Postcards From Oblivion

Sure it does. Much like the thank you note I’m going to send out to my girlfriend today for the Christmas gift she gave me. We did celebrate Christmas late, so it seems like it should be okay to be a wee bit late on the thank you. I figure better late than never.

I’m more than a wee bit late on this, though. Missy over at Literal Mom was gracious enough to pass along an award to me in LATE DECEMBER, and I’m just now getting around to responding to it. truth be told, it was so long ago that I only remembered it because my blog buddy, Bonnie, posted about an award she received, and it tickled my memory feelers. By the way, if you want to read a hilarious story about a dead cat in a freezer, Bonnie’s your blogger.

Here’s the award  the wonderful Missy bestowed upon me *ahem* in December:

That’s what I say to my mom when she comes to visit and I press my nose to something she brought from her house. It’s not meant as an insult, but more of an olfactory observation. Everyone’s house has a certain smell to it. What kind of smell it is differs from home to home.

I dated a guy in high school whose mom was a clean freak. Every corner of their house reeked of Lysol. I guess you at least knew it was clean. I once looked at a house for sale that smelled like a giant mothball. Stepping across the threshold of that house felt like being slammed directly in the snoot by a wrecking ball made of a million mothballs. I don’t think the house ever sold. No big mystery there.

The oh-so-lovely Jennifer over at Take2Mommy wrote about house scents last Friday, and I felt compelled to talk about my house.

And its smell.

Er, scent.

Smell would imply that it’s less than pleasing to your nose holes.

Which it isn’t.

I hope.

[Sidebar: For about three days after I cook fish, Mr. Wombat comes home from work declaring the place stinks of fish. At that point, I no longer smell it. Perhaps I should take that as a directive to get out of the house more. Or find a better way to clear the fishy air.]

I run around like a Supermarket Sweep contestant prior to entertaining guests (I’ll also note for the record that people don’t come over very often for this reason). My daily clutter level would make Martha Stewart’s blonde bob spin, so prepping for visitors is no small task around here.

Much like Jennifer, one thing I worry about is the smell of my house. We all know our house has a smell scent, but unless it’s something pungent like last night’s chicken dinner scraps brewing in the kitchen trash, we don’t really know what everyone else smells when they walk through our front door.

At Chez Wombat, Schmoopy sleeps fairly near the front door. The wall-to-wall carpeting surrounding her orthopedic old lady bed is her own personal towel on which she can roll and writhe to rid her fur of any moisture or mud collected during her outdoor rolling and writhing exercises. It’s also quite effective at ridding her fur of extra fur.

I vacuum this area thoroughly in an attempt to eliminate any dog hair or evidence of the great outdoors. Sometimes I sprinkle baking soda on it first and let it sit. After I vacuum, I feel the need to cover up the smell of “dog fur that’s been in the vacuum cleaner bag for far too long.” If you own a dog and a vacuum, you and your nose are familiar with this smell that fills the air as soon as you press the “on” button.

This is definitely not the smell you wish visitors to identify as your “house scent.”

Enter the freshening routine.

Even if it’s tundra cold out, I always try to get a little fresh air in here. Then I light the candle under my scented oil burner and let it work in a couple rooms for a few minutes each. I use mandarin orange oil, since it’s such a sweet, fresh smell. Sometimes we’ll even put a little grapefruit or orange rind down the disposal to disperse even more citrusy goodness into the air. I try to use natural smells to freshen up the house. I know someone who used to simmer cinnamon sticks and spices on the stove and it smelled wonderful!

Sometimes your house scent tags along with you like the kid brother you were always trying to shake. After cooking something like fish, bacon, or sausage, I fear that everyone standing near me in line can smell it, too. These lingering odors call for extra airing out and freshening. Pronto.

Maybe you enjoy smelling like it, but haven't cooked bacon today.

The only thing worse than having a doggy smell problem or bacon-infused home is the unfortunate (albeit adorable) combination of the two:

Source

What about you? Do you do anything special to enhance the scent of your abode?

My Dear Wombat buddies,

As you may have noticed, I have a new blog theme. I’d been wanting this space to look at bit more postcardy, and a friend helped me to make it so. I thought this was fab. That’s not to say there aren’t some elements I’d like to tinker with, but I’m not all that adept at theme tinkering, so there it is.

This brings us to the poll.

Image via Athens Learning

Since I’m generally a people pleaser, I’d like to know what you think of the new design. Not so much “Gee, purple really isn’t your color” or “You do realize horses and dogs can’t read, right?”  More along the lines of one comment a reader left expressing her lack of love for the postcard format itself, forcing you to click on the title to read the full article (FYI–in Google reader, the full post appears).

Do you have a moment to share your thoughts? I’d sure appreciate it.

Merky buckets,

The Wombat

(I can’t even figure out how to make my signature a fancy font. Techie FAIL.)

But I don’t. I iz not a techie. So here’s a link about it instead.

Word has it, Google’s Friend Connect widget is one of their many apps presently on the chopping block. Well, that is, unless your blog is on Blogger. Mine is on WordPress, so I will no longer be able to glance over at my sidebar and admire all those smiling wombats in training. I love seeing those faces. It’s validating, for starters. Is that shallow? It’s nice to see that someone out there enjoys my content and is kind enough to tell me so by adding their happy mug to my roster.

Likewise, when I am smitten with a new blog, I always join their site with GFC. It’s a quick and easy way to pop them in my Google Reader, and it’s a way for me to show my support for their hard work.

But come March 1, it will cease to function in many, many sidebars. Mine included. Boo.

Their recommendation is that you pull up your bloggy bootstraps and jump on the Google+ bandwagon. I tried that route a while back, and I just never got into it.

[Sidebar confessional: I felt like a complete idiot every time I attempted to access Google+. I could never remember how to get there. If I could have punched that destination into my Garmin, I would have. I seriously felt that lost. I think someone finally pointed out a teeny little icon on my gmail page that would get me there as quickly as clicking my sparkly little red heels, but even then I was unimpressed. So, lack of interest paired with my lack of tech-savvy brain cells was making this a lose-lose venture for me. As a result, I'm not particularly excited about attempting it again.]

Do you use Google+? Do you actively use it as a way to stay in touch with friends and bloggy buddies? I’d love to have a way to connect with readers on a more personal level, so if there’s a simple way to do so out there, please clue me in.

If you use GFC, what will you do to replace it?

Smell that freshness? No, silly, that’s not me. I did shower today, though. Woo hoo! What you’re smelling is the scent of a brand spanking new year. The official “do over” we’re all granted after consuming our weight in cutouts over the holidays (and ginger cookies every day this week, but who’s counting, right?). Everything is still all twinkly and rainbow bright where our habits are concerned. Each year I thoughtfully select a few areas in my life that I feel could use a major overhaul a little tweaking.

With this comes hysterical laughter, since I’ve known myself for a good long time, and I’m well acquainted with my own pathetic track record.

I know where this is all leading.

It’s the week of working out here, the few pages read in the “Read This and be Organized, Happy and Rolling in Cash by Next Week” book there, and a smattering of betterment in between.

Some things I have trouble placing on a list. Should they be goals for the year or something for my Life List? For instance, I’d really like to be on Wheel of Fortune. Should I start stalking Pat Sajak in earnest now so I can meet that goal by 2013, or should I add it to the Life List and just send him a threatening persuasive note every month or so?

I decided to combine the two and make this resolution thing a little more fun.

Enter the Wheel of Resolutions!

Not only will I get to select from one of many resolutions each day, but I’ll also get the thrill of playing one of my favorite game shows. It’s a win-win in the resolution game.

Want to take it for a spin?