A Quick Room Freshener for the Absent-Minded

I recently tried a room freshening tip I found on Pinterest, which involved simmering rosemary, lemon, cinnamon sticks and vanilla in water over low heat on your stove for several hours, adding additional water as needed. It seemed easy enough, and I had lofty visions of my Bible study group enjoying the soothing notes of my freshly scented family room throughout that evening....

Well...somewhere around Hebrews chapter 4, the room started to smell (as Ralph Wiggum from The Simpson's says) "like burning." One of our friends discreetly moved away from our fireplace, fearing that the backside of her coat had ignited and was producing the smell everyone noticed but no one dared to speak of.  I had completely forgotten about  my simmering aromatics -- completely forgot. Like, not even an inkling of remembrance. I just sat there, doe-eyed, mouth slightly ajar, smiling at my friends -- not a care in the world! 

Brian put two and two together well before I did (clearly). He wrapped up the closing prayer in record time, and dashed to the stove, announcing shortly thereafter that I had successfully killed whatever I put in that pan (and possibly killed the pan itself too). Oops. 

So.....here's MY take on a room freshener for the distracted, the absent-minded, the over-committed, and the busy-body, like me, who don't want to babysit a simmering pan for several hours.

Step 1: Clean your coffee maker. Seriously, when was the last time you clean that thing? I'm onto you! ;)

Step 2: Gather your aromatics. I have fresh rosemary growing in my yard, and a Costco-sized tub of cinnamon sticks that I keep on hand for cooking and as treats for the Lolly-bird.  I also used some vanilla and orange extracts.

Step 3: Make "coffee." I added about 8 cups of water, and placed my aromatics in the filter. The quantities of ingredients don't matter too much.....just use whatever smells good to you. I set my coffee maker to stay warm for 4 hours, and walked away. For a stronger aroma, you could place your aromatics in your actual coffee carafe as well....in fact, I think I'm going to try that next time.

When Brian got home, he confirmed that the house smelled "really, really good." Woo hoo! And no, my coffee the next morning did not taste strange, so I will definitely be doing this again. After all, it's a great excuse to clean my coffee pot....that I clean all of the time, by the way....ppssshhhh, of course I do!  
Cheers!  P.S. I'm linking up here: