I didn’t take a photo yesterday, so I took one now.
It is our living room. There were Christmas bins in the open space yesterday, stockings still on the mantel, tree stand where the blue cart sits.
GurbHub changed their pay structure in Salem on Monday. No longer are drivers guaranteed $13 when on block, now it is straight delivery and tips. Last week, I had $60 in make up pay. The better money is in Lyft and UberX, people pay more to deliver themselves than there food. And to do those required having a clean car. It was easier just to jump in the car and make sure the front seat was clear than to retake out the booster seats, pick up the accumulated stuff, vacuum the inside, wash the interior windows, wash the exterior, but down the seat covers, and drive. $13/hr isn’t much, especially when it is only an hour or so of work to the car ready, but the reality of an hour or two each day of getting paid to focus on other things was worth not cleaning.
I wrote a letter on Monday about my kids schooling that took much of my time. Tuesday was the snow day that I stayed with the kids while my wife could work, so making jog money hasn’t been happening. Yesterday I had some emails to send and I needed to shower and it was 1:30 before I was ready to go. An hour and a half before needing to head out to pick up the kids, just enough time to clean the car and hope for a short ride or two, then a run to the post office before heading to the school.
I just didn’t wanna wash the car. The five hours of not making money weighed on me. Getting a rejection email for a job I know I would be great at doing, without even an interview weighed on me.
I was looking for cat videos to soothe my wallowing. So I just had to get up and do something. Most of the dishes were done and the kitchen was clean. The three Christmas bins could really use going back in the garage. When my wife said she was hoping to get rid of somethings from the bin when she had time, we both laughed. It has been a month and the bins were still in the house, unopened. I packed them full of stuff and moved them outside. The forecast predicts more snow and freezing temperatures for the next week plus. So now was as good a time as any to put plastic on the windows. The blue cart is our art cart and it sat in Grand Central Station of our house – where the hallway, living room, and dining area all met – and it was the kids preferred crafting area. To get anywhere in the house required stepping over and around various projects. We put our Christmas tree in that corner, so one month out of the year (hoping not three like this season) we’ll have to do some rearranging, but if the options are the kids have clean up craft stuff to use the play kitchen versus I have to clear out projects to get to the actual kitchen. I will take the former.
The cardboard boxes with the upside down ladybug pillow on them are for my son’s LEGO desk. I put together one side of shelving that he was ecstatic about, I just needed to find room for the bookshelf that was taking up space from the other shelf and desk part.
So when I moved the art supplies, there was room for the bookcase which I moved out of my son’s room. Maybe today I will build the shelf, go to the hardware store to buy the desktop and attaching hardware and build the desk. Maybe?
I also walked to pick up the kids, took a quick trip to the grocery store for som dinner supplies, made dinner (Third time this week), and bathed the kids. By the time I finished reading bed times stories and tucked them in it had been eight hours of work.
A physical exhaustion ached through me that I haven’t felt in a long while. It was good.
I didn’t make any money, I over drafted my account with an automatic payment that came out earlier than my pay from last week’s driving, and as has been pointed out often, domestic work is offering unpaid labor. Yet, getting closer to a clean house that isn’t overwhelming feels good and for that I am grateful.
I am grateful for the ability to stoop, reach, climb, lift, carry and move so many things.
I am grateful for having a house that I can live and do work in and on.
I am grateful for the abundance that needs to be cleaned and arranged in our house.