Household

All my kids growing up and even now are very active, in particular sports.  But definitely by far the boys stuff smelled the worst.  Sorry guys.  I was forever shoving fabric dryer sheets in running shoes, skates and hockey bags.  I bought deodorizers and anything else to absorb the smell.  I remember buying my son a new pair of shoes a few years ago and since it wasn’t close to Christmas and keeping any boxes I could find, I broke it down and was putting it in the recycle bin when the little silicone packet flew out.  Hmmm they put these in shoe boxes to absorb the rubber/leather etc. smell.  So decided to give it a try in the smelly shoes and it worked.  It didn’t remove the smell completely and best of all it didn’t cover it up with another smell and it was going to be thrown out anyways so what did I have too lose – except the smell.

My family loves to utilize our deck.  After a long cold winter there is nothing better than setting up the outdoor furniture and smelling the fresh grass, flowers and watching the tree bloom until you get attacked by bugs.  Obviously they too have been waiting for you to start being on the deck as well.  Over the years I have tried everything from expensive bug repellants to home remedies.  As you know I have grandpets so I’m careful that anything I use is safe for them.  I poured through websites for anything I hadn’t tried before and by fluke came across herbs to plant in your vegetable garden to repel nasty pests.  Although I don’t have a veggie garden I decided to pot 5-6 plants of basil, rosemary and lavender and put them on the edges of the deck.  To my excitement it worked plus I had fresh herbs at my fingertips for cooking all summer.