So I'm sitting here thinking..scary I know but I have a question for you guys/mostly gals. Have you/darling other ever picked up your step kid/kids to find them not showered having tangled hair or even head lice? Have you ever had a visit with your step kid/kids & found yourself taking a bath to relax & feel better about yourself or maybe to give yourself a short break? Has your step kid/kids ever smelled bad enough that you wanted a shower? If yes to any of these questions, then you might want to read this.

Haha I discovered a remedy that works wonders! I use it on my step daughter & myself to feel renewed. Now, I have such a sense of smell that my step kids BM calls me a liar on. She bashes me yes but this is the only thing that I ever heard her call me a liar on. Others believe me after I have had time with them & proved it cause its not that common to have such a sense of smell..mind you, I am a smoker! I have been able to tell friends/family that they are going to be sick two days before they even feel anything. It actually bugs my best friend for some reason! Its been helpful since my DH has a syndrome called IBS. Many of you may deal with it as well (IBS that is). I can tell my DH up to 45 minutes in advance before he comes down with a bout of diarrhea or trapped gas. Bare with me for being off topic, I will tie it all together though for you. Another example, I smell distress in animals & are able to tell you whether they are stressed, sick, hurt, & or anxious. I proved it to a vet the day of my cat swallowing a button off a coat & demanding for a x-ray. I did not smell what my cat swallowed but I did smell his body in distress. They were amazed but my cat did have to have it surgically removed-ouch.

Anyways... My DH & I pick up his kids from their mothers & they smelled awful. SD showers once a week just so you know. I don't know how often my SS showers but they both look horrible when we pick them up is all we know. We take before & after pictures of them its that bad. Should it ever lead to court that is. As you can imagine, we drive with the windows at least cracked if not half way down due to their hygiene. Have any of you been there done that? Have any of you out there been afraid to pick up the kid/kids & take them into a store before they had the chance to shower at your place? We would have them shower at their mothers if their clothes were clean enough to wear afterwards (smell wise speaking) before picking them up if we could. I lightly bleach their colors & heavily bleach their whites but never put them in my dryer ever since that one day that it took 2 days for me to get that odor out from their clean clothes that I washed myself. Few clothes in a large load & still smelled foul.

SS once claimed that the odor was from all of the peppers & spice they cook their food with. He spotted me breathing into my coat sleeve as we were driving. I tried to hide it only I failed. Was holding back from puking that day.

Now I'm wondering if any of you others out there had been there & done that, then what did you do? I found that SD was not able to get a brush through her hair with all them knots. We make her brush her hair several times a day here but at her at her mothers place, its another story. She claims that "hair is just dead skin cells, whats the point in brushing it?" at age 14 nearing 15.

Finally, between odors & knots, I started to use *Downy* fabric softer in her hair for conditioner once to twice a week. I use it in my own hair as well. Letting it sit in there for up to ten minutes makes it easy to brush, smells great, conditions like a charm, does not seem to feel oily when properly rinsed out, look shiny, feels amazingly soft, relaxing mentally for me, & prevents eggs of head lice from sticking to your scalp. Heck, did you know that if you give yourself two treatments ten minutes per treatment at a week apart, dry your fabric for 30 minutes on high that it will kill the head lice with no medication? I did it myself but also vacuumed good & even in the car.

Next time you decide to take a nice long bath, choose a shower & use a cap full of fabric softener in your hair. At least one time I loved how this takes me away from how bad my step kids can smell