The past three days have been filled with mold and mildew. Yes, the basement runneth over. Almost every single box has been at least mildewed, some partially eaten by different kinds of mold, leaving any paper or cloth items inside to be eaten as well. If it isn’t partially ruined it has that distinct odor. It makes me ill. There is little I can do about it, but move things, bleach, sort, throw away and rebox in plastic. I am getting tired of this routine.
A perfectly beautiful oriental rug now has holes in it; when I saw it I cried for a half an hour because it belonged to my mother, just like some of the furniture which is now warped and spotted with mold. It’s hard to imagine sometimes that I used to live in a beautiful house with nice things, and now I live in a dump with mold and mildew eating what I worked so hard to keep nice. Now, in three years time, I have lost so many things that reminded me of my past life, photos included. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to have been in a hurricane rather than this. The roof has leaked for six years, as well there is no gutter on one side of the house, and the box gutters leak all over. A roofer lives here, but has not had the money or health or time to fix his own roof, so my stuff is being ruined little by little. Right now the back yard is strewn with contents of the basement. If it rains on it, oh well.
I spent a couple of hours scrubbing the rug with Mr. Clean with Febreeze. It now hangs over a couple of sawhorses in the yard. I used to think it was too good to have in the house, what with the ceiling tiles in the kitchen falling down in patches with plaster and coal dust behind it, the older dog peeing on the 45 to 50-year old living room carpet, the larger dog leaving piles of long black hair wherever he goes and the man of the house never wiping his feet. Why am I here? I guess I was asking too much to keep it safe until…what?
So I have been trying to empty boxes and put contents (which I really need to go through) into tubs until I can get things cleaned, sorted and either thrown out or put away. What a headache. There is not enough room in this house. I was promised, four years ago, that a new bedroom would be built, thus giving me that plus the room under it for storage. It did not happen for many reasons. A storage locker would have been safer had I known I would still be here with no room and watching my things slowly be destroyed. It’s hard sometimes because I am such a sentimental person, with so many memories tied up in my things. Mainly because I am away from all of my family and friends.
I have been trying to get things washed and put on the clothesline, but also took a trip to the laundromat to clean some pillows and blankets and a bagful of clothing to give away. No sense keeping a size clothes I cannot imagine fitting into for a while. There is a dehumidifier in the basement now, though. The one purchased from Walmart yesterday was plugged in and immediately sent out a plastic odor into the house; it would not condense. A check of the paperwork that came with it showed the booklet was filled out LAST YEAR, in July, so obviously there was a problem with it and Walmart put it back on the shelf when it was returned. It could have caught the house on fire.
For now, I try to listen to whatever it is God wants me to know about all this. Yes, I need to weed out my stuff and get organized. That’s true. As I open a box now and then a certain message becomes clear. Many boxes are mixed items because I moved in somewhat of a hurry. There are times when the synchronicity of certain findings can be appreciated.
When I need a lift there are little signs from God and my momma. A marble and jack are always a sign from my mother, and it made me smile when I came across a plastic film canister with one of each inside. I wasn’t real sure about the piece of gum in it until I saw the show Saving Grace later that night. I heard the main character (Grace) say she had put a piece of gum and a marble in a time capsule (with her friend). I had already decided the gum was probably too old to eat and threw it away, but the connection was real enough for me.
The same box had three hinges waiting to be found. The night before I had thoughts about hinges, though cannot tell you why at the moment. I was a little surprised to find them. Oh I am sure these things were put into the box by me, to be found at a later date (though I am still a bit perplexed by the gum).
I brought in (to the house from the basement) a little model ship once owned by my grand-aunt. She died 9 months before my mother did, and when I look at the boat, I am reminded of her. I made the connection to a couple of comic bubbles and drawings, which are in my collage. Going back to sorting in a minute.
The collage from yesterday and today are included in today’s post. I did do an anagram in one of them but don’t really feel like explaining it. Between the mess in the basement and house right now, trying to do my history research for that blog and this one, it is hard to get much done. Mold makes me tired. It has definitely affected my health this week.
The collages have their own special thing going on as usual and for now I just cannot focus enough to do much more. Sorry for the random rambling but I did want to post the collages. The first one (top with anagram) is from yesterday and the bottom was today’s comics. I know there are more and better anagrams in these but I can’t do them right now. Does it matter?
Tags: 1, anagram, anagrams, coincidence, communication, connections, life, listening, random thoughts, synchronicity, thinking, ups and downs
August 20, 2009 at 1:39 PM |
Mildew, mold and TERMITES! That’s what I used to deal with. Old creek stone walled basement, constant dampness, many ruined items over the years. Even if there is no visible water showing up the humidity level in basements of these old Madison homes is huge. Get a dehumidifier! I ‘extract’ 2 gallons a day, every day, that gets dumped into my washing machine for use. (don’t want to waste perfectly good water). I had a small case, if there is such a thing, of termites coming into the floor joists looking for water through the stone basement walls. The only solution(and affordable one) was to research killing the little buggers myself. Found a banned termite killer that also kills mold of all types. This was used in a garden sprayer to treat all exposed, below ground level surfaces. Between the dehumidifier and the treatment, all storage problems have gone. But I do use Rubbermaid products for containers now. FWIW.