Yesterday saw the official end to our annual haunted garage that we used to do every year for Halloween. Even though we didn’t actually put the walls up last Halloween and was the beginning of the end, it didn’t become official until yesterday. I took advantage of the beautifully cooler day and tore the walls apart.
Why is it that destruction is so much faster and easier to do than creating and building? What took me nearly an entire day or better to build was in pieces in about an hour.
It was sad to see these go. We had nearly 10 years of fun and wonder and joy doing the garage every year, but it was just time to be done. It was pretty shocking they even lasted that long considering they weren’t all that sturdy to begin with.
The kids are all older. MC hasn’t been interested in it for a few years now and BG, while perfectly content to dress up with me, just wasn’t nearly as excited about it anymore. It also lost some of it’s joy when the few kids we would get showing up just didn’t seem all that interested in it, some even going so far as to be that bratty kid that thought it was fun to mock and put it down.
Once I decided I definitely wasn’t doing this anymore, I was itching to get these taken apart and reclaim the area of the garage where these needed to be stored. Six 8 foot by 8 foot wall sections take up a crap ton of space. Especially when that space is used for all but maybe 2 days a year.
I spent the day yesterday breaking these down and then cleaning and rearranging the garage, a desperately needed project. I now have a wonderfully open and accessible garage that will hopefully stay that way for a while.
I also have a huge pile of wood I need to get creative with, which is going to be a challenge as most of those boards are really warped or even cracked in places. As of right now, I’m pondering the idea of making an outdoor storage box with most of it. I’ve yet to decide for sure.
While it was really sad to do this project, it was also a relief. It was always a lot of work, but also a whole lot of fun. The fun will be missed. All that work? Not one little bit.
Now to figure out what in the world I’m going to do with all the decorations we used in that haunted garage.
TJ Fox: Sharing the Experience 
We all outgrow things, don’t we? Marks such a turning point with your kids.
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It really does reinforce that they aren’t little kids anymore. My daughter still really enjoys everything about getting dressed up in a costume like me, so we still have that. My son hasn’t been interested in that for several years now, so it isn’t so much of a change for him.
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Awww, sad it has come to an end, but well, all good things do don’t they? No consolation though. Xoxoxo
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The eternal question of what to do with things we no longer need…
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While cleaning the garage, I ran into a never ending pain for me… all the plant pots from the trees and bushes we’ve planted in the yard. I know I’m never going to use them, but our recycling here won’t take them (I do need to double check that, though) and I really don’t want to just throw them away. BG did a little research for me and I think we have an option. I had no clue that Home Depot takes a lot of these and reuses them. How cool is that? Sometimes you just have to let someone else help you come up with some creative ideas.
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That’s a great option! I’m wondering what’s going to happen which donating things…I’m going to write a post about it in the next few weeks
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