Working From Home

Working from home is kind of like an oxy moron when you have 2 kids under the age of 3.  I always assumed that working from home would be more challenging than it seemed with or without kids, but I never expected it to be this challenging.  I think one of the things that stresses me out on a daily basis is the working aspect of my life. If I were truly a SAHM or one that worked part time out of the house, I think I would actually be a lot less stressed.  Over the past 8 months since Addie was born I have become better with managing my time and getting things done. But truth be told both of my kids have been sick and no one is sleeping so I struggle really hard to work for 10hrs a week.  I know you are probably thinking "well then why are you writing this blog?"  which is totally true, but this is an outlet for me and a guilty pleasure so leave me alone! :) 

A few months ago I was stressing out about my 2 at home jobs, I do marketing/advertising for a realtor as well as HR for a Dr's office.  While I was about to have a breakdown I posted on Facebook that I needed to take a workshop on how to balance working from home.  The first person to respond was a girl I use to work with in college at a local restaurant, she works from home doing graphic design and has a cake company, she also lives alone without kids, she just got engaged.  Her darling response went something like this "...I find that if I find a quiet spot in the house, put on some relaxing music, light a candle and get a big cup of coffee I can work very efficiently!..."  Well isn't that just a dandy idea, so the next day I set out to find the quietest spot in my house.  We don't have any candles at the house other than citronella, so I decided against lighting one of those.  I also needed to find the only room that has a locking door since I needed to be alone and hide from the family.  So taking the advice from my friend here is what I came up with: (watch the video now)

Serene isn't it?  I turned the fan (that obviously needs replaced) on for a little relaxing music.  The problem with my new home office is that I can either sit on the toilet or sit on the floor with my laptop on the toilet but then I kept feeling like Buzz Lightyear was staring at me!

Needless to say, while I do appreciate her kind words they really didn't work out so well for me.  So I would love to offer you some advice into how I make it work and the truth is, I just do.  I work on the couch during nap time and after the kids have both gone to bed.  Lucky for me both of my jobs are computer based so I don't have to pull out a bunch of paperwork every time I need to work.  My time is kept on post it notes on my desktop, which what in the world would I do without desktop post it notes, and I send myself text messages all day long.  The funny thing about this is right after I press send when I hear it ring through I always think "ooooh who's texting me?!?!?" and then I remember it was just me.