At age 10 he is perfectly capable of making his own breakfast (he's been doing it since kindergarten), but lately an indecisive phase has stymied his innate self-sufficiency. Every morning eggs, cereal, last night's leftovers are each considered and rejected. Finally I must make an executive decision, usually only minutes before we should be leaving for school.

Eventually I'd had enough and told him he must decide on his breakfast the night before, when he makes his lunch.

The first evening the new policy was met with whining and then an inordinately long time in the kitchen. When I came to investigate the delay, he was proudly taping to the refrigerator (using 12 pieces of tape!) his breakfast schedule for the entire week.

The boy knows how to make his old Mom proud! While a weeklong breakfast schedule is sort of overkill, I liked his comprehensive approach to a problem. Not only did listing breakfast options go far beyond what I had asked, it was a nicely thought out list -- realistic and succinct. The only pointer I had to add was that he should check it each night to be sure we still had the ingredients for the next day's planned option.

I find making lists for work and home essential to organizing my life. Here are a few more of my list-making tips:

• Look at your lists. Sounds obvious, I know. But I will often get caught up with other projects and neglect to check my list and miss a deadline because of it.
• Use technology you're comfortable with. If that's paper and pencil, so be it. But if paper is likely to get shuffled into the recycling, then use your computer. But the right technology goes a long way toward making sure you actually use the list.
• Be realistic. Don't fill your list with things you can't possibly get to. It's discouraging if nothing ever gets checked off. Break complicated projects down into steps.
• Make more than one list. Put all those long-term things on another list (but don't forget to look at it!). Also you can segment your list, separating work and home projects.
• Check things off! Give yourself that ta-da moment. This is definitely my son's favorite part about the list.

While the benefits of working from home are many, it is not for everyone. It takes a certain set of personality traits to navigate the pitfalls of a being a work-at-home mom.

And while it is not necessary to have every single personality trait when you start, you'll need to work on developing them to be successful.

So be honest. Working at home with kids is hard enough as it is. Don’t expect to undergo a complete personality change too, or you and everyone around you will be miserable.

So ask yourself these questions.

If you plan to file and pay your 2008 income taxes by January 31, you have until then. I am never confident enough in my ability to file my taxes by that date to risk it, so I am writing a check today. And if you've misplaced the estimated tax payment vouchers since you used them September (like me), print new ones by downloading the 1040-ES form from the IRS' website.

More:
How to Pay Estimated Taxes
Tax Resources for the WAHM

While no free food from corporate luncheons, NetworkWorld's number one peeve, no less, doesn't bother me much, I could relate to most of the others. Number 15 "out of site (pun intended), out of mind" was my favorite:

You can't just stop by somebody's office to get a quick question answered; you need to wait for him to respond to an e-mail message or phone call. Few people treat those communications media with the same urgency as someone standing at their office door.

But that's just me. What annoys you about telecommuting? Post in the comments below.

More:
Telecommuting Employee or Independent Contractor: What's the Difference?