We haven’t killed each other yet…so that’s a plus, right? I have however, solidified my decision in that we should never work together.

No.

Nope.

Just…no.

I’m fairly certain if we still lived in our 900 square foot apartment, we would have killed each other by now.

Or at the very least there would have been a lot of bickering and random feelings getting hurt because we couldn’t escape each other in any way.

Now, understand, Devon and I are both happy homebodies, so we spend a lot of time at home together anyway, we always have and we enjoy it that way. But being home (in addition to working from home) 24/7 for a month, you learn new things about your spouse you didn’t expect to.

Understand, I’ve known this man since he was 19 years old (around 15 or so years of knowing him), I have seen him in every life circumstance he has experienced thus far in his adult life, I know him better than ANYONE on the planet…and yet until last week I didn’t know I was married to the “let’s put a pin in that…” man.

WHO DID I MARRY?!?!

I feel like I’ve been living a lie…

Since I don’t have a desk (until today!) in our office, I’ve been doing Zoom/Google Hangouts/Conference calls in our dining room.

Devon decided that it was also a good space for him to do the same, so he brought his work laptop downstairs and set it up on the dining room table for his Zoom calls.

He then decided that it was a prime work spot so that he could watch old Power Rangers while he works on his Google Classroom/posts lessons (because we don’t have a TV in our office).

So, first thing every morning, he works on lesson planning/updating grades/etc for about an hour in our dining room with Power Rangers on. Since we’re in the same field, I also work first thing in the morning, as most educators are, so more often than not we’re working at the table together.

I WAS HERE FIRST! (Without Power Rangers)

But it’s fine, the table is big enough for both of us…

Devon also talks to himself quietly while he works. Which…a lot of people do. I admit to randomly doing it every once in awhile. But he does it a lot. Like…a lot..a lot….

So much that I asked him one day last week, “do the voices in your head not hear the main voice if you don’t say it out loud?”

To which he’s like “I have to say it out loud to hear myself think over the clickety-clack of your nails on your keyboard”.

I was wounded.

Side note: RIP Acrylics…

And because we normally spend life together when we aren’t working, we do that still now. So, literally 24/7 togetherness.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some wonderful parts to us being home together like this. He’s helping me do stuff around the house that we keep avoiding, he’s making dinner a lot more often (like he’s upstairs right now putting dinner in the crockpot) and he gets me to stop working late into the evening like I can easily do without someone stopping me. And we do, much more often than not, really enjoy spending time together.

But Devon and I are both human, which means we can get annoyed, or wake up “on the wrong side of the bed” or have PMS (me, obviously) or whatever and we can annoy the hell out of each other.

So, how have we handled 24/7 togetherness without killing each other?

Spotify

Music helps you to tune out other things and people when you need it to. Plus, it can also help elevate your mood when you’re stuck in a funk. And if you have noise cancelling headphones, you can really make it so that you forget anyone else is in the room/house with you.

Alone Time

Most afternoons we take an hour or so of time to be by ourselves. I usually use this time to go exercise, or hang out and read or watch a show alone. It’s peaceful and quiet and I can “clickety-clack” on my laptop all I want, if I so desire.

Good Food/Snacks

Food is delicious. It might be ordering out, it might just be a good snack (preferably one that you can enjoy alone because your partner doesn’t like it so you don’t have to share), whatever sounds good to you. How often are you still mad after eating something delicious?

A Fully Stocked Bar

Obviously…please be responsible and do this at your own discretion. But I mean…a nice bottle of wine can be a great thing to chill out and relax. Or it can make you super giggly and happy like it has a tendency to do in this house. You can’t get mad if you’re giggly, right? And really…those annoying habits might be cute and funny for a few minutes. That sounds nice.

Play Video Games

You can either play alone, and work out some of your aggressions in a passive way, or you can play together and take a more active way of working out your aggressions. What better feeling than to figuratively kick your partners butt when they’re pissing you off?

How is everyone doing with their partners/spouses during this? Are they driving you crazy yet? Is it already 5 o’clock somewhere?