Today we prepared for the Mega Yard Sale and did more clearing in the back yard. Paul, our Ace Hardware guy, worked on installing a basement humidifier and on the plumbing. Thanks, Paul!

It was a rough day for Alice. This close to the yard sale, she had trouble letting go of “The Stuff.” It was also a rough day for Kathy, who was emailing me at 3 a.m. and got no sleep trying to plan how to get everything done. I worked about four hours this morning on the project house and then had to take off to meet with another client.

During the afternoon, Alice and Kathy got mad at each other over the number of crates Alice was sending back into the house that were supposed to go to the yard sale. Kathy offered to stop work. Alice refused. It was hot, humid and everyone is so tired from all of the work. Both of them stopped, took a deep breath, and decided to stay focused on the vision of a new beginning. I am proud of them for their courage and persistence.

On top of all of the pressure to get everything ready to go, one of the neighbors complained that we weren’t working fast enough. Oh, well. We’ll have an opportunity next week to get it finished. We released as much as we could for today.

Even on bad days, good things happen, and we had our share of wonderful things today, too.

The 26-foot U-Haul truck is loaded and ready to unload at the church. The yard sale begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. Hurray!

All the trash fit into the dump truck for once. Hurray!

Alice’s neighbor, Heather Binder and her three boys came to help. The youngest inspected the train Bob Haupt installed in the basement many years ago and did a quality check on the granola bars. Middle Son (sorry we don’t have names) helped load the POD we are using for temporary storage and threw trash bags in the dump truck. (Very strong boys, the Binders are raising!) Mrs. Binder folded an entire green bin of clothing by herself. Hurray!

Special kudos goes to 10-year old Grant Binder. Grant has been watching us from his house down the street over the past two weeks. He asked his Mother to see if he could help. When Mrs. Binder took the younger children home, Grant stayed for six hours and worked like one of the adults. He loaded the U-Haul and the trash truck. After that was done, he worked another hour in the back yard clearing clutter.

Clearing the back yard is a very dirty task. After they finished, Grant invited his new friends, Mario, Santiago, Kathy, Rick and Henry to come over to his house to use the water hose to wash off. He asked his Mother to provide towels and recruited his younger brother to pass out large glasses of ice water. Hurray, Grant!

I worked with Grant early this morning before I had to leave, and he is a wonderful young man. Kathy wanted everyone to know that we all love Grant! He inspired us to continue on a very difficult day for everyone. Thank you to the whole Binder family for helping us through a rough day. Hurray, Binders!

The City of Chamblee let us know that we have made enough progress that we don’t have to worry about the impending fines. Hurray Officer Davis and Marci!

I also need to mention the corn snake in the backyard. Depending on your point of view, this is either seriously cool or very creepy. I’ll give it a “Hurray” just to end on a positive note.

Tomorrow is a new day, and as Kathy would say, “I’ll create myself a wonderful one!” I think even bad days have the potential to bring out the best in good people working under difficult circumstances. I saw lots of evidence of this today.

We hope to see you at the yard sale.

—Reported by Kathy Coupland and photo by Jackie Wells Smith

Day 12 photo below.

Friday morning: Another dump truck ready to go.