Top Ten Problems with Working At Home:

1)  You talk to yourself.  Like, a lot.  A lot, A LOT.  This wouldn’t be a problem, but I’ve noticed in the last few months that it has started carrying over into my rare public outings.  I realized with horror one day that I was the Crazy Lady at Target, mumbling to myself about the sale on sheets and what products I wanted to get.  And I have no idea how long I’d been talking to myself out loud.

2)  Your wardrobe is sadly, sadly under-utilized.  I have a closet full of great clothes.  Sure, I make and effort here and there, dreaming of being a glamorous work-at-home-designer.  But then reality sets in, and I reach for the jeans and comfy shirt.  Again.

3)  You wear tennis shoes every single day.  I have a closet that is ALSO full of beautiful shoes.  Heels, wedges, flats, boots, booties, sandals.  Yet I’m wearing sneakers pretty much every day.  Trying to wear the heels for even a few hours on a rare date night out has proven to be almost too much.  I miss my shoes.

4)  You have no clue what is going on in pop culture.  Seriously, unless you spend way too much time online, no clue.  I don’t watch t.v., I don’t listen to the radio, so my main way of hearing about popular things/people/etc, was at work, through co-workers.  No more.  I mean, I had  no idea of who Bruno Mars is (I still only hold a rather sketchy idea).  No idea.  Apparently he’s something of a Big Deal.

5)  Your pets (in my case: cats)  get Obsessive Compulsive in their love of and need for you.  One of my cats, Mimi, has always been rather Needy, but she has gone into a whole new level of crazy over the last few months.  As in, if I’m in another room, she will cry until I call out to let her know where I am.  She then comes sprinting into wherever I am, and won’t leave my side.  I don’t even want to think what goes on when I’ve left the house.

6)  The pull of the computer/XBox/movies is STRONG and ever-present.

7)  You talk your partners’ ear off when they come home from work in the Outside World.  I can see G’s eyes glaze over as I ramble on and on and ON about fabric or sewing or the cats.  Poor thing.

8)  Friends and family never really understand that you ARE at work.  Going out shopping or to the movies or talking on the phone for an hour are not really options.  I AM AT WORK.  It just happens that my work is my home.

9)  That said–YOU NEVER, EVER EVER LEAVE YOUR WORKPLACE.  Ever.  There’s no leaving and relaxing at home, away from work–because home IS your work.  On the weekend’s, I’m always desperate to go out–anywhere–and poor G want’s to rest and enjoy home.

10)  You never get to eat out at that new place around the corner.  I used to eat out with friends a lot for work lunches.  No more.  Lunch?  99.99% probability that I made it myself.  Left-overs or salad.  Every.  Day.

But, you know what?  My worst day working from home is STILL better than my best day working in an office at ANY previous job.