WTH, Dana's appliances?

Stuff steel wool into small holes and seal with duct tape. That can help.

First my dad was sick. Then the next day my mom was sick. Last night my brother was sick. So we banned him from coming over tonight and told my parents they couldn't touch anything. But it was too late! Now the 4 year old is sick. I worry I cannot avoid it. Maybe I should just go find a hotel?

Thanks, Scrappy, I would not have thought of that.

Not-getting-sick-ma, ,meara.

I have a couple more hours of work on my agenda but I don't know if I want to keep going now that the sun is down. Dinner and then I'll decide, I guess.

Run away, meara! Run away!

A/C~ma, Dana!

I am at my dad’s house in Fort Lauderdale. There have been multiple developments, but there’s too much...so to sum up:

• Mold report came in. Yep, whole lot of mold, some dangerous. At least four distinct strains.
• The pets are all in temporary homes away from home. T is trying to at least get the remediation done before we get back. It may be up to a month before we have a workable bathroom (assuming she has the money to do the reconstruction, which she’s still working on). Our angel friend B has volunteered to keep the cats until construction is done. We should be able to corral the dogs in the back house since there’s no allergy issues there. Unclear whether we will be able to sleep in our own house. We will have to use the bathroom in the back (along with our five full-time employees) definitely -- we can sleep on a sofa bed in one of the offices if we need to. So not ideal, but also not homeless.
• Wilson kitty had a CT scan and exploratory nasal surgery on Tuesday. He came through well -- the only downside is that they haven’t found a smoking gun yet as to why he isn’t responding to the anti-fungal meds (they expected to find polyps, but there weren't any). They are hoping more time will help. Cross your fingers. B is taking really good care of him in the meantime.

Lots of other stuff, but that’s enough for now. But MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE to those who celebrate, dammit! Thanks for all your good wishes. We are focusing on enjoying our time in Florida and hoping for the best with everything back home.

Thanks for the update, Pix. What a tough situation for all involved.

Mold is nothing to mess with. It nearly killed me the first year Hubby and I lived in our first apartment. Pro tip--don't use contact paper as a substitute for wallpaper, especially not in bedrooms. Cheap landlords are cheap.

Aw, you guys. Making it through the shit!

I am all Christmassed out. That was a long, if nice, day -- family over, then church, the over to some friends'. It was good to spend a little time with my first friend and his wife and kids, but jeez, I just wanted to come home and put on pjs. Which I have now done. I think I have some wrapping still to do.... Better check. Or, if I just go to bed now, I can deal with it in the morning.

We've turned on the ac. It was 80 inside.

My nephew turned 13! He wanted Taco Bell for his birthday dinner. (I had something else.)

I made cheers all, cookies and broccoli salad for tomorrow. Rolls are rising.

All the presents wrapped save the book I'm trying to finish. Boys have an embarrassment of gifts. Dad's getting a goat and mom a children's safe space.

I had good luck with catch-and-release traps getting rid of all my little unwanted guests, up until Danger Mouse at the end. After he scampered across me in bed I escalated to the old spring trap variety and adopted Vlad the Impaler's tactics, leaving his broken-backed corpse out for a day as a warning to any friends of his who might still be around. It seemed to work—at least, I never found further evidence of mice between then and when the alley cats moved in.