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judecorpThis was an exhausting weekend for sure.
Yesterday I drove to RI in the rain to begin lugging things from the attic. I arrived a little after 10am and lugged stuff down on my own until about 2pm, and it was just /so/ exhausting. I would take things down from the attic to the second floor, then down to the first floor, then out into the rain to put them in the dumpster. At one point I called Jen on the phone and left a message on her voicemail saying that I didn't know what I was going to do but it was just so daunting and I wanted to burn the place down. (I must have sounded pretty pathetic because she started calling people to beg for help.) At this point I had filled about 1/3 of the dumpster.
At 2ish my uncle came over and I was leery because instead of helping right off the bat, he started off playing "Down Memory Lane" with all of the stuff, since he and my dad grew up in that house and there was stuff up there for 50+ years. When my aunt joined him, we finally started bringing more stuff down and it was certainly easier with two extra people because you could hand things off. By 5:00 we called it a day and I headed to Grandma's to take a shower. We had filled more than half a dumpster.
When I took a shower, my muscles were so exhausted that I had a hard time standing in the shower because my legs were just shaking and shaking. I managed to get cleaned up and over to the restaurant for the birthday party, though I didn't know the parking lot and I bottomed out on an incline, which totally freaked me out. The party invitations said 6:00 but the Birthday Girl wasn't expected until 7:00 which kind of cheesed me out because I was just blitzed. We ate dinner at 8:30 and I bailed at 9:30 before they'd even cut the cake. I just couldn't take it anymore, and because of all of the stairs and the rainy weather my knees were killing me. I got home at 10:30 and just wanted to die.
We got up at 8 this morning to get ready, and Olex and Jen arrived around 9. After a quick Dunkies stop, we headed down and pretty much got right to work. For nearly 2 hours, the four of us were a machine. We had a great system and we were able to get stuff down from landing to landing without having to do too many stairs. We broke for lunch around noon, I paid the dumpster dude, and Shani and Matt arrived, followed by Jackie. We easily had 3/4 a dumpster filled by then.
Having those three extra people really made it a snap, and in a little over an hour we'd filled the whole dumpster to overflow. With seven people, we had a train going all the way down the stairs and just passed the stuff, occasionally with funny commentary or warnings. Jen had bought a whole bunch of work gloves which I'd kind of scoffed at but was really glad to have after, especially with the 100+ rusty coffee cans and billions of broken mason jars. There was so much random stuff that should never have been put up there in the first place - worn-out boots, old cable boxes, broken light fixtures, 10 years worth of motorcycle magazines, broken kids' toys, random broken bits of items.
There were some interesting finds - an old over-the-seat potty chair that was made of wood (!!!), a rolled-up tapestry that we moved downstairs to check out, my mother's high school diploma and valedictorian certificate, some political pins from the 70s, and a box of handwritten ledgers/journals that I think are my grandfather's Freemason things. There are about 7 steamer trunks (contents unknown, no time to look), an ancient baby stroller, and some bizarre artwork. We also tossed some really (and I do mean REALLY) ugly objects, like the panther lamp (rowr) and some totally 70s light fixtures. Not to mention 20+ sets of old-fashioned venetian blinds that were all tangled into each other.
It's amazing how much bigger the attic looks without 2 tons of stuff in it. We left the furniture, the trunks, two cots, all of the spare doors/screens/windows/tiles/awnings, and all of the stuff that was left when we ran out of room in the dumpster. Between the rest of that and the (ugh) basement, I'm sure we can fill another dumpster at a later date. I'm tired just thinking about it. But I have to say that with the excellent help and the lack of rain, today was a FAR better day. (Thanks, guys. I love you.)
I know I say it a lot, but I have been blessed with great friends and an even greater wife. She is my rock, and y'all are my foundation. Thank you.
Yesterday I drove to RI in the rain to begin lugging things from the attic. I arrived a little after 10am and lugged stuff down on my own until about 2pm, and it was just /so/ exhausting. I would take things down from the attic to the second floor, then down to the first floor, then out into the rain to put them in the dumpster. At one point I called Jen on the phone and left a message on her voicemail saying that I didn't know what I was going to do but it was just so daunting and I wanted to burn the place down. (I must have sounded pretty pathetic because she started calling people to beg for help.) At this point I had filled about 1/3 of the dumpster.
