#291: Work from Home Stories

0:00Elsie You're listening to the A Beautiful Mess podcast your cozy comfort listen. I'm your host, Elsie Larson. Emma And I'm Emma Chapman. Elsie In this week's episode, we're talking about the highs and lows of working from home and how we balance our career dreams with raising young children. We've also got several great listener questions to cover, and we'll share an extra hot, hot take debate. I love the debates. I know I can't decide if I like the really hot ones or the kind of, like mild ones sometimes, like the mild ones, I'm like, I have even more to say, like they're hot for me. I don't know true. I think that actually, it's all over the map. But I will say from our emails that our listeners love them. Yeah, all of you kind of and it's fun. It's like we're bonding, or we're or we're, I don't know, I don't know something. It's just for fun, though, and I feel like we have the right attitude about it, right? Yeah, it's like, whatever.

0:13Emma Just be a human it's all good. We're all trying. Doesn't matter. Elsie The ones I put in this recording session are, some of them are so mean, you're gonna love it. It's great. Nice. So excited. Okay, okay, so before we jump in. So this is pre recorded, obviously, because it's not live. We know this, right? I'm not Terry Gross. You know is that even live, I don't even know. Actually, I I don't know, but I would love to be Terry Gross, for many reasons. I went to I love Terry Gross, but I just mean, like, this is not a live show. Is pre recorded. We whatever. But so we recorded this a week or two before the day it comes out, but the day it comes out, you can imagine us at this moment right now. We are in Disneyland with three fourths of our children and just Jeremy, and we are living our best life.

0:23We're going on the goofy roller coaster. We're trying to rally everyone in the right mood to go on the Haunted Mansion. We're having corn dogs, and we're getting those little macarons that they only have at Disneyland, and not Disney World. So life is beautiful. Emma Have you ever been a third wheel on your sister's family vacation? Well, now I have. Elsie You have lots of times true and I would be on yours. Emma Yeah, many times Elsie That's not a problem.

0:34Emma No, I feel like our husbands maybe didn't know at the time when they married us, but they've figured it out since then that it's like, you kind of married the other one too. Elsie It's great for me because it's like bringing a nanny, but for free. Emma Yu don't know how many corn dogs I'm gonna make you buy me. Elsie I love it. Oh and churros. Oh yeah, we're gonna do the full Disney Experience. You're gonna have Mickey Mouse waffle Yes? So, okay, yeah, imagine us at Disney. If there's any way you want to imagine us, I think it's going to be wonderful. So this week's episode is inspired by a couple of different listener questions that we received. So the first one is from Tirza, and it says I read in elsie's newsletter that she moved from renting an art studio to setting one up in her home. I love a podcast segment on what to take into consideration setting up a home art studio, particularly for painting. Things that I've been thinking about are which direction for the windows to face and the kind of storage, open or closed, easel or table or both, how big a table, flooring or floor coverings, how close to a sink are we? Etc. I'm a

0:50new empty nester, and I'm ready to try my art era. Okay, I love this question. I think this is wonderful. So should we go first into just the art studio stuff before? Because this episode, we're gonna talk about all things working from home. So we're gonna talk about writing, we're gonna talk about blogging. We're gonna talk about, you know, just like parenting, when we do laundry, things like that. But yeah, I think maybe I should do the art studio first.

0:55Emma Maybe talk about your art studio, and also maybe talk a little bit about our mom's art studio. She's had some different ones over the years. But yeah, I think that's kind of different and interesting. Elsie Yeah. So I currently have a sunroom art studio. I have a space heater in there right now because the time of year, it's pretty small, and the space heater is pretty great. So it actually is fine, as long as I just I turn it on, like, let it cook for like, 20 minutes, and then I can turn it on, go make your coffee or your tea.

1:02Come back. Yeah, yes. So it is three walls of windows and then one wall where I have, like the little lead shelves where I can display paintings. And it is great. It does not have enough storage, though. So what I do for my storage is right inside of the next room over is the library dining room that we just built. I just shared it on Instagram if you haven't seen it, and that dining room has closed like, kind of like kitchen cabinets along the bottom of the bookshelves, so that's where all my paints are, and kind of just like any extra storage they need. And that works also, because my sunroom is not like 100% like freeze proof and. So now my paint won't freeze. So other than that, I have a couple of those little white those little carts you can get them at, like, Michael's those, you know, those little carts. Yeah, I have a couple of those. So in those, I keep, like, the paint that I'm using, jars for water and jars for brushes. And then other than that, I have one long table, I have the easel, and I am doing a floor covering. So we just added wood floors to that room. They were previously like, I guess we didn't add We refinished them.

1:13They were previously painted, and they had paint all over them, and it kind of bothered my husband. We're just different people. So we got them refinished dark wood. And then he was like, You need to put a rug down so that the floors don't get damaged. Which is really funny, because I'm like, Okay, well, that's just saying, like, the rug is gonna get damaged, but whatever. Emma Rugs are cheap. I mean, depending on the rug. Elsie It was a very strange size. So I ended up getting a vintage rug. I couldn't get a new rug, just because the size was so specific. But you can get a vintage rug on Etsy or eBay, on in pretty much any size, like, it's really great. So I ended up getting a Moroccan rug that is super, super, super high contrast and colorful, just because I felt like that would like, be very forgiving for little splashes of paint. You're kind of planning to get paint on this rug. Yes, you're like, I struggle get paint, and I'm planning for that, and I'm good with it. It's inevitable. I'm gonna try not to, and I'm gonna try to clean the floor as I go, and I'm gonna try to keep it nice. I'm not gonna let it be like our old painted floor where I just, like, was fine with

1:27paint getting on it. I'm gonna do my best. But like, things are gonna happen, because it is an art room, and I let my kids paint in there a lot, and really, like, I'm not, not trying to throw my kids under the bus, but like, I'm not the one spilling paint on the floor most the time, right? So, you know, it happens too. Emma It's like when you're letting kids paint, not even just throwing them under the bus, but it's like, if you leave the room to go make a tea or go get something for them, or go to the bathroom or whatever.

