Jan 30, 2008

Finally! The Attic Is Done.

Well, I finished the attic today. It took me half the day, including the hour I sat up there laughing and looking at stuff in boxes from high school and early college years. I found stuff I can use for my graduation party and Roger's MRI's from when he was 13 in California. He and his neurosurgeon have been wanting to see those. I don't know how they can be in good condition from being up there all these years without being covered or in anything. I looked through them and didn't see any thing in the area where his tumor was, but I'm not an expert. I don't know what I'm looking at. I got to a point when I realized how close I was to being done and I decided to just keep going until it was finished. I nailed down the plywood I previously put down Saturday then moved everything from under the eaves over to that area. It filled up the entire space plus I finally put the Christmas tubs up there. Talk about a pain in the you know what. I really shouldn't have put those tubs up there by myself, but if I wait for help, nothing will ever get done. I did think once or twice, "You're going to hurt yourself Holly," but that didn't stop me. You get to a point when you just can't take it anymore and you have to do something about it. That actually happens to me a lot. That's how I find motivation to clean my house. Ha! Sad, but true.

Back to the attic. Moving all that stuff revealed a couple of pieces of plywood up there already so I used those and cut some leftover pieces from this project to cover almost all of the area under the eaves. Then I proceeded to move all our stuff around in a more organized manner. Only short term organized manner. When Roger gets home for good, he's going to help me go through every single thing in that attic. We have boxes of stuff from our lives before we got together and we seriously need to get rid of more than half of it. I think there were about twenty empty boxes from every electronic, appliance or set of pots or dishes we own. I understand the reason to keep them for ease of packing for our next move, but keeping all those boxes goes against every grain of sense in my body. I really don't like clutter and all that stuff up there kills me. But I have some patience to wait to toss or recycle or freecycle it all.

Oh it feels good to be done. Of course I'll feel even better once we go through everything up there and the other boxes left in the garage. I could move them to the attic, but they can wait for Roger's return. I can finally give my dad his pneumatic nail gun & long hose back. I'm sure he can use it. You think by owning a home there's always something to do. Most of the stuff there is to do on modern homes is stuff we create for ourselves to make our lives easier or more pleasant. On a farm, there really is always something to do, to fix, to repair, to make, to make bigger, etc. You get my drift. And my dad's fresh egg business is growing so much he added onto the chicken barn recently only to realize he's going to have to do it again. Demand for your product is not a bad thing. But with my dad's health issues, it would be easier to need to expand if he could work every day. He actually went to the doctor today. He was going to come to Austin with me yesterday and stay until I went back to A&M on Thursday for class, but he wasn't feeling good. I'm glad he didn't come after all. I think I would have had to take him back to Bryan after all. His knees were swollen this morning so my mom called and made an appointment for him this morning and they gave him a bunch of medicine. I don't know if it has to do with the usual fluid movement issues he has because of his hardened blood vessels, if he has gout again or if it's something new. And when he's going through all this junk, he doesn't feel good so he's not the most pleasant person either. Sometimes he can really fit the bill of an old, ornery, stubborn cowboy. If you've seen Lonesome Dove, think Woodrow.

Anyway, so I'm done for the day. I'm starving. What else is new? I'm going to eat a snack before I jump in the tub because I can't stand myself. I had to take my clothes off in the garage before I came into the house because I was filthy. It's easier to scoot around on your butt & knees up in the attic so I was covered in dirt and dust. I'm going to work a little bit after my shower then get ready for class tomorrow and yoga before I go to bed. My back in sore and I'm stiff. I seriously have been doing yoga every day just to stay flexible and not get stiff from all this work and all the swimming. I am really enjoying swimming. I could tell yesterday that my endurance is increasing. So I'm looking forward to being able to do my workout plan completely. Right now I'm doing a modified version of it. I'm still swimming an hour, but not exactly the same as the workout. It's all building endurance. I will eventually have to swim longer. And once the semester ends and I no longer have to go to A&M anymore, I'm going to start looking for a gym here with a great indoor pool for Roger and myself to swim. I'd like to swim at least three days a week.

Roger had a photo shoot early this morning for the newspaper then he went to the National Cathedral on one of those field trips they set up for the soldiers. But of course, he takes his camera so the newspaper can use the photos if they need to fill space or decided to do a story about it. I really hope he blogs about it because it was a tour and tea. I can't wait for him to talk about the finger foods they had at the tea. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. No, actually I wish I was there. He said everything was delicious and the tea was stronger than he expected. He went to a Washington Wizards game last night. These field trips make it possible to get away from Walter Reed and forget the crazy stupidity that goes on there for a while. Okay, enough for today, I'm off to grab a bite. Oh, check out the pictures of the finished product in the Flickr set House Work. Later!

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