There seem to have been an alarming number of revolting incidences in my life recently. The coffee maker cleaning fiasco (see previous post) the kids tummy bugs, ugh, and the “dead thing” smell in Ella’s room. Well, the coffee maker has been replaced, the tummy bug is (I believe) deceased, but that smell… oh my. Time to go on the offensive with that, I can’t handle it any longer!
I’ve been smelling it for a few days. It’s mostly confined to Ella’s room. We’ve searched high and low for whatever it is, and there isn’t a sign of the victim. Only it’s odor reminds us of it’s presence… a lot! I’ve been keeping the window of the room open during the day, and we keep the door open at night so that the smell isn’t too bad in there for Ella. I hate putting her to bed in there with that wretched stink, but it’s difficult to mess with bedtimes and routines. She threw a fit when I tried to put her down for nap in her brother’s room this morning.
But I had to have her out of there so I could do some intervention. See, whether it’s the tummy bug that the kids had, slowly trying to kill me, or just the fact that I’ve been so “grossed out” so much lately, I’ve totally lost my appetite, and feeling rather puny. That smell just makes it worse. I knew I had to do something.
Since we can’t get to ‘the source’ of the smell, the only thing we can do is neutralize or mask it. Blah! Do you have any idea how bad “dead thing” mixed with Febreeze smells? Take it from me… it’s not so nice. 🙁 I got online (my favorite tool) this morning and read about other people’s “dead thing” woes and some of the steps that they took to ease the situation. Hopefully this creature is just a little mouse and will be done rotting in a week or so. Till then I found some options to make it a little more bearable.
First… I don’t like using chemicals (you all are realizing this right?) so I initially put a little bowl of baking soda in the worst problem spot of the room. That did basically nothing. Really, it has to be in something that air can circulate around and through. After reading a bit I got to work and chopped up a pair of old pantyhose that I had left over from… well, years ago, cause I simply do NOT wear those now. In one “toe” I poured fresh coffee grounds. People swear by them for neutralizing odor. I don’t know if it works, but they on their own smell pretty good! 🙂 In the other toe I poured more baking soda. I tacked these “sachets” up in Ella’s room where they could get plenty of air circulation. Next I put white vinegar in a couple shallow dishes and set them around the room as well. I’ve closed the door and put a rug across the bottom because I just can’t handle that odor in the rest of the house.
The window is open in there still as well, and the last time I walked in, all I could smell was coffee. 🙂 SO maybe will a little ingenuity and a lot of extra coffee, we can get through the next week or so without too many whiffs of that revolting smell.
Here’s hoping…