In this really weird situation we find ourselves in, have you been working from home? i've been doing it now for about a week and a half and i've made a few discoveries. 

Routine is important. i get up, shower, do the eye drops, brush and fix my hair. Take off the pajamas and put on clothes. No, not necessarily full business dress, but clothes. I’ve been wearing my yoga pants and a t-shirt. i’m not just talking about the morning routine. i’m trying to get to bed around the same time every night. i take all my meds and supplements the same way.  Now, there is one thing i am changing. i’m not getting up at stupid early thirty in the morning. Not having to take Phil to His carpool means He sleeps until 6 AM. And i’m staying in bed until after 7. It’s borderline decadent!

Part of my routine is eating. i've always been one of those who have to remember to eat. Breakfast hasn’t been hard, but stopping for lunch, that was hard to remember. Phil is home working too. His day is much more regimented than mine and He eats at 11:15. Going forward i’ll be eating at the same time.

The other thing that i’ve tried to keep up on is walking. During the work day, you’ll frequently see people walking around the building, or taking laps inside. We all try to “get our steps in” and most of us wear those fit tracker things. You regularly hear people say "I'm taking a walk."  At home, i’m remembering it’s still important to do this. So i’ll grab my shoes, and go for a brisk walk around the block. i may start leashing up one of the dogs and taking them with me.

i have to check the calendar every morning. There were a couple of days this past week that i honestly didn’t know what day it was. Meetings snuck up on me as did report deadlines.

Our kitchen chairs are damned uncomfortable! My butt and my back haven’t hurt this bad since i was heavily pregnant with the twins! There is a definite lack of work style seating here. Because of His vision issues, Phil has His computer linked to the TV via HDMI cable. So He sits on the sofa, best seat in the house i think! i’m going to run to the office this weekend and snag my desk chair. It’s been cleared with my manager, and i’m looking forward to more comfortable seating.

The lack of contact with other humans has been, well, hard. During work hours, my manager and the rest of our team is keeping in touch via instant message and phone calls. There’s talk of a virtual all hands meeting via Microsoft Teams. We're a small office, because of that it's all very collaborative. Being apart it seems more difficult to ask for help. Where before, i could just look over at our admin and ask her to take care of something, now i have send a message or an email. It's a small thing, but it's been another change.

It's not all been bad. There have been more than a few bright spots.

i've discovered that windows and doors are wonderful!  i’ve got a great little setup at my office desk, but there are no windows in the back where we are. At home, i’m looking out into the backyard. The grass is green, the trees are sprouting leaves, the birds are singing and the squirrels are running around. If i open the back door, i can hear and feel the breeze. This is such an improvement!

i can play my music without having to use my earbuds! i like my earbuds, but they start to bug me after a couple of hours. And working at home means i can connect to my great little bluetooth speaker. Add in a family that likes to sing along and you have the ingredients for a house party! We may not all be able to carry a tune, but we sing with enthusiasm, lol!

i’m not sure if it’s the atmosphere here, or what, but the coffee tastes better at home. Now you should know, the coffee at my office is really good. We have 3 different coffees to chose from, real half and half, and we don’t have to pay for it. But for some reason, the coffee i’ve had sitting at my kitchen table desk just tastes better.

My kids, our kids, have been so great! They're all at home too. And they’ve been so, flexible with these changes. i made the comment that the clutter in the living room needed to be dealt with as it was starting to feel very closed in. Well they all just jumped right in and started cleaning and decluttering. Number One Son took over, told us to go run some errands and by the time we’d get back he’d have it handled. So we took a drive, came back to a clean house!

It’s been an adjustment for sure, but nothing we can’t handle.