at home my kids keep playing their new video games, so the noise and visual distraction there flushes me out of the main living/dining area. My refuge is my tiny bedroom in the garage, which is unheated but at least no one's loudly zapping ogres or dodging banana peels.

Please take this with all the good intentions and warm smiles it is accompanied with.....You're the Dad. Turn off their games. Shut down the TV. Take out a board game. Is there some "wood" project that doesn't involve staining that you can get them involved in? Is there some way you can make a vacation day at home with your kids *with your kids*? I'd be doing the same if my middle wasn't doesn't down with the flu.

Just a suggestion.