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2 things to go over today.
Thing Number the One:
The vacation sans Little Man was absolutely wonderful. As I stated in Monday’s post, we hiked around 15 miles in 2 days. It was an absolutely wonderful time. Wifey and I both enjoyed ourselves very much.
We were able to sleep late in the mornings and really have a relaxed attitude about what and when we were going to do stuff. Wifey and I are great travelers that way. Both she and I are really flexible when it comes to the day-to-day (or hour-to-hour, as the case may be) planning of our vacations. We really do just kind of fly by the seat of our pants whilst away from home. Well, we do that when we are not traveling with the highly allergic, super asthmatic Little Man. When traveling with him, we need to be more proactive in determining what will be accomplished daily during our time away from home. In essence, what I am trying to say is that… When one travels with a little one, spontaneity is not really a hallmark of the trip. Our trip this past weekend was wonderfully spontaneous.
The interesting part of the whole process was just how much Little Man did not really miss us. When we left he could hardly tear his eyes away from the TV to say “Bye.” When we got home, he was happy to see us, but I have seen him happier when I pick him up from work in the evening. I guess he was really ready for the ‘Rents to leave him alone for a bit. Wifey and I were a bit sad and nervous to leave him, but that went away after he was not too interested in talking with us on the phone. So, I would say that Wifey and I were angsty for all of 3 hours of traveling. After we realized just how unconcerned Little Man was, we just decided to enjoy the weekend. It was really nice.
There were 2 things that would have made the weekend better. Firstly, the hotel room stank. By that, I do mean it was odiferous. It smelled like they had a water problem a while ago that decided to take up residence in the carpet whenever it got above a certain percentage humidity. This weekend was above that certain percentage humidity. Secondly, we did not fare so well with the food purchases. Many of our meals were extremely overpriced for not-so-good food. Fix those 2 issues and it was a perfect weekend.
On to the more pressing topic.
Thing Number the Two:
This morning whilst at my desk in my wonderful cubicle at work, I smelled the oddest smell I have ever smelled at work. I know that when someone mentions an odd smell at work, they usually think about grotesque nasty smells that belong in garbage cans and bathrooms, but this was just an odd smell to smell at work. It was a smell that harkened me back to my childhood. A childhood marred and blessed by my allergy to chocolate.
You see, growing up, I was allergic to chocolate and had to subsist on everything non-chocolaty. It was a hard hard life. My “ever sensitive to my plight” brother decided that he always wanted Count Chocula as his breakfast cereal. Mainly because I could not have it. He was partial to Cap’n Crunch, but since I could eat that as well as him, it was never one of his purchases. As I kid, all I ever wanted for breakfast was Count Chocula, but alas, its chocolatey flavors were not for me. My mom, realizing my desire for the forbidden confection got me Frankenberry instead. Turns out that both cereals were more sugar than flavor, and really the only difference between the 2, other than my ability to consume the latter without a rash, was the color it made the milk.
But the smell of Frankenberry is a very distinct smell. You can almost smell the sugar when you caught a whiff of that cereal. It has an overtone of strawberries to it, but no one could really say that it smelled like strawberries. That was the smell permeating the area around my cube today. The smell of my childhood cereal. The smell of a dis-continued cereal that has not been manufactured in a long long time (to my knowledge). A ghost of a smell that lingered for five minutes and then was no more.
To Recap:
Honest to God! I was running around the office snuffling for the source of the smell
I never found it
Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch is my poison of choice now
Due to Little Man’s allergies, we can not have anything peanutty in the house, so my decadent cereal is now just plain old Cap’n Crunch
Because I am an Adult I have Smart Start instead of Cap’n Crunch
Being an adult sucks
My brother also liked Coco-Pebbles while I was relegated to eating Fruity-Pebbles
Now I am smelling freshly opened Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages
I think my nose is going insane
I am glad Wifey and I had last weekend together
We needed it
Thing Number the One:
The vacation sans Little Man was absolutely wonderful. As I stated in Monday’s post, we hiked around 15 miles in 2 days. It was an absolutely wonderful time. Wifey and I both enjoyed ourselves very much.
We were able to sleep late in the mornings and really have a relaxed attitude about what and when we were going to do stuff. Wifey and I are great travelers that way. Both she and I are really flexible when it comes to the day-to-day (or hour-to-hour, as the case may be) planning of our vacations. We really do just kind of fly by the seat of our pants whilst away from home. Well, we do that when we are not traveling with the highly allergic, super asthmatic Little Man. When traveling with him, we need to be more proactive in determining what will be accomplished daily during our time away from home. In essence, what I am trying to say is that… When one travels with a little one, spontaneity is not really a hallmark of the trip. Our trip this past weekend was wonderfully spontaneous.
