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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

What do you get when...

Question: What do you get when you take one lone Goldfish cracker that has accidentally fallen under the seat of your car and add a few drops of water that have leaked from your child's water bottle?

Answer: An odor so foul that the preschool director that takes your children out of the car at drop-off in the mornings, shudders when she sees your car pull in the drive-through.

Yesterday I was determined to find the source of the odor and get rid of it. At first I thought it was the container of blue cheese that had unknowingly been left in the car from the previous days grocery shopping trip.

But alas, after removing the container and silently seething that I could be so stupid and waste $3.50, the offending smell remained. (Why is blue cheese so expensive anyway?)

I knew it wasn't the blue cheese because the smell had been in the car long before that shopping trip.

The bottle of Febreeze that I had been using to mask the smell was almost empty so I decided I really needed to search in earnest for the odor. After checking all the usual locations (under the car seats, in the cup holders), I determined that I needed to check "the secret location" for the source of the smell.

In our SUV, when the third row seat is folded down flat, it is covered, making a flat trunk area. When this cover is pulled back, all sorts of surprises that have rolled under the second row seat toward the third row seat are exposed.

In addition to crayons, straws and Bionicle pieces, there were approximately 20 Goldfish crackers floating around. One had landed in the bracket/bolt that secures the second row seat to the floor. Unfortunately some water managed to land in this bracket on top of this poor little Goldfish and created a stagnant little pond. The Goldfish started to break down and decay in just these few drops of water.

The smell this rotting Goldfish had created was so bad that my daughter thought I had loaded the weekly trash into the car to make a run to the dump.

The stink has now been removed - just in time for the last two days of preschool. Better late than never I suppose.

It's a good thing the preschool director has never been in my house though!

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can sympathise....our dog has a habit of hoarding little titbits in the most unfortunate of places, the car included. we've mastered the art of early detection though, my nose goes overtime if there is so much as a hint of a whiff!

This did make me laugh this morning...although I won't be able to look at goldfish in quite the same way now :)

thank you for the thoughts on my 2 recent posts...it's good to be back reading here again. it's things like this that keep me sane!
bella x

Suburban Correspondent said...

When Goldfish go bad....

Tina said...

Hahaha!! That's really funny! SO glad you found the source...a little bizarre, but funny!

carrie said...

Oh, that is just the worst!

We had corn nuts stuck below/behind our 3rd seat and I swear, I was this close to taking the whole car in to have it detailed when my husband got rid of the offending nuts! I hate a stinky car! :)

And, I'll keep better track of those Goldfish too - lesson learned!

Heather said...

No wonder my kids' breath smells so bad when burping after eating these morsels. If water does that to goldfish crackers, think what saliva and stomach acid must do.

Mari said...

Who would think those innocent looking goldfish could be so bad! Glad you found it. You'll be happy to hear that now that my kids are older I don't find those kinds of things in the van anymore. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Jaina said...

Yuck! I'm glad you found that source and got rid of it!

Anonymous said...

Hi, just found your blog and can completely relate! I'm surprised rodents have not taken up residence in our minivan! I read your profile and my twin sister also has MS (diagnosed 1.5 yrs. ago) - it has been a real faith walk.

Corey~living and loving said...

oh my.....makes me gag just thinking about it. So glad you found it....and it is now gone. whew....
here's to a happy car smell from now on. :)

Karen MEG said...

Seriously that was so funny! I wouldn't think goldfish crackers would leave that kind of rank, though.

I don't even dare look at the floor of my minivan. I know my husband loves me because he's the one who ventures down there to vacuum. Yuck!

Family Adventure said...

One itsy bitsy goldfish?! Wow, makes you wonder what's IN those things.... :)

Heidi

McMommy said...

Really?! A goldfish made that smell?? And it was a cracker-type goldfish and not a REAL one??? Yikes!

Anonymous said...

I had a similar incident last year with a grape. No fun.

But more importantly, I am in awe of the fact that you have a drop of line for preschool. I have to drag my two year old in and out with us every morning, right past the sandbox.

Michelle said...

You obviously have never smelled Taylor's shoes. For a 55 lb little girl with a sport fetish, I am so embarrassed when she takes off her shoes! Dr Shoals gave up, the baby powder fairy, the spray deodorant guru and the shower goblins REFUSE to deal!

I laughed so hard when I read this....

Note to self, find the odor in the car, look for goldfish!

Queen of My Domain said...

I had the same thing happen a few years back. Some water had collected in my daughters carseat during a trip and had gone stagnant. It smelled terrible and took forever to find out what it was.

Sue Wilkey said...

I'm with you, sister - see my post "detailing the SUV". It's always the most embarrassing day of the year.

Ann(ie) said...

gah. Been there. But, no cracker just a lone bottle with some milk in it that had been there for God knows how long and I wanted.to.die the stench was so horrific!!!

junglemama said...

Ewww, I can imagine the smell in my head. Gross!

Shirley Mary said...

That makes me think of the smell in our car! Some years back my husband and I were bringing back 35 dozen of fresh eggs to friends. We got them in a small town when visiting my husband's parents.
Going back home we had a car accident and those eggs cracked and spilled ALL OVER the inside of our car. The car was washed and cleaned THOROUGHLY but the next summer when it would get real hot,
you could still get a smell of rotten eggs!!

clair said...

That happened to me except it was a small jug of milk, half gone, that was lost in my van. And when we finally found the offensive smell (and honestly one of the worst smells I have ever smelt) we also discovered it had leaked and so the awful smell was still in our van. And Febreeze doesn’t get rid of rotten milk smells for some reason.

TheAustinEmpire said...

OMG! Smelliest car on the block, but no more. Glad you found the source.

Ok, really, a drop off line at the preschool? You are too spoiled ;) I'm jealous.