1:33Sometimes a spill happens and, like, they don't totally realize and they don't tell you, and then you don't notice it, and then that's like, the hard stuff to clean up. Because I feel like when a spill happens and you clean it up right away, it's usually not a big deal. Like on wood, maybe carpet, not so much. But like, wood can kind of solve that pretty quickly, but it's when you don't see it, you don't realize, Oh, they got into my oil pastels and colored all over the border over here. I didn't realize the trim or something. Yeah, it's like, Oh crap. Like, how do I get this off?

1:39Elsie Maybe I'll do another newsletter about it, because I feel like I want to show like the paint the table itself is super, like, painted. It's like, already destroyed in a good way, so things can dry there. I don't know. I feel like you do have to have a system. You have to plan things out. And then in the other corner of the room, I got this, like, beautiful little marble table, because I wanted to use that for, like, my writing spot and, like, making pictures and videos and things like that. It is small. I and I loved my art studio that I was at it for about, I think, like, a year and a half. I loved it. It was so wonderful. But the reason why I decided to move back home is, one, because we finished our renovation and I can and the other reason because I like to paint at night and like, I like to paint on like, maybe, like, a Sunday afternoon while my kids are watching TV or something. Like, it doesn't always work for me to be able to leave my house. It will just make it where it's more accessible. So that's the reason why. But yeah, I miss my studio, and I loved that was like a very special spot for the time that it lasted.

1:51Emma Well, for another option, let's talk a little bit about our mom's studio. Oh yes. And really, we should have her on to talk about it, but I'm just trying to just describe it a little bit like, describe what functions well, about, like, I'm stealing her thing a little bit here, but shout out to her mom. She won't care anyway. No, she won't care. She's like, so easy going. Okay, so it's a room in their basement. They have a walk out basement. Used to be elsie's bedroom, and she put, like, what essentially, to me, looks like a giant drop cloth over the floor, which I think had carpet or tile, and it seems like she figured out a way to kind of get it to stay so you're not like, constantly tripping. I don't know what she did exactly. I think they stapled a drop cloth over carpet. That's what it seemed like to me that they got a staple gun and just stapled along the edges into the carpet, and then you could rip that up too, pretty easily and replace it so that and then she also painted the walls like a neutral. It's like a white or a very light beige, I'm not sure exactly, but what she does sometimes is she'll tape up papers onto the wall so that she's standing and

2:03painting, and it's just like, right at the level that she would prefer for her height, she's five, four, just like us. You can tell because there's, like, paint around borders. So like, when she takes one down, you can, like, see the ghost of where the painting was before, you know what I mean. And you can pretty easily repaint walls, if you it takes work, but that's pretty easy to do. Yeah. So that's. Sort of her setup. And she could tell you a lot more about her storage and the tables and all those things. But those are two things that, like you notice right away when you walk in there that, to me, are like, oh, this person paints, yeah. Like, this room is, like, for painting. Floors are covered. The walls are a certain way, like, she is ready for every surface to get paint on it potentially. And I think that, like, for her, she's like an abstract painter. She paints very with her feelings and, like, sometimes with music. And it's not that she's crazy messy. I don't think she's like Jackson Pollock in there, but I just think she can be if she wants to be. And I think that's the way to go for her. And I like that. So I think if you're like thinking that

2:14might be something you want to kind of go with with your painting. I don't know how this person likes to paint, then that might be a good option. I feel like some people are very like, they're doing fine details, and they would want to, like, sit at a table, you know, like, there's just, like, different styles. Elsie I honestly think that unless you are just using watercolors, you're probably gonna get paint somewhere, yeah, you know, like, it's just really hard not to, but, I mean, it's possible, but it's it's pretty hard not to.

2:20No, she has a great setup, and it just feels like so spacious and there's room for the kids, like there's just room for everyone to spread out and paint together, which I think is really special, too. Yeah, and she sells her painting, so she has a whole other area, which I don't know how you are planning to do this, the whole other area where she, like, puts together boxes. She has, like, a backing section, yeah, that's a whole different that's not even in the art studio. But again, I don't know if this person is planning to sell or, you know, because that's sort of a whole different thing. Okay, so we're going to talk about working from home. So we have been working from home almost, I would say for me, my entire adult life, except for like, two years. And maybe it was even, like, not even two years, like, maybe it was one year, there was one year where we worked in an office, and like, really soon after that I moved away.

2:29Like Like, it was really not like my favorite era. And, you know, some people love working at offices. I think this is, like a thing that covid brought out, is like, you got to try both for a lot of people, and figure out, like, do I like to work from home, or do I like to work from an office? And like, Emma's husband, he like, prefers and kind of almost needs to work in an office environment with other people. And I found out that I prefer and almost need to work from home alone with, like, a lot of alone time in my day. It's kind of like how I'm able to balance the other social parts of my life and being a parent and everything without ever becoming exhausted, is like, I feel like I'm recharging when I'm working because I'm alone, because you're alone.

2:37Emma Yeah, I'm the same way. I'm that way too, yep. So we're very, like, working from home. Elsie I have always loved it. Yeah, it was not new for me in covid, the way it was for many people. I was like, welcome. Welcome all you, millions of people, to my life. Emma I was kind of like, Wait, everyone's not loving it. What's going on? Elsie That's true. Describe our work from home spaces. So where do you get the most work done? So this one is interesting, because Emma, I know you have an office, and I had an office until this past year, and it was great. It was, it was the cutest little office. It was. But my contractor, like, brought up the idea because the room, because of the proximity of where the room is. He was like, this room would be the perfect little bathroom for your daughter. And as soon as he said it, I was like, damn it, he's right. I had just wallpapered it. It was so cute. It was like, this moody, dark, deep colors. I had my ghost desk, my roll top desk, and, yeah, everything. And then once he said it, I was like, Yeah, I like, I can, I just could see the future, or she's a teenager, and she's just gonna, it's a cute bathroom. She's gonna need her

