Day 164 Out With the Old

With a recent hospitalization, I've come to the realization that I need to pare down, seriously.

I've three careers in my garage and basement.

For a number of years I taught middle school.  Just telling a friend tonight about some of the crazy things that happened to me early in my career.  

I entered a second career as a property and casualty phone representative and learned a whole lot about insurance, a career I revisited some years later.

My third career was that of a novelist and editor. I did a lot with romantic fiction. A lot.  


All three are paper intensive industries and industries that have required an intensive educational process. That means lots of notes, handouts, books, lectures, etc.

As the years  have waned, the boxes have been filled and stacked.  There are a couple of decades of such boxes. Boxes that fill nooks and crannies and plastic crates. Some of those are in the garage where tools, bikes, Christmas decorations and tax receipts of a couple decades take up residence. 

The problem with boxes in a garage you use to actually park your vehicle in is that wheels and undercarriages carry road grime and bring in weather (snow, ice, rain) that drip onto the floor and leave their residue behind.

Cleaning out the garage is a mess.

It's dirty (dusty in the summer), and if you are the sort, like me, to attach memories to things, a trip down memory lane.  Unfortunately, a lot of the items kept in the garage are things you couldn't bring yourself to part with, but now you must.

Cleaning out the garage is an emotional roller coaster.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on the garage.  The right side is getting pretty well done.  I have the front to door and the other side.  But right now, I am traversing that packed away, dusty trip down memory lane.

I've got the first photo of the side that is almost complete.  As more is accomplished, I'll post more pics.

Oh, and I've stuck to my commitment to keep trying new things.  I'll be trying a flank steak recipe soon.  In the past two weeks I've made a chicken tetrazzini bake, a Dorritos taco salad, Korean ground beef and a Caprese salad with avocado.