The Ramp

For months we have been anticipating the arrival of Rae's wheelchair. One of the biggest projects we have to tackle is the new deck, wheelchair ramp, and driveway extension to accommodate her wheelchair and help me get her in and out of the house easily (our house is almost two feet off the ground and trying to pull her chair up the stairs is a giant pain in the back). Months ago I thrusted myself into planning and fund raising. I didn't write about it much because I was also in the middle of some pretty dark thoughts and heavy emotions (the fog has lifted a bit and I'm coping a little better).

My biggest fund raiser was the garage sale! I posted it on Facebook, craigslist, and our local newspaper. Items were generously donated by friends, family, co-workers, and complete strangers. I can not THANK YOU enough!!! As an added bonus it also made me deal with my own hoarding demons (I so needed to declutter). The day of the sale several friends selflessly gave time out of their Saturday to help us manage the chaos...and it was chaotic! Again I can never THANK YOU ALL enough!!!

Seriously, before the sale my house looked like an episode of hoarders!

Dining Room 1

Dining Room 2

This was my foyer.

Living Room 

Spare Bedroom

That was just what we had stored and sorted inside my house. This is what we had outside...

A large bike trailer jammed packed with goodies!

Then I made banana bread...lots and lots of banana bread. One of the components at our garage sale was a small bake sale. We had cookies, homemade pies, and lots of banana bread.

There were four versions of banana bread.
I stayed up until about midnight the night before the sale making them.

I also created a donation page on YouCaring.com which allowed out of state family and friends to donate. But, I didn't give it as much attention as I did the Facebook Event so it didn't fair as well.

Originally, I had hoped to have the ramp completed by June. As I have said before, "Man plans and God laughs." It is now August and we are finally making progress towards building the ramp. I'm so excited!

I removed the stepping stones yesterday. 

This is a pretty big undertaking...at least to me it is. We are going to have to do some of the work in stages and the final stage will be my favorite part. I plan on cutting out large flowers made of ply wood, painting them bright beautiful colors, and hanging them on the rails of Rae's ramp. Just because we need to build a ramp onto our home, doesn't mean it can't be whimsical and fun. Besides, it is for an almost three year old little girl who looked like this after the first yard sale (we had two) was finished...

(Psst...I still have more stuff...anyone interested in a hot tub?)