After proving myself in my first two months on the job, I am now eligible to telecommute once a week. As I jotted down my “work from home day” in my datebook today, all sorts of hopes and aspirations took over.

Since i’ll be working from home one day, I will:
- Make a nice homemade dinner for my kids and myself
- Pick up that suit at the cleaners that I haven’t had time to get since October
- Take a few moments to visit with my stay-at-home mom friends at preschool dropoff (since i’m never there)
- Take a break at lunchtime and do two miles on the elliptical
- Read the entire newspaper
- Call to set up doctor and dentis appointments overdue

Oh, and work.

I think the flexibility to work from home is great, but I might be putting too much pressure on myself to do more then, making it harder than the day has to be.

I will not let my company down from home! I am confident I will be a strong employee here or at the office. I wish I was as confident I will actually do all these motherly things noted above. Check back in later in the week and i’ll let you know if I let myself down on that front.

As a working mom (well, every mom works in one way or another, so let me rephrase that) — as a busy mom, I just felt validated after reading a great article in today’s Washington Post Magazine - “The Test of Time” by Brigid Schulte, who tries to figure out where all her time goes.

A sociologist says moms have THIRTY hours of leisure time each week, which makes the author laugh. You are probably shocked to hear that, too, right? Since she is so unbelieving of his theory, he even offers to meet with her after she logs all her time properly (which takes a year) to show her he is right.

The funniest thing is she is scared to do the test — because if she finds out she really does have leisure time, she will feel she’s not managing her time well. And if she finds out she doesn’t, there is no hope she can actually find any time for herself.

Take time to read this! You’ll be surprised what counts as “leisure time.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/01/13/DI2010011304120.html