Four Legged Habits

Although, I may not have "real" kids, my four legged, slobbery, fur babies sure do seem like "real" kids. Now that I work from home, I've been able to see what they do all day..... and it's so interesting to see how habit like they are.

They wake up with me, each morning, and of course, go to the bathroom and take a nice 30 minute sun bath. My little Luna loves the sun, however her skin hates the sun. She goes outside white and freckled and comes back in red like a lobster! From about 8:30am till 10:30am it's naptime; hard life, right? 10:30am to about 11:45am it's playtime; toys are everywhere. Then of course, it's lunch time for all of us. Since the weather has been so wonderful recently, they've been spending 1pm to about 2pm outside in our backyard. I think it's safe to say, our backyard is a favorite hangout for all the Paynes :) Naptime comes again from 2pm to 4pm, then it's just whatever!

I'm sure it might be weird for me to post about this, but for someone as organized and schedule oriented as me, I find patterns and habits interesting; human or animal. Most of my friends have 2 legged kids, so I often hear about their schedules, and thought it was interesting that my 4 legged babies are the same way.

For your viewing pleasure :)

Cayley didn't want her picture taken, but I managed to get her in with Luna.

Making Our House A Home

Evening, y'all!

I've been trying hard to make myself stop working on time, shut my doors, and be "home"... it'll take time, but I'm getting better!

I wanted to give you an update on our new home in Fort Worth. First off, we absolutely love it! I'm so glad that Will and I decided on this house; it's perfect for us. However, going from a 2 bedroom, 1 office, 1,100 sqft house to a 4 bedroom, 1 office, 2,600 sqft house isn't as easy as I expected. My walls are so bare!!

We're expecting our first house guests next month!!! The Texas Democratic State Convention is in Dallas this year, so some of my friends and fellow Midland Democratic Delegates are coming to stay with us. I'm so excited, I can't even describe it. I've missed them so much, it'll be so wonderful to have them here.

This past weekend, Will and I decided it was time to make our house a home, which means it was time to buy furniture. We bought most of our guest bedroom furniture and are currently working on decorating. One of our guest rooms will be a British theme, one will be a Country Chic theme, and one will be... well I don't know yet. :) 2 out of 3 is pretty darn good for me!

One problem we've had at our new house is cell service. AT&T and Verizon don't pick up signal in our neighborhood... weird, right? So we've really had to rely on our wireless internet to play on our phones and text. This is a big problem for people who come to visit..... how will I let them know the wifi password? How will they know which wifi to connect to? Well, while playing around on Pinterest, I found the perfect printable for our guestrooms!

 

 

How perfect is this?!

So, I decided to get some decorative paper and fun frames to make them stand out, while blending in with the room decor.

I renamed our guest wifi to a version of the hashtag I use on social media for house posts.

Feel free to use this printable  - it's so much fun!

Have a wonderful night, y'all!

The Adventure of Working From Home

I've been working from home for a little over two weeks now, and let me tell you, I absolutely love it. One thing I don't love is the perception people have of working from home. I often hear, "Oh, you must get so much housework done during the day" or "How does lunch at 2pm sound? Since you work from home, you can make it, right?". Last time I checked, the term "working from home" meant that you actually worked, while home. Maybe I'm crazy......

 

Things I hear or get asked on a daily basis:

 

"Oh, so what time do you get up?"

Surprisingly, earlier than I did when I worked in my office. I don't know if it's the atmosphere of living somewhere we really love, or what, but Will and I are both waking up earlier than we used to. Just because I work from home doesn't mean I get to sleep in, lounge around, and maybe get some work done. I'm in my office, behind my computer between 7:30am and 7:45am.

 

"So, you've got time to do that, right?"

I mainly hear this from people I volunteer for or my husband. I work normal business hours, just like everyone else. Just because I work from home doesn't mean I get to choose my hours, or do whatever I want.

 

"So, what do you do all day?"

Work. What else? I'm not sure why people think because I work from home I don't "work" during the day. I actually work more at home than I did at the office. Let me explain.

At the office, you have the social aspect of an office; where at home, you don't. I find myself getting more done during the day at home than I did when I worked in the office. Yes, I have distractions like letting the dogs outside or answering the door to greet the mailman who I'm pretty sure hates me (due to the amount of packages we've been receiving since we moved in) but otherwise, I stay pretty focused on work. I can turn my music on and really just zone out on my work. I love it.

 

 

However, there are many concerns about working from home.

 

Will I be able to deal with it emotionally?

Many people don't have the personality of working from home, or maybe they need the social interaction of an office environment. This was something I worried about at first, but soon realized, it's right up my alley. I'm an only child and an oilfield wife. These two things have one specific thing in common; being alone. I never had a sister or brother around the house 24/7 so I never really got that "I need people around me" feeling. Yes, I enjoy people but I don't need to be surrounded all the time. Being an oil field wife is the same thing; yes we have a husband but he's gone a lot. When Will and I lived in Midland, we rarely saw eachother, had dinner together, or watched a show together. He worked 80+ hours a week and I was socially active.

