Wow. I always want to have a post up by 9 a.m. Or, barring that, you know, uh, noon. I totally blew it today. However, this is the first time after a month of work-at-home blogging, so let's give me a break here. Sorry!

I wish I could say I was taking some time for myself -- a long walk WITHOUT dogs, kids, or spouse; a well-deserved massage; extra yoga time (uh, who am I kidding? ANY yoga time).

But this was a very, very busy week. My brother-in-law came to visit for a few days and I was torn between writing and hanging out. We're getting ready for a big trip and there's a bunch of cleaning and planning and running around to do. Time for myself hasn't really been at the top of my list, and I'm feeling it.

It's a lot like exercise, whether you work at home or not -- you sometimes have to just go ahead and schedule it in to make it a priority, you feel crappy when you don't do it, it feels like a luxury, you should do it EVERY DAY. And that's the best I can come up with today. I'll be getting some me time this weekend, and when I get back to work, I'll be recharged. Recharged enough to get my blog posts up on time.

I had a totally different blog post scheduled for today. I was going to come back and write something about taking care of yourself when you work at home, blah-blah, working at home but remembering to live at home, balance, time for yourself, whatevs.

But during my morning walk, that faded away. I'm not a dog person, but we have dogs. I'm not crazy about them. They are not my fur-babies. I like them, I take care of them, I'm happy when they're happy. I don't like them when they wake me up early to go for a walk. And how did it get to be that I, the non-dog-person, is the one walking them every morning? They are a multiple-layered mystery, and that is one of them.

In any case, I was walking early this morning. We've had a long stretch of chilly rainy weather that has precluded a lot of garden work and has kept the kids inside. It feels a lot more like October than June. But then, today, the sun came out and everything was washed and fresh and bright. It's warm and almost humid. Forest wildflowers are blooming and the undergrowth is lush and rich. The creek is running from all the rain and the world is alive.

I mentioned that a year ago, I took a week off to be able to be at home for Ian's play practice. By this time, at the end of the week, I was despairing that the time was almost over, and I morbidly counted down in my head how many hours I had left, and I mourned that I hadn't spent the time as I had wanted to -- looking for a work-at-home job, playing more with the kids, being more patient. I was focused on the bad stuff that was coming at work, and paying more attention to stuff I hated than stuff I loved.

This year, as I was walking in the woods, I felt my heart open and I was so grateful to be where I was. I was grateful to John, for taking a job that made my flexibility possible. I was grateful to myself for working hard and asking the universe for opportunities I knew I could succeed at. I was grateful to the universe for listening. I'm not religious, but I felt like a big thank-you note to the cosmos for where I was. I know I am privileged to be able to say that. What are you grateful for, and are you grateful for what your opportunities?

You know what I hate? I hate getting out of bed. Even if I have an exciting day planned — the first day of vacation, breakfast out, a light work load — I would rather doze away the morning and get up when I feel like it. I am LAZY and I admit it. But one of the best things you can do for yourself is get up in the morning and take a walk. Seriously, just typing that makes me think of cool, soft pillows and warm, but not too warm, sheets.

If you do a lot of computer work when you work at home, it's easy to get lost in what you're doing and only get up to go to the bathroom or get a cup of coffee. There isn't any co-worker to chit-chat with, or someone else's desk to walk over to to check on a project or share a bit of gossip with. But remember, now that you're working at home, you have the flexibility to get that breath of air whenever you want.

Even as I’m walking, I’m thinking about the work I have to do or the exciting things coming for the day. But after awhile I feel the way my body is working, I smell the air (even if I’m walking downtown), and the articulation of my spine and limbs makes me focus on what I’m doing. It makes me focus on how I’m alive. And, to be honest, it makes me feel just a little bit superior to people who aren’t doing anything.

And that’s a good way to start the day. I don’t always take my own advice (who does?), but if you haven’t gotten up out of bed and taken a walk, try it. Even just going up and down the stairs three times in your apartment building will make your thighs twitch a little bit when you’re done. Then you can start the day feeling like you’ve done something. When you work a home, you need to take it where you can get it — whether “it” is exercise, time on your own, paid work or leisure time. Your walk doesn’t have to be with just the right shoes in a park or a wooded trail. Walk around the block. Walk up and down your stairs. Walk up and down your driveway — no, seriously, who cares? You’re doing something, you’re moving your blood, and the rest of day, you’ll get a payoff from it. Who knows — you might even get up and do it tomorrow, too.

With kids (and sometimes your partner) around all the time, it’s imperative that you get time for yourself. You are going to need all your energy in the coming months, and so you’re going to have to be very firm about what time is your time.

You might have to change your personal schedule around to make sure you get the time you need. I am not a huge fan of getting up early, because I love bed. I might even set that alarm, but when zero hour comes, I often roll over and snooze it. Once in awhile, though, I manage to get up and take a walk in the morning. While I love being awake before everybody else (once I actually do it), I find myself thinking about everything I have to that day, and it’s not always very relaxing. Your mileage may vary, of course!

Other options include:

Yesterday I said that working at home changes relationships. The biggest relationship it changes, of course, is the one you have with yourself. Last week, you were a corporate lawyer or a go-get-’em journalist or a teacher. This week? It’s hard not to say “I’m just a mom,” because that’s what we’re taught to say. But we know there’s no such thing.

Moms thinking about working at home imagine all the time they’ll have for themselves to work out, clean out the junk drawer, organize their closets, get the laundry on a decent schedule, write in a journal or pick up a craft abandoned long ago. There is time for that, time for yourself, but you have to be ready to take it when it comes, especially if your paid work starts to take off.

When you worked outside the home, you felt like that if only you could have a little time to yourself, you’d be a better worker, partner and mother. Now that you’re working at home, you need to make sure you fulfill that promise to yourself and don’t let the work creep deprive you of what you need to get stuff done.

Fridays will be devoted to the relationship with yourself – how to make sure you are getting your time in, as well as for everybody else.