Whenever my sister comes to visit, before I even let her step through the door, I insist on her completely honest opinion on the olfactory state of our household.
“Now tell me,” I say. “When you come in, take a whiff and tell me if it stinks or not.”
Despite the place looking like I couldn’t give two shakes about its appearance, the case is actually quite the opposite. I do care, and it usually doesn’t take too long to bring it back into gear. However, what’s not so easy, as many people realise, with kids, is hiding the fact that they tend, on occasion, to stink.
We’ve all walked into houses with nasty or heavenly scents to greet us. The good: coffee brewing, fresh roses or jonquils, and even the limey whiff of disinfectant is passable. The bad: three day old roast lamb remnants, and stinky sneakers left by the front door.
Then there’s the pooey nappies.
I swear, on the bad days, when I’ve changed a particularly nasty nappy, the house still reeks hours later. And it’s embarrassing. Which is why I hold-up my sister on the rare occasion she visits so I can stock take how well (or badly!) I am doing in keeping the air as neutral as possible.
Now, my sister normally grants my request with a degree of chagrin (And who can blame her? Who likes being asked if they can smell shit?) Luckily, her answer is usually lands on the side of blamelessness. Except for one time, she turned around to me and said, quietly, “Actually, you could do with an open window or two.”
Oh, the humanity!
Do you get paranoid about this as well? Please don’t tell me I’m the only one!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Paranoia abounds here too, especially when people come over, who are not used to the family organised chaos. You are not the only one.
I have three boys in various fall sports. I just assume the house is going to smell like a locker room until football season is over.
I hear ya! I do this with my girlfriend all the time. My house either smells like coffee, shit or toothpaste. The first one is my addiction and the latter two are my sons obsession.
I worry about smells too, although we are well passed the baby poo smells, I constantly check for doggy smells.
LOL if we are not worrying one thing then its another !
Your sister put it in a very subtle way.
Yep paranoia plus here too. I am always worried about the smell – especially after the last bout of gastro that hit our house. Yuk! I have those little air freshners it the stinkiest places.
What I find funny is that the guys, sons or hubby’s, just don’t notice the smell!
I’m with you – it seems like that smell just sticks in my nostrils so I assume it’s in the entire house.
I hear you. My house also wavers between smelling like baking or pooey nappies! I just live with my front and back doors open all day!!
Definitely can relate to this! With a dog and a new baby and a love of garlicky food I’m always paranoid about the olfactory state of the house. Funny post!
Found you for WW, but I’m trying to look a bit beyond the WW posts. Enjoying your site. I’m an American expat in the UK and my Aussie partner and I are hoping to emigrate down under in the next year. All the best.
-Chris
P.S. I hate tagging as well – I just ignore them, though!