what's that smell?????

When I walked into the house, after being away in the mountains, on Saturday evening I was met with the grossest smell. I nearly threw up on the spot. Seriously. I tried tracking the smell down and figured that the smell must be in the general kitchen/dining/living room region of the house. I didn't really want to explore any further, because lets face it: I was afraid of what I might find AND I didn't want to be responsible for cleaning up the smell (you know, the whole "who smelt it dealt it phrase" this is more like the "who finds the cause of the horrendous smell will most likely be the one to clean it up") So, like any normal/lazy person, I sprayed some air freshener and hoped the problem would somehow resolve itself.

The smell became so bad on Sunday morning that I finally caved and started looking again for the cause of the smell. I took out the trash....the smell was still there. I poured bleach in the sink disposal....the smell was still there. I cleaned out the fridge.......the smell was still there. At this point, I feel like I'm doing all the work while Josh and Rachel, who could have just as likely caused the smell, are avoiding helping like....well.....like any sane person would avoid finding the cause of this day-old-fish-that's-been-sitting-outside-in-florida-type-weather-on-top-of-a-crap-filled-diaper-type smell. Sorry for getting graphic on y'all, but I had to let you know how horrendously foul this smell had become.

I was about to give up and spray some more febreeze, when I looked a the pantry. I opened the door slowly....and the smell hit me straight in the face. I nearly keeled over right there. I starting looking for some old potatoes or onions that might have gone rancid.....and then I found it....a bag of un-frozen chicken breasts. Did I mention that we haven't turned the air-conditioning on in our house yet and that it was over 90 degrees on Saturday? Chicken Tartare anyone?

See, I buy our chicken frozen and in bulk because I'm cheap. This is usually a great thing, because we always have plenty around in case a friend stops by for dinner or we throw an impromptu party. You know when its not a great thing??? When you're running around planning a Young Life weekend in the mountains and absent-mindly throw the chicken in the pantry instead of the freezer. Yeah. I guess I'm starting to loose my mind. Who knew life started going downhill at age 26?!

I threw the bag of bag of chicken in the outside trash can, opened all the windows in our house and sprayed febereeze on anything that would stand still. I'm not sure why I used febreeze so much in this situation, but it was the first thing I saw in the cleaning closet.

Then Josh went to clean out the garage. I guess when the house is 90 degrees....the garage is what, 100 degrees? He said the smell was rediculous.....and the trash guys weren't coming until Thursday. So what's Josh's solution? To switch our trashcan out with the trashcan up at the pool. And since he couldn't push the trashcan up the hill (because of the smell) he waitied until the cover of darkness and drove the trashcan up to the pool.

I know its not a great shot, but it's all I've got. In the end: the chicken is gone, the trashcan is switched and everyone can breath through their nose. Just another adventure at my house.