History of the 2007 War on Mold and Mildew

History of the 2007 War on Mold and Mildew
by: Alice Maer


In the August heat, on the hottest day of summer, the compressor in the air conditioner broke. The day before, the downstairs neighbors moved out. We were without a cooling system and living in a 3rd floor apartment. The war has begun.

Our first sign of trouble was condensation on the kitchen floor, not just a light mist, but puddles so large that they would soak your entire foot. The children thought this was fun, splashing in puddles in the kitchen, but I knew better, I knew this was a breeding ground for the worst enemies any apartment has ever known, mildew and mold. Oh the kitchen was safe enough; they have windows to help dry the air and floor, but the bathrooms, oh the poor bathrooms! The hall bathroom sustained only minor injury, easily repaired by the maintenance crew, but the master bath, completely enclosed and isolated from any semblance of air circulation; it did not stand a chance against this evil. The maintenance crew came and scrubbed the mold and mildew until the walls were faded to a light pink color… but you could see that the little buggers were still alive and waiting for the next opportunity to strike.

Late in October, the weather became warm again, short sleeves, humid air, everything was perfect for this monster to once again assert itself. The walls, the ceiling, the shower… all covered in a blanket made of mold and mildew after three short days of humidity. They struck for the second time and this time it was personal. I called for reinforcements, Joe, ever ready with a bottle of bleach, a sponge, and gloves approached the bathroom with a warrior’s pride. He strode in with a ladder, scrubbed every possible surface of the bathroom, and managed in 3 hours to remove about a quarter of the offensive scum from the ceiling. The rest remained because our might warrior was tired and needed a much deserved rest.

Time was dragging by, the proud mold and mildew regrouping where the mighty warrior Joe had once devastated their population. We did not concede defeat; never will we allow the mold and mildew bullies to win this war against us! A new plan of attack was formed, and late in November, the mighty Rachel approached for round one with a bottle of chemical warfare in hand. She heartily sprayed every centimeter of mold and mildew infested walls and ceiling with the chemical whose purpose was to remove all signs of their existence. After her first attack, she realized the advantage the mold has over her, they can not smell the chemical warfare, nor can they breathe it in, but it is toxic to them, and soon they will run away, crying for mercy. A few hours later, Rachel the brave enters, armed once again with the chemical weapon for a fresh attack. She sprayed the entire bathroom once more, trying to save the rapidly infected room from total demise. The folly in her plan was soon realized as she started to cough and wheeze, the chemicals were hurting her! She ran for the relief of fresh air, and had to use an inhaler to restore her breathing to normal levels. Upon her retreat she noticed a significant withdrawal in numbers on the mold and mildew side of the war, one or two attacks more and this war will be won, the bathroom saved, and mold and mildew defeated until the next air-conditioning system failure next summer. The call is out, for a mighty warrior to come to the aid of this bathroom, to save Rachel the Brave’s lungs from total ruin during her attempt to decimate the stubborn mold and mildew so ruthlessly attacking her abode. Is there a warrior out there willing to fight this battle and help bring us to victory?

Time is running short, the enemy is approaching, I must send this now and hope for our Knight to come to us and rescue us from this danger. Please, come quickly!

Just a Tuesday afternoon...

What do you get when you put two friends, both female, in a room when one is awaiting a diagnosis that could possibly be cancer?

A. Somber discussion about medical treatments.
B. Prayer session begging God that this isn't going to be cancer.
C. Bible page flipping looking up passages of hope.
D. All the above.

If you answered D, you'd be partially correct... but mostly wrong. Here are some more options to choose from:

E. Abundant laughter.
F. An awesome chuckle inspiring card.
G. Commentary on God's sense of humor.
H. All the above.

H is correct, but still doesn't tell the whole story.

My friend Nancy came over to offer me some support this afternoon because she knows I'm seeing the hematologist tomorrow and she has been through the testing and waiting process in the past and knows how stressful it can be. She showed up with an awesome card, imagine the silly glasses and funny nose attached in card form, I plan to wear this to my doctor appointment tomorrow or at least to dinner if my friends are still taking me. Things became progressively sillier as the afternoon went on.

