Life

 I am not home much of the time but when I am I enjoy cooking a nice meal for myself which is what I did on Saturday night.  Sunday morning I could smell the garlic in the house so I opened up the window a little and turned on the fan. My daughter came by to pick me up for a nice morning out and she remarked on the garlic smell and said it smelled delicious.  Nooooo.  I don't like leftover smells and it always seems garlic is the cause of it and I am so careful to remove all traces from my home.  Sunday afternoon I cooked myself another fine meal before heading out to work no garlic this time but I could still smell a distant trace through the aromas of my Sunday cooking. When I got home there it was again and on Monday too.  Thought maybe a piece of garlic got on my newly cleaned kitchen floor so I cleaned it again.  Tuesday went to work it was an especially long day 8am-11:30pm and when I got home the smell was very strong.  I wiped down the the kitchen AGAIN, cleaning the stove - EVERYTHING!  Opened the kitchen window brrrr, turned on the fan, went to bed but slept very poorly, woke up with a headache, not feeling too good, went to work at 8am Wednesday.  Wednesdays lately I have spent the late afternoon with my daughter's 6 year old stepdaughter and I usually bring her home with me at 5pm until daddy can pick her up.  Last night I had a practice room at the music school I attend and went there with her from 5pm-6:30pm.  Then I went grocery shopping and home.  The bad odor was still there only less this time.  I opened the window even more, opened the door to the my back hall then put the groceries away, popped open a beer, sat in my living room and started playing my guitar when I started feeling real sick.  You may have guessed by now but since last Saturday night  I have been sleeping in a 750 sq. ft. apartment on the second floor of a home with the gas stove turned on.  At some point, maybe when cleaning it Sunday I had turned one of the knobs ever so slightly hardly noticeable at all and had been breathing it's toxic fumes for days.  As I said I am not in my home much of the time and I spend a lot of time outdoors but even with the windows open and the fan going I was feeling sick.  Who would've known that the natural gas in my home would have a rancid garlic smell.  It didn't in my last home.  Who would've known that the smoke and carbon monoxide detector does not acknowledge gas traces.  I guess the monoxide level in gas is very low. Regarding the stove I was asked if it had a warning light and even though it is digital it does not or it does not work.  So from now on I will check then double check and then check again before I go to bed.  So many things could have gone wrong in that period of time but it didn't. Sometimes it takes a bitch slap to bring you round. Dear God, thank you once again.