July 26, 2013

The mystery smell

For the past couple of days, I was making myself crazy trying to figure out what the heck is making my kitchen stink. Usually, if I smell something, it's the garbage, so that's an easy fix. But a couple of days ago, I smelled something funky, and I cleaned out the fridge, to make sure it wasn't bad food or something. It wasn't the garbage.

Yesterday, I thought I pinpointed it to the garbage disposal. A few times yesterday, I ran the disposal for a couple of minutes with hot soapy water. No change. Today, the smell was even worse, so I googled "stinky garbage disposal" and a bunch of home remedies came up. I used baking soda and vinegar, I used coarse salt, and a bunch of ice cubes, and I was sure that I took care of it.

After that mess, I went for my easy four-mile run. Goal heart rate was Zone 1, which meant I could go nice and easy, and not worry about pace. I was kind of looking forward to running, because I was desperate to have a good run after the past couple of crappy ones I've had. I did laps around the block again, rather than the treadmill. The temp was a little hotter than yesterday, but not horrible.

I wish I could say that the run was fantastic, but my stomach is still not feeling good. I'm almost positive it's a result of my anxiety. Since Jerry started his new job, we've been way off of our routine, and it's throwing me off a bit. Right now he's in training, and he's been working long hours. Once he starts his regular schedule (next week), things should get better, because we'll form a new routine. But for now, I've just been feeling anxious all the time, which is giving me an upset stomach--especially when I run. (Jerry really likes his new job, and the people he works with, which is a relief to me!)

I struggled through four miles. The last mile, it was nearly impossible to keep my heart rate in Zone 1, so I decided just to go with it and throw in some strides. Strides are shorts bursts of speed, roughly 100 meters or so, at around 5K-pace. I just picked a sign or a tree or something, ran hard to it, then returned to easy run pace. Doing that helped keep my mind off of my stomach.


After I finished my run, I walked in the house... and smelled something funky! I seriously thought I was losing my mind. I started opening and closing cupboards in the kitchen, sniffing the whole time, trying to find the source. It still seemed to be coming from the sink area. I opened the cupboard under the sink, and the smell was a little worse. I pulled everything out, and there was nothing that could be causing the odor.

I pulled the drawers out to check under and behind them, but it was too dark to see anything, so I got a flashlight and shined that through the space where the drawer would go, and behind the sink.

And I found the source of the smell!

It was a dead mouse. Remember, back in February 2012, when we found evidence of a mouse under the sink cupboard? I had set some mouse traps, but we never trapped one, and had no other evidence that a mouse was there. I just left the traps sitting under there, just in case.

Well, apparently the little bugger came back or told his friends, because the trap had a dead mouse in it today. It probably died a few days ago, based on the smell. As gross as it was, I was glad that I wasn't going crazy, and very happy to get rid of it!

Before Jerry left his job, his employer gave us four tickets to Cedar Point (a huge amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio). I haven't been there since 2003, before I got pregnant with Noah. We're going to take the kids there for the day tomorrow. Jerry's been wanting to go for the last few years, but I'm actually scared to. I used to like the roller coasters, but after fainting in 2010, and breaking my jaw (not at all related to roller coasters, haha), I am worried that the motion of the rides will cause me to faint again.

I know the chances are slim that it would happen, considering I haven't fainted at all since that one day, but I've been afraid to do anything that might make my dizzy. I think going with the kids will be good for me, because they can't go on any of the really big rides. Noah is very scared of roller coasters, so I'll probably be sitting out with him while Jerry takes Eli on them. I may try them (starting small) if I can get Noah to try it!

Anyway, I have no idea what time we'll be home tomorrow, so I may not write a post tomorrow night. But I can't imagine the boys staying there very late, so who knows?

24 comments:

  1. No matter how bad the smell was, I would have waited and had my husband remove the mouse after he got home. I am a wimp about that stuff! When I find a bug or beetle in the house, I am afraid to kill it and I trap it under a glass until my husband can get to it. :)

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    1. Haha, I SO used to do that too. :) I live in the south and we have water bugs (to the rest of the world they are cockroaches). I found one on my ceiling and of course my husband was at work... so I called on my 2 year old daughter. She was the bravest of my 3 children :) She grabbed the broom and swept that thing off the ceiling and out the front door. Haha! She is still my brave girl and I can call on her if I need something dead before my husband gets home. As far as a mouse is concerned... I'm sure we would have dealt with the smell and saved the dead mouse for him!

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  2. AnonymousJuly 26, 2013

    Have fun at Cedar Point tomorrow!! I actually work right near there at Great Wolf Lodge!

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  3. Have fun tomorrow! We are going in Aug. for my hubby's company day. I won't be riding anything because we just found out a month ago that we are expecting but I love the little shows they have.

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  4. I'm glad you found the smell. We recently had something die in our truck A/C vents, and talk about stink. Ew.

    We don't use our dishwasher and because it's all connected, dishwasher, sink, garbage disposal, small amounts of water end up sitting in the bottom of the dishwasher, in time it starts to stink. I was going to suggest you check that but you found the source of the odor.

    Have a good weekend.

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  5. I've never been to Cedar Point, even though I've lived in Ohio my entire life. Once I am small enough for rollercoasters (I LOVE them!), I will be going for sure. :)

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  6. have a blast! grew up there, just went there last month!

