THE smell...

I arrived home after school today to find my apartment smelling absolutely ghastly.  I tried to locate the culprit...not the trash, not the sink, sniffed around the apartment and could tell it was strongest in the kitchen.  I thought maybe somehow a rodent had gotten in the apartment and died, but I couldn't find any evidence of that.  It finally dawned on me to check the refrigerator.  Sure, enough, that was the source of the stench.  Apparently at some point during spring break while I was out of town, the refrigerator stopped working.  It was not a power issue; the clock plugged into the same outlet was still keeping time, the lights worked, but somehow it was no longer staying cool.  Thus, several pounds of fish and chicken had defrosted in the freezer, and a bunch of cheese, veggies, and fruit in the refrigerator had turned rotten as well.

I took everything out and dumped it in the trash, with the exception of ice trays and my Brita pitcher.  I used my bathroom cleaner to get all the gunk out of the freezer where it had leaked and to wipe in the fridge.  I carried the trash bag out to the dumpster and called the apartment office leaving a message describing my problem.  I dumped all of the baking soda I had into two disposable plastic containers and set them in the fridge and closed the door.  Opened up the back patio and turned all the fans on high.

At that point, I had to go to dance, but when I got back I lit about a zillion candles, washed all of the plastic ware which I had kept twice in hot extra soapy water, and restarted my Brita pitcher. Then I unpacked everything from spring break so that when management (hopefully!) comes tomorrow my apartment will be halfway presentable and easily accessed.  I'm really hoping they replace the refrigerator.  I don't think any amount of baking soda will ever fully eliminate that horrid smell.

Praying that the issue gets fixed soon so I can refill my fridge and actually have food to eat :-P.  Thankful that I decided to spend the night in Clemson and drive up this morning so that I didn't deal with this issue at midnight yesterday.  God works in mysterious ways.