Stupid Garage – A Ravenous Vacuum
If you drive down our street and our garage door just happens to be open, you’ll notice a big, scary mess. It’s our messy garage, and it’s got me beat. A vacuum is an “absence of matter” that has a great capacity to produce suction. (See Dyson commercials.) Our garage was at one point absent of matter, but it produces so much suction, that is just attracts..stuff.
I’ve had several times where I’ve tackled and conquered the garage. Did a garage sale, did Craig’s list, did E-bay, donated things to charity…Right? Well it seems that every time I’ve gotten this feeling of accomplishment with the garage, someone or something dumps a bunch of stuff off to us that we have to store… in our garage.
Part of our problem is that we’ve had a business for 11 years that recently moved back into our home. (Don’t even get me started on Brent’s “office” inside the home.) We’ve waxed and waned several times and with the recently economic “issues” we’ve waned all the way back into our house. (Very Old) Computer monitors, (very old) computers, (pretty old) desks, (jacked-up) chairs, (annoying) files, (numerous) cords/keyboards/mice, (even more annoying) client files, (too much) office supplies… All just sitting in there. Add to that Brent’s (old school) comics and baseball cards, podcasting equipment, iBoughtAMac t-shirts, suitcases, family china, a dry/wet vac, a big sanding table thingy… well the list is endless…. and you’ve got yourself a crazy garage!!
The most recent suctioning event came from crazy Evo Terra and his awesome wife Sheila. Don’t get me wrong. These two are incredible people. I mean, PodCamp AZ wouldn’t run without them. (Thank God for their help!) And they’re funny and fun. Anyway, during the last PodCamp we had here in Arizona (Nov 2008), I couldn’t believe it when Evo offered to take home the leftover PodCamp AZ t-shirts!!! Woo!! I had the 2007 shirts plaguing our garage for a solid year, and now, I would experience FREEDOM from the 2008 tees! Nice. Well wouldn’t you know it? At the last PodCamp AZ meet-up (which I had to miss b/c Cadie was sick), you’ll never guess what happened. Evo and Sheila were “cleaning out” their garage and brough the t-shirts to give to… us. That’s right. 3 PodCamp AZ 2008 t-shirt boxes are resting happily in my garage now. (We’ve got to figure out how many tees to really order this next time!! Such a difficult thing to do.)
In December 2007, Brent’s parents came down from Seattle to help us get our house ready for Cadence’s arrival (Jan 08). Part of the preparation was to “tackle” the garage (again). Brent and his father built some awesome shelves on the sides and Brent’s mom and I cleared through the muck. What a feeling of accomplishment. Then, I had to cancel the storage for our business stuff. And, “incoming!” more stuff moved in. But last year, it was nice to donate 8 computer monitors to Big Brother, Big Sister. So, there was some reconciliation there.
Just yesterday Brent’s cousin and incredibly organized (and incredbily sweet) wife, Dan and Leah, came over. Brent “watched” Cadie as he and Dan played Flower on the PS3. (To be fair, Brent actually did watch Cadence, which I am very thankful for, or else nothing would have gotten done!) Leah and I made two runs to the thrift store(s) to donate things. So, I feel a little better again. But, the mess is still among us.
Seriously, when I drive past garages that are opened and have mostly nothing in them except for a broom and their car, I just don’t get it at all. I’m so jealous!
So, there is still the rest of this weekend to figure out what to do with the stuff. I’m going to stop complaining now and get busy! Or, I’m going to go and get coffee. Hmm.
MS :0)
Can it be? Do you take after anyone in your family? Hmmmmmm.