2018: Tackling my spring to-do list, a happy heart and very sore feet!

Back in early March I wrote a post called Operation: BLISSFULLY HAPPY that detailed my plans over the next 1, 2 and 10 years. I’ve also been updating and tackling my to-do list for my entire home as I go here with the weather causing changes and adjustments. When spring FINALLY arrived I hit the ground running and put myself to work starting with my wood shed!

This shed started off as my grandpa’s machine shed where he kept his tractors etc. It remained his machine shed for DECADES. From there it was taken over by my folks’ golf course and housed mowers for years upon years. From there it became my wood shed as I used to heat entirely with wood.

So, as you can imagine (after nearly 80 years!) this old shed desperately needed to be cleaned out!

My grandpa kept everything he owned neat, tidy and safe, but he also KEPT everything. My father, on the other hand, was organizationally challenged to the point of it almost being hard to believe. My ex was somewhere between them but I’m convinced that he felt that throwing actual trash away was simply beneath him.

SO, here I am, finally tackling a project that has been bothering me for at least ten years, even long before I owned this place. Now that I’m single I can finally sell, throw away, give away, burn and purge without another human being’s laziness keeping me from it.

(And now that I can finally DO these things that I’ve wanted to do for so long I’m gonna have to learn to pace myself lol!!)

My mom has felt the exact same way about this shed for many years so, not an hour after I dove in, she was right there beside me. Honestly, half of the stuff on those back shelves I didn’t even KNOW WHAT IT WAS.

Ancient tools, parts, pieces off of hydraulics from golf course mowers, a lifetime supply of used air filters, endless, ancient, gas cans and oil cans filled with god-knows-what.

And, in the mix of all of this, was trash from both my ex and from my dad and four empty skoll cans that MIGHT have been antiques! Fortunately, I have some friends that have a MAJOR affinity for old tools and machine parts so nothing went to waste (or to the dump) that was not actually trash.

(I should have taken pics of their old trucks here in the yard, it was like we all warped back to the 70s lol but considering that I am Grandma’s House DIY I guess this being my crowd really shouldn’t surprise me at all!)

They stared with their own WTH looks at the total randomness of what I had going on. At one point, all three of them, standing there with stuff in their hands, were asking me, “Where did this come from!?” Boys, I got no clue!

The biggest job was not the trash or the endless-whatever-stuff actually, it was the two feet of wood chips that covered nearly half of the shed and the literally three hours of shoveling because I just NEEDED it all cleaned out.

FOR REAL: The ground floor of this shed hasn’t been seen in years!

I wanted it down to the dirt for one very important reason that I have mentioned several times on the blog here. This wood shed is my horse’s future hay and grain shed so I wanted anything that was otherwise TOTALLY GONE.

I was going to be moving my wood to my garage (that was the old plan) but this endless winter meant I had no wood to move and also, I’m so totally DONE with wood.

And by DONE I mean – I’ve already sold the wood splitter you see in my photos here. Am I throwing a tantrum? YES I AM! And I am really looking forward to installing another form of heat for my home later this fall and never again compromising on something when my gut told me it was a bad idea. NEVER AGAIN!

(What I really need is just a margarita on a beach somewhere!)

Moving on to the final reveal: A spectacular, empty shed that is so clean I have literally walked down here every day since I got this done to just stand in it. It makes my heart SO glad!

The big shelves in the back I’ll be disassembling and reusing, the little old bead board cupboard sadly did not survive being moved. The pile of stone and lawn mower have both been sold along with the wood splitter which means I am a breath away from having my “new” car paid off which means I am MONTHS ahead of my I-hate-bills-and-playing-interest-timeline.

And now we’re moving on to my sad truth: I SHOULD sell my Corolla because I am an actual adult and I do not need her 🙁 Seriously, this is terrible. I love my first car, my favorittessst car EVER. My Corolla! My obsessive ridiculous absolute MUST-get-rid-of-things-I-do-not-need actually may break my own damn heart!

I HATE things that I have to dust or feed or move or that make my life harder or that I must take care of or pay for and that never helps me in my life in any way shape or form… well now I know suddenly exactly why I kicked my ex out.

What I could ACTUALLY really use on my little farm is a 4 wheeler. That would ACTUALLY be a thoughtful adult purchase that my Corolla could help finance…

Adulting is hard.

But it is also kinda wonderful because I am sore in the best way and my heart is glad as only working outside to improve your own home can do. I have a blister, bruises upon bruises and VERY tired feet but I can’t wait to move my horses down here!

They’re gonna run around and buck and fart and trip because, despite what people would have you believe, they are actually totally lovable morons. Horses have like NO depth perception so their antics in new areas is so comical I’m gonna pull up a camping chair and open a beer for the show.

Since the big shed clean out I’ve hauled four loads to the dump and also totally cleaned out my garage of all the trash my ex left behind there too. A couple of hours of organization and it felt like I had a brand new garage – I totally twirled and danced because there was suddenly SO MUCH SPACE!

Guys and gals, I am almost completely rid of every last bit of crap my ex left behind and have already moved on to fixing the projects he either completed incorrectly or never completed at all. I was told that realistically it would be YEARS before I got to this point.

Bahahahaha!

Have we discussed how stubborn and busy I am yet? Cause yeah I’m totally getting all this stuff done if it kills me cause I honestly just CAN’T WAIT!!