What I really want to share with you is what had us in stitches and I'm convinced that God was laughing right along with us. Both Nancy and I needed to use the bathroom, fortunately I have two so we parted company. I flushed the toilet, no problem, went to turn on the water and nothing came out. I respond with, "Oh crap, this isn't happening, not now!" to which Nancy comes running thinking her using the water in another room was causing me a problem... soap covering her hands and a concerned look on her face and I realize that she didn't know yet. They had just shut off the water to the building while we were using the toilets. Sure enough we checked every sink, no water to be found anywhere. By now our giggles are filling the whole building as we try to figure out how to get our hands clean. We manage to dry off the soap and find the waterless sanitizer and continue having a good laugh and a discussion about how God made a man pee his pants in the Bible... yeah I'm planning to look that up and it will most likely be a Bible Blog entry.

We decided it was a great time to take pictures, and silly us, we put more soap on our now sanitized hands, held the card in front of our faces (we took turns) and snapped the pictures. We then proceeded to the sink to rinse off the soap... we had forgotten something very important, no water... duh! So another round of giggling and silliness and of course hand cleaning without water (have I mentioned diaper wipes are wonderful things recently?) We then prayed, holding sticky hands, laughing hysterically for God to bring healing and to keep the laughter abundant. And we both felt God's presence, we knew He was laughing right along with us, that He was enjoying that moment with us, the complete silliness and you know what? He loved that we included Him in it! He wants everything from us, not just good, not just bad, He even wants our silly outbursts... isn't that wonderful?

Well, after a round of try to figure out what is wrong with the cell phone (hers, not mine) and finally giving up, she went out the door. I had turned the water faucet in the kitchen on so I would hear when the water started again. Around the time she got to her car, the water started up again. I called her and told her and we continued laughing. God really does have a sense of humor, and this confirms it. He wants us to laugh.

So laugh with me people! If I can get the pictures onto my computer, and get permission from Nancy, I'll post them, otherwise, use your imagination, it's probably just as good.

Hugs & Love

Oh well...

I just woke up, again, about 20 mins ago, and I'm just finishing up getting ready for my next interview... I can't believe I dozed through another whole day without writing anything. It's a bit frustrating that I have all this time but no energy with which to accomplish anything!

I'll try this evening to post something, if I don't fall asleep that is!

Hugs & Love

Towels

I've reached a new low... I found myself sitting here contemplating if I have enough bath towels in my house and remembering my mother saying that a woman could never have too many towels in her home if she has children. I think that is probably one of the most practical tidbits my mother has ever shared with me. I have, at least, 20 bath towels, 10 bath sheet/beach towels, 40 wash clothes, 10 bath pouffs (the things you use with liquid soap), 10 hand towels, and 10 dish towels. I find myself regularly scrambling trying to come up with towels for everyone to use, and find that the hand and kitchen towels are the hardest to keep up with, mostly because everyone thinks these should be pretty and gave me ones with appliqued designs which make the towel impractical to use... but that's another issue.

I decided I need intellectual stimulation on a daily basis because of my pondering the proper towel balance in life... I don't want to spiral into a world where towel quantities are all I have to think about. I need intelligent conversation to keep me happy... and find myself looking forward to reading "Jan hugged the pug." with my daughter just so I have SOMETHING better than a towel tally to occupy my time. I need to get better so I can go back to work!

Hugs & Love

OUCH!!!

I cut up a hot pepper a few minutes ago...

I didn't get all the oils from the pepper off my hands...

I blew my nose and apparently, touched my nose in the process...

My nose is now painfully stinging and in some places numb...

I didn't care for the pepper either...

I don't want to ever experience this again!

Copy Cat Post

I'm taking David's question and making it my own... who out there is reading my posts but not replying to them? I'm curious. I know I have David and Joanne, they aren't afraid to tell me anything about how they feel or think... but I don't really hear too much from anyone else. So, if you read this, let me know, I'd love to know you're there and what you think!

Hugs & Love