2:53own bathroom. Well, I guess need is a strong word, but I think she'll get use out of it, and I think it'll be a good situation. I think it was the right thing to do. So we made that choice, and I knew I wasn't gonna have, like, an absolute designated office after that. We have a pretty large house, and it's, it's historic, so it's weird and quirky. And so now I have, like, probably, like, five spaces I can move between as my office, and if I ever decide, like that I want one of them to be my only office, I can also do that, you know, at that point, but I haven't made that choice yet. But where I work, so in the morning I wake up real early, I work on the couch in our living room for the first part of my day on my computer. We also have this little puzzle room. We call it, where, like, our record player is and stuff right next to the living room and just has a table. I work there a lot. That's usually where I eat lunch. It's where I do my meetings like do. Zoom calls. It's just like a good spot for that. And then I work sometimes in the dining room. I work sometimes in the art the little sunroom art studio gay mentioned, I just got a table there. I

3:04work sometimes in my bed. This is mainly during the summer when the house is really noisy with the kids. I will just like, go in my bedroom with my laptop and close the door. And that works for me sometimes. And then the last one is sometimes I work on the third floor, so we have like a guest room situation up there, but also this little cute, like table and desk next to a window, and it's where, like the butterfly wallpaper is. So sometimes I work up there, and it's like a vibe up there, but I tried putting a coffee maker up there and all this stuff, and I was like, No, I don't want to. I realized I didn't want to be up there all the time that I'm working so it's definitely not my permanent working space. It's my I ended up just wanting the coffee maker down to the kitchen and giving up on that idea. But yeah, it's just a it's an extra place that is good to be. So I think the cool thing about my situation is that there's a variety of different places to be. I never feel like I don't have a place to go, to be alone, like there's always some way, you know, to do that. Oh, and the one last thing is in my closet, that's where my roll top desk

3:15ended up. It's in my closet, and it is kind of permanently stuck in there. I think because of the it's like, so big and heavy, you'd have to, like, hire movers to move it somewhere else, yes, and if I ever move it, I would probably take it out of the house like I probably wouldn't. So anyway, I still do have also at the desk in my closet, which is only it's like, even worse than the sun room. It's like, for some reason, really hot and really cold there your closet is it is what it is, climate controlled. Yeah. So I have not ever worked at that desk yet, but a lot of last year it was, like, very full of stuff from the renovation. Like it was like a place where we stored stuff. So just recently, I got rid of a couple extra things, and it's like, and I'm working on cleaning it now, so maybe we'll see. Maybe I'll work at that desk again at some point. I do like it. I'm kind of glad it ended up in there, because I kind of want to keep it there. I'm gonna at least try it. But it is kind of weird to have a desk in your closet. So that's all my workspaces. And the thing that's cool, I've never had anything but a laptop, and I have always been I've always, like, enjoyed

3:26moving around. So I think that maybe that's good. Emma Interesting, because the setup to this, like, we're so similar, because I also recharge my batteries by being alone. So I feel like working from home for me is like, how I balance also being a mom, also having a social life, also what, you know, all the things is, like, I get my alone time during the day, while I'm working, so like, exactly the same as you. But then this part, I'm like, Oh, we're a little bit different, because I much prefer to have, like, one spot where, like, that's where all my stuff is. That's like, where I know to go. Because for me, I almost, like, don't like to have to make a decision of where to work. I like being like, this is where I go to work. Yeah. And if my area is stressing me out, like, if it's a little bit messy because I left stuff out from the day before something, then I tidy it away. And then that, like, tells my brain, now it's tidy now it's time to work, you know, or whatever. So stress, you have a, yeah, you have a desktop computer, right? Like, not a laptop? No, I have a laptop. Oh, you only have a

3:38laptop, yes? Because currently, okay, so my office is basically in an extra bedroom we have. So our house has four bedrooms, so we have a split level, and our upstairs is where all the bedrooms are. So my husband, I have a bedroom, and each of our kids have a bedroom currently, although they're already talking about bunk beds, it's like, when can Hugo be in my bunk bed? I'm like, well, he's still in his cribs. Yeah, that's cute. And then there's a fourth bedroom, and that's my office, and it has been since the day we moved in. Yeah, that was part of, like, what we were looking for was I was because I used to have an open office area at my last house, and I hated it. I really, really hated that. Yeah, I like being in my own little room, yeah, where I feel like I can have my stuff, or I could even, like, work on a little, like, necklace project and then leave it out and finish it the next day, and like, nobody's gonna mess with it, like not even, like the dog's gonna come in and knock it off or something, yeah, like, I just like having my own area that's, like, my area, I would do well with a cubicle, but I just don't want to be in

3:49an office with other people. I just want to be in the cubicle by myself. So anyway, we knew that when we bought this house, and that was part of the appeal was like, okay, it has enough bedrooms that we could have two kids, and I still have an office room. But at the moment this year, because I'm staying home with our youngest when I have time to work, we have a nanny at our house who's watching him, and I found pretty early on that I can't go in my office and shut the door. Here because it's near his bedroom. He just knows I'm in there, and so he just spends the whole time, like knocking on my door.

3:55He has very much like that. He loves the nanny, but he just, I'm the mom, you know, and he just wants to be around me. And it's very sweet. But it's also like, I he cannot know that I'm in the house. He's just drawn to me. If I'm working from home, I have to kind of hide. So currently I go hide in the basement if I work from home, and a lot of times I don't work from home. I go work at a coffee shop or the library, mostly the library. And I like that fine, but is not my preference. It's just what I'm doing this year during my work hours that I have. But my home office is really cute. I put wallpaper up. I have a desk. I do have a laptop, but I have it like, set up on a stand, and then it has its own keyboard and mouse that's separate. But I'm really glad I have a laptop, because this year I've really needed it since I can't be in my office. And yeah, I really, I really, like, in there, it also has all my craft supplies. It also has an easel set up in the corner, so, like, it's kind of my painting room, work room, but I mostly work in there because I don't paint that often or craft that often, but all my stuff is in there, so, like nobody else can

4:06get to it, all those jewelry making supplies. Yeah, I have a ton of jewelry making stuff. And, yeah, just random odds and ends, because I'm one of those, like, start a craft. Maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't finish it. Who knows? Yeah, kind of brings me joy just to start things. And I do that once in a while. So I have a bunch of random stuff in there. And, yeah, I really love it. I'm looking forward to working in there again, and I certainly will, but it just isn't the fit for this year. Yeah, so I currently kind of hide in our basement right now with my laptop or go to the library.

