3.26.2011

Corners of my house: Mystery Solved, and a case of "I'm Right!"

I keep a fairly clean kitchen. Sure it has its days, but for the most part we're on top of it. But all last weekend I kept avoiding my kitchen. There was a rather questionable odor coming from my sink, and I was not keen to come in contact with it. I begged and pleaded, and Wes agreed to do the dishes and clean the sink. Afterward, I breathed in the sweet relief. A clean sink. Aaaahhh...AAAAAGGGGGHHHH! Nope. Stench was still there.

I emailed a friend for advice, and commenced bleach cleaning the immediate area. We tossed out sponges, oranges, my favorite paper towel holder with the rubber bottom, sterilized the panini maker (bet you didn't think that was possible...but it is), disassembled the sink pipes, ground up lemons in the disposal, took inventory of the kitchen sill (orchid, floating orange blossoms from our tree that Wes had brought in the day before, kitchen spray, candles—nothing to get worked up over). We sniffed like drug dogs to get to the bottom of the offender. Wes proclaimed that the paper towel holder was the culprit. I agreed. We went to bed. Problem solved.

End of story? I don't think so. I woke up early. The clean scent of bleach had worn off in the night, and I could smell the stench from the hallway. I thought I might faint. Had something died in our wall? I was convinced this was it, until I remembered something Wes said before bed, after we thought the funk was defunct: "This is the first time I can smell the orange blossoms!" The orange blossoms. I stuck my suspicious nose in the little glass bowl of floating blossoms. Aaaahhh...AAAAAGGGGGHHHH! IT WAS THE ORANGE BLOSSOMS! I quickly threw them out, outside. It was immediately better. Who knew they could smell so amazing on the tree, their sweet scent floating along on the spring breeze, but then turn to putrification in my kitchen? Wes woke up and breathed a sigh of relief at the fresh kitchen.

"Glad we threw out that paper towel holder!"

"It was the orange blossoms."

"No it wasn't. Those smelled amazing."

"It was the orange blossoms."

"No it wasn't."

"It was the orange blossoms. I assure you."

Walking away down the hall, "No it wasn't!"

You guys, It was the orange blossoms.




No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!

Senja said...

Haha, men! :)

I also have my stories to tell :)

Delightful Domestic Science said...

Jasmine oil in an oil burner does the same thing! It smells like something best kept in the WC.
xx

lesa said...

Really? I'm going to remember that. Who would of guessed..

Sarah Bradford-Burton said...

Was it the actual orange blossoms or the moldy smelly rancid water they were sitting in?
I've had that happen before!

The Blog Guidebook said...

Good question! But I think it was the blossoms. They had only been in the water for 2 days. The water looked totally clear. And it wasn't a moldy/mildew smell. It was a weird, different odor. I smelled it briefly as I walked past the orange tree this afternoon. It's been raining for a week straight, and some blossoms have fallen on the ground around the tree. So I think it's something having to do with the wet orange blossoms once they are no longer on the tree.
~Lyndsay (signed in as my alter ego)