And the cleaning/organizing frenzy continues.....

When I saw the forecast for last weekend, I was elated.

I had figured that we had missed our opportunity for cleaning the garage and would have to wait until spring.  But the cleaning gods were smiling upon us - the forecast for Saturday was in the high 60's.

Hubby, of course, had other plans.  He wanted to work on the shower (a project which irks me to no end - because this house is only four years old we shouldn't HAVE to be working on the shower yet) and to fix the toilet that had suddenly decided to run non-stop.

Of course, there was at least a billion things I would have rather done too - like get a haircut, buy some Christmas presents, suffer through water torture......but I knew that the cooperating weather was a rare gift and that we would be smart to take advantage of it.

I refuse to show before shots - simply because it was too hideous (and I neglected to take any); the result of him being a slob and me thinking at least it's not in the house; which, by the way, is not a good way to think - because if you do, then you end up spending your entire Saturday in the garage and dodging spiders.

I also refuse to show after shots - simply because it's still not "right" (i.e., not Pinterest perfect and, if I'm honest, it never will be simply because it's a garage).

At one point, he moaned "WHERE did all this crap come from? Didn't we JUST get rid of a bunch of stuff before we moved here?!"

Yes, we did.  But we've been here four years now and life - and its detritus - moved on.

Later in the day, he asked me about the two boxes marked "Infant things," to which I responded, "You can't say one word about those boxes until you can explain to me why you have 15,000 boxes of electrical outlets and one gigantic box of screws."  And with that we compromised.  I kept two boxes marked "Infant things," that I will never, ever use again and he kept one box containing an electrical outlet and a gigantic box of screws that he will never, ever use again.

By the end of the day, we had taken to carloads of crap to the hazardous waste site - including two televisions (one fried by lightning and the other one?  I have no idea where it even came from in the first place); a broken hard drive, a broken printer and countless cans of paint.  One carload went to Habitat for Humanity and another to Goodwill.  And I can tell you that next weekend another run to Goodwill will be made.

We also need to call someone to clear out the junk that the trash company won't take.  And another trip to the hazardous waste site is needed for the remaining cans of paint, the broken microwave that surfaced as the day went on AND the television and dvd player that I just remembered is tucked away in a closet - that also got fried by lightning - I am beginning to wonder about our propensity of having household products hit by lightning.

While it is far from perfect, I smile every time I walk through the garage.  Because I can see the floor. Because I can get to every single Christmas box without having to move anything out of the way - and this goes a long way to easing just a teeny, tiny bit of the insanity that usually overtakes me about this time of year.

Any maybe, just maybe, there is a possibility that one day soon - preferably before the first snow - that I may be able to park my car IN the garage.  A novel idea, I know.