still dealing with the stink.

in the last 9 days we’ve…..

learned more than we ever wanted to know about what comes out of a skunk’s ass. no kidding. i can tell you how to get rid of a skunk, how to deter them from your property (it involves fox urine…..ick and motion lights), how to bathe your animal after an attack, how to clean your home and everything in it to rid the horrible, awful smell.

we’ve scrubbed, scoured, brushed, cleaned, disinfected, wiped every single surface, bleached every single toy, washed and sanitized every single dish, spoon, fork….you name it.

we’ve thrown away food. we’ve done 40+ loads of laundry (with at least another 50 to go). we’ve carried half of our kids rooms out to the front yard to air out. we’ve steam cleaned the carpets, the furniture.

we’ve spent over $500 on cleaning supplies. over $700 for a company to remove all the oxygen from our home and cleaning the AC system and ducts. over $300 replacing groceries we lost in the pantry. another $250 for a maid service to help us clean. we’ve thrown out and replaced diapers, bottles, pacifiers, tupperware, just about anything plastic. a countless number of samples for my business lost, all my packaging supplies, all my albums, cd/dvd cases, business stationery, it makes me sick thinking about it. we’ve cringed at the amount of money we’ve spent recovering from this.

we’ve missed our dog while she’s banned outside until the smell wears off. even though we’ve bathed her in the magic skunk removing potion people swear by. even though the vet deskunked her. taryn is taking it the hardest, she misses her dog so much. they lovingly gaze at one another through the back window.

we’ve tried hard to make sure that Ty isn’t the stinky kid at school. we wash his clothes in baking soda, vinegar and detergent, then dry them and store them in a bag with fabric softener over night. no one wants to be the stinky kid at 11. so far, it’s working.

we’ve done everything to remove the smell. the ozone machine, we’ve used vinegar, bleach, baking soda, coffee grounds, carpet freshener, candles. i’ve cooked several pounds of bacon hoping the smell of grease would overcome. i baked cookies, i boiled orange slices. we even painted the living room knowing paint fumes smell better than a skunk’s ass. fresh air in the house is helping, but dealing with the heat and constant noise of the fans at every entry is exhausting.

we’ve dealt with the fact that it will be awhile before we can have friends over and entertain again. we’re deathly afraid we’re getting used to the smell and it’s still here, but we can’t smell it anymore. it is getting better, it is. it has to be.

we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve considering just moving.

a few positive notes…..

I’m making my way through all your wonderful comments and emails, thank you!

thank you to my clients for being so patient, especially those waiting on their orders to be completed. I have 215 emails to reply to, I’m getting to them one by one, promise!

It’s an amazing feeling when something like this happens, and your friends show up. Ready to help. Ready to listen. Thank you Alli & Mike, Shandrea and MC….our mountain of laundry is so much easier to tackle because of you, we cannot thank you guys enough. We are lucky to have such amazing friends.

Taryn started school last week. Went one day and got sick, whole new set of germs to get used to. And of course she passed it on to Teagan and Jason. The latter of the two being the biggest sick baby of them all. Further proving my theory that the bigger the man, bigger the baby 😉 She did amazing on her first day though. Didn’t cry at all. I did once I left the room but I held it together in front of her. Of course, whenever someone asks her about school she says she “had a great time but my mommy left me there”….she neglects to say I also came back for her!

Teagan has learned all kinds of new tricks this week. He waves the cutest wave in the entire world. It’s more like a bucking bronco arm swing. We all gathered around and melted into a big family pile of mush watching him wave bye bye to daddy last week. He’s also figured out the army crawl, getting his knees under him and rocking back and forth and he’s been pulling up to his knees from a sitting position on just about anything he can grab onto. He also went from a crawling position to a sitting position and as soon as he did it he smiled big and laughed, like, “did you see what I just did!?!” He’s such a happy little dude. We had to lower the crib because he was pulling up and peeking over the edge.

I’m afraid I’ll still be a little scarce as I catch up, I miss my camera though. And my blog. And all you guys.