Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Togetherness: Working From Home

I've been working from home for the better part of a year. I enjoy the freedom, flexibility, the working-in-pajamas situation it allows.... it's all just awesome. Some days I sleep in later than other days. Some days I  work for 7 hours straight (seriously) and other days I only work about 2 hours, depending on my work load.

Granted, sometimes my work takes me to meetings throughout the city, so that's not necessarily working from home. But, for the most part, I'm here. I don't have to go into an office everyday. And THAT is a BLESSING.

I was somewhat excited, somewhat nervous when I found out that Grant's new job would have him working from home as well. Excited because "Hey I happen to really like being around him and we get to be together a lot and he won't be gone all the time!" and then nervous because "Hey I've kinda got my routine here and I'm not sure how having my husband here all day will affect my little world I've got going on".

So far... I love it. But we've had to establish our zones! We have to work in different parts of the house. We have to have doors. Both of us are on the phone a lot for work (especially Grant) and we are "competing" when it comes to volume sometimes. Sometimes both of us are out at meetings all day and neither of us are here. Sometimes we wake up together, eat breakfast, work a bit, have lunch, work some more, take the dog on a walk, work a bit more, and then call it a day. And those times.... it's like heaven.

There were some adjustments to having him here all day. When I was the only one here, I would have a cup of coffee and a bagel for breakfast, and then make myself a peanut butter sandwich or a Lean Cuisine for lunch. Apparently, my darling husband needs a bit more food than that. The people-pleaser in me has a hard time watching him stand in front of the pantry or fridge for 10 minutes, staring aimlessly with that "we have no food" look on his face. I feel like I need to make him something to eat. So I'm definitely eating a heartier breakfast now that he's working from home too!

He tends to use the guest bathroom since it is closer to the study. I use our bathroom since it is closer to where I'm stationed all day. It makes me laugh since we seem to have implemented a Women's Restroom and a Men's Restroom, just like in a real office. Maybe I should put signs up that say "Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work" :)

I think he gets a little annoyed by me sometimes, too. Maybe it's cause several times throughout the day I'll holler things like:

"What are you doing?"

"What are you eating?"

"Hi!"

"COME HERE AND SEE THIS! It's a YouTube video of a dog and a pony on a surfboard!"

"What are you eating now? Do you want to share that?"

"GRANT. GRANT. Graaaaant!!!! Oh. You're on the phone. Sorry. SORRY!!"

I'm actually getting to the point where I email him from the other room.

All in all, I am SO BEYOND THANKFUL that we have this freedom and the blessing of jobs that require not much more than an internet connection to get our work done.

And I'm also thankful that we both have lunch meetings throughout the week so we can get a little breather from one another. Sometimes it is a lot of togetherness :)

3 comments:

  1. This completely cracked me up! My boyfriend works from home every Wednesday and I've had the chance to occasionally work from home then as well... and I totally do the same thing.

    "Look at this kitten dancing on YouTube!"

    "Are you making mac and cheese for lunch? I could really go for mac and cheese."

    "Hey listen to this *reads entire blog post* Isn't that funny? Did you hear me? Hello? Yes... I'm aware that working from home means you're working, sheesh."

    It's still nice to have that time together though!

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  2. oh...i miss working with you!!! remember how we'd all holler around the office and watch youtube videos and laugh. nobody dances down the halls or sings disney songs anymore. it's all work, work, work. boo!

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  3. I could totally go for Conn working at home!!! :)

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