The interesting part of the whole process was just how much Little Man did not really miss us. When we left he could hardly tear his eyes away from the TV to say “Bye.” When we got home, he was happy to see us, but I have seen him happier when I pick him up from work in the evening. I guess he was really ready for the ‘Rents to leave him alone for a bit. Wifey and I were a bit sad and nervous to leave him, but that went away after he was not too interested in talking with us on the phone. So, I would say that Wifey and I were angsty for all of 3 hours of traveling. After we realized just how unconcerned Little Man was, we just decided to enjoy the weekend. It was really nice.
There were 2 things that would have made the weekend better. Firstly, the hotel room stank. By that, I do mean it was odiferous. It smelled like they had a water problem a while ago that decided to take up residence in the carpet whenever it got above a certain percentage humidity. This weekend was above that certain percentage humidity. Secondly, we did not fare so well with the food purchases. Many of our meals were extremely overpriced for not-so-good food. Fix those 2 issues and it was a perfect weekend.
On to the more pressing topic.
Thing Number the Two:
This morning whilst at my desk in my wonderful cubicle at work, I smelled the oddest smell I have ever smelled at work. I know that when someone mentions an odd smell at work, they usually think about grotesque nasty smells that belong in garbage cans and bathrooms, but this was just an odd smell to smell at work. It was a smell that harkened me back to my childhood. A childhood marred and blessed by my allergy to chocolate.
You see, growing up, I was allergic to chocolate and had to subsist on everything non-chocolaty. It was a hard hard life. My “ever sensitive to my plight” brother decided that he always wanted Count Chocula as his breakfast cereal. Mainly because I could not have it. He was partial to Cap’n Crunch, but since I could eat that as well as him, it was never one of his purchases. As I kid, all I ever wanted for breakfast was Count Chocula, but alas, its chocolatey flavors were not for me. My mom, realizing my desire for the forbidden confection got me Frankenberry instead. Turns out that both cereals were more sugar than flavor, and really the only difference between the 2, other than my ability to consume the latter without a rash, was the color it made the milk.
But the smell of Frankenberry is a very distinct smell. You can almost smell the sugar when you caught a whiff of that cereal. It has an overtone of strawberries to it, but no one could really say that it smelled like strawberries. That was the smell permeating the area around my cube today. The smell of my childhood cereal. The smell of a dis-continued cereal that has not been manufactured in a long long time (to my knowledge). A ghost of a smell that lingered for five minutes and then was no more.
To Recap:
Honest to God! I was running around the office snuffling for the source of the smell
I never found it
Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch is my poison of choice now
Due to Little Man’s allergies, we can not have anything peanutty in the house, so my decadent cereal is now just plain old Cap’n Crunch
Because I am an Adult I have Smart Start instead of Cap’n Crunch
Being an adult sucks
My brother also liked Coco-Pebbles while I was relegated to eating Fruity-Pebbles
Now I am smelling freshly opened Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages
I think my nose is going insane
I am glad Wifey and I had last weekend together
We needed it
Labels: History of SRH, Wifey
8 Comments:
odd smells happen to me all the time. It's really rather entertaining. Kind of like having a jingle at the tip of your tongue but not quite remembering how it went. That is, a rather annoying kind of entertaining. You know you recognize the smell, but you're not quite sure what it is...
Fortunately/unfortunately, the sinus problems you have been enduring (me too) were nonexistent and you had to endure a weekend of moldy rug smell.
Sorry Charlie!
MMMMMM Frankenberry!
Jude:
Are they good smells or bad?
JW:
mmmmm Frankenberry, indeed!
Nadolny:
I am honestly surprised that they are still making this cereal. It disturbs me a bit actually.
Smells are psychologically powerful.
Do you remember this line from an old M.A.S.H. episode? Some soldier is dying on the spot. He's there with Father Mulcahy, or maybe it's Hawkeye. Oh, I can't remember. Anyways, his last words are, "I smell bread," before choking on his blood and dying.
I thought that was one of the best T.V. scenes ever.
Oh darn, I'm being a downer here. Frankenberry is so much ... lighter, non?
Peefer:
Too true about the strength of memory associated with different smells, and yes, just a tad bit depressing with the M*A*S*H reference, but you seem to be in a more depressed state than typical anyway.
Word just came in, "The judges will allow it." Looks like the Internet Judges have no issue with M*A*S*H references of any kind.
I guess I'm just going to choose to be happy that our vacation got any mention at all - I know of your passion for Frankenberry.
MASH could possibly be on of the best TV shows ever made. (but as a kid, i HATED it). ever see the one where the guy lost all the feeling in his right hand. he was a concert pianist (hehe) and hawkeye convinced him to play with his left hand. or the one where col. potter had a 50 year bottle of brandy, that he inherited because he was last surviving of his buddies from the was he served in 40 years earlier.
GREAT, GREAT story lines
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