4:12Elsie Yeah, it seems like you go to the library a lot too. Yeah, which that's like a great place to work. Yeah, I love the library. I prefer to be alone. But, like, the library's great. Like, as soon as I walk in, like, just even the smell of library places with lots of books, I just love it. Yeah, I love it. So it's a great secondary place to be. At the moment, I've been thinking that at some point in my life I'd like to, like, try to work, especially like on little writing sprints where it's like less than an hour at coffee shops and cafes and stuff like, I think it's a cool idea and like it, but I'm not sure if I would like it or be productive or not like without trying it.

4:20Emma So yeah, I will say that's like, one thing I wrote down for this was, even if you're a person like us who, like, likes to be alone all the time, I do think there's a benefit to every once in a while, it's almost like it can become this limiting belief of like, I like to work from home by myself, and I have a space, so I almost feel bad leaving. But every now and again, there's certain tasks basically I don't want to do, or I need to focus really hard and do it for like, two hours straight. And sometimes it's beneficial to, like, go to the library or a coffee shop just to get that thing done. That's a good tip. And I think, like, don't limit yourself, even if you're like, I'm a work from home person, it's like, you can still have a task here and there where you go do that and you just do it before you go run your errand or go pick up your kids or whatever. However it works in your schedule. And I think that that that can be kind of helpful, because there is something about being around other people where I'm like, It's not that anyone's watching me, nobody's watching me, especially at the library, no one even sees me. But something about being in

4:32public just makes me, like, hyper focus a little bit. And I don't want to do it all the time. It is good for certain tasks that I kind of don't want to do, that I just need to do for like, two hours or one solid hour, and it's like, Okay, I just do that. Elsie Nice. That's a good idea. Okay, so let's talk about the pros and cons of working from home. A thing that a lot of people bring up is that they're afraid that if they work from home, that they won't be able to stop like, I should be doing laundry. I should be doing the dishes. Like, you know, you walk by your kitchen and you see that the island isn't cleared, or, like, things like that. And that definitely is real. Yeah, I think that that is, like, probably one of the cons, but it's also kind of a pro. Like, I don't know, I personally like it. I have to access to all my stuff. I'm not the type of person who cleans one day a week. I'm more like, I'll clean a little bit every morning before I start, and then that's kind of it. Like, maybe, like, 15 minutes at the most, I do one little thing, and then I, you know, like, I've did the dishes this morning. Now I go

4:44about my day and usually, like, clean off the counters and wipe them, and then that's it. And I am able to still focus so but, you know, I do think that there are disadvantages. We have two puppies. We, you know, we receive packages. We have occasionally have, like, contractors still coming to our house to do little things, or, you know, I don't know, people knocking on your door, soliciting or whatever. And it's like I end up being the person that all of that stuff falls to because my husband works in the basement, and he just doesn't, you know, yeah, he doesn't hear the door. He escapes from the puppies, and I don't, yeah, so yeah, I think that I would say the Pro. Well, the pros are, if you're an introvert, I think it can just be like, such a healthy way. To keep your life balanced. And the cons are that, yeah, like you're working from home. So if your home isn't a place that has good lighting or has, you know, fresh air is clean, or whatever, you know, like, you have to live with those things, right? Yeah, so it's good if you love your home, which, so that's also one of the reasons why I prioritize my home so high on my list of

4:55priorities, like financially, is because I do work from there and spend so much extra time from there that, you know, I'm thinking about, like, our life with our kids, but I'm also thinking about, like, writing my books and, you know, all of the different things that we do and my husband's work, out. So yeah, let's talk a little bit about both working from home, because I think that's an interesting thing. Like a lot of people, when they hear that we both work from home, they think that we're like, kind of getting on each other's nerves or whatever. And I actually heard Michelle Obama do a podcast about this recently where she said they both work from home. I think they also like, when you're celebrities, you probably also like, can't leave your house as much, which is a different situation. But she said they have, like, most of their date nights at home and stuff, which I do too, for different reasons. We have so much in common with the Obamas. So nice. But, yeah, the one thing, okay, the one thing we really do have in common is she said that if she, like, thinks of a clever, like, a cute or clever conversation she can have

5:06with him. She saves it. And I related with that. I'm like, Okay, you kind of do learn to segment out your life where, like, I actually kind of never go and try to have, I wouldn't say never, but I very rarely go and try to have a serious conversation with my husband in the middle of the day. Like we live in our own world. We both work from home, but it does not feel like we spend our day together at all. Like he has his space in the basement. I do not really see him hardly at all, and then I have my spaces, and he doesn't come and bother me either, and then eat lunch together. Or no, we don't eat lunch together. He has his own routine. He's, like, very protective of his routines. He has his own thing. And so what we do together is we sometimes go grocery shopping together, and then we have our date nights and all of that. And then sometimes we have kind of a, like, a like, 30 minute or so, like, we'll like, sit on the porch after the kids get home from school or after they go to bed, or like, something like that. Then we'll like, sit and really talk and have a conversation. And that's just kind of our normal life. Now and then I go to

