Today has been challenging

[mizarchivist]

I was hopeful the rain would make the heat go away. Oh, how silly.
lifecollage  agreed to help me deal with some of the basement- it needs massive re-arrangement, you see. I showed her around and in doing so, she convinced me to get rid of the CD jewel cases. We moved them.
And discovered the mold on the bottoms of the boxes.
Maybe only on the bottom layer? Maybe we can still donate some to a library.
No.
Fine. Of all the things in the basement, these are things I will not make a big deal about losing.
Stacks of art stuff
Oh.
WTF.
My photo albums have been down here all this time. ..... This. This is not good.
Turns out the one album that was exceptionally roached (photos sticking together, covers gone orange and fuzzy) was the one from my post undergrad European vacation. Lots and lots of photos, of which maybe I only need to keep some. The end of the book included pictures from grad school, and those were fine. They're now out of the original album and will go to live in (acid free) envelope or an archive-quality shoebox

Other casualties of mold damage include several cloth hats (may be salvageable but it can wait a day or two), all the wrapping paper, some of the contents and carrying box for art show paraphernalia. Oh, my prismacolor pencil box. Some unused tins - that happened to be an awkward size

So this happens. Even to professionals. I feel like the things that were beyond repair were the things I cared least about. I remember when badlittlemonkey  was dealing with similar things last year and pretty much lost it all. Photo albums and art supplies are now upstairs. Tins are rehoused and reduced in number. Lots of stuff ready for Monday's trash.

I'm tired. I'm glad lifecollage  was here to help with this, reminded me often of who I am, that I can deal. Better to find it now and not in 2 months when I suspect the damage would have been beyond repair for more of the photo albums and I would have to deal with that and an ex-utero child.

In 100% good news: purple_terror  got the hot tub rolling. It'll take some days for it to be usable. quiet_elegance  prepped the basement to make the discoveries of the day possible.

Comments

*hugs*

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

I am sorry for the negative but glad of the positive.

Especially that you had lifecollage with you.

Re: *hugs*

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that this was an unintentional pun.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, honey. That's a real loss, even if it's only a few things that you'll miss.

In what must be parallel lives we are leading*, J and I have recently gotten a second-hand dehumidifier for the garage/basement (where we keep our boxen) and are in the process of trying to figure out if we can run a hose from it to alleviate the continual emptying. As in, I just came back from the garage after checking on the dehumidifier, and saw this post.

Ok, so I'm not preggers. But besides *that*...

[inkedandkinked.livejournal.com]

I placed my dehumidifier on a couple 2x4s laid across the top of the basement sink so it drains right into it.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

That would be a great idea if we had a sink in the basement. Still is a great idea, even if we can't use it at the moment.

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Yeah we have ours over the sink too cause we were tiered and forgetful about emptying it out every few days.

[spinrabbit.livejournal.com]

Would it be helpful at all for me to come over and help with secondary triage?
781-219-4803, and my schedule is very flexible.

For any of the albums or other paper stuff that you want to have treated, now or in the future, this is the sort of thing I do, and I do initial consultation, treatment plan, and quote for free.

[mizarchivist]

Noted-- I am not done going through some of this stuff. It would be good to have someone with actual training to deal for round 2. Just not right now.
I'll ping you after I've had some recoup time.

[badlittlemonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, hon, I'm very sorry. As you mentioned, I know how it feels. I'm glad you were able to salvage some stuff and that you found the problem before it was too late. *hugs*

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I see this all the time with my organizing clients. I wish I could convince people not to store anything with paper or cloth in a basement, at least not for more than a few months.

P.S. Esp. because you're pregnant, you might want to consider wearing a protective mask when you're going through moldy stuff, and/or have someone else bring the stuff up from the basement so you can sort through it in a ventilated area.

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust me, with two book professionals involved, that was our first thought. One of my primary functions was dragging it all upstairs to the front porch where she could handle it. It's a given that the rest will get dealt with the same way.

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I was there, too, if only for the moral support and the lugging of things upstairs. As I said, it's always been your place of expertise, not mine - glad I was able to remind you of that.

*hugs* and huzzah for working hot tubs!

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Sorry you had to deal with this, but glad it was found sooner rather than later as later would just have made it worse.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

Suckity suck suck. I had water issues in the basement of the house I owned, and I invested in Rubbermaid totes. Before that, I claimed a wooden pallet as a stopgap measure. Up = good.

My mom lost all the photos of us kids because of the combo of a flooded basement and some idiot who took the box of photo albums off the table and left them on the floor of the basement. :(

[mizarchivist]

that's harsh
and it's not like I've not got some training- I just misjudged exactly how godawful damp it is down there. How could it be worse than the old house? Well, it is. :/

Oh what a huge suck!

[drwex]

I have boxes and trunks of unsorted memorabilia and I can all too easily imagine my reaction if my stuff had been... ?violated?... in this way.

Great huge piles of sympathy.