There are many things I enjoy about the flexibility to work at home. You might not believe this, but my most productive days are those I work from the comfort of home. With fewer meetings and interruptions, and a fire roaring across from me I can plow through my project list. I’ve worked at home most of my children’s youth so they’re used to letting me work when the door is closed and track down their dad for whatever they need.

But if I’m not on a conference call, I like keeping the door cracked. I love hearing their giggles, songs and stories while they play just down the hall from me. They’re both home from school today because we had conferences this morning and have discovered their karaoke machine after a long hiatus.

This made today the perfect day to forget about Pandora and listen to them sing along with old Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes CDs. We loved these artists when my kids were younger and even saw Dan Zanes when he came town about five years ago. At one point in time I’m confident we knew every song by heart and belted them out in the car (likely driving their dad crazy).

When I went downstairs to make a (very) late lunch for myself I was surprised to see everyone in the kitchen…making gluten free apple cranberry muffins. Apparently while playing Monopoly with his sister my son decided he wanted to bake. So he did.

About an hour later our home smelled amazing. It’s taking serious discipline to work (oh, that’s right, I’m writing this instead) on this spreadsheet rather than follow the aroma to the kitchen for a muffin. Maybe if someone downstairs sees this blog post they’ll bring me one?

hint. hint.

The other great part of working at home? Hugs whenever I want them.