Elephant Challenge: Shedding the excess

One of the to-do's that has been weighing me down all summer has been sitting in our backyard.

Our backyard is the red-headed step sister right now.  We are ignoring it hard core.

It has been the staging ground for the siding & painting projects all summer, and the grass is pretty much dead (all that watering and grass growing was for nothing!).

On top of that, the shed was looking at bit crazy, meaning that when you opened the doors, you couldn't walk in. 

 

We had been using it as a dumping ground for months, and even our contractor got in on the fun.  We currently are housing 4 boxes, a bag of tools and a shop vac for him.  After 90 days, I'm claiming them as our property.... either that or I'm charging rent.

 I finally couldn't take it anymore.

I. HAD. TO. CLEAN. IT.

 

 

Last weekend, I pulled everything out, took stock of what we had and then figured out what was going back in.  I found a ton of things that were garbage, recycle and donate-able, then I reorganized everything that went back in.

It took hours. 

The boys stayed inside, did homework, took naps, watched football, stacked blocks and ate snacks. They had a great time while I sweated, lifted and squatted.  

I actually enjoyed the time alone, with both arms free. It was the best workout I've had in weeks.

Speaking of workouts, I went to a 5:45am boot camp class yesterday morning.  I barely survived and I felt like puking the whole time (which the {very pregnant & very chipper} instructor didn't seem concerned about). I really should have started working out a long time ago. I blame Hunter... and laziness.

Anyway, I got everything back into the shed, and now I can actually see what we have in there. AND we can actually walk around in there (which is much better than not even being able to open the door).

I even shop-vacced the floor.  

That shed has never been so clean.

I was able to purge a ton of stuff, mostly stuff that the old owners had left.  I had a whole stack of paint paints (all colors that we painted over when we moved in) and TONS of chemicals for outdoor use.  

The old owners LOVED chemicals and hated weeds.  

We on the other hand HATE chemicals and are ambivalent about weeds.  I'd rather have them than chemicals in our yard.

All of the old paint and chemicals need to go to the dump/recycling plant to be properly disposed of, but that is a task for another day (I'm going to have to start a second list). 

So here's to the Elephant Challenge. Cross one more thing off the list. 

Two down, three to go.

I kind of want to paint next, but how long do you think it will take Chris and I to agree on a paint color????

Sigh.

Looks like re-grouting is in my future.