A frustrated wife and mom decides to document her husband's crap. She is joined by several other frustrated bloggers living with packrats and slobs.
Photos document clutter and unfinished chores along with dates in an effort to prove that she is right and he is wrong.
Please do not assume to understand the relationships between the contributors and their spouses based on the content of this blog.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I think Crap is exploding out of my house.

In my last post I showed you the progress we were making in moving my husband's shop crap to our garage and the storage barn, and the overflow that was resulting inside the house. This post is an update now that everything has been moved to our property, with photos as usual, so that you may truly appreciate the full magnitude of the crap.

We begin outside where much of his crap is located. Open the garage door and what do we find? (Everyone say hello to Sugar's behind.)



EVERYTHING, it would seem. I mean, looking at these photos, you must wonder how there could possibly be more.



A few other angles to give you a complete view.



(From inside looking out the kitchen door. Say hi to Hank!)



Yes, it really does go all the way back, into each corner.



Backing out of the garage you will see we have quite a bit of overflow. As far as I am concerned that shop cannot be built soon enough, and yet it will probably not be built until the end of the summer at the soonest.



Somebody reserve my padded room, now, because I'm going to go nuts.

The crap spills around the corner between the house and the barn. He says there is room in the barn for some of the things that are in the garage right now. We had to hastily unload everything into the garage last week due to the storms that rolled through.



What's that against the side of the house under the carcass of the bench seat springs and hood from the 1951 Ford that is in the garage?



Oh, there are the bunnies!



At least they get some shade out this deal.

Then there's the stove (and various other crap).



He insists that he's going to use it for a project. Don't ask. I couldn't begin to explain it. That effin' stove makes me more nuts than all the car parts.

It even makes me even more nuts than this:



The truck has been sold and is waiting for transport. The car was intended to be a drag racing car for Pinks! That's on hold for now. The rest of that crap is supposed to be for building his shop building.

Here is where some of the children's bikes and outdoor toys have to stay for now. There is more on the porch too.



The ugly gray book display shelf will either be moved indoors to a child's bedroom (if I can find the room) or possibly be sold in a garage sale. We picked it up along with a lot of other crap at a school auction, like the upholstered benches under that formica counter top he's planning to use to build a work bench.



Along with those children's chairs and the other ugly green chair and the blue tool box in the driveway picture from above. Here's a reminder so you don't have to scroll back up.



No need for thanks, it's what I'm here for.

What's that on the porch?



It's a microwave, of course! Supposedly it works. It's going in the garage sale too.

Next is the kitchen where we find the table top actually exists.



Some of the items were actually put away in the attic storage.

But the rest were simply moved to the floor and stacked by the cabinet where he normally piles his smaller crap. As you can see, no progress on that counter.



There are only a few things on this counter top that don't belong. I found a home for all my bisque that was sitting there when last I posted.



He's recently taken to leaving things sitting on this antique lingerie chest. I know his recliner sits beside it, but if he's not sitting here his drink shouldn't be either. Please note the peeled veneer. My children can be thanked for that. GRRR.



Moving upstairs.



Oh, wait! That is actually our youngest child's room. It's a mess. Like father like son, I always say.

The three and half year old is going to be losing his bedroom in the next couple of weeks. He's moving into his older brother's room, which is significantly larger, by the way. They shared a room at our old house and I didn't want them to have to share again, but we have to do something until we can get my husband's shop built, and eventually add on an office to that shop--and that's years down the road at this point.

This isn't working for me.



Why yes that is my bra hanging on the handles of that chest of drawers.



And the bottom drawer is missing from my husband's chest of drawers because five weeks ago, one of our cats moved her litter of kittens to hide under it. They have been living in our bedroom ever since. They are going to be getting kicked out when we start moving everything.



Then there's my husband's desk. For the love of sweet Georgia Brown.



I want our bedroom to be a bedroom, a haven and a retreat. So my husband's desk and all of his office related crap, like the magazines stacked on the bedside table, and the boxes stacked up in the corner, will be moved into the our youngest child's bedroom. Luckily right now, he's excited about moving back in with his older brother. The six and half year old, however, had to be convinced.

My desk (currently in living room), file cabinets (also in the living room as well as in my closet where I can't get to it) and those black book shelves from our bedroom will also be moved into the office. I have a thesis to write this summer and I cannot see me writing it in the living room.



Converting our youngest son's bedroom into an office will solve many of the clutter issues inside the house, provide my husband and I with more private and efficient workspaces, and I hope it will also provide my six and half and three and half year old sons with some companionship that will strengthen their relationship and turn it into a friendship that goes beyond the sibling bond.

As for everything outside? A garage sale is planned for this weekend for a small percentage of our crap, and in a couple of weeks, my husband will be past his deadline on his most recent book, so that he can get some of that outdoor crap organized.

