Working From Home — WANDERLYNDS

When I started this blog my intent was to share how day to day life has changed since moving to this unique province of Canada. While we've experienced some rare adventures and learned a ton, I haven't given you a glimpse of what a "normal" day looks like.

I spend two weeks of every month here in Newfoundland. Of those two weeks I work remotely for one of them. That gives me one week off per month in which I embrace housewife status; lunching around town, grocery shopping (by means of walking) and doing yoga. It's also a great time to work on my blog, since during that other week I should be...ummm...working.

So here is what working from home looks like for me. I could have made this out to appear chic and glamorous, but I'd be lying. It took almost a year for me to break the habit of staying in my pajamas all day. James would come home in the evening and just shake his head.

Staying in my jammies all day actually started to depress me, so I've since at least made the effort to put on actual pants and a sweatshirt. Makeup is only applied if I'm meeting a friend for lunch or if James and I have already made plans for something after work.

I try to stick as close to the hours of my Houston comrades as possible. Since we're two and a half hours ahead and I typically arrive to the office at 6:30am, this means not turning on my computer until 9am. You would think I'd use the morning to get in an early yoga class or to go for a run, but in all honesty I usually just sleep in. James and I are in the habit of staying up late to watch something and falling asleep around midnight. Perhaps this would make for a good 2017 resolution. To do something productive with my mornings when I'm in Newfoundland.

By the time I'm up, James has already left and arrived at work and the kitty has been fed. She's a trickster and sometimes tries to pretend she has not eaten. Now I check with James before dropping her an extra scoop of chow.

I fire up the computer and head downstairs to make coffee. I'm not in the habit of eating first thing in the morning, so it's usually an hour or so into checking emails before I head back downstairs to rummage the kitchen or head down the street to Tim Horton's for a bagel. If I've woken early enough I'll walk to Fixed Bakery for the best dirty chai latte ever made and a vegan "blt" bagel, made with coconut flakes for bacon!

Then the morning moves on as per usual. Completing my Division Order Analyst work as timely as I can. One thing about remote work is that trying to connect to my company's server via VPN is a nightmare. My computer runs at a half the pace as is normal and I'm constantly facing that spinning wheel of death, waiting for my system to catch up to the process I've completed. By now I've become accustomed to the slower pace, but depending on what's on my plate and if James is still at the office, I'll sometimes work extra hours to make up for it.

Lunch is when I most appreciate my remote situation. I can walk about twenty yards to my yoga studio, take in a class, and not have to worry about what I look like after. I'll rinse off quickly before heading back to my desk, but don't have to look at all presentable with my wet hair and, more than likely, pajamas post sweat sesh.

I'll skip yoga when I have lunch plans with a friend. Kimberly is another Houston wife of a Cameron/Schlumberger recruit and together, sometimes with her dog Glenry, we're learning new parts of the city, like Bowring Park.

Post lunch is back to the grind with my trusted assistant. In Houston I'd leave the office around 4pm, which translates to 6:30pm Newfoundland Standard Time. That's typically when James arrives home, so that works out nicely. I'm already home so I can easily slip into something nicer if we have dinner plans, throw on some makeup, or head straight to the kitchen to whip up dinner.

It's an amazing opportunity I have to continue in my career while supporting James in his. While I love having a week to lounge or to travel without using vacation, it comes at the cost of spending two weeks a month away from my husband. I am eager for James and I to be together full time and to feel what this "normal" is all about.