Well, it seems as if everyone was grossed out by the Dog Vomit Fungus--a completely unsurprising and appropriate response.
The story behind the mold:
We walked out to our front yard one afternoon and there it was. Initially it was about half the size and flatter, less spongy looking. It almost seemed as if someone had poured some sort of rubbery, liquidy stuff on the railroad ties that border our front yard. The next morning it had grown and I thought we were about to have a real life version of The Blob on our hands. I kept the kids away from it until I could figure out what it was. A few searches later, I found it. Along the way, I had a little visit to a Dungeons and Dragons web site. Not paying attention to where I was (which, if you look at the page will show you how focused I can be, to the exclusion of something so obvious), I honed in on the Yellow Mold section. "This is it!" I exclaimed to myself. "I found it." I started reading...
"Yellow Mold: This mold is pale yellow to golden orange in color. If touched roughly, it may (50% chance) emit a cloud of spores in a 10-foot radius..."
I was getting a little concerned, then outright panicked as I read the following:
"Any creature caught in this cloud..."
And then I felt foolish as I finished this sentence:
"...must roll a successful saving throw vs. fortidute (DC 20) or die."
At this point, I glanced at the top, left-hand corner of the web page and saw the DND logo. I had one of those oops-did-anyone-see-that?-no?-good! moments.
Soon, though, I was successful in my research and found that it was a harmless mold that would go away on its own. If you want to see a few more pictures which chronicle the life of our slime mold, click here.
Now, onto the real business of the day. Sleeping with Bread.
I've been feeling a little restless with my bread making lately. I think that my life has been a little busier and has interfered with my NBH (normal blogging hours). I haven't found a new rhythm yet and so I blog in fits and starts. This works okay for reading and commenting, where I can catch up on 30 some-odd posts in one or two sittings, although I wouldn't be surprised if I miss a few posts here and there. My writing has been more limited, though. Except for a my SWB posts, my other bloggy contributions have been more sporadic with less umph or creativity or something. I don't know. I'm actually missing NaBloPoMo because it strong-armed me into trying some creative things like poetry and short (short) stories. Maybe I'm just having a bloggy mid-life crisis. What is the equivalent of a trophy wife and a sports car for a blog?Still, I'm not ready to forgo this weekly baking session. I need my spiritual bread. I might have to forgo the usual format, however.
In the last few weeks, I have had three dreams about frustration. Even as I type this, last night's dream has gone scurrying into the corner, refusing to be caught. The previous two dreams went something like this:
Dream One: I am on my way to Sam's Club with a friend. (Hi Steph!) Before we can get there, though, we have to go first to one place and then another. The day is getting away from us. I am uncomfortable because the delays are all my fault. We never get to Sam's Club. Every time I complete one errand, I realize there is another that just has to be done before my warehouse shopping can begin. I'm worried that my friend is going to get irritated with me, yada, yada, yada. I wake up.
Dream Two: I am on my way to a friend's house to give her something. Along the way, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, people just keep showing up and going with me on my trip--which really should just have been a quick five minute trip in the car. But no, my tag-a-longs keep increasing in number. We are walking. There is some major road disaster which means I have to take a detour. I get her son on the phone to tell him not to worry, I'm coming, it will just take a while. He gives me a lecture about how his mom has been so busy, why am I coming to see her now. (Oh yeah, I'm carrying a laptop computer with yards of cord. What?????) Me and my traveling posse take a detour through a small shopping center and head into a store--because for some reason, that will get us where we need to go. But no. That isn't going to work. We have to go upstairs to find our way out of the store and out a door which opens to the side of the building. To get out, we have to jump out the door onto a post, about 10 feet down which is on the top of the next building. Much hemming and hawing takes place as I hate heights. The laptop has to be handed down to someone. Finally, I jump onto the post and then the roof and it isn't horrible. As we are figuring out where to go next, I wake up.
Arghhh!!!!! Frustrating. My dream last night was similar because as I was pouring my coffee, it occurred to me that it was another can't get to where I need to be dreams. Then it scampered away and now I can't remember it at all. More frustration.
I don't know what to make of this. There are some possibilities:
The house has been a mess for ages and every time Paul and I gear up to get it under control, we are only able to get a fraction of it done.
I've had something I've been trying to do for a church project and I can't get what I need, when I need it, in order to make it happen.
My sleep apnea therapy is not going well. I have a new mask and I still struggle to get more than a couple of hour per night on the machine. Some nights I manage 3-4, but I don't know what else to do. I wake up and I've taken the mask off and turned off the machine without remembering it.
Are these things irritating enough for me to have three dreams in a week or two with that recurring theme of frustration, of simple goals not being able to be met? I don't know. But I do know that I need to spend time meditating on this. God may be trying to send me a message through my subconscious.
On the plus side, we bought laundry sorters this weekend and I love them! My sophisticated laundry system before this consisted of throwing all the laundry in a pile outside the laundry room and rooting through it for clothes we needed for the next day. There are piles of clean laundry in the dining room, one big pile of dirty laundry outside the main bathroom and Mount Everest outside the laundry room. We trotted over to Target and bought two sorters, each on wheels with three compartments. One has an overhead rod for hanging clothes. We sorted Mt. Everest and cleaned the new laundry staging area. It is intended to be a breakfast nook, but we are not breakfast nook people, so there is plenty of room for my sorters.
We folded all the clean laundry and put it away and are now in the process of washing all the clothes in the sorter so that the last pile of laundry, outside the bathroom, can then be moved and sorted. (This is all very complicated, I know. A normal person would just get their laundry done every week. But, I am not a normal person. I am a complex, multi-faceted creature who has more interesting and important things to do than wash and fold clothes. My middle name ain't Fluff and Fold.) So, I am thrilled to be able to walk from the kitchen to the bonus room without having to run the gauntlet of dirty clothes and, if I can keep caught up, I'll be able to keep six loads of laundry out of sight at any given time. It might happen.
If anyone has any insight into dream interpretation--Freudian, Jungian, whatever--let me know. I could use a little help, here. Pharoah's had his dreams and now needs Joseph to interpret them!
Don't forget to check out the other offerings from the Sleeping with Bread bakery. There are fresh goodies every week.
