A couple of years ago, I was talking on the phone with a friend as I was walking down my hallway. My home is mostly covered in Pergo wood flooring, which I love. (It's warmer than tile and easier to clean than carpet.) It's a laminate flooring, installed directly over concrete, atop of a cushy liner which makes it very comfortable to walk on.

As I walked by one of the bathrooms, I stepped in a puddle. Again.

This the was third time in a day and a half that I had stepped in that annoying puddle, I thought crossly to myself, reaching for a towel to mop it up. Then I stopped.

My mind racing furiously, I wiped up the water, then stepped on the board again. Water welled up from underneath, through the cracks. "Oh crap!" I said aloud. "I think I have a leak. I'll call you back."

Later that day, with 1/3 of my hallway torn up (the Pergo was ruined) we determined that there was a small, slow leak in a nearby wall. Apparently, it was simpy the accumulation of water over a long period of time and a recent bout of warm weather had accelerated the growth of...

MOLD.

I woke up that next morning to see a few bumps on my face. I hadn't had acne like that since I was a teenager! Miffed, I applied Clearasil and went about my daily routine. But the next time I checked, the bumps had spread all over my face: I looked like a raspberry!

That's when I realized that I was breaking out into hives. I switched from Clearasil to cortisone cream, but it didn't get better.

Now, I'll admit that I'm allergic to anything that is alive or ever was alive. I can eat all foods, thankfully. But when it comes to mold, I'm especially allergic.

So that's when I decided to pack everyone up and stay in a hotel for a couple days while the house dried out and the mold died.

If you think staying in a hotel is fun, try staying in a hotel room with two pent-up kids who haven't been allowed to go home all day. Kids who have just seen the movie "Over the Hedge" and want to be just like the characters in it (who ever said kids had good taste?!). These kids were w-o-u-n-d u-p. Tighter. Than. A. Top.

They decided to reenact The Matrix, jumping between the two beds and slinging pillows at each other. I tolerted that for a short time before I calmly told them that I was about to skin them alive. Then they settled down into a nice, quiet game of "he's poking me, no I'm not."

By 10 PM, the lights were out and the kids were lying there quietly, in fear for their lives, while

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