memories....from the corner of my nose.....

this morning ben noticed caleb's pj's smelled funk. which is exactly how he put it, when he walked up to me with his nose all wrinkled up and said,

"caleb's pj's smell funk."

"like mildew-y or something?" i asked. "cause that would be weird since they're brand new and i haven't even washed them yet, let alone wash them, forget about them and dry them a couple of days later. plus after having to throw away a bunch of clothes due to mildewy-ness, i thought i'd broken myself of that habit." (yeah, it's nasty. don't judge.)

"i don't know. just...." he scrunched up his nose again, "funk."

i called caleb over to judge for myself. took one whiff, and almost threw up. not because of the smell, which was pretty funk but not because it was overpowering or anything, but because i was immediately thrown back into my life 2 years ago.

"he must have wet his pants a little last night and not have woken up. i could recognize that scent anywhere!" i called to ben.

for those reading who don't know (or didn't read the private grouphomies blog), two years ago we were living in north carolina, living in and managing a group home for troubled teens. one of these kids in particular was not just a regular bed-wetter, but also had severely poor hygiene, and would marinate in her pee-soaked clothes, bedsheets, carpet, you name it for days. weeks sometimes. i wish i were exaggerating.

not only did she reek of it, but her room reeked of it. not only did her room reek of it, but the entire hallway reeked of it. not only did the entire hallway reek of it, but the entire downstairs pretty much reeked of it.

it was a smell that has unfortunately been forever burned into the memories of my nostrils.

the stench that we thought we should somehow bottle up and put into mace spray, knowing that it would ward off attackers from miles away.

miles!

we would become billionaires while simultaneously ending sexual assault around the world. a win, win.

so the slight smell i picked up on caleb's pj's (which as a side note, is like the second time since he's been potty-trained that he's actually had an accident and it didn't even get on his blankets or anything, so it really was slight) took me back to those days.

and i realized that for those readers who followed us through those days may be interested in how the kids we lived with for several traumatic months have turned out.

so i decided to write a little update on each of the kids to let you know how they're doing. some are success stories...some are not. some we have kept tabs on...some we have not.

it will be coming in the next couple of days, and due to confidentiality reasons for the clients (we don't need them google searching us to read about themselves, get angry, hunt us down and show up on our doorstep, do we? nope, at least not until we have mass-produced that mace spray and are ready with it to thwart off the attack.) will be posted on the private group home blog.

if you'd like an invite, leave a comment to let me know. there are some entertaining stories on there.

as a side note,

re-smelling that potent scent on caleb's jammies made me once again grateful that we survived that year, and that i am now only having to occasionally catch a whiff of what haunted me for months.

i learned many things throughout that year, and one that specifically came in handy today?

the recipe for:

how to get the pee-soaked smell out of clothes.
(also works for mildewy-ness, by the way.)

• fill up your sink/washer/bowl or whatever with warm water.

• add 1-2 capfuls (depending on the amount of clothes, or how long they have marinated in the scent) of Pine Sol.

• let soak for a few hours, overnight is even better.

• then wash in the washer with detergent like a normal load.

• do the sniff check before you dry them, to make sure the scent has been ridden.

• if not?

• repeat the process. then dry.

• if so?

• just dry.

you're welcome.