They're like Vampires, you can't INVITE them in

When opportunities present themselves, you should seize them, right?

So imagine my surprise when I was gifted a brand new state of the art kitchen appliance!!!  Like purchased from the store would have been $300+.  Only been used a few months bc they moved in with their partner and didn't need two.  Anyways, we seized the opportunity.  

We didn't set it up right away because I was out of town and we were super busy so it was sitting in my office.  

Anyways, about 1 day after we got it hubs saw a critter on the counter.  It looks like a tiny bug who shall not be named but he wasn't sure.  That night he was having trouble sleeping so was up at like 3AM.  I was awakened at 5AM by him calling having a minor panic attack.  He didn't want to wake me but since he'd been awake, he'd killed 8 tiny bugs who shall not be named!!!! EIGHT! 

He woke me when he found one in the spare bedroom.  

I have a fairly severe phobia but mainly of the HUGE ones that fly.  The little ones just gross me out bc they usually mean "infestation" which WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K?!?!  We are borderline obsessive clean.   

He said he was tiptoeing around the house with a flashlight.  Every once in a while you'd hear "AH!" *splat*

By the time the sun was slightly up he'd killed about 15.  FIFTEEN!  He was awake now enough to be like WTF happened?????

We realized the ONLY "new" thing in the house....was the new....APPLIANCE...

He crept over and shined the light inside......................

IT WAS INFESTED WITH SKINNY GERMAN ROACHES!

What happened next was something out of Supernatural.

He carried it into the garage.  Did a Home Defense circle around it.  Then DROWNED it in Raid.  Like I'm sure it was no longer functional. 

He Home Defensed every doorway in the house. Then waited until the sun was up up to carry it to the curb

Meanwhile I am in another state calling an Exterminator.  I explained what happened and he said "I can have a guy there 1st appt."  

Now I'm home and so far I haven't seen any but Hubs has killed a couple more...one being in the effing cup cabinet.  So everything in there got washed.  

What kills me...like just WTAF man.... is that I literally was telling my travel buddies about how good of a deal it was and said "watch the damn thing have roaches in it". And we all had a good giggle. Clearly the universe has a sense of humor.  

Positive side of it...when they treated the house it also kills a bunch of other stuff so, yay.  

Follow your nose....actually don't....

Right anyways.  You ever just have a gut feeling?  Like something isn't blatantly obvious but you just know in your heart something is...off!

We got mussels to steam for dinner.  I have done this countless times.  We buy from the same place every time.  But something...something was nagging at me at the store.  We still got them though....

We washed and cooked them as soon as we got home.  I was sautéing onions and garlic in butter...hubs was washing and removing the dead ones (about 7...hmmmm that seems like a lot). 

There wasn't an "OMG WHAT IS THAT SMELL" moment like our friend up top had ....

I dumped in the wine and lemon juice, seasoning and dropped in the mussels. 

I have a really good sense of smell...like freakishly good.  Something didn't...it just wasn't...right...it was off.  As soon as I removed the lid my body recoiled.  Again nothing slapped me in the face but on some instinctive level my brain was screaming....

Hubs was like it smells fine, like steamed mussels in wine/butter sauce...

And they were fine.  Until I saw one that looked like something hubs hacked up during a sinus infection and then let dry in the sink. 

So I just moved it to the trash pile.  My lovely hubs had one also...he did not see an issue with the jerky looking YELLOW mussel...he immediately spit it out and gagged. 

I couldn't bring myself to eat anymore but I sniffed the "jerky looking one" (not the one he spit out!) and a memory came flooding back. 

An incident a few years back where we a  boiled sack of crawfish that about 1/3 of was dead.  For those non southerners...a few dead ones are gonna slip in...but they are usually like freshly dead.  1/3 of a 40 lb sack is A LOT and these were hidden in the center of the live ones...and pale...clearly been dead...a while! 

The smell...it...its hard to describe but its like rotting flesh that you seasoned really well and then laid in the sun...for a week. 

A friend compared it to badussy...but I think that was being kind...

Clearly, there must have been a few LONG dead mussels in the pot that we missed.  In such a small sample just a couple, spoils the WHOLE pot. 

It wasn't the slap you in the face funky cooch smell from the crawfish boil but clearly I smelled something that had been dead...a while...

Lesson...trust your gut.  If its telling you food is spoiled...its probably spoiled.  And I don't mess with bad seafood....I've had that...talk about wanting to die...worst food poisoning of my LIFE! See this Post...