When you’re a parent, you find yourself saying What is that smell? rather a lot. In fairly short order, you learn that you probably don’t want to know the answer. You also learn that regardless of what is causing that smell, it is probably going to be up to you to deal with it. Lucky you!
When I find myself scrunching up my nose and saying What is that smell?, the answer is often rotting fruit. A smart parent would impose a rule that says we only eat at the table, but apparently I am not a smart parent. I try to discourage the consumption of messy food over carpeted areas, and in good weather I’ll send my kids outside with anything drippy and sticky, but I’m sort of haphazard about it. On top of that I have a fruits and vegetables are okay anytime policy, because I always want my kids to eat more fruit and veggies. All of this means that it’s not unusual for a child to wander off with an apple somewhere in my house, to eat while they play.
Of course, children being children, when they head off to eat an apple they rarely finish it, and it often doesn’t occur to them to properly compost the leftovers. They’re busy playing, or creating, or practicing standing on their heads. They don’t have time to think about cleaning up. And so, I’ve found rotting fruit in more places than I care to remember. Just for fun – or possibly because I like to torture myself – I thought I’d list all of the rotting fruit hideouts that I can remember.
It’s a good thing they’re so adorable
Places I Have Found Rotting Fruit
- In the toy box
- Under the couch, in both the living room and the family room
- In between the car seats in my car
- Under beds
- Behind the entertainment unit in the living room
- In the play kitchen
- Under the kids’ stools in the actual kitchen
- On bookshelves
- On dressers
- Under dressers
- In one of my shoes
- In my purse – and no, I didn’t put it there
- Behind my computer
- In the dirty laundry
- Mixed in with the art supplies
- Inside the school backpacks
I’m sure I’m forgetting some rotting fruit hiding places. They were probably so traumatic that I’ve erased them from my memory. I’m thinking it’s better that way.
What about you – what places have you found rotting fruit, or half-eaten peanut butter sandwiches, or goldfish crackers? I could use some commiseration!
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As a child I was horribly messy. As an adult I am compulsively tidy. As a child though, it was not uncommon for me to toss my lunch kit and back pack into my bedroom closet, close the door and forget about it until Monday morning when my mom would ask me for it to pack my lunch for the school day. And when I opened my closet fruit flies woud descend on me. Being a messy child my clothes were on my floor and not in my closet. This is how I would aviod opening the doors for the entire weekend. The smell. The flies. I was a hopeless case. My dad thought for sure I would grow up into an adult whose entire house was overrun with fllies and mess. Ha ha – he was wrong.
It’s not fruit, but yesterday my husband took apart the trap under our bathroom sink and pulled out a pen and a childrens tooth brush. Who knew that’s what was causing the back up! Children!!!
Heather’s last post … Jabs
Twitter: MarilynBelsham
says:
My kids aren’t the rotting fruit culprit, but my husband is. Rare is the day that I don’t get into his car to find one or more rotten apple cores rolling around on the floor. And he complains about MY car. I usually just have a couple gas receipts or something in mine. Sheesh.
Marilyn’s last post … Playing Favorites
Twitter: sadderbutwiser
says:
MOST of the time the food I find is in a ziploc baggie, so rather than an odor I feel something squishy and wonder a) Is it a toy? b) did something die in there? c) did something leak in there? Then I look to find out what it is. It’s usually in one of my bags-I packed fruit for the kids and then they didn’t want it. I have found-a bag of grapes complete with brown water, century old string cheese still in the package, a whole apple that was waaaaaay past its prime, and a banana that squished all over the books in the bag. You’d think I’d learn. The grand prize goes to an entire ham and cheese sandwich that was leftover from the NASCAR race we went to in a hot/cold bag in my husband’s trunk. That was in April, I found it in July. Yum. I guess I’m the culprit, since I’m the one who forgets to unload the bags. Luckily, overall I don’t pack much that isn’t prepackaged…
http://sadderbutwiser.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/unintentional-hoarding-i-really-dont-do-it-on-purpose/
The Sadder But Wiser Girl’s last post … Pardon My French Ann Coulter, But You Suck!
Twitter: RachaelNevins
says:
Hm. I don’t think I’ve ever found rotting fruit in our home, but now I’m kinda wishing I had, because “Places I Have Found Rotting Fruit” would be an excellent title for a poem.
Rachael’s last post … Right Here
One time my 3-year-old spilled her milk on the counter and apparently forgot to tell me. It was raw, local milk, which is fresh and delicious, but when it goes sour it smells like something died. It ran underneath several objects on the counter, which was a bit cluttered at the time, so I didn’t notice the mess. A couple of days later I found myself playing “what’s that smell?” in the kitchen. When I finally spotted a bit of dried milk and lifted up the main object covering the spill on the counter, OMG. Grossest thing ever. I watch her a lot closer when she’s drinking milk now.
Jenny’s last post … Better
- in the foldable cupholder in the car (on the second note, in.every.freaking.crevice in the car)
- in the airplane carry-on (about two months after original summer visit, and just in time for another trip, ouch)
- in between underware in underwear drawer (apparently it was there when I dropped off fresh laundry, masking smell for long enough to become really bad once uncovered)