My Stinky Suspicion of A Bad Idea

Ever had that women’s intuition of a man’s bad idea? I had it Thursday night, and should have listened to myself.

I was planning my girl’s birthday party with a crowd of many coming over, so I asked my husband to pick up some carpet cleaner to spot clean. Somehow that translated into my Mr. Tool Time “arh-arh-arh” and a call for him to strap on his testosterone belt and go rent an industrial cleaning machine. For some reason, I went with it.

Fast forward 2 days after the soaked carpet has mostly dried, and there we were cutting the birthday cake with my crowd of many. Suddenly, this smell of diapers meets wet dog meets wet towel meets stinky shoes wafted over me. What in the world?

I opened windows, sprayed air freshener, lit candles, nothing worked—and I couldn’t figure out what it could be. Then, I stuck my face in the carpet. Good God almighty! What had he stirred up? It’s one of those smells you never forget. It stays with you, in your mind, in your memory, in your membranes—and in your carpet.

After talking to a pro, I realized the smell kicked in that day because my husband turned on the heater in the morning to dry out the carpet, which actually activates the leftover moisture and moldly, wanna-pass-out smell.

So now my $5 can of Woolite carpet cleaner has turned into a professional carpet cleaner job needed STAT ! (Or maybe new carpet if I find a deal; it’s that bad.)

Smell me later. Hopefully wiser from this one.

Am I alone? What has your Mr. Fix It “fixed” lately?