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  7. I've been having bad runs lately and in desperate need of a good fun run! Tonight was not it. Was attempting to go 18 but had to stop at mile 10 and call for a ride. I feel so defeated and disappointed that my body gave out on me. I got nauseated and upset stomach at mile 3 so I should be glad I made it an additional 7 miles after that but all I can focus on is the 8 miles I didn't do. Really frustrating. Maybe tomorrow ill do 8 if I feel better...that sort of goes along the lines of the marathon training you posted about recently. I'm glad you posted about that bc if I get that run in ill feel like breaking up 18 in to two runs still counts...right?
    Have fun tomorrow!!!

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    1. Good for you, finishing out 10 when you really wanted to stop at 3! It definitely still "counts" when you have to break it up, just be careful not to do it more than once or twice in a training cycle ;) The Hansons' method is much more complicated than shorter long runs (high mileage, training 6x/week, etc).

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  8. We had a mouse once that died in the back of our coffee maker where the cord goes. We looked for days and could not figure out where it was, I felt like I was going insane... finally looked in that little hole and there is was. That is the worse smell for sure!

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  9. Ugh, dead mouse smell! When we lived at Fort Huachuca, south of Tucson, AZ, we had a dead mouse incident in our laundry room. The problem is that it crawled into this little hole and got into our wall. The only good thing was that we lived in military housing and they were able to tear apart the wall to get it out and then they had to put it back together. *gag* I can still remember what it smelled like. And we didn't have AC or anything ... it was just nasty-hot and disgusting.

    Good luck with the rollercoasters! I think you'll do great! Start small :)

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  10. A dead mouse 'smell' is the worst. It is really bad when it is in a wall and you cannot get to it :(

    I love amusement parks but haven't been to Cedar Point. I am sure you will have fun..

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  11. Yuk! I have a hard time with smells. A dirty diaper I can take..but a dead mouse not so much..

    One question how many miles do you run a week?

    Have a great time at Cedar Point!

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    1. It depends on my training cycle, but typically, when I'm not marathon training, I'll run about 25-30 miles per week.

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  12. "Mystery" smells, gotta love that! Just yesterday morning I walked into the basement (where our kids have a lot of their toys and stuff) and could smell...something. I texted my husband and told them there was a smell and he had to check the traps when he got home. I eventually did it and they were all empty. The smell went away (I suspect a gaseous explosion from our youngest child was the culprit) but we HAVE found dead mice via the "smell" technique before.

    I love Cedar Point but we haven't been since we had kids. Our first summer of dating, my then-boyfriend (now-husband) and I went to a bunch of amusement parks together, including Cedar Point. Last time we were there was the year the Millenium Force was introduced (he rode it, I did not). Enjoy!

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    1. I rode the Millenium Force last time I was there; I didn't care for it ;)

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  13. I hate trying to find the source of a mystery smell. Usually ours is the garbage disposal, and I've found if I do the vinegar baking soda thing, it works. I'm glad you finally figured it out! That would have driven me nuts too.

    Sorry your stomach has been acting up. My husband's schedule changed recently, and it's been hard adjusting. I just have no help, and haven't been able to run much at all because of it. I want school to start so badly so I can get back to normal, because I don't do well with constant changes (which his schedule has been lately)

    We went to Cedar Point in June! My kids love it there, especially my son who is 9. I have problems with dizziness also, so I avoid the spinny type rides that go in circles. Roller coasters (as long as they don't go upside down) usually don't make me too dizzy. The Iron Dragon is a great family coaster you can all go on. It doesn't go down big hills or upside down, it's just sorta fast. My daughter is 6 and that was one of the only coasters she could go on, but she loved it. My son loved the Dragster ride. It's super fast and you feel so weird going that fast (it makes your stomach feel strange), but I loved it. We have season passes to Kings Dominion here in VA, so we got in for free when we went to Cedar Point. It was a lot of fun. There is a really cool stunt show that I bet your boys would love! My kids loved it, and we both did too. They ride bmx bikes and do stunts with them, and there is a gymnast who does all these crazy flips and they do stuff on roller blades. It's very cool, and if you are looking for a show and some time to chill out for a bit, definitely check it out. I think it's called All Extreme or All Wheels Extreme, something like that.

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    1. I'm terrified of the Dragster! I watched it over and over again the last time I was there, but I just couldn't bring myself to try it.

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  14. The Millenium Force is my favorite coaster -- gorgeous view of the water and park.

    My kids want me to go on the Top Thrill Dragster, but it does not look fun to me.

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  15. Boys not staying late? What world is that? :)

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  16. Dude. I screamed out loud when I read that it was a dead mouse. I'm pretty sure that every bad smell I experience in my house now will have me in full panic mode that it MIGHT be a dead mouse!

    Hope you've having fun at Cedar Point and that you're able to relax and enjoy the day without stress!!

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  17. Glad you found the mouse! I'm scared of them.
    I keep my Scentsy going to keep my place smelling awesome.
    So excited to hear about Cedar Point, I've always wanted to go.

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  18. OMG Cedar Point. That is on my bucklet list. I LOVE roller coasters and I can't wait to get there some day.

    Mystery smells are the worst. Normally mine is simply the trash though... I have no idea what my roommate puts in there to make it smell so bad!

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