Does your house stink THAT bad?

Today I stopped at Bath and Body Works to take advantage of the Memorial Day sale. I ended up in line behind a moo with 3 shrieking crack monkeys. Nothing unusual there. But then I noticed what she was buying. No body products, just a huge number of the big 3-wick candles and Wallflowers (their plug in air fresheners). She said something to the clerk about how hard it is to keep her house smelling clean. When she was finally done the clerk came around the counter to put two extra large bags in one side of Moo's double wide stroller. The brat who was clearly way to old to be in a stroller got up, then immediately sat down again on the bags and resumed harassing his baby sister.

When it was my turn the clerk apologized for taking so long. I told her it was okay and asked how much the other customer bought. 14 candles and 12 Wallflowers. I said "I hope that lasts her a while". She said those products do last a long time.

All I was thinking was thank doG I don't have to spend my money on that crap. I keep a few candles around for decoration, but I never even light them. Cats smell a lot better than brats.

Now I'm wondering if she ever cleans her house. Maybe she uses the candles and Wallflowers to cover up the brat funk instead of cleaning. Or even worse, maybe she does clean and the funk is still overwhelming. I wonder if she will be back at BBW in a couple of weeks to get more at the semiannual sale. It would be so funny if I saw her there again. One thing I know is THAT WILL NEVER BE ME! Being CF rocks.

Those things are a major source of indoor air pollution, so she's making her kids less healthy. Nothing like a good cover up instead of a cleaning!

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indoor air pollution

Yep. As far as I know, there are plenty of cancerous substances in perfumed candles and
indoor fragrances.

When you really need it, you should go for an aroma lamp with essential oils.

Ew, that feral kid-house smell. No candles or deodorizers can overcome it. That's like putting perfume on a pig that just rolled in shit.

I didn't even think of the indoor air pollution. But last night it occurred to me that rowdy brats+burning candles=fire hazard. This is looking worse and worse.

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mrs. chinaski

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indoor air pollution

Yep. As far as I know, there are plenty of cancerous substances in perfumed candles and
indoor fragrances.

When you really need it, you should go for an aroma lamp with essential oils.

Absolutely! I use the aroma lamp with essential oils and can keep my place fragrant most of the time.
There is a bit of an old house smell and I cook often, so that is what I'm covering up.
It is much cheaper than fragrant candles. A bottle of cedarwood essential oil is around $5 and a few drops will last hours.

With two cats and me being a smoker, the only thing we like about summer on a third floor flat roof apartment building built in the 1800s, that we can put in at least a couple window fans which improved our air quality immensely.

And now Im rethinking the use of fabreze reading this.

But really, just one day with the living room fan made it much better. I can't imagine brats stink up a place that badly. Well, yeah, I can....

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yurble
Those things are a major source of indoor air pollution, so she's making her kids less healthy. Nothing like a good cover up instead of a cleaning!

My thoughts exactly, yurble! Those things give off some nasty chemicals and don't actually neutralize or absorb any odor at all!

When we had an ailing elderly cat who couldn't make it to the box sometimes, Mr. Random wanted to get plug-ins...then I had him read about what's in 'em. He was immediately on board with the urine-removal remedy I'd found online and was all about opening windows, using baking soda before vacuuming, etc.

They're also instant misery to anyone with fragrance allergy/sensitivity.

Air out the house, clean and disinfect all non-porous surfaces, steam-clean your carpets, and clean/dust all windowsills and blinds. That'll do a LOT to get rid of smells.

But she also has kids, so who knows how long it would last.

Reminds me of a situation we had in our neighborhood in Breed Hills growing up. We often played with the Kelly kids. Mrs. Kelly had 7 kids close together who were younger than our family, so usually more than 1 of them was in diapers. This was back in the late 60s early 70s when Pampers were less common. Mr. Kelly was a Surly Engineer who was active in the Catholic church as a rude usher. Mrs. Kelly cloth diapered, but she often did not wash every day and there was Always a pail, sometimes 2. Kelly's house always smelled, because until about 1975 there was always a kid in diapers. Mrs. Kelly always welcomed us in her house, be we never wanted to go there because of the way it smelled. When Kelly's finally moved, the house had to be scrubbed and painted for the next family (they only had 1 daughter) to move in. I guess when you parent small kids, you get used to the smell.

