JFF -- You Know You Work from Home When ...

Can I answer this one too? I split my week between office and home office.

- When you try to not schedule conference calls when the mail carrier comes because your dog goes nuts barking and everyone can hear.

- When your kids see you pick up the phone and their reaction is "oh no, not ANOTHER conference call..." (mine are here when they get home from school).

- When part of the whole point of the work at home arrangement is to be able to do things like start dinner early and eat at a reasonable hour yet you're still rushing to get dinner on the table at 7 because your boss decided that you have all the time in the world to talk to him as he drives home at 6.

- When sending e-mails in the middle of the night while you relax with The Colbert Report seems like a perfectly sane and reasonable thing to do.

You start having a conversation with yourself outloud.

You "accidentally" take a nap when your supposed to be working.

I love 8kidsdad's example of getting dressed when your work day is over - can't tell you how many times I've done that!

When your kids know that snapping fingers means "mom/dad is on the phone"

When you don't ever shower before noon and that's your lunch break

Your phone rings 18 out of the 24 hours in a day and you feel like you have to answer every call because you are technically still in the office.

You get to take conference calls in your pjs

If there's wifi you can work - so your 'office' can be the beach, starbucks, or the lake house with the family; no need to waste vacation days

You actually get dressed when your work day is over.

You can answer mamapedia questions without any one telling you to get back to work.

No one notices if you are "decent" or not.

You don't care if you forgot to button a button or two or three.

You can walk out the back door and pick fresh tomatoes from your garden to snack on at your desk.

Good luck to you and yours.

I work from home full time and these are all true for me. lol! I am fully dressed (always am for work), but I am wearing my slippers. :)

I agree with JB about the hours still being crazy!

Here are a few of mine:
--You get up in the wee hours before dawn to get some work in before you have to get the kids ready for school.
--you go to the grocery store after the kids are in bed "just to get out of the house for a bit."
--You start having conversations with your pets out loud (to build on AKS's mom's one!)
--when it's nice, you get to sit outside with your laptop (this is my favorite!)

Lol!!

I laughed out loud at my desk at the lucky laundry one.

People assume you can babysit... and then you have to struggle - down on your hands and knees on the floor - to find your eyeballs, because they fell out of your head in aghast horror. NO! I'm WORKING!!!

Please go to sleep. Mommy needs to pay the electric bill. Please. God. Sleep.

HAHAHAHHA

I think we've covered it all. :)

Aw, I loved the one "you don't get dressed until after work". So true!

-Lunch breaks are for a quick hop on the treadmill and a load of laundry or dishes, not for lunch!
-You find yourself walking to the fridge too many times a day...because office work is boring, and the fridge is RIGHT THERE
-When you go in for actual work meetings, people seriously say "Oh, did you just start working here again?" Um....no, I have worked here 11 years and the last 4 I have been telecommuting!
-When you go in for work meetings you have a hard time matching names with faces (even with your closest co-workers) but you would recognize someone by their writing style in a second!
-Your neighbors and family routinely ask you to babysit their children because they think you are at home doing nothing
-When you get a work call you JUST KNOW that is the moment you will also get a text message, the kid next door will start ringing your doorbell over and over, and your kids will get off the bus!
-You often turn on the tv or music for background noise, to keep yourself alert
-You have not used a sick day in years. If you get sick, you still clock in and get your work done. Unless you are actually dying.

I love it when people who know I work from home stop by during the middle of the day and lay on the doorbell...never taking into consideration that I might not be answering because I'm on a business call.