Got Mold?

Last weekend, I went to Idaho with Cade and Krystal to attend my Grandma Fern's surprise 90th Birthday party. We had so much fun. It was so great to be with most of my immediate family and see aunts, uncles and cousins I haven't seen in years. My parents, siblings and I rented a house in Lava Hot Springs and had a great weekend.

On Friday night, I got an email from my {awesome} roommate Carie informing me that they just found mold in my apartment. Gross. It's behind our washer. Thank goodness we're renting, huh? This does, however, explain why I have has respiratory issues since mid-December. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and got an antibiotic. Maybe I can submit my medical bills to my management company?

Probably not.

It's so great to realize we've been breathing that grossness for who knows how long.

This is what I found when I got home from Idaho. At least they tried to contain the situation.

I actually had to go to a laundromat for the first time in forever this week. That's a whole other story.

So, Grandma's birthday party went off without a hitch. It was so much fun and she looked like she had such a great time. She never stopped smiling. She's so awesome.

 But, that night, we got some very bad news. Grandma has been living with my Aunt Launa in Utah for the past couple of years because of health problems. She still has her house in Lava that they check on every couple of months. Launa left Grandma at our rental house while she went to Grandma's house to turn up the heat so Grandma wouldn't be cold when she got there.

At some point in time (weeks? months?), some pipes had frozen or failed, but Launa found the basement flooded and MOLD all over the house. Seriously, everywhere. It was the craziest, most heart-breaking thing I think I've ever seen.

{What's with me and mold? I seem to be the common denominator.}

My Grandma is so awesome. I'm sure she was upset, but I couldn't tell. She'd lived in that home 40 years and I'm pretty sure everything is ruined. She kept saying, "It's just stuff. It's just a house." Thankfullly, Aunt Karen has most of her photos and we were able to get her cedar chest out of there remarkably unscathed.

But, you can't just clean up mold. Plus, I wasn't originally too hopeful that insurance would cover the claim since her home was basically vacant. But, the good news is that it looks like they are going to pull through and pay the damage. I'm super surprised they don't have to tear the whole house down, but I've heard they are just taking it down to the studs and replacing everything else.

I sure hope it all works out.