HECK!!!!

Do you notice what they’re all wearing?  MASKS!!  Each of them drenched in Peppermint essential oil in an attempt to overpower the smell of the rotting meat. 

No, it didn’t work.  I think it helped a little, though. 

And yes, our house is smelling much better!  Thanks for asking.  ;)

However, the other day, we noticed that one of our two refrigerators wasn’t keeping our food chilled.  GREAT!  Just what we needed.  Fortunately, the food in the freezer still had ice crystals on it.  And better yet, the problem was a simple fix.  Someone (ahem, C) had turned the dials all the way down.  Now it’s working, good as new!