Or else, I won't have to worry about writing that thesis because I'll be living in a padded room.

~Sleeping Mommy

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh Lord honey... Lordy Lordy Lordy.

I need to send my husband down there. Known round these parts as "I don't keep nothing, let's throw everything away before my wife sees."

The first year we were married, he decided to clean out the guest room closet. He set my wedding dress out on the curb as garbage. Yes. My wedding dress I wore marrying him. Stupid SOB.

I will lend him out if ya want...

Burfica said...

first your husband and the pictures of his crap just proved that you are either married to my husband or a close relative of mine. hahahahhahaaaa

And my sister in law just gave us a table cuz ours was literally crap. And I have your table!!! Mine is one leaf bigger I guess it looks like. And I have different chairs. Older, more uncomfortable chairs. hahahaha

We are trying to move our whole house, and I'm starting to pack up breakables and what not and have this one cleaned up alot, and his CRAP is in my way. I feel your pain darlin.

Burfica

www.burfica.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Holy crap! Ummm...You are fussing about all his crap so, I'm just going to say...he has a problem. lol Lots of crap that needs to go. Lots to organize and lots to sell. That would seriously put me in the nut house. Bless you my friend.

Anonymous said...

Honestly guys, he's not as bad as he was when I married him. In his defense, he actually does need most of this stuff. It's part of his work, since he restores and customizes hot rods and muscle cars and write magazine articles about the work.

I'm cutting him some slack for now, because he doesn't have the size shop at home he needs. BUT he also procrastinates and is horrible at organization. And that more than anything else is why I post this crap.

Shannon akaMonty said...

Since my desk closely resembles your husband's desk, I'm keeping my mouth completely shut.

For once.
Yeah. I know, right? :)

Willow said...

If we didn't post about it, we'd surely lose our minds completely.

I'm hanging on to my sanity by a mere thread these days. I can't even bring myself to post pictures, lest someone call the Fire Brigade out to my house! LOL!

I have threatened to send him away on a fishing trip for a week (and have over friends who will help me curb all of his stuff. There'll be no selling. Just come pick it up = free!!)

Meg said...

I'm sorry to say this, but after viewing your pics, I'm feeling pretty good about my husband's crap right now!

But hey, just talking about it and photographing it, is the first step. Good luck and thanks for visiting.

My_Dog_Is_Better said...

Well that was overwhelming. De-clutter, de-stres. I live by the motto. I could easily accumulate as much stuff as your husband but I regularly make myself go through things and throw out anyting that isn't absolutely necessary or dearly loved. I don't even keep things that could easily be sold at a garage sale because I just can't take the chance knowing I really probably won't have a garage sale "this year."

So into the garbage things go...

Anonymous said...

You are SO brave to post those pics. My house/yard/garage look just like that, and I won't even let people come over.

Anonymous said...

OMG - I can't "beat" you AFA the yard goes, but I certainly have the house "beat." I'll have to do pix but I have a 2500 sq. ft. house and more than half of it is filled with TOYS. Star Wars, little men dressed in uniforms (which he dresses)...I tried to keep it all downstairs but he has piles all over the breakfast bar and two of my three bedrooms (not mine) are so full of toys one cannot walk and the boyz have to bring their stuff out and pile it up all over the living room, family room and dining room because they have no space in their bedroom or toy room to actually play. I am at my wits end and have contacted a real estate agent so I can buy a new house and move out. He does not work outside the home - he has no income because he is so lazy - he surfs the internet all day (I know this because I had hip replacement surgery and have been at home for the past six weeks - how depressing). I ask and ask him to clean this stuff up - deaf ears. I don't know what to do.

Codzilla said...

Wow, for the amount of time and effort it took to document and post this stuff on the web, you could have made a real dent in that mess.

I realize I probably won't see this comment make it past the moderator and there's something to be said for venting, but seriously.....claim one room and tell him ANY crap left in there unattended will be thrown out. Once that is established, reclaim one room at a time until all his crap is in his-only space.

And then, for the sake of your relationship, leave him alone. You will not change him and you will only do damage by invading his space. He's obviously comfortable with this.

You have to admit, at the end you refer to it as "our crap".

Anonymous said...

Codzilla,

Wow for the amount of time and effort it took you to read this post and leave a comment you sure didn't read the top of the page.

Don't assume to understand the relationship I have with my husband based on this blog. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I refuse to treat my husband like a child. It is his house too. I'm going to throw out his stuff unless it is very clearly trash--and even he won't dispute whether it is trash or not.

I'd do more harm to my relationship by doing that than by posting a few pictures and a description of them in a vent on this blog. Which he knows about and simply rolls his eyes over.