Working from home?

What a great idea. I'll bet the majority of you think "Working from home would be so great, no commute, I can see my family more, and I can get so much work done." I hate to break it to ya, but that's a big fat LIE.

So that's what I do most of the time. For so long I would commute to a job, work at the job, then commute home. I kept thinking that working from home would be so great.

I wish I had an office to go to.

Seriously some days I just want to go to the office, that magic place where I can actually get some work done in a timely manner.

Lets take an example. I work using the program Illustrator, it's basically a drawing program. I receive work orders through my e-mail that are very specific so I have to reference them back and forth between my mail program and Illustrator and to make things smoother I use keyboard shortcuts (you'll understand why I am giving all this background info in a minute).

So here it goes:

E-mail comes in

Check e-mail

"Dad Lukas hit me!"

Resolve issue.

Resume e-mail checking,

"Dad when can we go outside?" (Nikki)
"I wanna go outside too!" (Lukas)
"me toooo!" (that's Mollie)
"No It's quiet time" (That's me)

Make a quarter turn towards my computer screen

"But I don't want to be quiet" (Obviously)

Ignore.

"Dad I want a snack." (Lukas)
"We just ate Lunch" (Well we did, you just looked at it and said it was yucky)
"I'm still hungry"
"Eat your lunch it's still there on the table" (Note to self, do dishes before Kara is coherent enough to care, but not early enough that it has a chance to get messy again so I have to clean it twice.)

Click on Illustrator icon

"MOLLIE WHAT THE..(Insert Mollie shenanigan here)"  (Swear words in my head)

Stand up, clean up whatever it was that Mollie was ruining. Check clock, if it's anywhere close to afternoon, guess what, Mollie is getting a nap.

11:45, close enough.

Turn on netflix for the Kids.

Sit down in chair.

"Dad the Wii isn't working."
"Why do you want the Wii?"
"For Netflix"
"Use the Roku"
"We can't find the remote." (Nikki)
"Is it in your room? You usually take it in there to prevent Lukas from changing shows and having any decision making power ever." (Me)

"Will you help me find it?"
"No"

Begin re-reading e-mail

"I NEED TO GO POTTY!" (Lukas)
panic rush to the bathroom.
"I'm done!" (translation, come wipe my butt please!)
"Did you poop?"
"No"
"Then you know what to do"
"But I need help"
"No you don't"

Begin again to re-read e-mail.
Select file to open.

"I need a baked potato from Wendy's" (Kara)
"Now?"
"Oh yeah, now."
"Ok, I'll be right back."
"Can you take the kids?"
Swearing in my head that I now have to find shoes.
"Sure!" (me wondering if all the fun we had making the baby was worth this.......... Yep!)

Go to Wendy's.
Return from Wendy's.

Mollie is UP
Mollie is in my chair.
Mollie is typing something.... all over the file that I was working with. She has also e-mailed my boss a message of pure gibberish. Boss thinks I am having a stroke and felt like I needed to e-mail it Monty Python Style. "He must have died while carving it." -Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Now have to start all over again.
Not a huge problem because I only got past three steps anyway.

It's now 5:00 and the workday is over. Whew.
Wow working from home is so.......relaxing!