Brussels Sprouts

How can a normal Tuesday, just a normal day, begin with a drive to Jackson, TN and end with brussels sprouts?  Let me just tell you my day....

It all began, really, last week when I noticed a spot on my ear.  I have just recently learned to french braid my hair, and I try it out on days when I don't have much time to fix it.  As I was looking in the mirror at the finished product, I noticed a dark spot on the back of my ear that was not there before.  Not wanting to play games, I made an appointment with a family friend, a dermatologist, whose office happens to be in Jackson.  Dylan took off work this morning to drive me there.  So the morning began with an almost 2 hour drive there.  It was long, but we enjoyed our car ride conversation (those are always the best because they're random and funny, and you don't have anything else to do but chat!)  I didn't even see the doctor until I was there for an hour, then I found out he had to remove it (which I was not expecting.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I had not emotionally prepared myself to lose part of my ear today.  I think I was very brave :)  After seeing part of my ear in his hand, and hearing that I can call back in a week to hear the "results,"  we grabbed some McDonald's and headed back.  It seemed longer driving back, and it was in the heat of the day by this point.  Maggie slept just enough to make her not want to take her afternoon nap, so we battled with that all afternoon.  I left finally to go pick up a new car seat for her.  I sweated bullets trying to get it fastened in the car correctly do to this insane heat.  She was cranky and really didn't want me to mess with it.  We were supposed to meet my mom and sister at McCallister's, but she continued to be Mrs. Fussy-pants,  so I turned around and just went home.  Already frustrated from the heat, her crying, and the fact that I had left my cell phone at home and was unable to call them from the restaurant to tell them I left, I was steaming by  the time I got home.  I opened the door to our apartment to meet a STENCH.  Not a musty apartment smell.  Not a "I forgot to clean the diaper pail."  This smelled like a stinky dead animal.  I grabbed my cell phone, informed my sister and mom of my changed plans, and started searching.  I cleaned the disposal.  I wiped down the blinds.  I bleached the toilets.  I took a Mr. Clean soaked rag over the fan and turned it on low to circulate the room.  I did all this with a crying baby and an ear that was throbbing.  That's how bad it stunk.  Did I step on something and bring it in on my shoe?  Had one of Dylan's sweaty shirts from work soured in the laundry room?  Did Maggie drag a dirty diaper under the sofa to stink up the place?  A thousand scenarios went through my head.  My mom and sister arrived with my Chick-fil-a, but we could hardly eat because we were searching for the source of this smell.  My mom, a closet detective, was convinced that one of my elderly neighbors had died.  Scenes from CSI go flashing through my head, and all I can think is "Great, now I'm gonna have nightmares!"  Before I can say boo my mom and sister head out to do a door-to-door neighbor check!  Fortunately, they went to my next door neighbor first.  She took a LOOOOONG time to come to the door.   Just as we were convinced she was a goner, she came to the door.  One swing of  the door open, and we knew where the smell was coming from.  My mom explains why she is standing at the door.  We didn't tell her that we though she had died (thank goodness) but explained we noticed an odd smell.  The elderly woman says, "Well, I did burn some brussels sprouts earlier..."  And that was it.  That was the horrible dead animal smell.  It filled her apartment as if a fog.  And if you have ever cooked cabbage, or burnt broccoli, you know how bad that smells.  So you can imagine what I'm living in.  But my apartment smells like roses compared to hers.  And my ear doesn't hurt that bad.  And Maggie is in bed asleep after her busy day that brought her to crankiness.  So even though some days are hard as a mom, in the end it was just a car ride and some burnt brussels sprouts.  It's all in the way you look at it....