I know it won't sound very fun to many, but Saturday I had the chance to help clean out my in-laws' garage. Actually, it didn't sound very fun to me at first either. The little event was the brain child of Jimmy and Marla, I believe (let me know if I'm wrong), as a gift to the parents for Mother's Day, Father's Day, their anniversary and birthdays. I'm always into service instead of presents so I thought it was great idea.... except for the part where his parents have been storing "memories" and "necessary items" for the last 18 years. I wish I had some before pictures! I knew we had our work cut out for us! Joe and I arrived a little late and were AMAZED at how much Jimmy and Jake had accomplished. I remember thinking "this may be possible after all!" Jimmy was our go-to guy. He had a vision of what he wanted to accomplish and also made sure we weren't throwing anything away we shouldn't. Jake helped convince Jimmy that some things just had to go (actually.... he wanted to toss everything, hehe). Throw Joe into the mix with his natural "pot stirring" abilities and we had the recipe for GOOD TIMES. I laughed the whole day from the "Jim Jr." comments (because Jimmy wouldn't let things go) to the jokes about all of "Aunt Lucy's" stuff (did we ever find out who she was?). It was a wonderful day of service and family. Marla stopped by a couple of times to visit and check our progress. She was perma-babysitter for the day and crucial to our progress. It's SO much easier to get things done when you aren't worried about little ones finding dead rodents or cutting themselves on the endless sea of tools and raw sheet metal. And we missed Natalie, but school first! She had a rough day of idiotic instructors. (Who makes a group assignment on Saturday--due Monday--without assigning groups? Honestly?)
Anyway, Saturday turned out to be super enjoyable. It was hard work (my body shutdown Saturday night and didn't start working until this morning), but we are pleased with the results! Eventually Joe's mom just might be able to park her car in the garage! It's only been 18 years, right? So what's a few more months, hehe.
From the back. That is a picture of hope... that someday a car might be parked in here!
One of the treasures we took away was a freezer from the 1960s. It was so bad you had to put weights on the top to keep the lid down. We expect to see their electric bill decrease dramatically!
From this view all you used to see was stuff. Wanted to get to the back door? Forget about it! Now there is not only a path, we could have a picnic in here.... well, maybe not a picnic (hantavirus and all), but you get the idea.
This 20ft trailer is FULL of stuff from the garage. Unloading it will be another day's project. Until then, no peeking Jim!!! What goes on the trailer, stays on the trailer!
From the back. That is a picture of hope... that someday a car might be parked in here!
One of the treasures we took away was a freezer from the 1960s. It was so bad you had to put weights on the top to keep the lid down. We expect to see their electric bill decrease dramatically!
From this view all you used to see was stuff. Wanted to get to the back door? Forget about it! Now there is not only a path, we could have a picnic in here.... well, maybe not a picnic (hantavirus and all), but you get the idea.
This 20ft trailer is FULL of stuff from the garage. Unloading it will be another day's project. Until then, no peeking Jim!!! What goes on the trailer, stays on the trailer!
2 comments:
glad you had so much fun doing some service... Luke is in the middle of helping out his parents clean out their garage. I have one word.. YIKES! ;) Keep up the good work!
Just BEAUTIFUL! way to document it!
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