Domestic Geek

I haven't done one in a while, but I'm going to make this TT short and sweet:Thirteen Things For Which I Am Thankful

1. Marcus
2. My father
3. A roof over my head and food to eat
4. A decent paying job with full benefits that I actually don't hate doing
5. My dream car (Subaru Baja)
6. Good friends (online and IRL)
7. An intelligent, logical mind
8. My creative abilities
9. My natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge
10. Netflix
11. The Internet
12. Relatively good health
13. My computer

Ten Things I've Been Putting Off

1. Putting stuff up for sale on eBay. I'd better get cracking because free listing fees promotion expires on Sunday.
2. Doing a home inventory. We really need one for insurance purposes, but never seem to get one done.
3. Sending the LiveStrong bracelets to my Blogathon sponsors.
4. Going grocery shopping. I absolutely hate it. I need to make an online order, but keep putting that off, too.
5. Scheduling an appointment with a gynecologist. I'm over 40 and need to start getting mammograms. When our company's new insurance carrier kicks in October 1st, I need to take care of this.
6. Getting my hair cut. I know I'd feel and look better if I'd go spend the money and do it.
7. Cleaning my car. It needs to be cleaned, inside and out. The windshield is filthy and it needs a wax job.
8. Losing weight. I need to exercise in a bad way.
9. Getting some financial issues taken care of. They've been a mess since the company I was working for closed in November 2005.
10. Starting my design company or finding a part time job. If I'm going to clean up my finances and get out of this mobile home park, I need more money coming in.

Thirteen of my Online Friends You Should Visit

I've been fortunate and met quite a lot of interesting people online. This week I'd like to share the sites of 13 of those friends with you.

1. hello! yoshi — I met Yoshi while looking for an Expression Engine blogroll link manager. I was sick to death of blogrolling.com always hanging my site and he had written a nifty little module that works wonderfully (I still use it to this day). Since then, we have been through two blogathons together and he's always quick to help when problems come up and Marcus isn't available. He sent me a tutorial on how I can do private posts on here, I just haven't managed to find the time to take a look at it yet.
2. LaLaGirl - Twinfinite Chaos — Oddly enough, I met Laura before I even knew what a blog was. She and I were attending the same stupid school and my friend Rev and I would chat with Laura once in a while during lunch. It was while doing a search to see if anyone else hated that stupid school as much as I that I found a link to Laura's blog. She had written about this stupid programming instructor that everyone absolutely hated. She's quite the busy gal with two sets of twins and a tween daughter. She won't admit it, but she's quite the superwoman. I really admire her.
3. Simple Kind of Life — If you're blogging and haven't been to any of Colleen's many sites, what rock have you been hiding under? Her first blog is SKOL and I found her a few years ago through Laura's site, but only became really well acquainted with her in the last year or so since I emailed her about a paid blogging site question I had. She's another one of those superwomen... three kids, a career and a blogging celebrity all rolled into one. She's quite an inspiration.
4. Whatever I Feel Like — I also found Amy through Laura. I was like this little insider hanging on the fringe of this group of online girlfriends. Amy is another woman I really admire. She's really smart and has some wonderful insights into life. She's another source of inspiration. She and her family recently go a chocolate lab named Grace. I'm so jealous.
5. Cass Knits — I met Cass on a paid blogging site forums. She's a Southern gal with 8 kids and a whole slew of interesting blogs. She shared the process of making sweet tea with me and I'm ever so grateful! I don't know how she manages to raise a family, blog, moderate forums and find time to be crafty, but she does.
6. RADHOLE — Russ is a Denverite that I know through Marcus' best friend Mike's sister Valerie. *whew* Russ is quite the character. He is an amateur movie maker, a writer and a successful urban gardener. He also is fascinated with space and space exploration.
7. Marisa's Dandelion Patch — Marisa (another PPP friend) is a grandmother, but you'd never know it by looking at her. She's an extremely geeky, wise and opinionated woman.
8. Shameless Reality Show — Another online friendship forged through the PPP forums. Terri went MIA for a couple of months when an errant Wordpress plugin took her site down. She's a budding astrologer and in exchange for a chart, I helped her get her site back up.
9. An Indian Summer — I met Bug during last year's blogathon. She may be young in years, but I think she's an old and wise soul. Unfortunately, she hasn't been blogging very much lately due to her job getting in the way, but she gave her notice and hopefully we'll get to read more from her in the near future. She has a radio program that you should check out. The link is in her sidebar.
10. Surviving NJ — Deb is another online friend I made via PPP. She's a published author as well as a blogger. She's also quite the traveler.
11. Stitching the Night Away Craft Blog — Loretta is another gal that I met of the PPP forums. She also runs several sites, but my favorite of hers is her craft blog.
12. Julie's Journal — Dang, I can't remember if I read Julie through Laura's site or not. I have also gotten to know her through a paid blogging site. She's a techy gal like me, living in Nevada and had a wedding in Vegas sponsored by previously mentioned paid blogging site.
13. MarcusLingl.net — If you've read my site for any length of time, you should know Marcus. If not, he's my boyfriend of 15 years, a computer geek, lover of all things Mac, a gamer and a mountain biker. He doesn't blog very often, but when he does he posts well thought-out, insightful content (and I'm not just saying that).

So, there you go. I have several more friends that I'll introduce in a later T13. If you stop by any of them, tell them I sent you!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Since I've never been outside the borders of the United States, it was easy this week to come up with places I'd like to visit someday.

Ten Countries I'd Love to Visit

Please consider Sponsoring Me in this Saturday's Blogathon in support of Livestrong: The Lance Armstrong Foundation. Thank you!

Now that I'm done with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I am no longer obsessing over it with my every waking moment, I need to get cracking on some other things that were put on the back burner.

Thirteen Things I Am Going to Tackle Now That Harry Potter is Over

1. Stephen King — I've got all those Stephen King books I bought earlier this summer to tackle.
2. Home Inventory — Marcus and I need to do an updated home inventory and get it to a secure, off location spot. You never know when a disaster will strike and it would be a good idea to have our possessions cataloged.
3. Learn to Knit — I've had this on my list for years. I want to learn NOW!
4. Sell Stuff on eBay — I have a huge box of stuff I want to get rid of. Hopefully someone will want it.
5. Wax my Car — I came to the sad realization that I haven't waxed that poor car once since I've had it.
6. Find Another Income Source — I am not getting much OT at work and paid blogging is unpredictable. I need another revenue source so I can make it to Vegas in November and so we can get our house on land.
7. Clean the Carpets — Winter will be here before I know it and I won't be able to have the house opened up to dry them.
8. New Blog Design — hopefully this will happen before Saturday's blogathon. I'm really close to having it finished.
9. Purge More Stuff — It's amazing with everything I've let go of, I still have a ton of stuff. I don't use it, so I need to get rid of it.
10. Find Old College Buddies — I have a few people from college I want to try to locate and see how they turned out.
11. Establish Exercise Routine — Now that my ankles have finally gotten better, it's time to concentrate of getting the old body fit.
12. Get My Hair Done — I haven't had my hair cut professionally since well before my mother passed almost 10 years ago. I'm tired of the long, stringy pony tail.
13. Craft — I started a craft blog, but haven't made time to craft recently.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!