Bane of Living in the PNW

Mold in Master Closet, lower left; 11 Mar 2012

Molded "Slut Boots" *waaaahhh* 11 Mar 2012

The bane of living in the Pacific Northwest, as anyone here coastal side can attest, is. . . M-O-L-D.

I have found one of the reasons for non-restful sleep at night, why I start sneezing and wheezing when I'm in my room, and why my sinus' have been so stuffy (aside from cat sensitivity)... my master room closet is rapidly being consumed by mold!

If it weren't for my current asthma flare because of pulling out my Navy Tub (my Rubbermaid tub of old uniforms, medals, ribbons, etc from my Navy years), my awesome "slut boots" that are heavily molded on the outside (I've never found before or since these boots any that fit my monstrous calves), my canvas bag (also covered in mold) of swimwear, a box containing two pairs of nice dress shoes (both covered in mold and already thrown away), my duffel bag that was covered in mold (also thrown away). . . are you getting the idea?. . . I'd probably be yelling and screaming. Most of my clothes that I wear are in my closet, so this is no small matter. Not to mention the closet is huge, and because of the geodesic design, awkward.

Now what? I should probably start by using my inhaler to open my airways, but I'm not sure I want them open until I finish getting the clothing from the closet into the washer and figuring out what is salvageable and what has to be trashed.

The long-ish explanation of why I'm so mad about this? At our 'old house', there wasn't mold growing on anything that we had inside the house (the garage was another issue), though I suspected a mold problem somewhere there that we just couldn't see. Now we're having severe problems at the 'new house' (which is actually a couple decades old) with mold growing on the inside of several of the walls, and now on my belongings.

I successfully avoided getting the "24-hour bug," though I ate out of the same snack bag as someone who had it and breathed the enclosed air of the vehicle of same person. That was last week. I didn't get sick with whatever my son and daughter had during the early winter months, and I didn't get sick with whatever Hubby had about a month ago. Though I have several chronic health conditions, and having been seriously ill from one of them these past few months, I've been relatively unaffected by colds and flu bugs running rampant. My sinus' have bothered me for years, so it's not like that's completely out of the ordinary, and the asthma flaring started decreasing as I stabilized on the thyroid. The past week or two I've been working in The Hangout where there was old rat excrement, fiberglass insulation, helping with installing the sheetrock and even helping with blowing in the GreenFiber (R) insulation. . . . other than needing rest and fresh air breaks, I've done fairly well. I suppose nearly collapsing at 11pm is a good thing, but out of the ordinary for me.

We've had extensive "moisture issues" since we moved here. Last spring was "the wettest I've seen in 30 years," said by the seller. Seeing moss' recent, very rapid take over the lawn, trees, bushes, and even start in on the roof is seriously concerning me now. I thought with getting the windows and sliding doors, and replacing that front door when I found the rot, would take care of the major issues. Yeah, "welcome to the real world."

I don't have time to deal with my sensitivity to mold, particularly when I'm already stretched thin health-wise and time-wise. I don't have the functionality I need to eradicate this problem before it spreads even farther.

So what to do? Just accept the bane of living in the PNW? Nope. Been in this area for near a decade! Wow, I've never been in one area that long. . . what a concept. Wow! Anyway, looks like I'm going to have to figure out more than I thought when it comes to storage in this place. It's not just the unique house design, oh no, it's so much more!

One a more positive note, The Hangout is coming along nicely, though it would have been nice to have it done already. Hubby is very excited about it, and can't wait to decorate it (it's mostly going to be his "man cave,") though I'm the one with cuts, bruises, blisters, breathing problems, and a bit of fun on the side with physically working on making The Hangout a healthy and safe place, working with a local contractor (still M___). It'll be great when it's done, and we'll finally be able to have friends and family come over for visiting. Along the way, it appears we might even be making new friends in the area, which has been long in coming. We haven't had the energy to put forth the effort for that, while trying to re-adjust after this last deployment; and, as we've contemplated the issue, it's come to our realization that the people who we do call "friends" are long-lasting relationships. We don't care much for the superficial-- takes too much time, effort, and energy and to our way of thinking, just isn't worth it. We'd rather have a few deep, lasting relationships than "fly by night" ones.

Oh, what a crazy life we live! But We're pretty happy with it. Overall, really, maybe complaining about mold isn't worth the energy, either. There is definitely more to be worried about in life than that. *smile* See, there's always a bright side-- sometimes you have to look for it, though.

~Cedeham~