oh, a surprise of a mixed sort

an almost ruined picture of Lydia from a few years back

Little Jay is at the university now, and so today I decided to wash his sheets and clean up a little so when he comes home again it'll be good.

Well, when I was making the bed, I noticed a couple pop cans and a sock underneath, and as I gathered up a wad of Gray Layer (gum wrappers, dust bunnies, etc) I noticed a plastic tote and pulled it forward to glance inside--wonder what this is?

I peeked inside--photos, old books, a bible, a case for CDs, and then I noticed MOLD on the photo envelopes. Oh no!

Dragged from under the bed and fully opened--the whole thing was moldy and mushy and the deeper into the box, the slimier it got. At the bottom was about two inches of moldy water. Look at all these packs of photos! All the literature from his precious Wii, drenched and slimy. Terrible.

The air conditioner in the window had been leaking into the room earlier this summer--we'd had water in the kids' room below, but nobody knew about this tote also having water run into it.

I called to Big Jay to bring a trash bag and come help me. We spread the photos on towels all over Jay and James' beds, the floor, the shelves, the dresser, so they could dry. Most of the negatives appear to be okay, but some photos and negatives were entirely ruined.

I didn't remember he'd taken so many pictures. Some were with a special Pokemon camera, one that put a decorative Pokemon frame on every photo. That was pretty sweet.

Anyway, on the way to the party tonight--for Dan's 30th birthday--very wonderful evening, we phoned Little Jay to tell him this. He was bummed, but mostly took it in stride, was glad we attempted to salvage as many pictures as we could.

Apparently Tim was a favorite photo subject because there were plenty of pictures of him as a bald, juicy baby.


Tim with a red satin purse on his head--a gift from my friend Becka.


Tim at 5 months



And this almost ruined pic of James and Maria hugging in a room that no longer exists. This is the den we used to call the schoolroom. It was off the dining room, about 11 x 11 and had shelves on all 4 walls, pillows on the floor. The sewing machine was in there, and also the TV, a word processor, and the deep freeze. We spent more time in this little room than any other in the house. When Tim was a baby, we tore it down and built the family room. It'd be a shame to lose this one.



Anyway, happy Saturday, and may all our disasters be as minor as this one. love, Val