How to Jump Start Ambition

The office. The one room in the Haven that has not yet received a coat of paint and an update since we moved in a little over a year ago.

It's safe to say that the office could have gone years with no attention. It's boring, but plain. And plain =safe. No need to cover up anyone else's mess decor.

Until Friday evening.

I arrived home at my normal time, staggered into the Haven and promptly put Granny dog and the Monkey out so they could do their 'business' in the yard instead of on the rug. Then I wandered into the office to sit at the computer and unwind. No feeling is quite as satisfactory as the first night leading into a few days off from work. The freeness you feel in those hours is amazing. You can ignore all the tasks on your To-Do list and just kick off your shoes, turn off the phone's ringer, and vegg.

Ahhhh...

But not this Friday evening. This Friday evening I just had to wander over to the closet there in the office and rummage through the drawers looking for a pen. Had I not done this, my weekend would have been completely different. Alas, I did it and the domino effect it caused still has me reeling.

There, behind the shelves, was a wall of mold. Black, nasty, fuzzy, glistening MOLD!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

So maybe some people have seen mold in their bathroom at some point... or maybe they found something growing in a dish they left in the sink a little too long. But I have never, EVER seen mold growing up a wall before. I live in a desert state. It's dry. We don't GET mold in our houses. Never-the-less, there it was in mine.

DAMMIT!

I woke up the DH (he works night shifts) and explained that I needed help cleaning up the office and we set to work. As we moved more and more of the furniture the true extent of the problem hit us. It was not just some mold in the corner. It traveled the entire length of the wall. It was even starting UP one corner. Eventually it would have risen above the file cabinet and TV and started towards the ceiling.

EW! EW! EW!

As bad as I make it sound, it was nothing a little bleach water and anti-bacterial cleaner couldn't fix. After some minor investigation we realized that the turtle tank was the cause of our problem. The water and humidity was creating a nice little sub-climate for the happy little mold spores.

Boo. HISS.

However, this was nothing that a fan and better circulation wouldn't fix. In the past we had always kept the door shut so that Gus wasn't disturbed in his kennel at night. Since we didn't want a repeat of our mold adventure we decided we'd start leaving the office door open all the time. Problem solved.

Except that the mold had drawn our attention to the fact that we needed to address the walls. A short trip to the hardware store later, we were up to our armpits in tape, primer and paint. All weekend long we worked on that room. I even went without a computer for a full 24 hours on Saturday. (Gasp. Wheeze. WITHDRAWL!)

We did the final touches on the room Sunday night and then collapsed into bed.

And now I'm ready for a weekend.

*cry*

I guess I shouldn't complain, really. The room looks amazing. It needs a few finishing touches (which we will carry out in a few months when its warmer) but over-all, it looks like HGTV had its way with our room, which makes me very happy. The walls are baby blue and chocolate (one feature wall where the window is) and we added new curtain panels, a silver curtain rod, and some pictures. Considering that it was all impromptu change, it seems well planned out. Oh, and DH got to replace two light fixtures and swap out some electrical outlets and one light switch. He's feeling VERY handy these days. My Man. *preen*

Ms.B