Pregnancy is a curious thing and now that I'm on my fourth one, there are things about it that are just weird. This pregnancy I have a heightened sense of smell. Wonder Woman would kill for the sense of smell I have, but it's by no means a pleasant experience. I find myself grossly hindered from the most mundane of tasks... like cleaning and grocery shopping because of the odors that assault my olfactory senses. Some things smell strange or awful because they just do and normally shouldn't, or because they just do and should.
Some instances are the fault of my children. Like Caelan spraying half a can of Lysol in the kitchen. I have yet to be in the kitchen longer than I can hold my breath. Other instances are no one's fault really. Seriously, how many people can walk down the cereal aisle in the grocery store and become physically ill because they smell the cardboard boxes of cereal? Not exactly anything you can blame but my nose. It's a little difficult to avoid that aisle when my children eat so much cereal.
Another instance of overwhelming stench was completely my fault and one I've dealt with continually since arriving home two weeks ago. In April, I carefully planned my two month long absence from home, but somewhere in the planning failed to realize that there were potatoes and onions in the pantry cabinets. The day after we arrived home, we went for groceries. Evelynn helped me put them away and she opened a cabinet in the pantry, immediate revulsions followed... from both of us. Loud exclamations and severe gagging ensued as I gingerly removed the food items in the pantry to find the source, wearing rubber gloves of course. There on the side of one shelf was a bag of potatoes (small, white, new potatoes) putrified in an inch of their own decaying juices. Shudders of horror. For two weeks, I have not been able to rid the area of the smell. It has lessened quite a bit, but I still smell it. I refused to put any food back in the cabinet until a couple of days ago. I can't stand cluttered, covered counters, so it had been nagging at my inner peace of cleanliness. I had to see my the tops of my counters again.
So today, I decided to put the food back in the pantry. I opened the cabinet opposite the one I have cleaned and disinfected repeatedly for two weeks. The stench in that cabinet nearly knocked me off my feet. A sweet potato and two onions. Fantastic. To just go on record, I don't know why these potatoes and onions were in found in these locations because it's not normally where I keep potatoes and onions. It's been a very unpleasant surprise. So, yet again, I'm cleaning out another cabinet and scrubbing down the shelves. And with minimal energy, these things are the only things getting done today. I'm not thrilled that my life is now run according to the sensitivity of my nose, but this too shall pass, yes?
