Working at Home, Living at Work

So I have a brand new hot water boiler and a house full of in-laws this morning. In between all the boiler and family excitement yesterday, I assembled and carded a few obsidian and glass necklaces and earrings. I also had a good chat with a woman in Corner Brook looking for a few complete artifact reproductions as well as pieces suitable for a sandbox dig. This is another opportunity to make use of Cultural Products seconds.

Lori's mom was staying with us a couple of nights this week and noticed that our hot water was a slightly more yellow color than our cold water. Our hot water boiler is 7 years old and Lori has been keeping an eagle eye on it for the past 3. We finally got some discolouration in the water so we decided to replace it before it completely let go and flooded our basement.

Lori's parents have a good friend in the plumbing supply business and he gave us a deal on the tank and set us up with a reliable, cheap plumber to install it. Lori's dad was in town with his truck, so he could pick it up for us, no problem. Unfortunately, when he went to restart his truck after popping into the warehouse to get the boiler it wouldn't start. His official explanation was that water from the car wash must have shorted out the starting motor. This was controversial enough for his wife to hear, because she thinks he has a carwash addiction and doesn't need to wash the truck multiple times a week. Later in the day, when Lori's mom was out of the room, he wondered if opening up the hood to shampoo the engine and blast it with the pressure washer might be the real culprit.

So, the truck is in the garage and in-laws are in the basement.

That pretty much sums up the pros and cons of working at home. Its convenient to be able to be around when the plumber needs to show up. But the distinction between home life and work life is pretty blurry. To people on the outside it can feel like you are always at home, while to you it can feel like you are always at work.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Photo Caption: Obsidian jewelry from Elfshot.