Post-Winter Garage

What a beautiful day here in Minnesota! I opened up all the windows in the house today to try to let out that yucky winter stench that's been accumulating for the past 5 months. I'd almost forgotten how great all the fresh air smells as it's blowing around the house.

On my way to the bank this afternoon, I paused before getting into the car and took a long, hard look at the area of clutter and chaos that we refer to as a garage. I'd also almost forgotten what a huge job it is to try to reach some semblance of order in a garage after a long, hard winter.

For the past several months we've all been ignoring it. Sure, it has served us quietly and discreetly during the long winter months. It has provided shelter for our cars and relieved us of early-morning, finger-numbing window-scraping. It has housed our multiple recycling containers, mindful of our continuing attempts at "saving the planet." It has been a temporary home to my in-laws fishing boat. It has become a dumping ground for large boxes, odds and ends, and any type of items that are too large or dirty to be deposited in our indoor storage facility, otherwise know as the dining room.

And all the stuff in there has been shoved just far enough to the wall and just high enough as not to compromise the safety of the poor innocent schmuck trying to squeeze out Bill's passenger side car door and run into the warm house. In a way it reminds me of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. You know... "Look at me. Look at me. Look at me now. I can hold up the box and the chair and the kite. I can hold up a rake and a table ...isn't it a sight?"

But we really haven't paid attention to it since last October. We all just open the door long enough to toss out an old soup can, throw away an unwanted box, or reach for a roll of duct tape, before quickly slamming it shut to keep out the frigid air. We run through it to get to our cars without a second glance.

We've totally ignored it for months.

Now...it's time for payback.

Now...it's time for spring garage cleaning.

I'm pretty sure everyone elses garage looks pretty similar to this right now. So today, I've come up with a list of things that I need to do:

1. Return neighbors power tools. Geez...don't we have enough of our own!
2. Locate all kitchen utensils, cups and water bottles. It's the kids...alright?
3. Distribute all lawn and deck furniture to where it belongs. Who cares if it snows one more time. I gotta get them out of there!
4. Figure out what to do with kites. Where the heck do you guys store yours? Someone needs to invite a kite storage system...
5. Get bikes down from the rafters in the ceiling before the kids ask me one more time. It might just put me over the edge.
6. Decide if I should throw away or pack away all left over outdoor Christmas decorations. Throwing them would be easier, wouldn't it?
7. Store sleds and snowboards until next winter. OMG - that thought almost makes me cry.


So wish me luck...here I go...