Working from home and scheduling

Bagel Wednesday!  We had to try the new coffee shop as they had my favorite bagels there from Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga.  Problem is, the shop is only a little over a mile from our house.  So, we just got on the bikes and wound around town to put some miles on.  What a gorgeous morning, too! We got around to the shop and they are having a grand opening with free coffee.  Triple dip score!!!

So far, they only have plain cream cheese, which is okay by me, but John likes flavored.  Check out that nice bagel and the presentation!

2 bagels with cream cheese and 2 coffees only $3 plus tax.  How awesome is that??  The owner used to work at Uncommon Grounds, so he gets a good deal on coffee and baked goods from them, which he passes on apparently.

We biked around for a while and back home.  10.5 miles today at a 13.4 mile per hour pace.  Not too shabby! 😀

Cute thing – I got home and was in the kitchen taking my vitamins when I heard “Brrrritttt”.  Those of you with cats know exactly what I mean.  I looked around and saw this:

She has never gotten up there that I can remember, so I don’t know what was up with that LOL  Jody – I thought of you when I took this picture!

I did a little work before showering to get some of it caught up.  It still has been sooooo busy and I didn’t want files to fall too far behind their turn around time (I am such a good worker – totally worth that raise!).

I thought I would talk a little bit about working at home and how it is to keep a schedule and all that.  For those that don’t know – I work at home as a transcriptionist.  I don’t know if there is a more sedentary job than that.  Really.  All I do is listen, type, and edit.  My environment has to be very quiet, too – so no music or distractions like that.

A lot of people think of how great it is to work at home, but they do not realize that you have to have a very distinct personality to do so.  You actually have to be more disciplined than if you go into an office.  The old company I worked for had a specific time window for me to work in on certain days, but my current one has no set schedule.  I can work any hours and any days to meet the commitments for them. There is no one sitting there and telling me to get to work or to get to the gym or even mow the lawn.  It’s all on me.

I have found that I need to have as set a schedule as possible in order to be the most productive.  I normally wake up pretty early, which is something I am trying to work on with Operation Sleep this month.  I do like to do my workouts first thing in the morning to get them done, plus it is just a nice way to start the day.  Although with biking season, I tend to do that more in the evening with John during the week.  Strength training is always done in the morning to avoid the afternoon preeners at the gym.  Exercise is nonnegotiable for me.  Like Nike says – Just Do It.  No excuses.

I start my work day no later than 10 am, most times a little earlier.  I make sure that I work straight through.  When I stop typing, I stop earning money, so I won’t open my google reader until lunch break or the evenings.  Although I occasionally get Fridayitis and goof around a little.

Segue…

Let’s take a lunch break, shall we?  Our porch is shaded until mid afternoon, so it was still nice to sit outside and eat lunch.

Yes, the plate was precariously balanced.

Speaking of food and working at home, this can be quite tough.  My house is filled with foods I like to eat because… well, I live here.  It is very easy to get up and go to the pantry and get a snack.  Calories add up whether they are dates, nuts, cheese, chocolate, crackers, blueberries – any ‘healthy’ treat.  It all seems innocent until you have eaten 5 snacks during the day because you can.  And it is very easy to make snacks if I want.  All the ingredients are in the pantry to bake anything, really.  Slow day at work? How about cookies??  Although I am pretty good about that.  I do have to have some things kept up high that start to get my snack engine revving, which helps a fair degree, but I can always pull over a chair if I really want something.  I think keeping an eating/snacking schedule is just as hard at home as it is in an office, if not more so!

So yes, there are some great benefits to working at home, but it isn’t always easy.

Speaking of snacks – I received a bag of these from FoodBuzz for the Tastemaker program.  I love Fig Newtons and these are like crunchy newtons.

Very interesting. They have the Newton taste, but are thin and crispy.

Note that 2 are pictured, but I ended up eating 6 of them!! That’s 2 servings. Addictive little buggers.  Guess these need to go up high…

We hit a high in the mid 90s today.  Hot!!  Funny how 6 months ago we were at minus 27 degrees and today 90 degrees.  Now that is a wide range of temps.

Our house stayed a cool 79 degrees with no AC on with our new windows.  Yes indeedy – worth the $$$ putting those in.

I did want a cool dinner, though.  I had the forethought to put some oats into vanilla greek yogurt and let those soak for a couple hours.  Then when dinner rolled around, I added some chopped strawberries and cinnamon!

Looks like a mess, but cool and refreshing.  Kind of a pseudo muesli  (does anyone else find that name kind of icky?)

I do have to do a little more work tonight as it was a tough slog with some of the doctors today, but otherwise a relaxing evening at home – and staying out of the Fruit Thins!

24 thoughts on “Working from home and scheduling

  1. Kimberley

    Looks like the new coffee shop will be a hit…can’t be the opening prices.

    Pixie is too funny…she would have frightened me half to death though.

    Really hot here today too, according the weather network it was 107 including the humidex, no wonder it felt hellish!

