Spring Cleaning...In January???

Today was one of those beautiful spring days where you can open all the windows in your home and totally inspires you to clean and organize and really get on track with life.

Except that it's January.  And it should totally be snowing.

On the upside, i do have a really clean house now.

On one of my many trips through the garage to the giant trash can outside (i found a LOT to throw away today) i caught a glimpse of a stack of boxes that have been sitting inside my garage since....well, probably since we moved in in May.  

When we moved in i originally had the idea to have a garage sale for some of my belongings...and for the rest of it that i didn't have use for but couldn't bring myself to part with i had the brilliant idea of having one of my bodybuilder type guy friends haul it up to the attic for me.  

but, since i don't have any bodybuilder type guy friends, everything has continued to sit along the edges of our garage for the past 8 months.

That didn't bother me at first because i really and truly believed i was going to eventually solve that problem.  But lately everytime i find myself in the garage and notice everything still on the perimeters of my parking area, i get this sinking feeling followed by a moment of fear which i try to rapidly squelch by thinking about something else (something i've noticed that i do a lot...which is an ENTIRELY different post).  

The reason for the fear you ask? Could it be a fear of this junk eventually taking over my life and suffocating me to death?  Could it be that people see this priceless junk in my garage when i pull my car in and plan ways to kill me in my sleep to make off with an old washing machine and a couple of awesome rugs?

No...It's a fear that snakes have taken up residence within my boxed up belongings.

Because, friends, i have an ENORMOUS fear of snakes.

You may say that it is completely irrational for snakes to live in my garage...and i couldn't tell you if that is true or not because i'm to scared to look it up...but i promise, when i stand really still in my garage I HEAR THINGS MOVE.  and then i run like a scared little sissy girl inside.

Every single time i get out of my car these days i think "man, i've really got to get this garage organized before the snakes get out of hand."  But everytime i think about it, the fear kicks in...and then the afore mentioned squelching and running.

But today was different.  Today was a freak spring cleaning day in January.  Which may be the best kind, because before i knew it i was tackling a stack of enormous boxes that i have been eyeing with fear. 

Apparently freak spring days in January hold some kind of special power...

Now, part of me really wishes that you guys could see the way in which i took care of those boxes.  But then a bigger part of me is so very glad that's not possible and the only people who will fully know what i looked like are the neighbors that drove by and undoubtedly laughed to themselves.

What i was dealing with was one enormous box that a tv came in, filled with several other boxes inside...the ideal hiding place for a snake, right?

So little 'ol me took that box by the very corner with my index finger and thumb only (and pinky finger raised in prissy disgust) and quickly dragged it to our recycling can on the side of the house and promptly throw that thing in there.

But this thing was huge and really just sat there on top of the opening, refusing the lid to close.

I stepped back and thought a minute about just leaving it like that and hoping the garbage men would have no problem with that.  I turned around and started to walk inside, but then i remembered how often our trash cans have been blown over lately and the idea of chasing snake infested boxes down the road just didn't sound like a whole ton of fun.  Better to get it over with...

So i pushed really hard with all of my might on the outside of the box while it was still in the trash bin hoping to crush it...knowing that it was literally impossible, but also praying for a miracle...

didn't work.

so i took it and threw it on the ground....and jumped back REALLY fast.  after giving any snakes that were going to slither out ample to time to do so, i ran and jumped on top of the box, hoping again that i would crush the boxes and be done with it.

but i landed on top and those things didn't budge.

so ever so slowly...and ever so prissily...i took each box out and flattened it before throwing back in the recycling bin.  this took a while, because each time i bent down to touch the boxes i had to throughly examine where i was touching...and then each time i made the slightest movement within the boxes i jumped back and waited on the snake attack.

so what should have taken two or three minutes took me more like fifteen.

and zero snake bites but several spider encounters later, i was done...just like that. and man, you wouldn't believe the sense of accomplishment i felt.  i sassily slapped my hands together to rid them of any unwelcome dirt i obtained while doing my awesome breaking down of boxes and pranced inside.

i considered going back outside to take a picture and show you this normal everyday but highly significant accomplishment in my life...but am scared that when i open the lid snakes will have materialized in my absence.  So trust me, that is one mega packed recycling bin.  

Just another day of facing a fear head on.  My heart was literally pounding with fear several times...but there's nothing like that feeling you get when you've faced one of your fears (however irrational it may be) and lived to tell the story.