If our house stinks....

There are two reasons.  This is the first:

Ben got me these paperwhite bulbs this fall.  My mom planted them in a nice pot for me when I had my surgery, and they bloomed beautifully, just in time for Christmas.  They're so pretty and make me so happy every time I pass my dining room table.  The only problem is...

They smell like urine.

It took me a couple of days to realize what was going on.  I kept thinking, "Did someone leave a dirty diaper out somewhere in my dining room?"  I kept checking the bathroom to see if someone forgot to flush...and then I realized it was my paperwhites.

I just can't bear to get rid of them, though.  This is an epic war raging inside of me - my love of flowers vs. my hate of smelly things.  I feel quite torn.

The second culprit of nasty smells is this:

Another ca-razy gift from Micah to Ben.  (Though I have my suspicions that Ben heavily influenced the buying of this monstrosity.  I mean, he was there with Micah when he chose all of his gifts.  If Ben hated it, he'd be like, "Um, I don't want that.")  It's an incense burner.  And no offense to those who like incense; but I HATE IT.  I think it smells gross.  And it really made my cough a lot worse tonight.  I begged Ben to unlight it, or stub it out, or whatever you do with those little incense bullet thingeys to make them stop smoking.  The smoke comes out the dragons' mouths.  It's just awful.

So now my house smells like a cross between an outhouse and my old Salt Lake City landlord's apartment.  (And he was a pothead.  I'm just sayin'.  There are a lot of potheads who happen to like incense....)

There is a light at the end of this stinky tunnel, though.  The paperwhites look to be almost done blooming.  Then I can pull them out, keep the bulbs, and plant them outside this next fall.  I'll plant amaryllis inside next winter instead or something.  And Ben is wanting to take the ugly, many-headed, smelly dragon to work.  Be my guest, dude.  Be my guest.  I really hope he doesn't try to burn incense in it there, though.  I don't think any office would take too kindly to that...