Working From Home

I officially work from home now. I have moved somewhere where my company doesn't have an office (read, outside of Austin), so I'm working out of my house. This is a new thing for me: I wake up in the morning, walk upstairs and start my workday. I'm still working my same Central time schedule, so I start my day at 6am, and am finished by 3 or 3:30.

This has plusses and minuses, as does everything, I know. The biggest plus is that I have all the time in the afternoon, all to myself. This will become a minus at some point in the future, but for now I'm really enjoying it. Here are the kinds of things I've been doing with my 3-5 hours before my husband gets home.

Running I go out my front door and I'm running in the foothills of the mountains. The Texas Hill Country has it's name for a reason, but out here I'm doing more hill work than I ever did in Austin. The first day I went out running I pretty much died after just 3K. Pathetic. And I thought I was training for a marathon at one point? I'm getting better, with a solid 5K yesterday, but the effort is more significant than all the people who pointed out I'd be running at sea level made it sound. I guess they didn't realize I'd be running from sea level to 600 or 700 feet in a very short run. One thing is sure -- I'll be in good shape if I keep this up. Also, I think my GPS running partner thingy has an elevation setting. I'll have to check that out.

Yoga Alternating with my running, I've been doing a surprising amount of yoga practices in my living room. I can really see my flexibility getting better, but mostly I just do it because it keeps me from being sore after the running, and my back is killing me sitting in the crappy chairs we have for me to work from (to be corrected very soon, I promise you).

Movies Some afternoons I just want to watch a movie I really like. I had forgotten how certain story lines went, so I had to rewatch them. My husband likes to buy movies that were good for some reason, but then they often sit on the shelf, never to be watched again. I like to buy movies that elicit emotion or are thought-provoking or for some other reason are rewatchable. And then I watch them a lot. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Gattaca at this point in my life. What do you mean you've never seen it? Go rent it now!!

Crafting The box that was the most lethal to my unpacking endeavors was the one with all my craft stuff in it -- needlework projects and sewing projects and crocheting and knitting projects. Pretty much all of my in-progress projects had a bit more work done on them. None of them are done, but then you spend time on ten different projects, and see how close you get to finishing any of them. Who am I kidding -- the most fun is starting a project, not finishing it!

Shopping For those of you who know me well, this probably makes you think I've really become a Californian and decided I like shoes and clothing. Ha! I have three grocery stores in walking/biking distance, and one or more see me three times a week or so. For some reason I really like going to the grocery store because....

Cooking I've always enjoyed feeding people, but now I'm really enjoying cooking. I've made some elaborate meals -- curried chicken from scratch with lamb samosas and lentil soup; twice cooked pork with green peppers; ginger soy salmon with stir-fried asparagus; fajitas with spanish rice and refried black beans, which are surprisingly easy to make; ragu from scratch; etc., etc., etc. We've only eaten out a few times since our kitchen gear arrived in the moving truck, and those few excursions have further made us resolve to eat at home. We've eaten really well, and we've got more leftovers than any refrigerator should have to have. One of my goals with all the cooking is to not let any food go bad. This has required more trips to the store for odd ingredients to complete certain meals, and has also made me have to be creative with what's left over. Who knew the sourdough bread I made that didn't turn out so well would make great bases for a little pasta sauce, cheese and parsley all melted and toasted in the oven?

Baking Going along with the cooking, I've had this desire to start baking again. I've made bread, cookies, rhubarb pie, cupcakes, and more. Part of this has to do with the fact that my husband started biking to work most days, and that means he has 33Km round trip of biking exercise every day. My husband's a skinny guy, and since I can't have him wasting away, I have been having lavish snack spreads for him when he gets home at night.

I know, I know -- it sounds like I've become all domestic or something, but I'm really enjoying it all. Mostly I'm enjoying the time to just discover and rediscover things on my own. My husband is such a homebody that I used to never be at the house by myself unless he was out of town. This has been a great reversal for us, and one I, for one, am enjoying so far.