how I keep my sanity

I've learned in the past that the key to surviving Joe's occassional long absences is to become project oriented. I'm really good at this. My kids would probably argue that I'm too good. I kind of tend to be a tad unflexible when it comes to my project lists. Anyway, I have projects for the kids and projects for me to make the time fly. Well, maybe not fly, but at least the clock moves more than 2 minutes every time I look at it. Here are some of the things I've gotten accomplished in the last 2 weeks:

• Cleaned all the windows and screens on the house. Wow! do my trees cause dirt or what?!
• "winterized" the yard; aka raking and trimming. I also mowed the front yard. It was all I could manage. For some reason yard mowing is the one tasks that announces to all my kids "Now is the time to fight about all the stuff you've been wanting to fight about."
• Cleaned out my office. This may not sound like a big deal, but then you didn't see it before I cleaned it.
• Organized Nathan's baby pictures for his 1st year picture frame. It has a place for a picture a month. And, yes, it is difficult to remember which picture is from which month when he will be 3 next week.
• Cleaned out the laundry room and storage room that is connected to it.
• Cleaned out my refrigerator and figured out where all my tupperware was.

Also wanted to let you know that there is still time to answer the trivia question below. I won't post the answer until this evening. And I have another trivia question for you--this one isn't weather related. It is vocabulary. I know you can't wait! ;)