5:17bed much earlier than him. I wake up early. You know, we have our own routines, so I think that it can work for you to both be at home all day if you don't have a small I mean, it wouldn't work if we had, like, a two bedroom apartment, you know, like we have the space to have our own privacy, and also, you know, just our own kind of our own separate worlds, like inside of the same home. Yeah, I think you both too, it sounds like and I also know you guys both, so I sort of know this, but you have the same amount of desire for, like, social interaction during your work day, which is, like, very, very little. So, you know, you're not really trying to, like, go talk to each other during your work days. It's just not really something, you know. And one person's like, oh, I can see you need to talk about something, but, like, I was trying to work on, you know. And there's a little bit of friction there, like, that doesn't sound like that, really, like that really happens kind of never, yeah, like yesterday I got this, like, big exciting news from a friend, and I was, like, crying. It was like, it was really happy news. And I, like, went down and told him,

5:28and, like, recent, you know, he recently came to me with, like, some exciting news for someone else. And so it's like, that kind of thing will let go and interrupt the other person. But it's not really, yeah, it's actually like, not a not an issue. And I could see us working in the same home forever. If that's what happens, it's sustainable. I love it. Okay, do you want to read the question from Crystal? Emma Crystal's question is, I was wondering if you would consider talking about your daily routines. I'm sure each day varies a lot for you, since you run your own businesses, but I always find it fascinating to hear about a typical day in the life of someone else, morning routines, evening routines, taking care of kiddos, so on and so forth.

5:37Elsie Yeah, you want to go first? Tell your routine. Emma I wrote it down from six to 830, or nine is kid time. So our oldest comes in our room and wakes us up every other morning. So each of us get up with someone every morning. One day it's Oscar, and next day it's Hugo. So he kind of knows the routine too. So he goes to that person's side of the bed, Oh, wow. And he has like, an okay to wake clock. So that's why it's six every morning, because otherwise he would come in at four, five. Who knows, he's not a big sleeper. So six is like, you're not allowed to leave your room until six is basically what that clock's for. So anyway, he comes in. So that's kind of like, we watch a little TV, we make breakfast, we play, we get them ready, we get them dressed, you know, all those things. We get ourselves dressed. So on and so forth. That's that time. Then from around 830 or nine until noon most days, four days a week, anyway, is when I work or run errands without kids, or make phone calls without kids, whatever. So that's my time to do things without kids.

5:50From nine to noon, four days a week. Then from noon to two is Hugo nap time. So I'm usually home and he's napping. He doesn't always nap that whole time. Sometimes he naps longer than that. It's random, but that's usually my time to finish up any work that I didn't finish, or do some laundry. Just you know, there's lots of things I do with Hugo, but I also try to get certain things done so that when Hugo's awake, it's like Hugo playtime. So then he wakes up around two, 230 whatever, and from then until about 430 is just Hugo time. Sometimes we'll run an errand together, but most the time, we just play or do something hopefully stimulating for him. And then we pick up Oscar, and for an hour or two, I'm with both of them. It's just like a time to sometimes we'll go do something fun, like go to the library or go to the mall. Elsie saw me the other day at the mall, and they're just playing, doing their little things. Once it gets warmer, we'll be at playgrounds, because Oscar is very like, after school, he's ready for us for something else. Like, I don't know, I feel like Hugo is like a he's still blossoming, but I could see him

6:01after school being like, I need chill time. I need, like, downtime. Whereas Oscar's like, Mama, what's our activity today? Like, he's ready for something. So we do some things are just the same. Yeah, it's funny. So anyway, so we do something after school, and then around 530 I you know, if they're playing great. If not, I'll turn on something, and then I'll start making dinner. And then Trey gets home around 545 six, we have dinner as a family, which means the kids eat Trey and I sometimes have a snack. We don't really eat with our kids. We eat afterwards, and the kids go to bed around seven, 730 and then from 730 till 10 ish is when I will me and my husband will clean up the house. We'll make dinner, we'll spend time together, and then if I want to work out or take a shower or finish up some work, that's the time to do it then it's bed time.

6:10Elsie Wow, yeah, that's kind of every day. The weekends are obviously just more kid time, but it's a similar that hours are the same nice, okay, my current routine i I've shared before. I wake up at 430 which is so early, but I've been doing it for a while now, and I really like it. Emma You've been doing it since Italy. That was like, Oh, you're right, last October, so, okay, so months and months, probably four months or five months, yeah, like half a year now, yeah, wow, getting there.

6:17Elsie Yes, I like it. I don't do it every single day, but I do it most days, and I'm trying to get to where I do it every day. I think it's, I've heard that it's better to wake up at the exact same time every day, if you can. But I feel like I need to get, like, a nicer alarm clock. I can't change my clock the time on my clock because I got this, like, kind of really crappy it's like a little wristband. It kind of looks like a Fitbit, and it vibrates to wake me up, so that wake up my husband. That's nice, and that's why I don't like to wake up earlier, because it's loud, yeah? But it doesn't. It doesn't. I can't change the time because I kind of want to change it to five sometimes, so it's like a budget friendly thing, and you can't, yeah, yes. So I'm thinking maybe I now I know I'm going to use it. Maybe I'll get one that I can actually control. That's okay, but the 430 is really nice because my children wake up. Okay, so I'll just say my routine. Sorry, I'm getting on the tangent. I wake up at 430 I either write a part of my novel work on development, or write a newsletter every single day. And then the kids wake up at six. So from six to seven, I'm just like,

6:29feeding them breakfast, helping them get out of the house, things like that. And then my husband drops them off at school. And then at seven, I am starting to work, and I pretty much speed work like during that time, and they are in school until about 215 in the afternoon. So I do different things every day, but kind of anything in my whole life that I need to do, whether it's like writing or work or going to a doctor or hanging out with a friend, or like, literally anything going to the grocery store. I do during those hours.

