things we found in the garage

Today was a de-clutter day... today was the day we were going to tackle our home, The Cabana... The Lovely Steph Leann went after the kitchen, and I braved the cold weather and took on the garage....

Piled up, this was my Saturday project

Our garage is a small, two car garage that doesn't give a lot of room on either sides of our vehicles once we are both in.  Likewise, there isn't a lot of room in the front or back of our cars once in, and I always grimace in slight terror when I pull in The Lovely Steph  Leann's Honda Accord and park it, as I'm afraid the garage door will land on the trunk, or worse yet, scrape the back end bumper as it goes down to close.

Only happened once, though, I'm proud to say.  Let's move on.

We do have some shelving in our garage, though, holding mostly Christmas stuff in big plastic tubs.  Once metal shelf we bought from The Happiest Place in the Mall (aka, The Disney Store) as it closed its doors, another we bought from Home Depot, and yet another is a plastic get-up that one of us has had for a dozen years or more--though I don't know who actually brought it into our union.  Plus, the garage floor was full of leaves and dirt and grime and paper and grit and all the other things a garage door gets mired with over months of non-sweep.

And as I dug into the boxes and bags and random things piled on the shelves, things stuffed in between the plastic crates of Christmas décor and Rubbermaid tubs filled with limbs from a Christmas Tree we are trying to get ride of, I discovered... well, lots of random... crap.  I mean, some of it is good crap.  But some of it is just crap. 

What kind of crap are we talking about, d$?  Well, let me show you... crap like this...

You know... in case you need Microsoft Office.  From 2003.  With instructions.

I'd love to explain why there is a rubber chicken in our garage.  The truth is, I have no clue.  It is a keychain, probably purchased from Spencer's, cause when you are 20, Spencer's is cool. 

Yes, this is a die-cast, 30 year old General Lee.  I think this was part of a set I got for Christmas in like, 1982 or something, with Boss Hogg's Caddy, Roscoe's police cruiser, Daisy's Jeep and Cooter's tow truck.  And somehow, this one survives. 

At Starbucks, they urge you to try all the coffees, as a barista.  And when you do, you can write it in a little book called a "Coffee Passport".  In my 11 years there, I managed to fill out 4 of them... and this one here was the first.  They haven't produced either one of these coffees in at least 6 years...

What would a garage in the $ home be without a little Disney?  Like, how Mushu, Cogsworth, Heimlich and Dot randomly show up on our shelf?  I knew Heimlich was in there somewhere... had no idea about the other guys. 

My first cellphone!  I went 28 years without needing a phone... and I get married, and *boom*... get a cellphone so The Lovely Steph Leann can call me when needed.  Here's the dirty little secret, though... then, and now, she never checks hers... so she can call me and I'll answer... its much harder to call her.   As for this phone, when we got these Cingular phones, they looked just alike.  So I ended up getting a free name plate to distinguish mine.  I'm not even sure who was driving the 31 Cingular NASCAR racecar at the time...

From the category of "Forgot I even ever had this!", here's my first scarf!  Well... that's not entirely true.  My high school flame, Cindy Howell, who I was friends with in college, knitted me a scarf.  It was about 2 and 1/2 feet long, and barely covered my neck with any real purpose.  I used it when I could, but it barely qualified.  THIS was a real scarf, though... purchased from The Happiest Place in Montgomery Mall in like, 1997 or something... then again, if you remember that mall, there wasn't a lot of happiness anywhere there. You coulda got like, shot or something. 

Finally... here's a towel.  It has the name "CHAD" on it.  Neither one of us know a local Chad.  I know a Chad Ward from high school, but he's never been to any of my homes in Birmingham, and we haven't shared a towel since we had sleepovers in 6th grade.  We both know The Lovely Steph Leann's cousin Chad, but he lives in Pell City, and has never been to our house.  So... we have a towel with the name CHAD on it.  Chad, if you are reading this, and you realize you've been missing a towel, and you recognize this as your own, just send me a note soon, and we'll get this back to you.  Otherwise, its going to be donated.

 

Sharpies.  Lots and lots of Sharpies.  I breed them.  And here's a crop I forgot about... and The Lovely Steph Leann hates them all.

 

 

 

One of my Great 48 Tasks was to go through a load of pictures and get them scanned.  Well, here they are.  Though I'm considering getting a Groupon I just saw that will let some company scan over 500 pics for about $30... with my time as limited as it is, it might be worth it...

 

The Lovely Steph Leann and I honeymooned at Disney, with a few days in the park, and a few days on The Disney Wonder, cruising in the Caribbean.  And this glass is a result of one of her (few) fruity drinks she had.

 

 

So there ya go... some random crap I found in my garage.  Admit it, you found it slightly entertaining...

 
(3876 words down, 16,124 to go, on the road to 20K Words in January)