Kentucky in Review

I think I'll have to break this post up into several posts so that I don't bore you all with one really, really long post.

In case you didn't know, the whole purpose of going to KY was to help my step mom clean out the old house (among other things) that she and my dad lived in when they first bought this piece of property years ago. They had not lived in the house in about 15 years but it was still standing on the property (actually right next to their current home) and had been used for storage for 15 years. And let me just tell you that my dad was the King of all Pack Rats. Ridiculously so, actually. Can I get an amen from anyone that was there?

This is me and my step mom. Before you ask - No, we're not standing on a hill. She really is that much shorter than me - and for the record, I'm only 5'-5." She's a little-bitty thing, she is. (oh, and her son is in the back in the orange shirt. Still not real sure they're related. Lol! He's 6 feet tall!)

I also can't believe that the first pictures I'm posting of myself on this blog are these horrible ones. Please excuse the frizz on my head - but we had been working all day and I was hot and sweaty and dirty. I promise to take a better picture soon - not that the frizz will be much better then, but I'll try ;o) The house in the background is said house we've been speaking of.

Here's "the crew." This is everyone who was there to help out. There were 15 of us that were there every day to work. Me, Jeremiah and the kids; my stepbrother, his wife and their 2 kids; my dad's oldest brother and his wife, my step mom, my dad's youngest brother and his oldest daughter, my dad's sister's husband (she was in FL helping take care of my grandparents) and my step mom's good friends' son.

7 of those adults and 4 of those children (and 3 very spoiled dogs) stayed together in the house - a 3 bedroom 2 bath house. And, surprisingly, it worked - it worked way better than I could have imagined. It was actually fun - serious slumber party!

My cousin Jaime came with her dad (my dad's youngest brother) and I'm so glad she did. We got to spend a lot of time together and reconnect - and we realized how much we enjoyed each other's company. She only lives 1 1/2 hours from us, so we'll definitely be trying to get together more often. My uncle is a pretty big pack rat, too - he may just get the title of "King" now that my dad's gone - but that might go to his head, so maybe not. Jaime and I joked that we would be throwing out all the stuff her dad was taking home with him in another 40 years when he's gone. But really it's not funny - it's true. I promised her I would be there to help her when the time comes - and all those nails, nuts, bolts and screws will probably be in the same coffee cans that they came to FL in. I'm not even kidding.

Okay - so I've sort of set the stage and introduced you to the players. I think we're at a good stopping point for now. I'll gather my thoughts and sift through more pictures for the next post.

But before I go I just have one question for those of you that were there: Do you have any pepperoni? (Oh, yes, I did!)