I Chose Poorly

Apparently, I didn't choose correctly.  I'm not speaking of the Grail, although we did watch The Last Crusade on Friday.  You know, it always surprises me how the bad guys got the choice so wrong; it was so, so obvious that it wasn't going to be a flashy gold chalice.  But I digress...

A few weeks ago, I found myself at Bath and Body Works purchasing hand sanitizer.  Working at an elementary school, I find that I go through buckets and buckets of the stuff.  I'm not exaggerating either; I'm in constant contact with the kids and I'm often helping out the sickos in the health office.  Seriously.  Buckets. 

While there, I noticed that they had some candles on sale.  I'm totally a candle junkie, especially this time of year.  There's just something so cozy about candles when it's cold outside.  Typically, I get them exclusively at Yankee, but the sale at Bath and Body Works was so good that I thought I'd try them. After sampling all of the yummy fall/winter scents, I settled on two Hot Buttered Rum candles and one Peppermint Mocha.  Last night, after we got the tree up and all of the Christmas decorations out, I decided to light the Peppermint Mocha.

I noticed immediately that it is very fragrant; the house smelled like peppermint and chocolate in a matter of minutes.  The peppermint was fine; the mocha (chocolate) smelled a little bit scratch-and-sniff for my tastes, but it wasn't awful.  I figured that I probably wouldn't buy it again, but I'd definitely use it up.  Then Andy came downstairs.

"What's that candle?"  "It's a new one.  Do you like it?"  No response.  Later, when Matthew came down, Andy asked him if he liked it.  He said that it was okay.  From a generally nonchalant fifteen year old, "okay" could go either way.  It wasn't a good sign when Andy opened the back door shortly thereafter.  About thirty minutes later, John came down and Andy asked him what he thought of the candle.  John gave the typical teenage shoulder shrug.  It didn't seem like Andy was getting the responses that he was looking for.  Finally, I asked him, "You don't like the candle, do you?"  At least he was honest, "No.  Not at all.  It's pretty bad.  It reminds me of..."  And he wouldn't say what.  I asked him over and over, even after I blew the candle out, and he wouldn't tell me.

As we were getting ready to walk out the door for church this morning, I tried again.  "Honey, what does the candle remind you of?  Just tell me!" 

"Well, to be honest, it has a pungent, lingering smell that reminds me of the stadium bathrooms."

Yeah.  I won't be lighting that one again.  I don't think "men's urinal trough" is quite the mood that I'm trying to create around here.