Mystery Solved!

For several months I've noticed a strong, slightly unpleasant odor in Boy's room. I wouldn't say it was horrible. It was musky and a little nutty. I just thought his carpet had absorbed the smell of his dirty clothes and that once we were able to open the windows up again the odor would dissipate. It hadn't spilled into the hall, so I wasn't too worried.
This morning as I was gathering laundry, I noticed that Boy had tossed a bunch of clothes in his closet instead of in the hamper. As I started pulling them out I moved his inflatable lobster and saw one of the gallon sized ice cream containers in which Boy keeps his toys. Thinking it was weird that it was in his closet instead of on his shelf like the rest of his containers, I opened the lid . . . .and almost vomited.

The container was half-filled with round mold balls, and right in the middle of it all was a Pokemon video game also covered in mold. Although I couldn't identify what the round things were, I knew what this was. The Pokemon video game said it all. You see I am against Pokemon. This was Boy's secret stash. This secret stash was not good, however, because it was a half-gallon of mold in an old plastic ice cream container with cracks in the lid, in the room of my child who is allergic to everything (including mold no doubt) and my daughter (whose bed is on the other side of the closet with a half gallon of mold) just got over a respiratory illness. Gahhh!

So when I picked Boy up (late in all my anger), I asked him if he knew of anything in his closet that would get him in trouble. He knew what I was talking about, and that there was mold in the bucket. The round things turned out to be buckeyes he'd picked up on a field trip to the forest preserve last fall. Apparently they were wet when he stuck them in the bucket, now they were little more than Nerf balls of mold. But at least now I know why it smelled nutty in his room. The real mystery is that although he has cleaned his room several times since last fall, and had a garbage bag in his room, he never threw the bucket away.

Now the bucket has been tossed and the smell has already disappeared. Hopefully Boy's stuffy nose will be gone soon too.