6:34So I just cram. And I actually have a lot of days where my day is mostly riding right now, which is really nice. And then, you know, there's a there's always other things mixed in with it, like, you know, laundry, or what I don't know, like, just normal things, taking my dogs to vet all the time. There's always a problem things like that. Yeah. So then I picked the kids up, and we have this wonderful after school routine with the other moms, where we like sit at this picnic table. It's already, most days nice enough weather where we can sit there, and we sit there, usually for like, 30 minutes to an hour. And. Let the kids play on the playground, so I just get to talk to other moms, which is nice, and I love that. And then we come home, have a snack, have dinner. Have, you know, sometimes we have other kids over, like play dates. Sometimes my kids have, we don't have a lot of activities after school, but sometimes we have Girl Scouts and things like that. And then we, you know, get ready for bed. And like, sometimes I hang out with my husband watch a show or something, and sometimes we spend our evening

6:45separately on the weekdays, because that's something that I said that I wanted a couple years ago, because we had been watching TV like, all night, every night for most of our relationship. And then I finally was like, This is too much TV for me, and we were just always running out of things. So now we don't do it every night anymore. And so sometimes I read, and I end up going to bed pretty early, usually before nine, because I wake up so early. So that is my day. That is my current day. And then, you know, during the summers, the kids are home full time, but it's really not that different. I just do the same things with them at home, and we go to the pool a lot. Yeah, that's pretty much our life. It's a good life. It's a good life. Yeah, I love it. And yeah, on weekends, we see our family and pretty much the same. Let's talk about how to deal with distractions. Okay, so I have a great little hack that I just started using. I think it's called, like a visual timer. Have you ever heard of this? Yes. Okay, so do you have one? I bought one. It's for Oscar's short nap, which is what he calls naps. Okay? He calls nighttime long

6:56naps. Emma Oh, I get it, okay, long nap or short How long do you set it for? His is an hour and a half. You can set it for two hours if he seems like, you know. Elsie So mine only goes up to one hour, but it's pretty much just like a little timer, like what you would use like in the kitchen, right? But the difference is it shows, like you can see from far away, how much time you have left it kind of shows with a band of color the minutes as they go down. So I've been using that to, like, yesterday, when I was writing the podcast outlines, I said it for 30 minutes, and I realized there was only 10 minutes left and I hadn't done anything, so I said it again, and, you know, like, did that, yeah, I got it for, like, writing sprints, because I'm trying to train myself to do like, the 30 minute 30 minutes at a time, which I haven't gotten that skill yet. Emma has it really well. Yeah, you can get that flow state. I'm more like, I have to have an hour or two. So I'm trying to change that. But, yeah, I think it's helpful for, like, setting. And it does make a sound when it goes off too. So you can set it for like, Okay, I'm going to

7:10spend one hour or 30 minutes cleaning this room, or, you know, whatever, checking social media, doing, admit, doing emails, whatever kind of administration you have. So yeah, the visual timer is probably my best way to deal with distractions. Like I kind of, I'm just so used to working from home that I don't know anything else at this point. So yes, my day is distracted. But I feel like my day was distracted when I worked in an office, also just in different ways, you know, with people coming in and talking, and I would get, you know, like, fall down rabbit holes using my computer, like on the internet, and that's easy to do no matter where you are.

7:17Emma Yeah, distractions are like stress. You can't live a stress free life. You learn how to manage stress. Same thing with distractions. You'll never have a distraction free life, because it's life, yeah, but you just learn to manage them, and you have to find things that work for you. And the visual Tiber is really good. Like I said, we have one for Oscar because you can't tell time. So it's helpful. Also, if you have young kids who can't tell time yet, then it's good for that. Yeah, so I'll time things. I also sometimes do this thing. I believe it's called time boxing, but it's essentially where you plan it. I have such short work days, time blocking, time blocking. Yeah, I think people call it time boxing, okay, I don't know. Anyway, the idea is basically simple. It's just, oh, I have three hours to work right now. Four hours, all right, I'm going to spend one hour on this, one hour on this, one hour on this. And the idea is, like, yes, you can bleed into other areas if needed, but you're also kind of, like giving yourself a relay race, of like, you've got to finish this task in this amount of time. That's all there is to it. Yeah? So you either did it really well in that

7:29amount of time, or you did a crappy job because you wasted your time. It's one or the other. So, and I thought that kind of works for me. I think too. I also when I started working from homelessness many, many, many years ago, but I changed my mindset about, oh, when I'm at work, I don't do anything personal at all. I change that. I flip that script. So it's like, no, no, I do what I need to do so that I can work really hard and really fast and really well. So for me, that means that if I'm by myself, this doesn't work with my kids. So I don't do this this year, but I do spend the first 30 minutes of my day. I usually put on a podcast, and I has to be less than 30 minutes to be 30 minutes or less, or I listen to an audio book and I clean up my house. If I haven't got to put my clothes and makeup on yet, because I got my kids out the door or whatever, then I do that too, and I give myself a certain amount of time so it's not endless, and I can throw some laundry in. I could put the dishes away, whatever's going to help me feel like it's just I'm trying to signal to my body, okay, everything's done. You can work now, because if I don't

7:40do that, then my body's like, oh, the house is a mess. Yeah, you know, and I'm just doing that. And instead of, and I'm not going to work as well because I'm I'm kind of just leaving the distraction to keep, like, distracting me, as opposed to just taking care of it and being done with it. So another thing people will talk about, when you work from home, you'll, like, end up doing kind of maybe fun things, or just like, little home chores, little home projects. Yes, I use them as rewards. So I'll basically be like, hey, when you send these two emails that you've not been wanting to send another retirement account and you have to look up a bunch of things or blah, blah, blah, once you send those two emails, then you can go hang that picture that you've been wanting to hang on your gallery wall. So then I'm like, aren't you on those stupid numbers emails? And so then I can go do that little house project I want to do. And for me, that works because I like, have things I want to do. I want to print all these, like personal photos.

