Six hours later, and Anevay's room is sorta kinda tidy...

One look at the dried snot all over my daughter's nose and hands this morning, and I decided it best to keep her germy, contagious little self home from school.

Once upon a time, when I worked a 40 hour work week and was allowed only 5 sick days a year, being sick wasn't a luxury Anevay and I could afford. I sent my kid to school with her nose dripping to her toes, with headaches, even the occasional fever. 'Cause that's what we do in this country. We persevere, right?

Wrong...

We live miserable lives in which our jobs dictate how much time we have to be sick, how much time we're allowed to take care of our babies, how much time, even, we have allotted to die.

Anyway, all of that ended for me as soon as I was laid off. Now, when Anevay has a cold, she stays where she belongs... with me, being cared for, being loved. I make sure she drinks her fluids, sleeps, washes her hands, and even takes walks outside in the fresh air- just about the best place for a person to be sick.

Today, however, no walks for us. Anevay's sick, but not that sick... I decided we were going to clean her room (I know, I know, cruel, huh?).

Six hours after we started, and we're *sort of* finished.

A little background concerning why this might have taken so long...

Again, this pertains directly to having been laid off back in September...

Right before being laid off my time didn't belong to me. I had my 40-hour per week job, forced myself to write for at least 15-20 hours a week, and both Anevay and I had active social lives. Yet taking care of Anevay and the loft we live in was easier than one might imagine. To get everything done that needed doing, I simply regimented our lives- for example- between 6 and 7 PM Anevay did her homework at the kitchen table while I cooked our dinner. Saturday mornings, between 9 and 11 AM, my sweet little girl cleaned her room while I did our laundry and cleaned the bathroom. And on and on and on...

Since being laid off, I have no schedule at all save taking Anevay to school and picking her up, and, amazingly, I can't seem to find a moment for cleaning, grocery shopping, even cooking.

Before you wag your finger at me, consider this... I've been working since I was 15 years old, and besides a three-month period right after Anevay was born, I have never had a sabbatical to work on myself, my projects, my anything. Besides the occasional week long vacation (would you believe that in my adult life I had never taken a vacation longer than a week before this past Christmas, when Anevay and I spent two weeks at my parents' place!), this is really the first respite I've had since I was a little girl.

I am taking back my life, damn it! I'm using every single second to do the things I want to be doing. I'm writing, working on my canvases, taking walks and reading with and talking with Anevay, and enjoying, at times, a latte at my favorite cafe (Oslo, on Bedford Ave here in Brooklyn). In fact, I'm busier now than when I was working a full-time job (and believe me, even then I was busier than most people!), and I work harder than many people I know (and I know a lot of hard workers).

But alas, many things have fallen through the cracks since I was laid off. Yesterday Anevay had her first bath in... well, let's just say many days (oh my God, was it really five days?!). And the state of her room? Hm. I think it had been a good two months since I poked my head in there. Occasionally, all the crap she kept inside her room would push the door ajar, but I just sighed, turned a blind eye, and used all the weight of my body to force it closed again (I've done the same thing to Anevay's closet door, but that's a can of worms that just isn't ready to be opened yet...).

Yep, her room needed to be sorted through, cleaned, decontaminated...

I'm so glad I don't have a 'before' picture, only an 'after' picture. I would have had child protection services after me if anyone had seen the previous state of Anevay's room.

Many hours and buckets of tears later (from both of us), the room is *sort of* clean. I have a pile of garbage by the door to take outside, two bags of old toys to bring to the park and the Salvation Army, and her electric piano to hook up (we had both forgotten it was even in her room, there was so much stuff was piled up around it!). And this was just from the downstairs of her room...

Yes, Anevay has a loft, which is very cute and treehouse-like when it is clean...

...and something straight out of a Grimm's tale when it is dirty.

But, being the amazing kid she is, Anevay single handedly picked up her loft and made her bed. It's not perfect, but I'm just happy it looks like a bed again.

Of course, I didn't look under her blanket to see what might be hiding out, but you know what? I don't have time for all of that...



So now that the room is (sort of) clean, what next? Well, heck... it's time for us to go work on some of the more important things in life....

I do believe I hear Oslo calling me and Anevay over for a latte and a hot chocolate.

Maybe I'll manage to take our garbage out on the way...

xo