Ughhhhhh

So with the teenage son gone hiking it was time to change his bedding. He'd promised me he had left his bedroom tidy and put all his laundry out for washing. Well I should have known better than to believe him, the rancid sock Mollie is holding was found tucked away in a drawer along with his clean clothes. In total I found enough dirty clothes for more than one load of laundry. 'Ah' you say, typical teenager; maybe, but after the mouldy sandwich incident 10 days ago I thought he might try harder just for a little while.

So let me transport you back 10 days to when I opened Dillon's door and nearly fainted from the pong. I have a very poor sense of smell and it takes a lot for me to smell something bad. I recognised the smell but it took me a while before I could name it then, hey presto, a mouldy sandwich. Two years ago we went though a spate of me finding sandwiches in Dillon's bag that were past the edible stage so I knew the smell. Dillon is now in school for a lot longer and always hungry so I thought he'd be eating the sandwiches, pitta breads, wraps etc that I lovingly fill with his favourite fillings each morning.

Back to 10 days ago, I sniffed and sniffed around his bedroom and couldn't find the offending article. It was starting to annoy me and as Dillon was off hiking with the scouts I thought I would have to wait until he got home. A few hours later it was still niggling me so back I went and eventually found the cause of the nasty aroma tucked away in a desk drawer. I'm not sure how long it had been there but it had gone past the green mouldy stage and was now at the black, festering, giving off vapours stage. It was immediately dispatched to the dustbin.

When Dillon returned home I mentioned the smell in his room,' oh yes' he said 'that's the mouldy sandwich on the shelf by my stairs' (nowhere near his desk)! Yes dear readers he'd stashed two offending items but had forgotten about the older one.' Why' I asked him, 'because I didn't eat them in school and didn't want to get in trouble' he replied. No readers I am not an ogre of a mother and usually if a sandwich isn't eaten in school it's not a problem they just eat them at home if they're hungry and very rarely they get thrown away. I explained that what makes me mad is finding these rancid sandwiches in his room and having to fumigate his room afterwards.

Rant over, I feel better. Luckily for Dillon I won't see him until tomorrow evening and will be much calmer when I speak to him. Anybody got any ideas how to deal with him so he doesn't do this again?