Work From Home ... Priceless!

Day 55, Oct. 2

Today I'm 189.2 pounds of rolling thunder.

Sorry fans, if you missed some updates in the past few days. Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of you having fun?

Speaking of work, I'm the poorest, busiest person you'll ever meet. If there was a paycheck for looking busy, I'd be rich. If they gave out a Pulitzer Prize for writing few people will ever read, I'd be the defending champ.

During my day, I blog, I jog, I search and seek for a full-time paying gig, I update social media sites and on some occasions, I even ply my craft for paying clients that need content written and edited. But at the end of the day, much of what I do goes without pay.

I could get used to the work-from-home lifestyle. Unlike most offices, there are few phone calls and seldom do co-workers come over to ask how to make the printer work or explain string theory. I can’t remember the last time my beagles rebelled against The Man because he raised the price of coffee in the break room to 50 cents. And quite conveniently, the coffee and soda in my office is free.

Of course, work from home also means working seven days a week for less money than a full-time job. But even the oddest work shift seems easier to do when you can get up from the computer for a break and go visit with your family.

My friends are amazed when I tell them I've covered news stories from coast to coast without leaving my living room. I was on the front line for New Orleans and Jackson, Miss., when Hurricane Isaac came on shore. I wrote and posted volumes when former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino took his now-infamous spill on his motorcycle with mistress in tow.

Murders, robberies, lottery winners, naked men in bathtubs with knives – wrote them all in my living room.

All of this was work from home. All was on time. On budget. And on the leading edge for the various websites.

The only time I really missed not being onsite was the week I spent working for a news website in Hawaii. I hate to say it but work from home sucked that week.

You do have to be disciplined in your work ethic when you are on your own. Yes, it's great to be there when one of your kids needs a book brought to school or a ride home from practice. But you can't get pulled in by Dr. Oz or anything else on TV.

So, my days are usually made up of some freelance work, updating one or both of my blogs and then hunting for something that is more than looking like working -- something that comes with a real pay check.

I guess it should bother me that my running has picked up, and I'm a little faster and can actually go longer distances without walking. There is a certain amount of guilt. But if being healthier, seeing your kids a lot more and finding time to help your neighbors is the price for working from home, I'm OK with that.

Let's just hope the contract work keeps flowing in because it feels a little thin some days. I spent Monday working from home and driving our 15-year-old around. We talked more than we had in weeks. Priceless!

If you see the world's slowest and busiest-looking human out on the road today, give me a wave.