3 Reasons Why My Work At Home Spouse Is Ruining My Life

My husband works from home and yes, it is awesome.......ly annoying. 

In fact, it's ruining my life in a handful of ways.

Number 1:  I don't relate to ANY of my friends. 

You see,  I'm a stay at home mom. BUT since my Entrepreneur works from home that makes me like a part-time Stay-at-Home Mom who doesn't really know what it's like to be a Stay-at-Home Mom.

The moment the phrase: "Oh, your husband works from home..." comes our of someone's mouth I feel like throwing up.

{cue stepping on soapbox}

Just because he works from home doesn't mean that I can leave my napping baby at home with him while I run errands. Except I have done that before (obviously only once in an extremely rare circumstance) and it is seriously AMAZING. Or that we can drink our freshly blended green smoothies together on a Thursday morning while he checks his email and I check my Instagram (obviously that one is also completely hypothetical.)

Point is 94.3% of my friends have spouses who work long hours, travel every other week or can't take the afternoon off for their 1st graders Spring Concert. They are tired, single handed and dying to spend time alone with their spouse. I, on the other hand, tend to find myself googling Startup Conferences or Expos that would require a plane ticket.

Number 2: I never know when it's a good day. 

Everything can be all peaches and cream as I play a little Coldplay in the kitchen and do the dishes or fold the laundry and then all the sudden curse words start coming from my dining room table.

I never know whether I dare ask the dreaded, "Honey, everything ok?" question or if I should listen to the little voice inside my head that says: Step away from the Entrepreneur as I sneak into one of the back rooms and pretend I never heard a thing.

Number 3: Work LITERALLY never stops. 

Sure "work" can take quick breaks when you work from home. Like the amount of time it takes to walk down the hallway to use the John or head to the kitchen to make a sandwich. But those breaks aren't really breaking away from work. They are more like half a second pauses. And while we do have rules in place (i.e. No cell phones during dinner and no work in the bedroom) the work is still ALWAYS there because there is no physical separation of spheres. Which means la casa es la oficina and la oficina es la casa. It's like having a dog really. It either follows you into every room you enter or leaves fun pieces of evidence that it's still there.
I wonder what would happen if I just stopped feeding it...

And since my Entrepreneur never stops working I feel like I can never stop working. Like I can't take breaks or talk on the phone or check facebook because he's there and he's working and he's watching me...

I've never escaped worked out at the gym so much in all my life.


Now I will admit... it's true our family gets to enjoy perks that so many work-away-from-home parents aren't able to participate it. I can see why it looks so appealing. My Entrepreneur has been know to grab lunch with me on any given day of the week or help pick up the kids after school. Not to mention that he can attend almost every single sporting event or activity regardless of the time of day if he wants to. My kids know who their dad is because he's around A LOT and he gets to be with the family for all the little daily aspects of life. He doesn't have to miss out on lunchtime conversations or quick afternoon bike rides if he doesn't want to. And while he doesn't always engage or attend all of these things he has so much more flexibility to and it feels empowering to know he has that choice.

And the truth is that's actually really awesome.


Unless of course I want to sit down on the couch at 4 in the afternoon and watch last nights episode of the Bachelorette...