Messes and mildew and mold, oh my!

Soooo....yeah....what should have been a 4-5 hour job ended up being a 9-10 hour one.  That would be because approximately 50% of the stuff I kept in the storage unit all summer got covered in mold and mildew thanks to the torrential rains that have come in the past few weeks, including but not limited to: my mattress, my desk chair, and one of my treasured Vespers posters.

Mom and I got here at like 1:20, and I filled out the required paperwork, and then we unloaded the car.  Justin & Jenn (and their wonderful truck) and Holly & Michael arrived at 2:00 and we headed off to the storage unit.  Well, Mom and I ended up driving about 5 miles past it before turning around, ha!  Anyway, as soon as we opened the unit we saw the disaster.  And I immediately remembered that part of the paperwork I signed said that they're not responsible for any damage, but I was mad so I left the destroyed stuff in the unit.  Heck, I've had other people's stuff in my unit when I went to put stuff in it, and theirs wasn't damaged!  So these people can get rid of it, since they didn't bother to build units tight enough to withstand water getting underneath the doors.

Anyway, so we took what was salvageable back to my dorm and started unloading what we could and cleaning what needed wiping off with Clorox wipes.  Thank the good Lord that the mildew came off the wooden legs of my recliner.  Jenn found a furniture store that was miraculously open on a Sunday afternoon, and Holly and Michael stayed in my room cleaning stuff while Mom, Justin, Jenn, and I headed out.  Justin dropped Jenn at Walmart where she bought me a new bookcase (because mine was totally destroyed, cracked all the way through) and the rest of us went to the nearby furniture store to get a mattress.  I knew I had a very limited amount of money in my account because I had let Mom have a good bit of it, but a very nice lady helped us get a very nice and expensive mattress for only $299, which I could afford.  Of course, tonight, my mom got so concerned about my boxspring that she decided we need to get rid of that, but my sweet uncle Ed is calling that same furniture store tomorrow and getting them to deliver me one. :)

So after we got the mattress back, we set up my bed and then started sorting through all the rest of the stuff.  We ended up washing every piece of clothing and fabric (including my entire bedding set) that I had left in garbage bags over the summer, which is mostly what took so much time, and went through the entire container of Clorox wipes wiping down everything else.

Justin and Jenn left about 5:00 because we had already kept them long enough, and Holly and Michael left somewhere around 7:00, I think.  Mom stayed until 9:00 helping me with all the laundry and organizing everything, which mainly took so long because I was so hot and sore that I kept having to take breaks.  She left with a giant container that I had brought stuff up here in full of all the clothes and stuff that I didn't want to keep in my room.  I managed to get all my clothes away...eventually.  By that time it was past 11:00.

Then I ate.  And now here I am.  And I am about to go take a nice long hot shower, and then go to bed for a very long time.

Despite how many things went wrong today (and yes, since the bed is taken care of, I am mostly upset that one of my Vespers posters is destroyed, I treasure those things), I have a lot of things to be thankful for.  Holly, Michael, Justin, and Jenn were all super helpful and never seemed impatient or like we were keeping them here longer than they wanted to be.  Justin has a truck.  There was a furniture store open on a Sunday.  I had the money to afford a mattress, after getting a great deal (though sweet Justin literally offered to buy me one himself).  Uncle Ed is taking care of the boxspring.  Mommom is putting money in my account tomorrow, and my friend Paige is taking me to Walmart on Tuesday to get the last of the stuff I need replaced, including a desk chair so the one in the room doesn't destroy my back.  Some random guy in Walmart bought the screwdriver I needed for Michael to put together the bookcase for me just because I complimented his NC State hat.  Jenn helped buy the bookcase.  And that's just all I can think of right now.  God worked everything out for me, once again.

And best of all, I am home.  Where everything feels right and life makes just a little bit more sense. :)

Good night, and good luck.