Sophia, has your mom had her sodium levels checked recently? The worry loop you describe sounds eerily like what my dad was going through in the middle ground between deep depression and recovery as his sodium returned to the normal range. If that is a cause or contributing factor, it can be helped under a doctor's care with fairly simple measures—fluid restriction and salt tablets.

Sophia, what Jesse said about it being a good time to be weird. And your grip on your own mental health is pretty good if you're recognizing your limits, instead of also getting caught in the worry loop.

I think I might tell my mom to open the basement windows, get a dehumidifier and then call a home inspector (from another town, if need be) and let him assess the problem, before she starts to treat it with bleach.

My brother's house (in Vermont) has a dirt-floor cellar, and when they bought it, there was a HUGE mold conglomeration that had taken up residence. Like, about 8 feet by 4 feet on the floor, and then going up the walls about 3 feet. It was this weird while almost billow-y mold. (I suspected it was that weird hallucinogenic underground fungus from that one episode of the X-Files. But no.)

About a year before we bought this house, Scott and I almost bought a different house in the town where I grew up. It had a wet cellar (not dirt floor, though), and the people had never put in a sump pump. There were honest to goodness MUSHROOMS (toad stools) growing in one corner of the cellar. When I saw them, I think the realtor almost choked. She clearly hadn't noticed them, before.

The house we used to rent on Martha's Vineyard had a mushroom growing out of the wall next to the bathtub in summer 2005. I took a picture. That was a case of, "Oh, bathrooms need fans, especially in a maritime climate?"

The house I lived in in CT with a dirt floor cellar was quite dry, actually.

A whole bunch of cool sports photos: [link]

Basically, these are shots where the action is frozen in time, leading to wacky images. And stuff.

Lots of recovery~ma to Kat and babies. . . and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I am hoping there are not mushrooms down there! My co-worker just found a mold testing kit for $9.99 that tells you if you have killer mold. I think that if my mother can be convinced that the mold isn't enough to get her house condemned, then she might hire someone to take care of it.

I had a brush with death with nearly killer mold. When we moved into our old apartment, someone had wallpapered with contact paper, and in the spring when the mold behind it bloomed, breathing it pretty much sandpapered my sinus cavity and I had an aneurysm go on me in the sinus cavity. I had to have my sinuses packed to make it stop.

And that's in high, dry, and cold Utah. Beware the cheap "wallpaper".

Wow, Kat! Congratulations, and I'm so relieved that everyone is doing OK. Those twins sure were anxious to come out and meet everyone!

Yikes. I'm holding Kat et al. in my thoughts. Til July and beyond!!

Eep, early babies!!!

Tons of recovery~ma to Kat and get-big-and-strong-fast~ma to the kidlets!

Welcome to the world, Noah and Grace!