I’ve Zoom-bombed enough of Nate’s work meetings to finally convince him to please, please “get a room.” The “nerve center” for the county finance department, is currently our kitchen/dining room, and I’m the comedy-relief backdrop. I come stumbling into the kitchen several times throughout the day, and I rip open packages of snacks and chew loudly—and wear the same yoga pants I’ve been wearing since at least 2015. Also, I’ve not seen the backs of these yoga pants. I’m not sure what condition they’re in, but I’ll bet all of Nate’s workmates do—and I’m sure they make bets and comments about how long my yoga pants will last.
Yes, I’m kind of embarrassed, but I’m mostly worried about Nate—particularly his backside. He has been complaining about sitting on the dining room chairs for so long, and things are hurting—things for which he needs ointments and appointments. So, I bought special pillows, but they are not working. What he really needs is some office furniture in our spacious bedroom that also has a view of the mountains—which would make for a much better backdrop than faded yoga pants, worn by someone who is munching on things and reading the ingredients out loud to Alex, who is upstairs:
“Hey, Alex! Did you know that Easy Cheese in a can has something called apocarotenal in it? Alex? Are you listening to me? Can you hear me? It’s an orange-colored thing that comes from spinach, which is green, so I don’t know how that works. Do you know anything about it? Alex? How does this squeezy cheese work? Nate! Nate! I need help with the Easy Cheese cap. I can’t get it off. Oh, wait! Are you in a meeting? Oops!”
In any case, I decided to order some office furniture for the master bedroom this weekend. To get Nate’s input, I took pictures of two chairs and one desk and showed them to him while he was eating lunch. I made it fun by announcing that today, at lunch, we were going to have “picture time.” “Picture time” consists of only three pictures and one choice. I’m not messin’ around.
I’ve also decided to clean out the crafting nook so that Nate has a place to put papers and work stuff—instead of leaving it all over the dining room table where I could get spray cheese all over budget spreadsheets. I could just imagine what Nate’s colleagues and supervisors would say. They would probably say, “I’ll bet Yoga-Pants-Lady did it.”
It was difficult to convince Nate that I would clean out the crafting nook. Here’s how that conversation went:
Nate: I don’t need to use the crafting nook space for my work stuff.
Me: Yes, you do.
Nate: You don’t have to clean out the crafting nook.
Me: Yes, I do.
Nate: It’s not necessary.
Me (with a trash bag in my hands): Already done, baby. Already done. Bam!
So, the crafting nook is no longer the crafting nook. I took out all of the Christmas and crafting supplies and stuffed them in my jeans and underwear drawers. I couldn’t find a place for boxes and shopping bags, so the crafting nook still has those items—along with extra thank-you and Christmas cards. Still, there are wide open spaces for all of Nate’s folders and work stuff—which he can neatly tuck away into the crafting nook.
The office furniture is coming soon, and I can’t wait to put it together—in the dining room/kitchen on a weekday, during Nate’s working hours—with a can of spray cheese and my yoga pants. I plan on going out in a blaze of Zoom background glory.
Your Turn: Are you or your loved ones working at home because of the coronavirus? Where do you prefer to work?
Fixin' Leaks and Leeks 
I am back in my office now but when I was working from home, I moved into my husband’s study, displacing him to the dining room (he’s retired). My husband was really great about bringing me snacks and hot chocolate. 🙂 We made it work!
Nate’s dad is talented craftsman!
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Nate’s dad was very, very talented indeed. He made our china cabinet, a living room table, and a few other desks and shelves–along with a second dry sink. We’re fortunate to have his work in our house:) Cheers!
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LOL! My third grade classroom is now a tiny corner in my bedroom. Just under 8 steps away from my classroom corner, stands my husband at his standing desk, in his “office”. He gets a kick out of my story time read alouds.
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So fun that you can work together–and share story hour:)
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What a wonderful, useful treasure chest… and drawers. Whatever. You get what I’m going for.
Hubs WAS working from home for a while, out of our bedroom, so sometimes he locked the door to keep the toddler out but also me when I wanted to get through to the bathroom and brush my teeth.
Oh well.
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Yes–it’s a great piece of furniture. We love it. Cheers:)
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If I must videoconference (I prefer teleconferences), I turn my camera off. I find seeing peoples’ faces distracting.
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Yes–Nate mostly uses just sound, but I can never tell when he has Zoom meetings with faces as well. It’s always a surprise:)
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I’ve been working a remote job for the past year, so oddly enough, the pandemic has leveled the playing field. Now everyone is on Zoom, not just me! My husband, who is retired, has been very good about not Zoom-bombing me during meetings. I hope the new office furniture will ease Nate’s need for “ointments and appointments.”
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I can’t wait until the new office furniture arrives. I’m keeping my fingers crossed:)
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Will it come in a flat pack that you need to assemble?
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Oh, yes–assembly will be required. That might be my blog post next week. 🙂
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That spray cheese can really get away from a person! I’ve been doing freelance editing and writing from home for several years, now, so that hasn’t changed. What HAS changed since the pandemic began, however, is the competition for those gigs. Hope your plans work out for you, Cecelia:)
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Thanks so much–and watch out for Easy Cheese:)
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I’ve been working from home since…I don’t remember, really, but I know I used to go to an office. Now I produce apocarotenal in my home workshop. I can’t tell you too much, about how we get those vibrant orange colors from green vegetables, that’s proprietary info, but I can share, that with any of your basis beta-carotenoids, the key to color intensity and stability, for food additives or makeup, is microencapsulation. That last word’s a fun one, isn’t it, I say that a lot out loud, here by myself. Microencapsulation Microencapsulation Microencapsulation. We’ve been working from home a long, long time, haven’t we. Like living in a micro capsule.
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Now I have new things to shout at Nate and Alex-yay!
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I think we were all making do until it became obvious that the kitchen counter couldn’t be a forever workspace. And it could be forever, who knows? I love the cabinet that Nate’s dad made—it’s gorgeous and apparently multi-use
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I think we were all making do until it became obvious that the kitchen counter couldn’t be a forever workspace. And it could be forever, who knows? I love the cabinet that Nate’s dad made—it’s gorgeous and apparently multi-use.
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Thanks! Nate’s dad made all kinds of stuff for us. We have a china cabinet he made and several other tables. We’re lucky to have so much of his work in our family–so many memories:)
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Incredibly talented!
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I’ve been working from home since March. Being somewhat of a homebody who did contracting work out of my Man Cave (nerd central) before that, it was no big deal. Actually, my department has been more efficient working from home and the boss said we might not go back into the office for another six months to a year.
Nate does need somewhere comfy to sit — being uncomfortable or in pain is not conducive to being productive. Before COVID, I’d upgraded my already comfy chair to an even comfier chair. Something I learned — if you’re sitting for a long time – don’t skimp!
Luckily, I’ve only been Zoom-bombed once, but I didn’t have the camera on that time. The Houseguest got laid off so she likes to share her day with me — I’m the backup sharee when she’s not over at her boyfriend’s.
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Yes–agreed. Nate does need a good, comfortable place to work. The chair has arrived–just waiting on the desk. Cheers!
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