Friday, February 15, 2008

Chocolate Makes The World Go 'Round

We had a romantic Valentines Dinner out, Larry and I and the 6 kids, at a local burger joint. After yelling at the children for 3 hours this morning in order to get the house ready for the party, I was too wiped out (lazy, really) to make a decent meal. And since I hadn't fed the kids anything but candy and cake all day, I wasn't able to rationalize feeding them that crap for dinner also. I haven't sunk that low yet. Give me another year.

Anyway, now Brian feels sick (but not in a stomach way, thank goodness). For some reason (that I really do not want to think about at all), the boys' room still smells like puke from the bunkbed vomiting incident 4 months ago. You would think that even if I had missed some vomit in the clean-up(s), the leftover stuff wouldn't smell anymore. Or maybe you don't think about things like that at all. Maybe that's my own particular hobby.

I should just turn this problem into a homeschool science fair experiment - we could call it How Long Does Vomit Maintain Its Ability to Offend the Olfactory Senses? That would look great on a college application, now wouldn't it?

Valentine's Day is a No Weight Watchers Zone, by the way. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning. I mean, what would have been the point? The house was a veritable dieting minefield, filled as it was with Rice Krispy treats and cookies and the big heart-shaped box of chocolate given to me by my loving but misguided husband. Tomorrow, I will climb back on the points-counting, healthy-eating wagon; but for another hour or so, everything edible here is fair game. And, since the kids are finally in bed, it's mine, all mine!

I broke my bedtime rule this evening, and boy did I regret it. By 8 o'clock all the kids were running around and screaming at each other. Rachel touched Susie's balloon; and then Susie took Rachel's puppy (the one from Santa), because she likes Rachel's puppy with the pretty red bow around its neck better than the boring brown doggy that she got from Santa. Brian was crying that his feet felt funny, and Anna was pitching a fit in the kitchen because she had to load all of 5 dishes into the dishwasher and turn it on.

So I spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed. Well, I wish I had, anyway. What I really did was wrest the puppy out of Susie's fat little hands and watch her big brown eyes well up with big fat tears, which damn near broke my heart. Then I gave Brian Tylenol and told him to lie down and recuperate in his vomity-smelling bedroom. And I left Larry to deal with the overgrown tantrum-thrower in the kitchen while I lay in bed with Susie and read a book until she fell asleep over an hour later.

All of which explains why I am downstairs at close to midnight eating my Valentine's chocolate and feeling cheated out of my evening , rather than upstairs giving my husband the rest of his Valentine's present. In case you were wondering....


  1. Regarding vomit smells--paint can absorb odors. I've found that regularly washing my bathroom walls keeps them smelling fresh. Try washing all the walls, not just ones that were in the line of splatter and see if it helps.

    Sorry you had a rough night!

  2. I have nothing to say, except...

    Happy Valentine's Day!
    and Hurray for No-WW Zone Days!

  3. Hopefully your day was better!
    Happy Valentines Day!

    kari & kijsa

  4. Take it from me, any calories consumed on Valentines day DO NOT COUNT.
    That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

    Also, I can't even begin to describe the smell in my son's room...........
    I'm quite sure I don't really want to know what it is.

  5. Condolences on your sugar withdrawl in the morning. I myself have a love/hate relationship with chocolate. Valentine's day is nothing more than a ploy to make us all indebted, skimpily clad, overweight, plant killers, wearing gaudy jewelry we wouldn't touch the other 364 days of the year. Can you tell I'm coming off my sugar high?

  6. There's a name slipup in there - in case you want to double0-check...

    It sounds like a crazy night...hope the chocolate was good, at least!


  7. Just re-read your byline at the side of your blog. Six children and one husband is not boring, sister! Six husbands and one child, well that's Gabor territory, now isn't it?

    Although six husbands and one child would probably translate into seven children, each more problematic than the next...

    And that would be worse than residual vomit odor.

  8. I can attest that vomit smell sticks around indefinitely. And if it gets in your vacuum, just throw the appliance at the nearest garbage truck. You know Ikea is having a mattress sale going on now where you can get cash back to the store with a purchase? It may be time to replace that smelly thing. ;)

    I'm so glad that crap eaten on V-Day doesn't count. Because I ate crap. So much for the gym time yesterday.

  9. Wow. We went to McDonald's and then to a basketball game where my son't team was slaughtered. I have only found replacement of things to get rid of vomit. (The girls got the carpet bad and a mix of vomit and Febreze isn't much better to sniff.)

  10. Sorry about your day. My day wasn't quite that bad, but my hubby was out of town:(

  11. I loved bunkbeds before I got them for my kids. Some vomit probably slipped down somewhere into a crevice you can't possibly ever reach. You know, those crevices you fight with when trying to get sheets on the dang things. I told Brad last night that we need to separate the beds until the kids are old enough to change their own sheets.

  12. Oh dear. What a terrible thing to look forward to a great evening and have the minis wreck it with their...well, mini-ness. Why do they enjoy torturing each other?

    Eat the candy. Tomorrow you can get back on the wagon again:)

  13. I only have 1 kid and my husband didn't get the rest of his Valentine's Day present either. You have a much better excuse than my "But work just sucked today."

  14. I told myself I was climbing back on the WW wagon today... We're gonna make it Monday. Croissant (ham, egg & cheese) for breakfast, and WW ice cream for lunch... not so good for today so far, and tomorrow promises to be worse (banquet to attend.)
    I have the smell problem too, although it's in my CAR. Confined space. Sixteen degrees out (can't keep windows open.)
    If you get the results of that science experiment, let me know!

  15. Whew... at least you could eat chocolate yesterday (No points day!).

  16. Vomit does have amazing staying powers....I had a gear shift knob...that even 10 years after the incident involving a small projectile vomiting child, well, lets just say on a hot day, you could still remember what happened...and it emanated from that flippin' knob.

  17. Have you checked the vents? I ask because I have found things I never thought I would inside the vents, and depending on what it is - it can add to the smell of the room.

    I hope you had a great Valentines night - maybe got some exercise points to help balance out the chocolate *wink wink* ;)

  18. I had candles lit today because, after going to get the mail and the house smelled like I've had two unwashed preschoolers sick all week. Oh, wait. I do.

    BTW, re: your codeine comment - is that for me or them. I could use a little...

  19. Sounds like a romantic night. I would have been eating chocolate at midnight, too. We keep the expectations low at our house, though. It lessens the potential disappointment.

  20. isn't part of the valentine's love thing that all the calories consumed on VD are actually NEGATIVE. I mean, that's what my mother taught me. Just like how the calories all fall out of broken cookies.


  21. And you do know that eating chocolate on any major holiday (birthday included) whilst standing over the sink actually has less than no could probably even eat MORE that way and still be okay.
    (If you ever need support, justification or to just talk about know where to find me!!)

    Oh...and the smells you can smell in my boys' thinks they're growning something(s) in there!!!

  22. I think your Anna and my Social Butterfly would find much to complain about in the realm of the overworked!

  23. Glad you at least got a little chocolate after all you went through!

  24. I loathe the smell of vomit. Vomit takes hold and does not let go. I spent months tracking down the source of the smell in my daughter's room.

    I was finally victorious.

    But it takes enormous work and great motivation.

    Keep at it. You will persevere. I am rooting for you.