We cleaned the garage

That phrase is about as common in this household as either of us saying, 'I just finished a 10 km jog and I feel grrrrreat!', 'hey babe, do you think these nerd glasses make me look more scenester or more hipster....I'm going for hipster', or finally, and my favorite, 'did you see Big Bang theory last night? I laughed until I peed!'.  

Sorry, we just don't understand Big Bang Theory. But, we have lots of friends who do.  And to them we say, to each their own. 

We can't help that The Walking Dead floats our boat that much more. What can I say...we have a thing for zombies.

Anyway, we did clean our garage and we're super proud! (Read: Ryan cleaned the garaged and both of us are super proud - I as a supporter, and he as the doer). 

Before we started cleaning it was hot mess. Random stuff strewn everywhere. This is what happens during an Albertan winter. You get so focused on hibernating, running from your car to your house and your house back to your car... there's hardly enough time, energy or warmth to ever warrant picking something up and putting it away en route. 

It got pretty rough for a while there. To be honest, I don't really know how the situation below even happened. A blanket + a sheet + a hose + a decorative cross + our mangled christmas tree box = a nausea inducing vignette.  

Rest assured that blanket and sheet will never be used to host guests in this home again. Single tear for the fallen.  We said good bye to a lot of neglected things that day. 

The carnage was widespread. Not a single corner was spared.

Ryan had his work cut out for him, but bit by bit he made progress.  

A lot of garbage was thrown out, unused items donated, and seasonal things stored. It was a slow process, but by the end of the day, things were looking up. 

But, before we get there, a quick aside. When Ryan gets serious about house/yard work, he turns his hat around. 

Ryan once explained this to me. The story goes like this. There was this movie, in the 80's, called Over the Top starring the one and only Sylvester Stallone. 

Image Here

The movie is ridiculous. And awesome. Ridiculous mostly. Ryan watched it when he was younger, and ever since, has referenced it from time to time. It's hilarious. In the movie, Sly is a trucker, who arm wrestles. Like, legit arm wrestles. When the battle gets really heated, and he needs to dig deep, real deep, he turns his trucker hat around. Says it turns him into a different person, like a 'machine'.

For your viewing pleasure, I'll let Sly explain:

Ok, that clip just cracks me up! How awesome was that?? No, wait. Don't answer. It's awesomeness can't even be quantified. Lets just let it be. Awesome.

And the whole thing is made even more awesome by the fact that for things like garage cleaning and mowing the lawn, Ryan feels the need to 'flip that switch'.  Life tasks for which he, very nearly, turns in to a machine. 

Priceless. Love this guy. 

But I digress! Back to garage cleaning and the results!

What we were left with was a thing of beauty! If I had known that my garage could look this good, I think we (Read: Ryan) would have gotten on this task a whole lot sooner! This is the view looking straight on from when you drive in. To the right of the stairs, is Ryan's tool chest and beside that is this industrial shelving unit we purchased last week at Costco. It houses a whole host of goodies, but in particular, one very important RC truck (left top corner) one very important red tool chest.  The RC truck is Ryan's little guy.  It's fast. I'll film it some time. The red tool chest is a little DIY haven Ryan created for me.

Slightly to the right, you'll see that DIY corner and the wall that holds all of our sporting goods. It's pretty swank. It looks great and it keeps all of that space consuming stuff off the floor. The garage is pretty tall so its nice to use the height to our advantage. 

Here's a full shot of that wall. 

On the other side, we have all of our yard tools (or most of them anyway) stored on the wall. Another one of those nifty space saving tricks that helps out tremendously. 

Finally, we have our mezzanine. Ryan and his Dad built it when we first moved in. It's been a life saver ever since. That is, when we use it. But I swear, we are reformed. No old blankets, sheets or hoses shall every litter this garage again! Its organization and mezzanine use or bust in this household!

And finally, to wrap things up, here's the view of our garage looking out toward the street.  This pic was taken from the garage door entrance to our boot-room area.  This is what I see now when I look into my garage.  Yay!

Well... normally our vehicles are parked in there, but you get the idea.

So there you have it: a clean garage which, in this household, is about as rare as we like our steaks ;)

So......really rare.