I have moths!

You can only imagine my horror when I arrived at school yesterday morning, and sitting down in the brightly lit lounge, I noticed several holes in my wool jacket. On further inspection, I found lots of holes, some small, some very large. Moths!

I don't understand how this happened. I keep my wool jackets and sweaters in sealed plastic bags, and they're all cleaned before being sealed inside. So how did those damn moths get in there?

Needless to say, I came home as soon as possible from school, and started packing bags of wool garments in my freezer (after I'd removed enough food to make room for some bags, which means I'll be cooking a good bit this weekend). I stopped on the way home and picked up lots of small cedar blocks, which I stuffed into cupboards, closets, and the bags I couldn't fit right away into the freezer. I tell you, I'm terrified of opening those bags and finding what damage has occurred.

I'm also tucking cedar blocks into my bags and tubs of yarn. I'll be inspecting the yarn after I get through the clothing. I can't believe this happened. All I can hope is that the damage is limited, and I won't have to be shopping for a new wardrobe any time soon. And that my yarn is okay. And that I don't need to invest in a lifetime supply of mothballs (assuming I can find those around here.)

I didn't sleep much last night. I kept imagining I could hear the little beasts munching. And as I was driving home today, I realized I didn't bag my wool pants. I thought of the sweaters, but for some reason, I just never connected pants to moth-danger. So, I 'll need to go through all my wool pants, checking for damage, too. And the wool area rug I have in the living. And ~ OMG, I just thought of all the fabric I have in my sewing room.

I'm 58 years old, and this is the first time in my life I have ever encountered moths. My mother never had them. Growing up, none of the neighbors had them. I've never had them. I don't even know anything about them. Guess I'll be searching the Internet tonight, looking for information.

About 11 o'clock last night, I sat on my bed and just cried. Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but this just hit me really hard. I absolutely loved that wool jacket I had to toss in the trash bin on the way from my garage to my apartment yesterday. (I couldn't take it off at work, because the top underneath was a little too skimpy to wear while teaching 10 and 11 year olds). I itched all day yesterday (and I know that's ridiculous, cause those moths don't bite people ~ at least, I don't think they do!)

I don't even know how long to leave the bags in the freezer. I know I'd read on somebody's blog about freezing the little monsters, but not how long they had to be frozen. So, I'm leaving them there until Saturday afternoon. 3 days. And when they come out, the next batch, now marinating in eau de cedar, will go in. I need a little time before I jump in to looking for damage in the wool clothing. I don't think I can handle that right now.

I'm also trying to get ready for parent conferences, which start next week. Ive got tons of material to sort out, reports to print out, forms to fill out. That's what I'd planned to do this weekend, rather than cooking up most of the contents of my freezer, and inspecting many of my most favorite sweaters for moth damage.