Feeling blessed.

Today, the contractors came in to rip the ceiling apart and evaluate the damage. Since we live in an almost 90 year old home, parts of our attic are completely inaccessible through the trap, so ripping apart was the only way to see in and we didn’t know what to expect.

I spent all night having nightmares of mold spore invasions and rodent colonies. (Remember the scene from “Ratatouille” when the lady collapses her ceiling with her shot gun and finds 500 rats???) But the heavens were smiling on us and again I thank it for protecting us : The structure of the roof is fine, no mold or fungus, just a lack of ventilation causing ice to form and melt along the soffits and a need to blow a bit more insulation in there so that the heat from the house doesn’t condensate in the attic. They are coming back tomorrow to finish removing all soiled materials, they will temporarily close the hole in the ceiling and come back after snow melt to fix everything permanently. What a happy joyous outcome.

My husband having taken the day off to be here for the demolition, we proceeded to a momentous start to our new challenge : 40 bags in 40 days. Ann Marie over at White House Black Shutters  started in 2011 after being inspired by several sites she had stumbled upon. A friend of mine invited me to join the Facebook group, which is how I came to know of the challenge. My dear husband, being slightly OCD about cleaning and having wanted to do a massive clean of the house this spring, was SO all about jumping in that we took a running start.

In 2 days, we’ve manage to put together :

• 5 trash bags of clothes and shoes to donate.
• 3 diaper boxes full of baby clothes on their way to friends that are expecting or that have kids younger than ours.
• a bag full of toys to donate.
• a bag full of newborn bottles to donate.
• a box full of chipped and cracked mason glass jars to be recycled.
• a bunch of stuff to put on the local online classified. (we’ve already sold our microwave!)

Tomorrow, I tackle my books. *sighs* I go trough this every couple of years. Not easy, I’m so irrationally attached to my books. But every time I have to ask myself : Will I read it again? Why am I holding on to it? And then I think of our poorly funded libraries and it makes it all better. 🙂

You looking for some motivation to clean up the mess? Check it out!