I know Valentine’s Day is still more than a month away. But in the age of online shopping it’s good to start early to account for shipping time. So I am pleased to present to you my second list of gift ideas. This time it’s gifts for the coffee fanatic in your life! {You can read my previous list for Geeks here.}

Do you love coffee? Which of these gifts would you most want to get or give, and to whom? My top choice would be the “I Love You, Blogs, and Coffee” print!

   
Both of these shirts are available in unisex or women’s styles. They’re from Think Geek. Prices range from $15.99-$18.99.


And finally, my personal favorite is this cute little print. I gave one of these to Adam for our wedding anniversary. It’s sitting on a shelf in his computer armoir. I’m pretty sure he likes it. Because, you know, he said he likes it. It makes me smile every time I see it. It’s $10 from Geek Details. The frame is not included.

Don't miss my list of gift ideas for coffee lovers!

Do you have a geek in your life? What are you getting him/her for Valentine’s day?

It’s not secret that I’m a bit of an internet junkie. What can I say? I love having so much access to knowledge, humor, social networking, and so on. I have so many bookmarks that I’ve had to create folders within folders within folders to organize them. And over the next few days I’m sharing some of my favorites from each category. Get your clicking finger ready! And here we go…

Family & Friends

Adam (these are pages bookmarked for Mr. Dork):

• http://www.freeworldgroup.com/ Lots and lots of free Flash games. Warning: You may find yourself wasting a lot of time on this site!

Mama Resources:

• http://www.kellymom.com/ My favorite breast feeding resource.
• http://promom.org/ Another great breast feeding site.

Sky Academy (learning at home resources):

• http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/2024/list_15_1.html Amazing paper crafts to print such as a scientific model of the sun!
• http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2009/07/sound-bingo.html A fun audio version of the game Bingo.

Crafts:

• http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/how-to/how-to-be-thankful-fall-garland-070293 A fun decoration to make for the Thanksgiving season. Be sure to browse the site for even more crafts and project inspiration!
• http://giverslog.com/?p=1146 A really easy, fun, DIY gift perfect for teachers, grandparents, or to keep for yourself!
• http://www.allfreecrafts.com/homemade-gifts/canning-jar-lamp.shtml A lamp I’ve been dying to make!

Shopping:

• http://www.theorganizedparent.com/servlet/StoreFront Products to help you be an organized mom.
• http://www.passionspice.com/ Nursing bras that are actually CUTE!

$$$:

• http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/ A great personal finance blog.
• http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm More money-saving tips than you’ll know what to do with!

Brain in a Binder (pages for my home management binder):

• http://www.diyplanner.com/ User submitted printables to use in your planner (such as a Franklin Covey planner).
• http://notebook.organizedhome.com/printable Binder-sized printable.

Bitchen’ Kitchen (recipes and more):

• http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx Our favorite bread recipe (no-knead)!
• http://www.mothering.com/recipes/nori-wrapped-salmon We make this with tilapia because it’s cheaper. But we still love it!

Blogs

Groups:

• http://www.momblognetwork.com/welcome-new-user A network for Mommy bloggers.
• http://www.thesitsgirls.com/ One of my favorite blog networking sites.

Memes:

• http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/ Fill in the blank prompts every Friday.
• http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2008/03/hi-yall.html Tips to make life easier.

Writing:

• http://www.problogger.net/ Probably one of the very best blogs about blogging on the internet. Don’t miss the “31 Days to a Better Blog” program!
• http://www.copyblogger.com/5-simple-ways-to-open-your-blog-post-with-a-bang/ Ideas for how to write the opening section of a blog post.

Design Tutorials/Tools:

• You can find some of my favorite blog design links in the post about my blog makeover.

More to come tomorrow!

What are some of your favorite websites? Leave me their urls in the comments!

I like the mall. Really. I don’t actually like shopping there (overpriced much?) but I like walking around (yay free air conditioning)! And I like to browse while feeling smug and superior because I’m too poor frugal to pay that much for a shirt, pair of pants, or [insert item here]. What I don’t like are the “kiosk zombies.” You know the ones I mean? They’re those sleazy guys selling merchandise from a kiosk (merchandise which is even more overpriced than normal mall goods), the guys you can’t walk past without them accosting you and saying things like:

“Would you like to have your hair straightened?”

“Have you ever tried this lotion?”

“Braaaaaaaaains…”

{OK, so I made that last one up.}

My normal methods of getting past them unmolested involve talking loudly to whoever I’m with and pretending I don’t hear them, pulling my hat over my face and pretending I don’t see them, or plastering a very angry “don’t-mess-with-this-chick-she’s-scary-and-definitely-not-buying-your-crap-today” look and hoping they’re not too stupid to ignore it.

I’m pretty proud of my kiosk zombie escape skills. But still, I don’t always dodge them. Next step? Bring a chainsaw.

What’s your mall pet peeve?

You know those toilet bowl stains that just won’t go away? Oh, no? You never have that problem? Well then you are clearly on the wrong blog. I think you were looking for Domestic Diva not Domestic Dork.

Now, who’s left? Ah, yes. Welcome to all my fellow dorks. As I was saying…

You know those toilet bowl stains that just won’t go away? Man, I hate those! Cleaning toilets is bad enough without having to deal with the stains from the black lagoon. Well, I’ve learned how to vanquish them and now I’m going to tell you how!

First head to the store. You’re looking for pumice stones. Sometimes you can find them in the aisle with the cleaning supplies. More likely you’ll have to head to the cosmetics section. Look near the nail polish and other pedicure items. Buy as many of them as you can afford (because if your luck is anything like mine then next time you’re looking for them the store won’t have them anymore).

On our last trip we only found two in the entire store. Here’s what they looked like:

Square stones are generally more useful than rounded ones because it’s easier to get into the corners with them. But I’ll take whatever I can get. Since I was stuck with one round and one square I used the round one for all the areas I could get it into and then switched to the square for the hard-to-reach areas. No sense wearing those corners down on the rounded areas.

Now for the “fun part,” actually cleaning that darn toilet. You should not drain the bowl when using this cleaning method. You need the porcelain to stay good and wet to avoid scratches. That’s why I highly recommend wearing gloves. All you’ll need to do is suck it up, stick your hand in, and scrub. You’ll be amazed by what an igneous rock and a little elbow grease can do. You might want to flush the toilet a few time throughout cleaning as the water can get murky and make it hard to see what you’re doing.

Now, I’m not about to show you a “before” picture because, really, nobody wants to see that. Ew. But I will show you the “after!”

What cleaning problems do you have? What tricks have you learned or developed to solve them?

We certainly couldn't make a trip all the way up to Edmonton and not visit the West Edmonton Mall (WEM) which is the largest mall in North America and the fifth largest in the world. So we spent most of the day Friday exploring the WEM. And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a photo intensive record of our great mall adventure.