At 2ish my uncle came over and I was leery because instead of helping right off the bat, he started off playing "Down Memory Lane" with all of the stuff, since he and my dad grew up in that house and there was stuff up there for 50+ years. When my aunt joined him, we finally started bringing more stuff down and it was certainly easier with two extra people because you could hand things off. By 5:00 we called it a day and I headed to Grandma's to take a shower. We had filled more than half a dumpster.
When I took a shower, my muscles were so exhausted that I had a hard time standing in the shower because my legs were just shaking and shaking. I managed to get cleaned up and over to the restaurant for the birthday party, though I didn't know the parking lot and I bottomed out on an incline, which totally freaked me out. The party invitations said 6:00 but the Birthday Girl wasn't expected until 7:00 which kind of cheesed me out because I was just blitzed. We ate dinner at 8:30 and I bailed at 9:30 before they'd even cut the cake. I just couldn't take it anymore, and because of all of the stairs and the rainy weather my knees were killing me. I got home at 10:30 and just wanted to die.
We got up at 8 this morning to get ready, and Olex and Jen arrived around 9. After a quick Dunkies stop, we headed down and pretty much got right to work. For nearly 2 hours, the four of us were a machine. We had a great system and we were able to get stuff down from landing to landing without having to do too many stairs. We broke for lunch around noon, I paid the dumpster dude, and Shani and Matt arrived, followed by Jackie. We easily had 3/4 a dumpster filled by then.
Having those three extra people really made it a snap, and in a little over an hour we'd filled the whole dumpster to overflow. With seven people, we had a train going all the way down the stairs and just passed the stuff, occasionally with funny commentary or warnings. Jen had bought a whole bunch of work gloves which I'd kind of scoffed at but was really glad to have after, especially with the 100+ rusty coffee cans and billions of broken mason jars. There was so much random stuff that should never have been put up there in the first place - worn-out boots, old cable boxes, broken light fixtures, 10 years worth of motorcycle magazines, broken kids' toys, random broken bits of items.
There were some interesting finds - an old over-the-seat potty chair that was made of wood (!!!), a rolled-up tapestry that we moved downstairs to check out, my mother's high school diploma and valedictorian certificate, some political pins from the 70s, and a box of handwritten ledgers/journals that I think are my grandfather's Freemason things. There are about 7 steamer trunks (contents unknown, no time to look), an ancient baby stroller, and some bizarre artwork. We also tossed some really (and I do mean REALLY) ugly objects, like the panther lamp (rowr) and some totally 70s light fixtures. Not to mention 20+ sets of old-fashioned venetian blinds that were all tangled into each other.
It's amazing how much bigger the attic looks without 2 tons of stuff in it. We left the furniture, the trunks, two cots, all of the spare doors/screens/windows/tiles/awnings, and all of the stuff that was left when we ran out of room in the dumpster. Between the rest of that and the (ugh) basement, I'm sure we can fill another dumpster at a later date. I'm tired just thinking about it. But I have to say that with the excellent help and the lack of rain, today was a FAR better day. (Thanks, guys. I love you.)
I know I say it a lot, but I have been blessed with great friends and an even greater wife. She is my rock, and y'all are my foundation. Thank you.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 10:35 pm (UTC)If you give me a little warning next time I will attempt to clear my calendar. Warning--quarter gets really hectic around mid-November.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 02:52 am (UTC)My dad and I used to joke about all of those damned coffee cans and how I was going to have to deal with them when he died and how it made me nutso just thinking about it. I just didn't think it would happen so soon.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 01:51 pm (UTC)But I felt badly that we had said we would help and then ended up not being able to actually do it.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 02:12 am (UTC)Seriously.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 02:47 pm (UTC)That is, in referring to this well-wisher as your foundation? He may very well demand you construct him a marvellous edifice of unbridled complexity and richness.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 03:19 am (UTC)