Final Day Working From Home

Nana brought us all sausage, egg & cheese McGriddle’s for breakfast this morning, and Emerson tore right into that bad boy! She ate about half of it at breakfast, and then came back and at the other half for brunch around 10:30.

 

The weather finally cleared up for real for the first time since Sunday, and they spent almost the entire morning outside. Emmie rode in the stroller while Nana walked her back to the park. They walked down the boardwalk, saw some ducks and geese, and Emmie longed to play on the playground…

They finally came inside shortly before lunch time, she ate some cereal for lunch (we offered her about a billion options, which she wanted none of), and then she put her jammies back on and we read nap time books together.

Jeff had to go into his actual office for a few hours today, and while he was there, his boss gave him this little gift for Emmie, from his two young girls – a sweet little note they wrote, and a Frozen notebook.

She tucked it up under her arm like this and said, “I’m going off to work now!”

They went back outside to play around in the carport for a little bit this afternoon (for as long as they could stand it in the heat)…

And I made sure to take an afternoon break in my favorite reading chair with a glass of iced coffee…. because today was my last day working from home 🙁 I have to report back to the office on Monday, so I tried to make the most of my last day! Late last night, I finished book three of The Court of Thorns and Roses series, so today I started book 3.1, which is just a “novella.” I was literally sobbing during the last hour or so of reading book three. So suffice it to say, I was glad to jump right into the next part of the story. (In looking up the links for the books on Goodreads, I actually just learned it’s not just a trilogy like I thought, but that there are two more books lined up for publication over the next few years, which I’m thrilled about!)

At the end of my work day, I straightened up my “make shift desk” and took one final photo, just to remember this super strange year and all that’s gone on. (Not that I think any of us will forget it…) Not pictured – the tons of paperwork over on the left on the record player, that I now have to haul back to the office on Monday. I’ll miss sitting here with my bright windows and pretty house plants, just steps away from a lunch break spent on the couch! (Although I’ll definitely be grateful when I reunited with my three gigantic monitors on my desk at the office.)

I found Emmie and Nana playing a game on her Kindle after I signed out. We helped Nana pack up all her stuff, and watched her drive away then checked the mail.

Emmie had some notebook work to take care of while we waited for Daddy to get off work, and then we headed out for dinner. I had planned to make bagel BLT’s for dinner, but it was National Cheeseburger Day, and Jeff convinced me to go out to eat, because he was now in dire need of a cheeseburger.

We ended up at Salty Dawg cafe, our first time there, and enjoyed it. It’s definitely a dive bar kind of place, but the food was good and the atmosphere was chill. Jeff actually loved being out in a noisy restaurant, because his extroverted personality thrives on that kind of thing, where my introverted self loves the quietness of a night at home.

Emmie recently decided she likes pickles, but not the sliced ones, and she doesn’t want them on burgers or sandwiches, but she likes eating the innards of a pickle spear. So she stole mine and ate all the insides of it! She also ate her chicken and fries really well, so I was glad to see her get a good meal in her.

The restaurant was good, but the service was slow, so it was already past her bedtime by the time we got home. So we immediate changed clothes (all three of us, because we smelled so strongly of fried food), and went through the bedtime routine. Although she claimed she wasn’t tired, she was actually really sweet and easy at bedtime. As I was holding her hand after singing “Jesus Loves Me,” I told her I loved her, she said she loved me too, then said, “So, so much. And I love Daddy so, so much.” Ugh! that girl is just way too sweet to even explain!

Although this is a “novella,” it’s actually almost 300 pages, so it’ll still take me a few hours to read it. I snuck in a few minutes after Emmie’s bedtime, while Jeff worked on the computer, before writing this blog post.

I might read a little more now, or maybe we’ll watch a movie, but either way, I’m ready to settle in and relax on this Friday night!

During our little girl chat time before Emmie’s bedtime, she asked who was coming to our house tomorrow, and I told her no one, it would just be us three. She asked why, and I told her it’s because it’s Saturday and Mommy & Daddy don’t have to work, for two days! She then literally cheered a big YAYYY! followed by, “I’m so happy!” And I’m also so happy for two days of family time as well!