  2. Amber

    Pixie is so photogenic! She must’ve been enjoying the shade up there!

    I’ve seen those Fruit Thins in the store and have been curious about them – although I was kind of hoping they’d be chewy like a fig newton. I’m a little disappointed to hear that they aren’t. 🙁

    Thanks for the book tip and words of encouragement BTW, I’m going to track it down. It sounds like something I can really benefit from!

  3. cammy@tippytoediet

    I’m not a muesli fan. Maybe if I renamed it ‘grainy joy’… 🙂

    I’m with you on the exercise. It’s at the top of my daily schedule. I may change what I do, but I will almost always do *something*. (It helps with that whole sleep thing, too!)

  4. cammy@tippytoediet

    OH, and I meant to thank you for mentioning the Fruit Thins. I’ve seen them in the grocery store, but was a little hesitant to buy a box. I think I’ll abstain for now. Maybe they’ll come out with individual packs. 🙂

  5. Shelley B

    I know that sound! You can’t tell me that cats don’t communicate with humans…that was a total “look what I did” moment with Pixie – and that is an awesome picture of her, too. Ahh, cats. So funny.

  6. Kathy W.

    Pixie is chirping at you from her high perch. Aren’t you sort of glad you didn’t watch her get up there? Those kind of leaps make me want to cover my eyes–one of our cats tried to jump up on a high counter recently (and, let’s face it, she is a bit round for her small size) only to find herself hanging from the edge by her claws, suspended in mid-air…

    1. Lori Post author

      Yes, Pixie is not always the most graceful cat when jumping onto things. I also didn’t see her come down, which was probably even better.

  7. Fran

    The photo of Pixie is too cute!

    I admire you for working from home. Sometimes I wish I could but I don’t think I would be very good at it, mainly because of the difficulties you mention.
    This week I’m rounding up for my vacation (actually it isn’t even lunch time and I’m kind of finished) so I read a lot of blogs during work. But I do feel guilty about that. One of my goals after my vacation is that I won’t open my reader at work unless I have nothing left to do.
    I think if I would work at home I would eat too much and surf the internet too much 🙂 although I would to study for a translater and work from home translating books. But think that will never happen.

  8. Jody - Fit at 53

    Lori – when I saw that pic of Pixie, I was thinking – WTF is up with that! 😉 All the pics you show of her, I never would expect that – she seems too laid back! What do you think got into her? Although she looks like she is in a relaxed state up there too! 😉

    OK, That bagel shop & the bagel – yum! And those fig newton thins – I best not buy based on your experience!

    Thx for talking about working at home. Yes, I would bet you have to be a very certain type of person.. although with the way my bod acts in this older age stage, I need to be home! 😉

    1. Lori Post author

      She is usually relaxed, but she has her moments where she zooms around the house for no reason – like most cats LOL!

  9. Helen

    You would think in the heat wave it would be hotter up there so Pixie would want to be down low. Adorable photo!

  10. Biz

    Hooray for free coffee! My husband has always worked from home – me, I’d be too distracted – I’d want to mop the floor, do laundry, watch t.v.!

    Yesterday on my drive home from work it said 101 degrees – this morning I got up – it was 55 with a high of 62!

  11. Lay Down My Idols

    Oh the oats & greek yogurt & strawberries got me! Do they have to be quick oats? Or are regular oats okay?
    The cookies sound great to me – they look like great tea dunkers? Not gluten free, so they’re off limits for me, but likely that’s good anyway! 🙂
    Dawn

    1. Lori Post author

      I used regular rolled oats and let them soak for a couple of hours.

      The cookies probably would be good tea dunkers. Never thought of that!

  12. Ash @ Good Taste Healthy Me

    omg your cat is super adorable. I love seeing her cute cuddly self.

    I imagine working from home is difficult especially without a schedule. I would always get distracted. Do you ever get lonely? Or do you prefer it?

  13. Roz

    Oh Pixie!!!! That is so funny! I wonder why, if she’s not a climber she ventured up there. Awwww!!!!!
    I admire people who can work from home. I think I’d get too distracted (likely by Neva who is often up above us and chirping like Pixie!)
    Have a great day Lori!!!!

  14. Tish

    What a cute kitty pic. Hope your new coffee/bagel place takes off. It’s fun to support local businesses, especially when you’ve been there to see the inception of the venture. Your food pix made me want strawberries. Luckily I have some in the fridge.

  15. Jody - Fit at 53

    Lori, my friend that I send Pixie pics too & loves her too said that Pixie needs her on FB page!!! Honestly, I bet if you did a FB page or blog about her, you could make money off it with all the cat lovers out there clicking on ad links if you put them on a blog!

  16. Alissa

    When I started working at home- it was very important to me to be strict with myself when it came to food. I just told myself- no snacking on unhealthy food. And setting that standard from day 1 has helped me a lot! But I know just what you’re talking about in this post- it’s so easy to make bad eating choices- but then again the vending machine was WAY worse for me than anything I bring into my house.

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