Funky SMELL and how it brought personal enlightenment....

My Hubs is putting in the insulation in our ceiling on the main floor. This means that he is about 20' in the air where the hottest air lives and since its insulation, he wears a hat, eye protection, respirator, long sleeves, long pants and his boots. And we live in Oklahoma. And it hovers around 100 outside in the breeze. So its like 300 degrees where he is working. And to so to say he perspires some is and understatement. LOOK: The shirt he is wearing is light gray (you might be able to see a small part not yet saturated). His pants are light tan (again, look for the light spot).

Last week he foamed/insulated around the edge of the ceiling and on one of his MANY breaks to drink an entire Gatorade, totally disgusted the boys by taking off his shirt and wringing it out. If you can gross out a 10 yo and a 6 yo, you know you are totally foul! So foul that my SIL (sister in law) ran home and brought him a new shirt and a towel which were also wringable by the end of the day. He came home and put his wet pile on my washer. I got to them on Monday, so they sat there for 2 days. When I picked them up - I was actually amazed at the outer dry, crusted shell that was HARD - and no, it wasnt from the foam he had sprayed. It was a protective salt shell.

And what was it protecting? It was protecting the WET, INNER layer that decided to marinate in its funkiness - thats not entirely correct - ferment in its funkiness is more accurate. So when I pick up the clothes, they literally go CRUNCH and then SQUISH. And with the SQUISH, the rudest assault on my nose took place. I have smelled some pretty disgusting stuff in my life - stuff that took everything not to kick in the gag reflex ( a dead mouse caught in the heater fan in the bathroom comes immediately to mind), but this.....this.....this was the olfactory equivalent to being violently kicked in the nards. There - now maybe you understand.

And I washed them....TWICE.....on HOT water..... And they lived.

So, you are probably wondering where my personal enlightenment came in....It was when I was sitting there this afternoon doing not much but watching and composing in my head. You see, I was sweating - yup! I hate to sweat. I dont work out because I dont want to sweat.

Sweating for a chick means that we have to take a shower and then there is the whole hair thing that is honestly, a huge pain in the butt. Too much shampooing drys hair out which makes it even harder to "fix" and with the sweating thrown in, it becomes a vicious cycle that I would just as well avoid.

So, back to me not working out and my loathing of anything that would make me sweat. But a realization came that I do it all the time now. I work, lift, sweat - stand in the open doorway and have a fabulous breeze cool me off (which is almost better than air conditioning).....God bless OKLAHOMA where the wind does come sweeping 'ore the plain....or in our case, the hill. Its not a loathing. Its an honor almost.

It must be because of the outcome. There is something tangible at the end of the day. There is insulation. There is tile. There is flooring. There will be chickens and a pig. There are muddy boys and vegetables. There are nieces and some dogs. The sweat is a trophy for work done and not a residue that must be washed off after a self-indulgent trip to the gym. (My hubs works out at the gym and it isnt an indictment, but he will be the first to tell you that he works out for himself - it makes him feel better).

I have become a night showerer and not a morning one. It was a subtle change and I didnt realize it until recently. How many more life long habits will be changed out of necessity and I wont even miss or realize..... May those days of change come SOON!!