The reason that I have been MIA

My sister and I have been busy at my mom's condo because the closing is this Wednesday.  We were at the condo until 1am last night and spent 8 hours there again today.  I have never in my life vacuumed so much carpet.

This past Thursday we replaced the carpet in her garage.  Yes, carpet.  People ask me all the time, "why did she put carpet in her garage?"  First of all, the carpet is a commercial grade carpet made for indoor or outdoor purposes.  This carpet is made for heavy foot traffic so as long as you don't spin your tires on the carpet it will last.

Here in the north, slip and falls are a major concern for the elderly.  A wet snowy garage floor is an accident waiting to happen for an older person.  Most garage floors are troweled quite smooth unlike driveways that are usually broomed just as the concrete is starting to set up.  The steps are also carpeted which is more slip resistant than a bare step.

Carpet in a garage that also doubles as a workshop is not going to work well.  My parents were pass the age of needing a place to cut boards or generally making a mess.  Keeping the garage clean was also easier for my mother because she could just haul out her garage vacuum cleaner and vacuum her garage.  This carpet can also be steam cleaned when vacuuming no longer gets all the dirt. 

Her plan was to replace the carpet this summer so we did that for the buyers.  My mother had a dark grey carpet but I chose a two tone grey and black carpet that I realized after they unrolled it, that my doctor has the same carpet in his office except in tan and brown.

  When the carpet layers pulled up the old carpet we were shocked at the amount of salt that we found under the carpet. I know winter is just around the corner and just the thought of it make me panic because we have a long list of stuff that needs to get done before it snows.

We have one more day of moving stuff and cleaning.  We started at the bottom of her condo and are working our way to the door going to her garage.  We ran out of steam today and got as far as the laundry room which is the last room before the garage.  Unfortunately, we have boxes of stuff for Goodwill, my house, her house, and about 10 bags of trash that goes to the curb on Wednesday all stacked in the garage.

The urn with my parents ashes is still sitting on the mantle.  Today my sister said, "don't forget about mom and dad.  It would be embarrassing if we had to knock on the new owners door and say, excuse me but I forget my mom and dad on the mantle."  Kinda like elf on a shelf without the red suit and posing.