No Rest For The Wicked or Weary!

As if this place were not a zoo enough, this past weekend really made certain of that status being appropriate for the old house and my family!

Why?

Well, because we had applied for help through the state Weathrization program for some things that need fixed up, done, around the house that were out of our financial range and last week, they sent two guys here who surveyed the situation "up close and personal" and then told us what all they will be doing here.

But, before they could begin, they had an announcement for us that struck fear in to both Mandy and me!

They said in order for them to put insulation in the attic -which they said the place really needed a serious upgrade in that department -we would have to remove everything from the attic!

EVERYTHING? Seriously?

Yes, everything and very seriously!

So, Saturday we had a major house cleaning party going on here!

The grandson (who is 14 years old and a good big, strong, young man) came up here Friday night to spend the weekend with us and was available for Mandy to enlist him to help. Then, because of a fluke in the visitation that had been previously planned for the kids' Dad to see them at his sister's house (her kids and their Dad had all been dealing with a major go-round of the flu, so that visit was out) Mandy allowed him to come here and spend the time with Maya and Kurt. Besides, she figured she could put him to work going through old photos of his that are here and which could be used for the Memorial Service they are now planning in two weeks I think is the date, for his Dad -who passed away back in January.  Later in the day, my son and his girlfriend also showed up and gave a hand with the end of the line stuff that had to be brought down from the attic. (Plus, the almost ex-son-in-law -besides spending a lot of good quality time with the kids -also kicked in and helped a whole lot with this massive task.

And trust me when I tell you it was a massive task too! Clothes we've all outgrown, toys the kids no longer play with, dishes, pots and pans (many that are totally useless), a few old odd lamps here and there, the old kitchen table (in pieces -the top on one end of the attic, legs someplace else up there), old bedding and other linens, virtually darned near everything but the kitchen sink!

And books -books -and some more books! The book issue really bothered me greatly because so many of them where my college text books for which I have no use and can't sell them back or to anyone else at this point in time since they are between 18-22 years old -along with several boxes of paperback books along with a fairly large assortment of hardbound books, even many that were best sellers too! Plus one whole box of extremely old books as well, some of which had been text books for my uncle when he was in high school which was back in the late teens/early twenties of the last century no less!

What to do with all this stuff?

Once they got started pulling things down from the attic, it was almost like there was some kind of gusher pump somewhere that just kept being found and stuff moving around like crazy!

The sad thing about all this uproar (besides my quandry about the books) is that we don't have an exact date when the crews will be arriving to install this lovely insulation so all the boxes of stuff that we kept are stacked hither, thither and yon throughout the house.

It's stacked so much in the bathroom that you don't want to take a chance if you think you need to use that room don't waste time getting there cause it's like a labyrinth to get through that room and over to the facility you need to use! A disaster perhaps could be in the making there too, ya know!

But at least, our part is done for now anyway and we just have to put up with the extra mess here until they come and do their end of the work now.

Hopefully, this will help keep the house warmer in the winter (maybe even a bit cooler in the summer too) and then, an added bonus to that would be if it helps even a little bit to keep the fuel costs in check!

That last part is probably just going to be wishful thinking cause I don't think there's all that much anyone can do to keep fuel costs down, is there?