One incident happened when Mr. Kelly was in a kiddie pool and then one of the kids left a turd in there. All the rest of the kids ran away, but Mr. Kelly stayed around, I guess that was the only time he had any peace.

P.S. maybe this belongs in Patio, but for the engineers here, I wonder: I heard that many engineers are religious because the advanced math and physics is "so weird it is like religion." But that doesn't explain why engineers like Mr. Kelly are so grouchy.

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mr. neptune

P.S. maybe this belongs in Patio, but for the engineers here, I wonder: I heard that many engineers are religious because the advanced math and physics is "so weird it is like religion." But that doesn't explain why engineers like Mr. Kelly are so grouchy.

Quite the opposite in my experience. Engineers lives are ruled much more by science so religion just looks like quackery.

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blondie
Ew, that feral kid-house smell. No candles or deodorizers can overcome it. That's like putting perfume on a pig that just rolled in shit.

Please don't insult pigs, they're very clean if allowed.

+++++++++++++

Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!

WTF are these kids into that they stink so bad? Aren't they house trained? If they're old enough to talk, aren't they old enough to use a toilet?

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law
WTF are these kids into that they stink so bad? Aren't they house trained? If they're old enough to talk, aren't they old enough to use a toilet?

Maybe in the 50s-60s they would be but I remember the youngest Kelly boy was talking and wearing Pampers. One of the common complaints I hear is that its hard to train the kids when they wear Pampers because they absorb so much it feels like it did not happen, although it does smell that way.

ACK!! Reminds me of one of the latest conversations DH had with Nephew (if you will remember.. she is baking a loaf and certainly not ready for it) DH was talking to Nephew about his overtime and how "you gotta buy diapers ya know" (with a little chuckle) So Nephew answered "Oh we're going to get these new ones that last for 12 hours"
He was serious.. and not joking. The idiot thinks a diaper can last for 12 hours and not have to be changed. WTF!!!

Anyhow... as far as stink. What is that smell that boys start putting out around the age of 10 ? I have smelled that sometimes in friends homes. Is that testosterone exploding in their bodies or something? It is awful!!!

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Ondinette
I didn't even think of the indoor air pollution. But last night it occurred to me that rowdy brats+burning candles=fire hazard. This is looking worse and worse.

Burning the house down will get rid of smelly kid funk, for sure. Then I'm sure Moo could sue Bath & Body Works for not telling her that candles were a fire hazard and she'd get a big enough settlement to buy a new house to wreck.

Kids just always smell weird. For the first year of their lives, they smell like any combination of sour milk, diarrhea and puke. From age one to maybe eight, they just smell like sickness. It's hard to describe - sort of a wet odor, the kind where you know that you're going to come down with some fucking bug within 48 hours if you inhale any of the air within ten feet of the kid, even if the kid isn't visibly sick. Any time I've been near a kid between two and six years old, especially in an enclosed space like a bus or car, they all had that wet, sick funk about them, sort of like that damp smell that hangs in the air right before it rains, only it smells bad/sour instead. And I also got sick with something weird - not a cold and not the flu, but shit that gave me a fever, runny nose, chills, major sweating and just made me ache all over. I know that sounds flu-ish, but I've had the flu several times and this was different.

This Moo sounds like she's too lazy bizzy to actually clean her house (or give her kids chores if they're old enough to finagle a vacuum cleaner or a can of Pledge), so rather than get off her ass and clean her cesspool of a home, she'd rather just cover up the odor with artificial scents. Kind of like how teen boys will marinate themselves in Axe instead of showering. All you get as a result is the continuing original odor mixed with way too much fake stink.

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mr. neptune

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law
WTF are these kids into that they stink so bad? Aren't they house trained? If they're old enough to talk, aren't they old enough to use a toilet?

Maybe in the 50s-60s they would be but I remember the youngest Kelly boy was talking and wearing Pampers. One of the common complaints I hear is that its hard to train the kids when they wear Pampers because they absorb so much it feels like it did not happen, although it does smell that way.

Little boys sometimes take longer to train, and kids can be born with underdeveloped bladders that are too small.

+++++++++++++

Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!