attic clean-out: crap left from prior owners

Foreboding

So, for those of you who don't know, this house is the house that keeps on giving.  You may think to yourself, "Self, you know what I need?  A bike mount for my car!" and my house will give it to you!  For free!  All you have to do is dig it out form under 4 years worth of leaves!  Or, if biking isn't your thing, you may say "Gee willikers, I could really use a broken gas grill," you'd have it!  But, if what you really covet most of all are bags upon bags upon BAGS of clothes, purses, miscellaneous papers, and pictures from strangers, well... look no further:

WHO LEAVES ALL THIS CRAP?!?!?!

So, the beau went up into the attic and dropped all the bags, with gusto and glee, onto my poor unsuspecting head.  Don't believe me?  PHOTO EVIDENCE:

I think it was around now that I started freaking out and feeling like I should go on the show Hoarders.*  Couldn't get this stuff out of the house fast enough!!!

You can't tell me this wouldn't push you towards insanity

There was a solid 20+ bags left behind by previous residents in the attic.  The idea of throwing out good clothing when people need it pained me.  Couple that with an intense curiosity as to what was in all these bags, and the beau and I soon found ourselves opening every single one and riffling through!

We threw away most of the clothes because they were stained, had holes, or were too old (gotta love when the elastic waist band tears at the slightest pull!)  But, on the positive side, two 55gallon bags made their way to Goodwill!

We also found tons of pictures, mainly from concerts (weird), in the bags, but a few photos were taken in the house!  I was excited for these, as I wanted to see how the house was with all the crazy colors (seen here) but in the pics all the walls were white!  What gives?  Did they decide to just go NUTS right before leaving for my benefit?!?!?

Other fun things?  This shell box:

So pretty.  I think I should have gifted this to someone...

How 'bout some fashionable Betty Boop shoes:

Ooh la la!

There was a bunch of traditional clothing:

Kinda cool!

There were a few purses and shoes thrown in, and some great (read: ugly & falling apart, see above) Christmas decorations.  But the most random items?  Two $100 bills... from Korea and Brazil; an MS-DOS manual (the beau got a kick out of that,) some paperwork regarding immigration of a family member, and THIS:

A retainer with fake teeth?!?!?!

Well, if you're gonna loose teeth, at least it's the front ones.

The Aftermath:

These suckers were HEAVY!

We also found that our attic had not one, not two... but FOUR open holes in its side!!!  No wonder we had a little squirrel making himself at home right above our bed (most annoying & scratchy squatter ever!)  Soon after getting all these bags cleared out, we patched the holes from the inside.  When it gets warmer, we will properly seal up all holes from the outside of the house and replace any shingles.  I'm beside myself with excitement for this thrilling task.  Sarcasm.

Holes.  Lovely.**  

This is a mound of insulation.  This is also the freakin' PENTHOUSE of a nest that blasted squirrel made!  

After all this was done, it was TO THE SHOWER!  Nothing like being covered in attic insulation and up to your elbows in other people's clothing to make you crave clean.


Yup!  That was our New Year's Eve fun (that I teased you with here.)  The rest of the holiday was much better: celebrated our anniversary!!!  Ahhhh, amour.



*I love/hate watching that show.  It's fascinating, but after every episode you want to throw at least 16 items out from your house!  I fear ever watching a marathon of that show would make me neurotic...
**Oh yeah, the beau?  Was seriously unexcited (some may say "dreading,") at the idea of laying down & inching into that corner to access that far hole.  I don't blame him!