I was given an opportunity last week to work from home.  I was surprised with the offer since I am not quoted as a high risk employee, but of course I was thrilled as I have never once worked from home in my life before.  Instead of a laptop, I was given a mini desktop which I brought home on Thursday and Stuart helped me set it up.  Stuart even graciously gave up his nice office for me and moved his equipment to the game room.  By Friday 5/15/2020, I was prepared to start working at home.  It took some adjustment but otherwise I was able to efficiently in the home office. 

It was nice to periodically come out of the office and be welcomed by the boys’ hugs.  Sometimes Buddy would even stay quietly in the room with me while I called patients.  At lunch I could join the boys to do a few Just Dance songs before having lunch.  I love looking out through the window to see the trees too.  I also enjoy able to start making dinner quickly after ending work.  I think I will definitely get used to these perks, even though this opportunity might only last a few weeks.

Stuart’s temporary workspace:

    One thing I do miss is meeting up with my coworker friend to do our lunch walk.  We took a pic of our last walk for awhile.

   One night when Stuart and I went upstairs to go to bed at night, this was what we saw.  The boys were having a “sleepover” on the ground at the doorway.  They had the audiobook Big Nate playing while they both were deep asleep.  Since they were nicely tucked in with blankets, we just let them stay that way for the night.

     Connor borrowed my phone a few times to modify photos for fun and he ended up making these movie posters.  I thought they are funny.

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    We had a very low key day as expected in our current situation.  The boys woke up early to write a card for me.  The rest of the day they let me choose what board game I liked to play, what dinner to have and what movie I liked to watch in the evening.  I enjoyed the special attention for the day.

     While the boys played video game in the afternoon. Stuart suggested for us to take a bike ride.  We decided to take a route to this open l

and near our house which was 15 mins bike ride away.  The huge open area was next to the IBM campus, and it was bare and open.  We took the dirt road out for 10 minutes and we were barely into this open park.  We will have to be more prepared to explore longer next time.

    Finally it was time, Logan’s hair was messy and in his eyes, so the cut was planned on Saturday.  I was prepared this time with a robe and a shear, but the one thing that I did not know how to use well was Stuart’s razor.  I ended up recruiting Stuart to help me with Logan’s back hair and sideburns.  I used the scissor the rest of his hairdo; I was getting more used to it now after Connor’s cut.  This was a long session nonetheless; we spent over a whole hour.  At the end, I wished I know how to use the razor, but overall I think we did a relatively good job.

     This year with our unfortunate situation, we had no choice but kept Stuart’s BD at low key.  We decided to drive out to pick up a bundt cake and I made one of Stuart’s favorite for dinner.  I managed to remember and bought an online gift for Stuart, and it arrived just in time.  The gift might also come in handy to give us extra entertainment during this tough time.  All and all I think we celebrated Stuart’s special day the best that we could.

    This day was not only for Stuart, it also marked the anniversary of Buddy’s adoption day.  Buddy has been a part of our family for 1 year now.  We all are very happy to have Buddy and we all hugged him for his special day.