Lynda Ann had the horrendous job of cleaning out her dad and Gloria's house in Wyoming to get it ready to sell. Andrew and I went with her last Thursday to help her clean and get the house ready to show and hopefully to get a buyer for it. Have you ever faced a giant situation? A looming project? Well, that is exactly what Annie, Andrew and I walked into. All three of us just kind of stood there and looked at what seemed like an impossible task to accomplish by Saturday noon. We knew it would be 'one step at a time'.
Where to begin? The first thing we tackled was the kitchen. I kept concentrating on one cupboard at a time. Just one step at a time. I thought about someone telling me "How do you eat an elephant?" the old saying goes, "one bite at a time". And that is exactly what we did. I couldn't let myself concentrate on the end result because I could have easily been discouraged over and over again. So the three of us concentrated on one project at a time not thinking about what was down the hall or in the storage room or the basement, the garage or the barn. Just one thing at a time. When we finally finished the kitchen we were exhausted. Every single drawer and cupboard had to be vacuumed and scrubbed. Nothing could just be wiped out. Everything required elbow grease to get it clean. The kitchen done, we then started on the four bathrooms and huge laundry room.
Our final step, in the house, was the basement and the food storage room. I seriously have never cleaned up anything as disgusting and gross as that storage room. Food storage that had spoiled over 30+ years of sitting on shelves. Cans that had exploded or rotted out at the bottom. Mouse droppings layered on every shelf! I do not exaggerate. Not one shelf in that huge storage room was without the presence of mice. We were all so thankful that we never saw a live mouse scurrying across the room. That was a blessing! They stayed well hidden while we were cleaning.
Annie hired two men with trailers who both made two trips to the dump to get rid of all the stuff in the house, the barn and the garage. Annie paid these men for their time and service, but were such a bonus to an overwhelming job. They went the extra mile and actually helped us haul stuff up the stairs. They even hauled some furniture from the basement to the main floor to be sold. We also had a guy come with his two little boys who hauled tons of large storage bins to take home to feed his pigs and chickens. That was also a big help. I will add here that one neighbor, Dawn (don't know her last name), came over on Friday morning and Saturday morning and just jumped in and helped with the cleaning. Talk about someone going the extra mile and serving. She was amazing and probably saved us 3 or 4 hours of work. It took us until Saturday at 1:30 p.m. when we could finally close the front door and feel like it was ready to show potential buyers. A great sigh of relief came from all three of us as we drove out the driveway. I did take one last look as we rounded the end of the driveway. So happy to have that behind Lynda Ann. One more thing off her plate!
Here are some pictures that really don't do it justice but gives you a reminder of the size of the home and what we we did. I wish I had taken more pictures of the "before". I sure hope Annie took a bunch.
This was one little corner of the basement. You could hardly walk through the basement rooms they were so full of garbage and junk. The mice were rampant in the basement.
