Today was another day of getting stuff done. This time I decided to tackle the garage/boys' bedroom. The last time I did any cleaning/organizing of the garage was back in April, and that's when things started getting bad for me. I ended up with chest tightness and breathing problems that sent me to the ER a week later. I guess it was a good thing in the end because I learned about my dangerously high hypertension (192/97 at check in).
Anyway, since that day that nearly gave me a literal heart attack, the 10yo (who is supposed to sleep in the garage but hasn't since his brother moved out in March) had completely destroyed my work. That and people just tossing empty boxes and trash out there instead of putting things in the recycling or garbage cans. You literally couldn't walk from the door to the kitchen to anywhere without stepping on stuff or having to tip-toe around things. It was annoying, especially when I was trying to do yard work and couldn't find things or move around.
So I got up with the intention of pulling more weeds but then just started pulling stuff out of the garage. I took apart an old bed that was just holding boxes of stuff (it's a "junior" bed from IKEA so slightly bigger than a toddler bed but needs a new mattress and isn't big enough for anyone except maybe my grandson) and was taking up space. But then I needed somewhere to put the boxes that were on the bed. A lot of that was books the kids packed up so they could use the bookcase for something else.
Well, my oldest son (almost 19) now has a good paying job and isn't planning on moving back home. I texted to make sure and he said he'd probably be coming to pick up the rest of his stuff sometime this week. The plan was to move the 10yo from the upper bunk to the bottom but there are some busted slats on the bottom bunk. Only problem is the slats are attached to the frame. The only way to "fix" the problem was to move the entire upper bunk to the lower part. A pain, but whatever.
Of course, nothing is even that "simple" because when the boys moved the bed to the garage they stripped two screws holding it together. I tried everything I could think of but there's no way to get it out which means I can't take the bunk apart. I wasted a good 45 minutes messing with it until my husband came home. We have an electric saw but no blade that would cut through the screw so he said we could go to Home Depot tomorrow to find one. I'm hoping we can cut the head off and use pliers to twist the shaft out. If not, we'll cut it off flush and only use one screw to hold that corner up. It should be okay. I as going to use the upper bunk for storing some stuff but none of it is super heavy.
I started at about 11am and texted the 17yo to see if she would help me but she never responded. So I worked alone despite it being the 10yo's "room" and most of the crap was his or his brother's until my husband came home around 2pm. He got the 10yo to sort of help me. Mostly he got into stuff and then I had to put more stuff back. I had to put the bed back together until we can get the saw so I ended up just tossing a bunch of stuff on both bunks as I tried to figure out where to put stuff in the meantime.
Not being able to switch the beds through me off because I needed to put stuff up there for storage so it was out of the way. The garage isn't very big and my husband insists on keeping the garbage and recycling cans in there because no one wants to walk around to the side of the house (especially in the winter when it's raining) so I had to leave space for those. The bed takes up a ton of space and divides the area. On one side is the extra fridge (which was left there by the previous owners, is a disgusting mess and only used during the holidays when we have too much food to fit in the kitchen) and the deep freeze. On the other is sort of the boys' room where they had a TV and xbox (now with the 18yo) and the book case. I moved stuff around so I could pull an old desk out for the 10yo to use.
By 4pm, I was so tired and sore, I was having trouble standing. My husband kept trying to get me to eat dinner, but I knew if I sat down to eat, I'd never get up to finish. Like I physically would be incapable of standing back up. That's how much I hurt. And I couldn't feel my feet anymore because there's almost no padding left in my shoes and 270lbs walking around all day... yeah, it sucks.
At that point, the 17yo came outside to go somewhere and I complained about her not helping so she stayed long enough to help straighten up the rest of the space enough to pull in the trash cans and other stuff I had set in the driveway. She also swept the rest of the garage which was good because I couldn't bend down anymore to pick up stuff from the floor (my back and legs hurt too much).
I don't even remember when I finally came inside. I got some food and had to take the stairs one at a time, resting between each one. Even now, hours later, I can barely move. I really need to pee, but the though of walking is so ugh, I'm almost willing to just wet myself, lol.
In the end, I guess the pain was worth it because you can now move around the garage without breaking an ankle, but I'm frustrated because I didn't get everything organized like I wanted. I have this built up urge to organize everything because I haven't been able to do anything for nearly a year and no one else can organize like I can. They literally just pile stuff up then dig through the piles when they need something. I find places for things to belong and pack away stuff not being used ("a place for everything and everything in its place").
I'm not sure if we'll get the saw tomorrow. I'm not sure it will matter because I doubt I'll be able to move.
I will say, I've done a little more each day. I only lasted about an hour pulling weeds on Monday. Tuesday, I was out there for three hours before I couldn't do anything more. Today I worked from 11am until around 5pm (I think--I lost track) and that was a lot more work than the weed-pulling. I also spent the two days before those walking up the hill for some knitting/reading which is farther than I've walked in months.
I still think it's too early to say it's the meds working and I don't like "hoping" because I'm always disappointed. I guess I'll just try and get as much done as I can while I feel this way. Which means tomorrow, I might have to drag myself out of bed despite the pain to finish pulling weeds in the front of the house so the HOA won't send us more letters complaining.
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