Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Joys of Working from Home

I have the distinct luxury of being able to work from home many days. It's seemingly the best possible gig. I get to do grown-up style work, make money, take a shower (or not) when I want, and be able to see my kids during the day. I have it even better in that we have a nanny, which allows me the ability to actually get work done while I'm working from home. But even in the best of situations, every mommy can be made to feel like she's not doing enough. 

Our rule on work from home days is that if the door to the office is closed, children are not allowed to open it, knock on it, try to talk through it, or yell near it. The one thing children are allowed to do is slide notes under it. This way, if Mommy or Daddy are not too busy, we can come out or invite the children in. 

Yesterday while I was working, I didn't have any conference calls, so after getting a note from Flik under the door, I told him that he could be in the office and draw, but no talking to Mommy because I had work to do. (He had been asking me a question every 30 seconds. So I told him, no more questions or he'd have to leave.)

So Flik goes to his little table and starts drawing. I sit at my computer and go back to work. Moments later, Flik sneaks up behind me very stealthily and puts this "note" on my desk. 



I tell him it's very nice and go back to work. He starts drawing again and shortly thereafter slips this note onto my desk. Again, he is very sneaky and quiet so that I won't ask him to leave the office.


"Very nice," I say. I continue working. Flik goes back to drawing. A minute later, a third note. Then a fourth.



I'm noticing a theme. Not sure what he's up to, but it's keeping him occupied.  I keep working. I get another drawing. So far, all his notes have been on 3x5 index cards. This one comes on a full sheet of paper.



I pause from working for a moment to say to him, "These are very nice." I hold it up. I ask, "Is this the top." 

"No. No. No." He tells me. He flips it over. 



"This is the head." He traces the large circle on the page with his finger. "These are the eyes." He traces the two smaller circles. "And these are the tears," he points to the little yellow dots at the bottom of the page, "because I don't get to talk to you."

Let's recap.  This is what he has delivered to me:






Yes, working at home can suck. 

2 comments:

OakParkGirl said...

Ugh, yeah. We are probably doing the nanny thing too when the time comes....will have LOTS of questions for you.

Working from home is great now, I only have a dog begging for attention and I feel a little bad sending her away but she mostly sleeps and grumbles at me ocasionally when I ignore her too much :p

Gotta admit, pretty awesome having someone so sad that he can't talk to you :)

rubyspikes said...

Yes, it is awesome that he wants to talk to me. It's actually pretty rare. So it especially sucks when he wants to spend time with me and I need to work.

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