Call Me the Super-Smeller

Red's "good" smelling birds

Do you watch Psych? It’s a hilarious TV show on USA Network about a very perceptive man who masquerades as a psychic. He solves every mystery through his “visions” which are merely astute observations. Anyway, his sidekick is Gus, a pharmaceutical salesman who has an unbelievably good sense of smell. To his everlasting geekiness, he coined the term the “Super-Smeller” for his nose.

Now to my story…

I have the Super-Smeller nose. I can tell immediately if you’ve been out for a smoke even if you tried to cover it up by brushing your teeth and using Febreeze. I can tell before the oven starts smoking if something is burning. And I can definitely tell what someone has been eating…especially if that person has been into my chocolate stash.

My acute sense of smell has contributed to more than my fair share of migraines. Often I have to plug my nose in order to keep a bad headache from crossing that threshold into migraine-land.

It only got worse when I became pregnant. You know, one side effect of pregnancy is increased sensitivity in smell…well, I got it in spades. The “Super-Smeller” became the “Ultimate Super-Smeller.” I could correctly identify perfumes from across the room. No joke.

But there is a real benefit to it. Obviously, we’ve never burned anything down or had anything rot in the garbage.

Beyond that, I enjoy good scents. Lavender is my favorite by far but I do love fresh, green scents too.

And I’m a candle fanatic. I’m crazy about Archeipelgo Botanicals Candle in a Tin in Luna. It’s a lemon, verbena, and lavender scent that is so light yet fills the whole room. I can burn it even when I have a headache.

I also love a honeysuckle scented candle that my husband picked up in a school’s fundraiser. It’s at my office- and I burn it whenever the middle school boys come in to play video games. It helps cover a multitude of sins…er…odors!

Another of my favorites is a coriander scented candle from Home Trends that my boss gave me as a birthday gift. It has just enough scent for me to enjoy at my desk. It’s also one of my most favorite spices with which to cook.

Last but not least in my top 4 list of favorite candles is a cucumber scented candle that I cannot even begin to remember where I picked it up. It’s very fresh and summery but never overpowering.

Needless to say, when the power goes out at our house, we don’t turn on flashlights. We use my candles!

Anyway, I did discover that my daughter inherited my super-smeller. She can sniff out anything. Unfortunately, she is also at that age where she doesn’t pull punches when a bad odor hits. “Oh my! Mom there’s a TERRIBLE smell here.” (Mom ducks, blushes, and wishes she could disappear as all heads swivel in our direction.) Zoo trips are even more interesting. Apparently only the birds in the aviary don’t smell “disgusting.” You should hear Red’s comments in the monkey house.

Another little rabbit trail here… Red uses the word “stinky” so often, we had to ban it. After a day of hearing it used over-and-over-and-over-and-over again, it got old real quick. I banned the usage of it along with “I Want a Hippopatumus for Christmas” and the Spongebob theme song. To replace the word, my sister came up with “aromatic.”

Now “aromatic” sounds like a bad word to me!

“Mommy…Jack (not his real name) smells very aromatic when he comes in from the playground. I have to hold my nose.”

“The bathroom smells aromatic after Daddy uses it.”

“Mommy, your perfume smells aromatic. I don’t like it.”

*Sigh*

The Super-Smeller Jr. was born and is actively identifying all that is odoriferous in this world.

For now,

Call me the “aromatic” Super-Smeller