Mysteries Solved

So I've had two totally unrelated things bugging me for a while now.  First, just about every day, at least once a day, I eat something that has a perfumey taste to it.  It's not overwhelming, but it's enough to make me feel a bit strange.  I know when we looked at packing up our consumables, we were warned over and over again not to put laundry detergent, dry sheets, or soap/cleaning products in with our food items as it would make everything smell and taste a bit soapy.  So we absolutely followed this advice.  I was starting to wonder if perhaps the items we bought at the commissary were all shipped in a single large container (with soaps not split up) or something along those lines.  I thought maybe the chemical preservatives in some of the foods we have didn't react well when exposed to heat for prolonged periods.  Regardless of the reason, I had essentially given up on finding an explanation.

Until last night.  Last night, I happened to be packing B's lunch for his first day of school, and as I pulled the sandwich baggies out of the box, I caught a whiff of the smell.  So, this whole time, it hasn't been the food, it's been the bags.  Josh was less than impressed with my revelation - truth be told, he claims there IS no smell.  But I smell it, and when I eat things that are stored in the bags, I taste it.  Garlic bread with just a hint of Bounce dryer sheet.  So, note to self, when packing the consumables, not only do I need to keep the food items away from the soap items, but everything that might even come in contact with my food needs to be away from the soap.  Lesson learned for next time.

Second mystery involved strange stains that were appearing on our walls.  Dark brown/black stains kept appearing at totally random intervals on our walls in places where we knew the kids could not reach.  I'm not actually sure if we have the real explanation on this, but it's just gross enough and plausible enough to be true.  Remember how I mentioned we have geckos that roam our house?  Yeah.  You see where I'm going with this, right?  So apparently they are being extremely well fed by all the bugs we have hanging around and when you've gotta go, you've gotta go.  Nice.  Please pass the rubber gloves...