Flippin' Heck

I've posted on my tumblr this and this, this and this about the cold here.

That pretty much sums it up. The winters are only miserable here because of the miserable condition of the housing. And the biggest problem is the damp. We've got mold on the windows and mold on the walls. We've done our best to eradicate it, but it's a constant effort. We wake up in the mornings and towel all the condensation off the window panes and the puddles off the window sills. We open all the windows to air out the rooms. We run a dehumidifier on the really damp days. We pull the blankets and sheets off the beds during the day to air the mattresses out.

And yet tonight I found mold. The worst type possible. I was flipping the girls' mattress for the first time in 2 months. I discovered mold on the fabric covering the boxspring, and on the mattress itself on the side that had been down. This is tragic, as this mattress is an all organic natural latex one we had gotten specifically because little Nys seems to have allergy issues. Plus it's the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on. We shipped it over with our stuff from Boston. I don't believe comparable mattresses are available here. Luckily we have two, the second having been in our virtually unused spare room. Because it hasn't been slept on much, it hasn't gotten all that body moisture in it and it's not moldy (yet).

So we pulled a quick switcheroo, and we're going to try to save the moldy mattress. It's not too bad, the boxspring is worse, and just has very light spots of grey. They don't even show up in a photo, so I have no proof for y'all, but trust me, it's there. So I've got both pieces in the spare room now, with a radiator on and the dehumidifier running, and I'll leave it that way all night. (The dehumidifier needs the heat to get the air temperature up or else it doesn't work.) Then tomorrow we're hoping for a sunny day. We'll take them outside, brush them down, vacuum them off, and lay in the sun for as long as possible. And then we're just going to have to be even more vigilant in the girls' room. Running the dehumidifier every day, flipping the mattress regularly. I'll let you know how it goes.