7:50And I'm like, Okay, you can do that, but you need to finish this task first. I'm like, okay, so I use it as, like a little like reward system, and they're not really rewards. It's not like I'm eating a cupcake or buying a new pair of shoes, but it's just like something that I want to do that's on my list, and I make myself do the things that I'm less excited to do on my list first, so that I can do that slightly more fun thing. Yeah, that is usually something in my house, because I like doing little things around my house. I like piddling, yeah, but I don't let myself do too much of that unless I finish whatever task I needed to do first. Yeah, I do subscribe to the idea of doing the worst task first. Yeah, for me, it's like, phone calls. Yeah? Like, I have a little bit of that, like, phone call fear. I have a lot of rewards for doing phone calls, because I hate calling places. But just to get it done and off the schedule does feel so good. So, yes, it does. Okay?

7:59Well, we hope this was helpful. I love working from home. If you hate it, just try different things and see if you know, I think that, like tweaking your routine is probably the best thing you could do, but some people just don't like it, and that's okay too. Yeah. I also think like it's always good if you've been doing something for years, whether it's working from home or working somewhere else, an office, and you have the ability to try it. Sometimes we change over the course of our lives. Sometimes something that was serving us years ago, we don't need it anymore, or we don't like it anymore, and that's okay. Yeah, we change over the course of our lives. Try something else. See if it helps you. See if it helps you feel more efficient or more grounded. That's the goal, man, to get stuff done and feel good.

8:07Elsie Yes, okay, this is slightly related, but not really. We had a question from Linnea. It says, What the heck happened to the app? And more on this journey, you guys have mentioned twice getting out of the app business, but no back story on the exit. Okay, so do you want to say it? Or should I? Yeah, you can say it. I feel like we did talk about it one time. It's always hard to know it's okay. Sometimes I'm like, did we talk about this? I don't know. I'll try to give it with a little more story, and this will be our one story time for this subject. Because honestly, we were never told, like, don't talk about it. Oh no. It was kind of understood, like, don't make a big deal about it, like it's kind of almost like rude to go out, like, celebrating about your exit when the company's still, you know, growing and working and doing its thing just without us. Now that's kind of why we minimized it.

8:17Emma We're classy, that's why, right? Elsie So, yeah, we started our app company more than 10 years ago with our first app, a beautiful mess. It changed our lives completely, like we spent our very, very first book advance building the app, and it sold 250 units. Like the first day changed our life forever, and after that, we built nine more apps over 10 years with a team, obviously not by ourselves, no, with a great team. There were highs and lows.

8:24There were some, some of my significant career highlights happened through that. I feel like a lot of like our strengths in marketing and experiences in like, I don't know, marketing and self promotion. We learned a lot from that. We learned a lot about scouting talent and working with other influencers. And we, yeah, we had a range of experiences that were really high and really low. Like, we worked with Zoe on two apps, Zoe Sugg, who was, like, best partner ever. She, she, she was the best partner ever, and still have a crush on her. No, I mean, I love her forever. And, yeah, we had, like, wonderful experiences doing it. But you know, during the end, the end of the road, Emma was having some like me. Mental health stuff, where she felt like after she had her baby, she felt she could no longer balance and handle all these things on her plate. And yeah, the clearing of her plate, I think, is a thing that people don't talk about a lot in business, but it has to be done once in a while. You know you have to to have your longevity and to just continue being good at what you do like once in a while, you have to let some

8:35things go. So Emma exited, I think in 2024 I exited in 2024 2025 the next year, after maybe two years, year and a half, something like that. Yeah. And honestly, for me, once Emma was gone, I was just kind of lonely in the business, and it wasn't as fun, and I knew it was the end of the journey. And it's not that I didn't still I treasure and appreciate all the years, but I just kind of knew it was the end of the road, so when I had a chance to exit, I took it immediately, and, you know, celebrated that privately, and yeah, we've, we've been very happy. So the company's still running and existing and growing. They're even building a new app right now, and we are cheering them on, but we're no longer owners of the business. Yeah. So anyway, it was fun, but now it's done as Daniel Tiger says, Emma it was fun, now it's done.

8:45Elsie Okay, so should we do book reports? Yes, let's do it. Okay, so I have, I'm, actually, I'm like, almost to the end. So I have not technically finished this yet, but I am reading The Prestige by Christopher Priest. And I remember The Prestige movie from the early 2000s I've seen the movie. I haven't read the book. Yes, it has Hugh Jackman, and what's the other guy's name? Christian Bale. Christian Bale. It's a great movie. I re watched it, and then I found out there was a book, and I was like, oh my god, I have to read this. And I read that. They were similar story, but different themes, and they're actually not that similar of stories. So it's been delightful to read. Yeah, I would say I haven't finished the book yet, but I it's probably five stars for me. I really, really am enjoying it. But yeah, the whole the last six months, I just cannot get off of my old man magicians, Victorian pastiche phase because of Jonathan strange and Mr.

8:55Norrell. And then I started reading this immediately. And then I'm thinking, I'm gonna start that series like the magicians. Do you know about that? Like, love Grossman? I think is, oh yeah, I love the first one. Yeah, I'm excited. I haven't, I haven't read the other one, so I might love them too, I don't know, but I just can't get off of that train ride. And I don't know, I just won't. I can't and I won't. So yeah, it's very fun. The other day, I was chilling with my family, and my father in law was like, Elsie, what kind of books are you reading? And I was like, I'm reading a book about two dueling magicians.

9:01Emma It's actually a pretty common theme. Another book I love is also about two dueling apprentice magician. Yes, yeah. So anyway, that is my book report. What about you? I somewhat recently read Twisted Love by Anna Huang. I actually read it around the holidays, which I feel like was the perfect time to read it, because it was such a delight. This is another romance. This one's like, kind of for me, higher on the spice level. Okay, so I was in part reading, because she has this big catalog of books this author, and I've seen her a lot like on she's on, like, morning shows, and her books make it onto the list, and she just seems really cool. So I've been like, looking at her career, and she started out self published, and now she has one of the big agents that's, like, a dream agent. And so I was just like, Oh, I've got to read these. So I had some on my shelf. And around the holidays, I got this was the her first one in this series out, and it might be her first one generally. So I read it, and I think I read it in like, two days. It's just like, super fun, easy read, very high spice, perfect, perfect little smut book. That's my high praise

9:13for me is I just loved it so much fun. And so I'll definitely be reading more of them. She has this series that's like, king of gluttony, king of envy. It's like the seven deadly sins. And I'm kind of interested in that one. And then she also has a series, if you like, if you like sports mud, so if you're like heated rivalries, Sign me up. Then she's got one that's about soccer, football, football. It's about soccer. You're American, like me. It's like, yep, say soccer. I feel like, but it's football. Okay? And so that looks really fun and interesting, too. So if you like a sports romance, she's got a series for that, so she's got everything. But this was really fun, and I loved it. I love that.