Yes, I miss the people I worked with in my office, don't get me wrong. However, I really enjoy being alone during the day with my dogs. Now that Will isn't working 80+ hours a week, we have a lot more time together, which means I don't have the alone time I used to. Working from home gives me that.

 

 I'll just finish this then I'll stop.

This is something I find myself saying often. One thing I never thought about when considering working from home was "Will I be able to separate home and work?". I never thought I would have this problem, to be honest. But now, I find that I do.

Say it's 6pm on a weeknight and my office hours are 8am to 5pm. I'm sitting on the couch, watching a show with Will, and my work phone rings. Do I get up and answer it or let it go to voicemail and check it tomorrow? Of course, I end up getting up and answering it. This is something I've found myself doing more than I'd like to admit.

I also find myself working later than I did when I worked in my office. Will may be working late and I honestly lose track of time. I eventually look up and see that it's way past closing time. This is something that happens when I say to myself, "Oh...I'll just finish this then stop." Yeah, right. That never happens. I always end up getting caught up in whatever I'm doing and do more than I said I would.

This is something I have to figure out myself. I have to learn to close the doors, literally, to my home office and let them be shut. Stop answering the phone after hours, stop working past 5pm, and let home time, be home time.

 

Am I missing out on anything?

This may go along with the first paragraph, of dealing with working from home emotionally. My office is a very social office. The girls normally get together in the break room and have fun morning chats, go to lunch together, or even get drinks after work. This is something I've dealt with, and it's hard. I used to go to lunch with someone every day at work. Now, I often find myself going to the grocery store, preparing dinner for tonight, or unpacking boxes that we still have taped up. I'm sure once I get everything unpacked, meet all the people on my street, or meet friends in the area with the same lunch time as me, it'll get easier.

 

 

Sorry for such a long post, this is something I've really been thinking about and decided to stop working, on time, and do this instead. Do you work from home? What do you find most difficult about it? What do you enjoy most? I'd love to hear.

 

Happy Fort Worth Greetings! :)

Movin' on...North-East!

I'm so excited to tell y'all that we're moving!!!!!!!

 

Although the past year has been great here in Midland, I'm ready to get out.

 

 

Will and I were talking one day about how wonderful it would be if we lived somewhere else... somewhere with things to do, within driving distance of fun places, maybe even have a lake. Boy, did we get lucky. I started to search on Will's company's website and saw a few options; Houston, Corpus Christi, or Fort Worth. As much as I'd love to move to Houston, Will ended that without discussion. Corpus Christi really wasn't an option for us, either. Although it would have been nice to be close to some of his family, it's way too far from mine for comfort. We eventually decided to take a weekend trip to Fort Worth, and that my friends was when we fell in love.

 

We spent a few weekends looking for houses with our wonderful Realtor. Finally, on the last weekend, we found our house.

 

We move April 15th..... EEK!

 

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend; ours will be jam packed with packing!

A Post I Don't Know How To Write.....

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." 
~From a headstone in Ireland

It's with a heavy heart that I write this post.....

My sweet, wonderful, loving grandmother (Pmom) passed away Saturday, March 1, 2014 peacefully in her sleep. Although she was ill for many months prior, it was still hard to let her go.

As many of you may or may not know, my family is very small. Family gatherings included myself, my mother, father, and Pmom. Then we got Will, and had to add to our tiny table of 4. When I was younger, my mother would travel most weekends and some weeks of summer to teach or judge dance competitions.... this meant I got to spend a ton of time with Pmom. My mother always reminds me of how she would have to make me come home from Pmom's house, regardless of if I wanted to or not. I was very lucky to have her as long as I did, as I know some people barely get to know their grandparents, let alone spend as much time as I did with mine.

Pmom was born October 1, 1923, my mother was born September 24, 1956, and I was born October 23, 1989. This made all three of us Libras... making a decision was nearly impossible between the three of us. And although Pmom and I normally wanted to eat at the same place in Abilene, we were overturned because my mother always drove.

Although our family was small, my grandmother's life was not. She was loved by many, which was proven March 1, 2014. My mother and I figured her funeral would be small, like most other family functions, but boy, were we wrong.

Family from all over drove in to be with us and celebrate the wonderful women my Pmom was. Even their neighbors from Deer Park, TX drove all the way from Houston....what a surprise; or was it? Friends from my mom's studio joined as well, which was so thoughtful and wonderful to have them there with us, as we consider them our second family. The stories I heard from those who knew my grandmother before my time were so funny, mostly and inspiring. Pmom was and always will be such a wonderful person, and a women I inspire to be (even though she was a Republican).

The night before her funeral, regardless of her thoughts or feelings about this, I went to visit my cousin, Sheri. We talked about Pmom and how wonderful she was.... then this happened. Sorry Pmom and Mom... Know I love you anyway.

When I was 10, I was prescribed glasses. I wasn't too thrilled (from what I remember) at first, but Pmom knew just how to cheer me up.

As we're playing cards (casino to be exact) this conversation happened:

Pmom - Well, now that you have glasses, you can use my favorite trick!

Me - What's that?

Pmom then used her middle finger to push up her glasses....
Pmom- See, this way you can do what you want and not get in trouble.

I'll leave y'all with that to laugh at.