THE Smell!!! (Re-posted)

-Originally posted:

Tuesday, June 7, 2005
7:55:00 PM EDT

Ok, so we had an Odor at home recently that was so very awful that I must share it with all of you.  You know how some smells are just so bad that you never, ever forget it?  It was one of THOSE...

So one day last week, I wrinkled up my nose in our kitchen and complained that it stunk more than usual.  Now mind you, I have  very sensitive nose (rivalled only by my friend, Misti's) and we also have four cats and a toddler. So there's bound to be something stinky around the house on a daily basis.  But this one in particular was bothering me.  In his quest to ever placate me, my darling husband starts hunting with his nose around the kitchen.  We ruled out the ever-odiferous cat boxes, and were able to track down a pot of water that had been used to cook corn-on-the-cob the day before, which was still on the stove top.  Tim disposed of that.

The next day, the smell was back stronger than ever.  It was a kind of vinegary, sour smell, but really starting to bother me.  So I'm home for lunch in the middle of the day, and now Tim really smells it, too.  He begins hunting again, and stops at the toaster on the kitchen counter.  But we look inside and behind, and there is nothing that should eminate such a stench.  I pick up the bottle of very fine balsamic vinegar sitting next to the toaster, but it's tightly sealed and hasn't leaked or "gone over."  So I immediately open the cabinets above and below it, but find nothing.  The I go around the island to the set of cabinets on that side.  Lo and behold, when I open a lower cabinet, the smell is much stronger.

So not being completely foolish, I tell my husband that I think it's coming from "in there."  And I back away...  He starts pulling out everything from that cabinet:  the plastic picnic dishes and cups, disposable plates and utensils, my thermos - and WHAM!

The thermos begins leaking a clear fluid right onto Tim's clothes, and the SMELL!  My gag reflex kicks in as I shout to Tim through my hand clenched over my nose and mouth to go change his clothes immediately.  He obediently carries the thermos outside and leaves it there while he goes to change.  I stand there trying to think about what on earth would cause a thermos to reek like that, and then it hits me...

A couple of months ago, we moved.  And during the move, I had filled the thermos with milk for Alex so that he would have it regardless of where the groceries ended up at his next meal time.  Well, we must have forgotten about it.  And I had a bunch of really great and efficient helpers with me that day, one of whom must have assumed the thermos was empty and stashed it in the cabinet.  That was two months ago!

I was so sick that I couldn't eat my lunch and just went back to the office hungry.  Poor Tim and Alex had to endure by throwing open all of the windows and hiding in the upper level until the stink became more manageable.  Needless to say we went out to dinner that night...

...and we threw away the thermos!