Welcome to my brand spanking new outdoor quarantined home office! Mind the potted plants, it’s a bit of a work in progress around here.
Let’s take a tour so you can feel comfortable as I am. Yup, so much comfort. Comfort coming out of my ears.
As you can see, my office is now set up is on my back deck. It took some work, but I believe that I’ve been able to make the space cozy, comfortable, and almost bug-free. I’m quite proud of the broken lawn chair that I’ve turned into my filing cabinet.
Upstairs, in my old home office, I’ve been able to wirelessly connect to my printer. I don’t try to use it much because my wife is up there working from home as well. Sometimes though, I print off little affirmations of love though just for her. Things such as “Have a great day, baby!” or “I want my office back, usurper!”
I much prefer my outside home office and it’s wasp nests. I did bring down my good office chair though just so I could roll across my deck boards and tip over a lot. It keeps me on my toes.
As for my desk space, you won’t find this style at any home office store! This is an original designer piece unique to my house and situation. It starts with our little glass coffee table. Yes, I understand that it wiggles a lot. I think one of the kids took out three or four of the screws holding it steady. I’m sure they had some super fun crafting to do!
As the little coffee table isn’t that tall, I stacked two of our couch cushions on it to make it higher. I mean, I do love back pain, but this seemed more ergonomic. Fun fact, when the wind blows or a big truck goes by, it’s almost like I’m typing during an earthquake. I like that I’m acquiring other skills in my outside quarantined home office.
Speaking of wind, you’ll notice the half beach umbrella I’ve got lashed to the side of the fire pit. Don’t worry, we never use the fire pit because the kids filled it with sand before all this happened. Safety is important! I dug the beach umbrella out of the basement but couldn’t find the bottom half. So it’s only four feet and scrapes my head as I type. But you’ve got to be impressed with the Boy Scout knots I’ve used to make sure it doesn’t get blown away. It has, several times, but never far enough where I couldn’t marathon to get it.
From my outdoor office, I can see my youngest son doing his schoolwork from the kitchen table. I’m close enough where I can make sure he’s on task and still hear the song wheels on the bus, over and over and over again. Man, that bus has a lot of wheels and in no way is it distracting.
In the living room, I’ve also taken some family pictures. I used to do my work in there, as well. Now, my older son utilizes the space. He’s very specific about not being disturbed during his video conferences. But I get to keep the pictures.
As you make yourself comfortable here, you’ll also notice some of my new coworkers, such as the wasps. There are squirrels that keep mistaking my pens for nuts, the occasional rabbit that I’m 25% sure doesn’t have rabies and a paper bag that has blown over from the neighbors and hit me in the face.
And we can’t forget the best new outdoor coworker of all, Mr. Big Truck Guy! I don’t know what you’ve got going on every morning at 10 am, and I don’t know why you feel the need to rev that monster truck engine right in front of my house, but in no way does that make me want to punch you in the face. I appreciate the distraction and so does the dog, which has now forgotten about the rabbits and barks only for you.
My oldest daughter does her work quietly in her room, except when she comes down to comment on a conversation I was having with her mother. I don’t know how she can hear through two closed doors and a mile of space, but if it’s a conversation that doesn’t concern her, she can hear it! It’s probably all the good homeschooling I’m doing at the moment.
I hope you have enjoyed your tour of my outdoor quarantined home office. Feel free to stick around and get familiar with the different species of ants that are crawling over my keyboard.
I’ll be back in a moment, the beach umbrella broke free of my knots and I think Mr. Big Truck Guy is going to snag it as it blows down the street.
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