Chicken Soup For The Work At Home Dog Mom's Soul

Last year, I published a blog column about my commitment towards taking the majority of an afternoon off once or twice a month to unplug and take some down time. That down time included...

Me lounging on the sofa. With our kids. Eating snacks. Reading or watching Netflix or Amazon Prime. Unplugged. Enjoying our kids snuggling up to me as they nap soundly.

Right around the time I published that blog column, I had done just that. And, it felt great. The following day, I was rested, rejuvenated, and back on track.

The only problem...

Over 6 months have passed since I have done just that.

My job as a Work at Home Dog Mom consists of working 7 days a week. I do not get days off. Day trips. Weekend getaways. Week long vacations. I do not get the luxury of catching up on Netflix or Prime Series or watching movies that are collecting dust on our Blu-ray player.

At the end of the day, I'm human. I need a little down time every once in a while.

Since taking that initial afternoon off and commitment to take that afternoon off once or twice a month, I have felt the strain of not following through.

It has kind of been a crap week for so many reasons. I'm tired. Worn out. Frustrated. Stressed. My body hurts. Etc.

After tackling a few hours of work this morning while fighting back ugly tears, I decided to take the afternoon off. Unplugged.

I sat on the sofa. With our kids. I ate a cucumber sandwich. Our kids snacked on their homemade doggy treats and peanut butter chicken meatball treats.

After snack, they curled up and snuggled close to me. Napped. We were all covered in super soft blankets.

I cried my way through Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I laughed my way through Wine Country.

About 10 minutes after Wine Country ended, Lisa arrived home from work.

With. Dinner.

My favorite pizza and her favorite grinder.

We played Yahtzee while eating dinner.

"I'm glad you took down time today. You haven't done that in months. You were supposed to take an afternoon a couple of times a month for that. How come you stopped after the first time?"

"Because of guilt. It's awkward for me to sit on the sofa in the middle of the afternoon watching a movie or two on Netflix. Especially when I have stuff to do which is all the time."

"You give me down time every weekend. I lounge on the sofa for a few hours with the kids and watch TV. I usually end up napping, but it's still the same. While I'm doing that, you're doing work and making sure dinner is made when I get up. You deserve the same. It makes a big difference to have that time every week."

"I can't do it every week, but I will make an effort to take some down time once or twice a month."

"I'm going to hold you to that. You bust your ass just like I do every single day. You deserve it. And when you take those afternoons, I'll make sure you don't have to cook dinner."

After our evening routine, we had extra family snuggle time on the sofa.

I tucked Lisa and the kids into bed about a half hour ago.

I feel refreshed. I needed that unplugged time today. So did our kids. Even though I take quite a bit of time out of my day to play with them, give them snacks and snuggles, take them out, etc., it's not the same as taking time off and unplugging.

It was definitely chicken soup for the Work at Home Dog Mom's Soul.