Staying Apart, Together: Pandemic work-from-home is even harder after a long weekend

Happy Tuesday-that-feels-like-a-Monday to you all. 

Getting back into the swing of work after a long weekend is always a challenge, but for many of us working from home, it can be even harder. 

Without a commute, or getting dressed up, it can be easier to stay up later on the proverbial school night, and easy to hit the snooze buttons on our alarms closer and closer to our log-on times. That can lead to bad sleep patterns, fuzzy starts to the day and even pajama-clad mornings behind the desk (speaking for a friend, of course, I would never, I promise my editors who are reading this). 

Figuring out how to structure our days can be hard, because during the six months of the pandemic, so many of us have clung to the hope that things would get back to normal "soon." But it's worth putting in some effort to make our work days more structured and efficient, if only to make sure we're not yawning through Zoom meetings.

But let's talk less about work, and more about our staycations. How was your long Labor Day weekend? I spent mine enjoying the first whispers of fall weather, which in the Philadelphia area meant warm days without humidity, at long last. I went for a bike ride, baked hamburger buns and a pie and read 500 pages from a 900-page book in my in-laws' backyard.

If you thought of any creative ways to safely spend your time off, I'd love to know. Email stayingaparttogether@usatoday.com (make sure to include your full name and location) and I might include your leisure suggestions in a future newsletter. 

Today's home office inspiration

For some people working from home, a desk tucked away in the living room corner isn't cutting it. 

Interest in backyard sheds as potential home offices (or homeschool rooms, or home gyms) have increased exponentially during the pandemic, Paste BN Money reports. Cheaper than building an attachment onto your home (but still very pricey), sheds are taking the home office to a whole new level. 

“A lot of companies are allowing their employees (to work) from home from now on if they choose. So everybody is scrambling to find space to put their computer,” Tim Vack, general manager at Modern-Shed, said. “People are growing tired of putting their laptop on their dining room table, or their kitchen countertop.”

For those lucky enough to afford the cost (and have the space) for these office sheds, they offer more separation between work and home, which is tougher than ever these days.  

“I have this routine at the end of my day where I lower my standing desk, I shut the shades, I turn off my air conditioner I turn off the lights, I lock my door and I commute home, just a few steps away," one shed-owner we spoke to said. 

Here are a few pictures of the prettiest sheds featured in the article.

Read the lowdown on sheds here. And if you have converted an ordinary shed into an office, we want to see photos. Send them to Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown. 

Today's reads

• We know the pandemic has fundamentally changed the American workplace. The only questions remaining are how much can it evolve, and what changes will be lasting? Paste BN Tech posits that video calls are, at least, very much here to stay. 
• Our NFL Power Rankings are back for the fall. What a weird season this is going to be. 
• For the first few months of the pandemic, I was wiping down groceries and takeout containers. But experts say that risk is "exceedingly small," which took away one of the many stressors of modern life, at least for my family. 
• From my colleague Teresa Lo,  a personal story about Disney's "Mulan."  The film "resonated with me, not only because it features a brave and self-reliant heroine from China, but because its themes of family, filial piety and responsibility were ones that were emphasized to me off-screen, in my own home." 
• Are these America's most delicious beers? I do love an IPA...

Today's TV recommendations

For Elaine Reis

Which streaming services do you have?

Netflix and AcornTV

What shows have you watched in quarantine so far?

"Pose," "The Crown," "Dear White People," "Unorthodox, "Orange is the New Black,"

"Virgin River," "Schitt’s Creek" "Call the Midwife," "Grace and Frankie," "Broadchurch," "Sherlock" and "The Good Place"

What are you favorite shows of all time?

"Downton Abbey," "Upstairs, Downstairs,"  "The West Wing," "House of Cards (U.K)," "Fawlty Towers," "The Americans," "M*A*S*H," "Cheers" and "Golden Girls"

You should watch...

I highly endorse "Mrs. Fisher's Murder Mysteries" (AcornTV), especially for fans of British TV and mystery stories. It's an Australian detective show set in the 1920s about a female private investigator with modern sensibilities and a keen eye for the truth. The series is clever, funny and a celebration of 1920s style, anchored by a great performance by lead Essie Davis. On Netflix you might like "Never Have I Ever," a great new sitcom from Mindy Kaling that has positive vibes and clever writing like "Schitt's" or "Good Place," although this series is about a teen girl with a lot of anger and aspirations.

Today's Pet

I have really admired people who have been fostering animals during the pandemic, and here are two such kittens from New York City. 

These twin girls are named Kieran and Kingsley, and if they haven't already been scooped up for adoption since I received their picture in late August I'll be pretty shocked. 

That's it for this Tuesday. and The newsletter will be back on Saturday morning. Don't forget to send pet pics, TV recommendation requests and coping tips to our new newsletter email address, stayingaparttogether@usatoday.com. Every email I get brings me joy.

All my very best,

Kelly Lawler