My new year felt like a slug attempting to climb it's way out of a honey pot, not impossible, but certainly slow and difficult. To be fair, the issues began in December with the cold snap,( I just thought I was eating too much sugar and suffering brain fog from that). What I didn't know and have since learned, is that black mold likes to grow in below freezing temperatures. We had a week or so of temps below freezing, unusual for our climate, and I developed more severe breathing problems at that time. I have chronic issues with my sinuses and lungs, but this hit levels where I didn't have enough air to speak properly. I'm not fond of this state of being. So, it got my attention and I started trying to figure out when and where it was worse and vise versa. Cold outdoor air equaled worse, as did my bedroom. Standing or sitting about three feet from the wood stove, but no more than 5 feet away, equaled better. Needless to say, I began sleeping right next to the stove, and well, doing everything else there.

Once my breathing improved significantly, I started to investigate the possible issues, where in I discovered mold on my bedroom window. I keep a close eye on my windows because they've always presented a potential mold area. It's part of living in a moist environ. Anyway, apparently when the temps dropped, the mold took off. Once found, the area was cleaned and we discoveded that the east window was moldy where it couldn't be cleaned and probably had been for even longer, (I always got sick during wind storms). Window replacement proceedure was initiated. This all occured duing the month of January, from the very first of the month.

I have been sleeping by the woodstove all this time, with exception of a few nights where I thought it might be safe to return to my room. It wasn't. Now, what surprises me is that during this month, I think I've been more productive rather than less. And I think that's pretty awesome. Because sleeping on a cot is not all that restful and being awoken with the earliest riser getting ready for work after being kept up by the night owl in the family and needing to maintain a warmer environment by feeding the fire at 3 AM, all add up to much less sleep for little ol' me. I'm really proud of myself for staying on task with my business in spite of the hardships.

I painted around the window today and then moved the bed back. I've been doing the work on finishing the interior of the window, which I had to get creative with as the windows have never been trimmed and the wall board around them needed to be repaired and sealed, (the house was built in the 1970's or '80's I think). I had to leave the room to let each stage cure for hours, so it wouldn't cause me other health issues. This because I tried sleeping in the room right after the window was installed and the following day was the loopiest day ever. Strangely enough, my husband has been in the room this whole time without any evident health issues. All I can do is shrug, he wouldn't have done well camping out, in what is essentially the kitchen, so it's just as well.

I hope to be able to sleep in the room tonight, but if not, tomorrow. Here's hoping for some proper sleep and continued produtivity.

Have a great week!

PS: Also, on a side note, I had to deal with my Facebook account being compromised this month as well. When it rains...   

We're half way through January and it's been a roller coaster, but more about that later. I just finished updating one of my first patterns for making 1/12th scale t-shirts. It's a really simple design, great for beginners, and I'm offering it for free here: Simple_T-shirt_1:12th.pdf