9:20Elsie Okay, so we had a suggestion from Beth. She said, like, can you please start repeating the name of the book after the book reports, because sometimes I miss it. So mine was The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Emma And mine was Twisted Love by Anna Huang. Elsie All right, so let's get into our hot take debate. Okay. This is from our listener, Anne. Here's my hot take. We don't need any more movies based on books. They are different mediums. Let books be books and movies be movies. I want to see more movies that were written to be movies and tailored to that medium, written to take advantage of all the cool things you can do on screen. Same for books. I want more authors to take advantage of all the cool things you can do in books that you can't do on screen.

9:32I've read books that felt like their secret. They secretly wanted to be screen plays. Play to the strengths of your medium. No more crossing streams. Okay, this is a very hot take. I'm gonna go hard on my side. What about you? Emma I see both. I read it and I was like, boy, I really see both on this one. I really because at first I was like, I'm not on board. And then I got to the end of reading, and I was like, I'm a little on board. So I feel like shit. A good job. Okay, let's go ahead and go hard. Let's hear yours.

9:39Elsie Disagree. I think if, in my perfect world, every book would be a movie, yeah, every movie would be a book. The yes, they're different mediums in a good way, and I love that. Like I wouldn't want to live in a world where the idea of you book and the idea of you movie didn't both exist, you know, because a movie was better, she said what she said every time the book was better, we will die on these hills respectively. But yeah, there are so many movies like Little Women, for example. Like, we don't want to live in a world without Little Women. Movies, no, never. Like I No, never. But, I mean, I do agree. Okay, the one thing I will agree with out of everything that Anne said is that when you're writing a novel, you should write it as a novel, and you shouldn't just be thinking about your your future movie adaptation.

9:48Which I get that? I get that. But I don't really agree that very many books are seeming to do that to me. I think that novels do take advantage. I mean, you have this like 80 to 100,000 words to play with. Screenplays are 20,000 words, if you didn't know like, they're they're much shorter, and you don't get any interiority, you have to do everything through dialog and body language. They're completely different. Yeah, they're completely different. Like, I strongly disagree with this, because I just love adaptations so much. And, like, I actually want more of them. The one thing I will say is, like, some adaptations are disappointing. Yeah, that that's fair. Like, some of them are the worst. Yeah, like, that's, that's fair, you know? And like, loving a book more than the movie is normal and good. I think that's, like, that's actually really common, right? Like, because if you read a whole novel, like, I just think it's like, hard to get all of that into a movie. You know, a lot of times they have to cut out, like, all this exciting stuff. But then sometimes, I don't know, like, in Little Women, that's probably my ultimate

9:59example, because I feel like the movie, it like, got to the heart of it in such a beautiful way. It expanded on things that, I think in the present day, we wish they would expand, like they're like, it was very satisfying. It was to me, it was like, ultimate adaptation. Anyway, I don't know. I think it's fun to think about, you want to go? Emma So I also like, think she's on to something with take advantage of what your medium has to offer. Like, I'm like, Yeah, I like that. I also like the idea I love movies that, you know, there's many movies that I love that are not at all based on any kind of book there, they were made to be a movie, and they are great. So I like, I see that. And same thing with books. There's time I read a book, and I'm like, this would be fun movie, but I don't know how they would do it, and probably would honestly be bad, like and I still love the book, so it's like, yeah, they are completely different mediums. I think if yours lends itself to leaning into its medium, great. But there are a lot of books and movies that feel naturally, like they could both exist and it feels good, it makes sense. And so it's kind of odd to be like, well, we're not

10:12going to do that anymore. I feel like a better argument might be like, either, let's not. We don't have to compare the book to the movie or the movie to the book, or we recognize that they both stand alone, even if there is a movie based on a book, or vice versa. I suppose. I don't know if we've ever done that, but they should both have the chance to stand alone. Yeah, because there are times like I love a book in a movie, and I like them each for themselves, because they're just not like they did have to cut out a whole bunch of stuff because it is so much a movie of so much less time. You know, you have so much less time than a book, and if you can still get to the emotional heart of something, or the vibes of something. I think that's quite a feat. I think that's quite an interesting artistically, and I like to see it done, but I I recognize that it's not the same as the book, because they didn't have as much time, like, and that's fine, like, I'm I'm good with that. I'm open to it. I mean, I only sat in the theater for two hours instead of reading it for two weeks, like I did before. So it's like. Yeah, of course it was gonna be held in

10:23my heart differently. It was just literally a different amount of time to consume it. So I don't know that all makes sense to me. I think she's got some things here, but she didn't sell me. I was just like, I do like the leaning into your medium though. I was like, Yeah, I'm on board with with that advice and that idea. Elsie Yeah, too hot for me. Emma Too hot to handle. Yep, too cold to hold. Elsie Okay, we're going to pass it over to Nova for her special segment, a joke or a fact with Nova. Hey, Nova, what do you have for us this week?

10:33Nova A fact. Elsie A fact. Okay, I'm ready. Nova Did you know that when they built the transcontinental railroad that the majority was Chinese immigrants who built the railroad. Elsie Uh huh, wow. I did not know that. Thank you for sharing. Nova You're welcome. Elsie Do you want to say anything else before we go? Nova Have a good week. Elsie All right. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back next week with our spring bucket list, because it is officially going to be spring. Can you believe it?

10:51Emma Thank God.