Got a Match?

I think I may have found one of the reasons I've been so damn exhausted lately. Between running back and forth between Mr Buzz and the 101 year old lady, I've spent very little time at the place that seems to be making me sick.

My 101 year old lady, Alice got out of the nursing home on Wednesday. This woman is so amazing she puts me to shame! She really doesn't need anyone to take care of her. But she does want someone to be with her.

It's understandable, since June she has had someone around 24/7. She got used to doing things a certain way in the nursing home and has to relearn how to do things at home. And that's what I've been helping her with.

I hate leaving Mr Buzz for any length of time lately. He's been very good about it, but he isn't doing things that he should be doing and not doing the things he should be doing. Because I'm not around to nag remind him.

Alice lives 20 miles in one direction from me, Mr Buzz lives 10 miles in the other direction from me. So I've been doing a lot of running back and forth lately. Which is how I discovered that my house is making me sick!

When I'm not here, I feel so much better than when I am. At first I thought all the sleeping I've been doing here is from exhaustion. But then I noticed the smell. At first I thought it was because the Little Bitch has been peeing on the floor.

Yes I know, I need to get her a crate, and get her to the vet come to think of it, but I just haven't had the time or funds. I had to pay my property taxes and I was a couple of months behind on the phone bill.

But anyway. I had ripped up the carpeting in the living room and hallway. They used to be her favorite places to pee. The floor is just plywood now. And every time she pees upstairs, it goes right through the plywood to the basement.

I almost had her paper trained to go in the basement when Mary died. And then it was a whole week before I was gone at night again. She did great, didn't pee anywhere, that I know of.

But that's when I noticed the really strong smell. It smells like I have a gas leak. But, it could be a number of things. I had washed a rug in my washing machine a while back and that made the drum jump the track. It took me almost a month to get around to fixing that.

I just did my laundry at Mr Buzz's house. When I finally got around to fixing the washing machine, the first load of laundry I did didn't smell clean at all. Neither did the second load.

Which made me think maybe it was a sewer smell. So I flushed water down every drain in the house and checked the septic system. Washing machine still stinks. And I noticed that the water heater is making funny, gulping noises.

No clue what the hell that is all about. Don't have time to find out, just turned the damn thing off on Wednesday. Forgot to turn the gas off to it for a day or two. So I finally did that on Thursday. While I'm at it, lets turn off the furnace and gas to it too.

Of course, all the doors and windows in the house have been open because it was in the 80's all last week. And then I noticed that every time the wind blew I could smell it. So I went outside and cleaned up everything that had a little standing water in it.

My collection of flower pots. The cover for the grill had a small spot where it touched the deck and had some standing water in it. I've been obsessive about this! It's driving me crazy!

Why didn't I just call someone? Because my house is totally trashed and I'm embarrassed! I don't want people coming over and seeing this mess. I've been so busy that I just drop what I'm bringing in on the table or floor and forget about it.

I have several projects going on at the same time and all the furniture is moved in odd places. I'm gathering shit for a garage sale, packing up other shit. Trust me, it's just a disaster ok.

And I'm not even 100% sure what the hell the smell is anyway. I'm getting closer to thinking it's gas because of the way I've been feeling. But the dog and the cat are here 24/7 and they don't seem affected at all. None of my plants are dying or anything.

So I just don't know for sure. I did call the gas company on Friday, they told me to call a plumber to look at my water heater, if that's not it then call the furnace people to see if it's the furnace, then call them if all else fails.

I don't have that kind of money! So I'm working on narrowing it down. The smell is directly above the laundry room and in the basement. But it still could be the floor. After today I should know for sure.

I'm currently moving everything and bleaching the hell out of the floor. When it dries I will put a coat of primer on the floor. Then I will get downstairs and bleach the floor once again.

I have to spend the night at Alice's again tonight. She had company since Thursday. When I come home in the morning, I should be able to tell exactly where the damn smell is coming from.

Or the house will have blown up. Which would take care of this feeling that I should just light a match to the damn thing anyway!