Wet Noodle Posse

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Indulging Your Senses

Maureen’s article on sachets in the WNP ezine made me think about how important sensory things are to me. Last week I finished a chenille afghan because I liked how the yarn felt. (Glad I did, too, because it’s WARM and it’s been COLD here!)

But more important than touch to me is the sense of smell. All the products I buy have to have a pleasing scent – shampoo, soaps, lotions, even cleansers. That’s me you see on the aisle, opening bottles of laundry detergent and sniffing. I just discovered Bath and Body Works last year and now I’m hooked on their soaps. (Not vanilla, though. Love the mango.)

On the way to Atlanta last year, I applied some of that tinted lotion. Ugh. What a smell! My legs were a beautiful color, but boy, did I stink!

The other day I carpooled with my mom, who apparently bathed in Febreze. My apologies to the people who make it, but that smell makes me nuts. It sticks in the back of my throat. But I got a round trip with it. My car still has the scent.

When my son was smaller, he would have trouble sleeping. A friend told me to put a drop of lavender oil on his pillow and that would relax him. One night he helped himself. GAH! House stunk for DAYS.

The worst smells? Something that’s been wet and left to dry over a period of time, giving it a sour smell, dishrags, mops, things like that. Yesterday we went to my niece’s birthday party at one of those pizza places and the dining room smelled like wet carpet. Ew. We got up and moved. (seriously, not my fault.)

The best? Hyacinth flowers blooming. Fresh laundry in the dryer. Rain (though I’d like to NOT smell it for awhile, please.)

What are your favorite scents, and how do you get them? Your least favorite? How do you get rid of them?

4 Comments:

At 12:58 PM, Trish Milburn said...: I love the smell of the forest after a rain. I too love the smell of hyacinths. Also cedar groves, just the fresh, clean air you get in the mountains of the West, baking bread, the smell of a pizzeria, and baking cake.
At 7:04 PM, bridget said...: Oooh, scents, what a wonderful topic...I can't list all my faves, but some of them are that clean brand-new-infant scent; gardenias; the scent of a raw butternut squash the moment you break it open for the first time (heavenly!); Annick Goutal perfumes like Eau d'Hadrien, Petite Cherie, Mandragora; and the wind on the open ocean.
At 6:58 AM, Marianne Arkins said...: Leather and molasses remind me of horses... always a good memory.

I get severe headaches from most synthetic scents -- all perfumes (I HATE department stores because of this) and many cleaning supplies (I dusted with a new spray yesterday and ended up in bed early because my head felt like someone had taken an axe to the back).

Natural smells though - flowers, baking bread, wet dog? I'm all over it.
At 11:04 PM, Mo H said...: I agree with Trish and Marianne about the bread baking, especially if it has cinnamon in it. I love the smell of wood smoke, not that it's been cold enough to prompt a fire in Georgia. A scent I truly hate is that wet sour smell that lingers on your clothes when you leave them too long in the washer before drying them. Yuck!