Let’s get this straight. Women are not genetically engineered to enjoy cleaning. There is nothing in estrogen that compels us to scrub a toilet or scour pots and pans. Yes, I like my house to be clean but no, I don’t get any satisfaction or sense of accomplishment knowing that I’m the one who made it clean.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s be realistic. I clean up around here more than anyone else. Part of the reason for that is simply because I’m here, in the house, more often than anyone else. (I really need a job outside the house.) Even when someone else is doing the cleaning, I’m usually consulted on the tough jobs. You know, like stains. Or is it safe to submerge the electric skillet in the water? Why do these people think I would know that stuff?

Perhaps it’s because I know where to find the answers on how to clean anything. Whether you need to clean a kitchen sink drain or a baby’s finger nails, you’ll find the answers quickly. At How To Clean Stuff, you’ll find cleaning tips for everything from typical household items like Crown Moulding to your favorite tech gadgets and games like the Wii Fit Balance Board.

Needless to say, my favorite part of the site is the Strategies category. With articles on How to Polish a Turd, How to Wash a Rabid Monkey and (my favorite) Getting Your Spouse to Clean Up After HIMself, I’ve bookmarked the whole category page. Laughing at the mess my family of men makes sure beats running a steam cleaner through the house every day.

A terrific site like this deserves a little help so if you have any cleaning tips, be sure to offer them up for others. Not only will you get a great feeling knowing you’ve contributed but for every tip they publish, the site owners will donate $0.25 to the Clean Water Fund. Not bad, huh?

Usually I blog about sites that I’ve found over the years that are useful in specific ways. Every so often, I like to tell you about a blog that I enjoy, just because it’s well written and entertaining. Like today.

My friend Tammie has been blogging for over a year now and even though I live right next door to her, I still visit her blog to read about her day to day life. Tammie can turn even the most mundane tasks, like searching for Mac memory or tracking down the perfect chairs into a fun read.

Read along as Tammie shares the latest animal tale (and just between us, Bird freaks me out) or one of her interesting teaching adventures. She’ll pull you into the story and leave you with a smile on your face.

I know I’m the lucky one, having Tammie right next door but all you have to do is check out Tammie’s blog to enjoy her company, too. Add a cup of coffee and it’ll be like you’re sitting right here at my kitchen counter with us!

I love hardware especially anything past its prime. I tend to “collect” discarded electronics and then fix them up to squeeze more use from them. It’s all part of my packrat thing and the fact that I love hand tools.

The biggest obstacle to this harmless past time is that most of the older items I have do not come with any documentation. Add to that the fact that most people have tossed out their old stuff, there aren’t many places to find help with specific problems. Or is there?

FixYa is fast becoming my very favorite site ever. This is the best place for any consumer to get information on virtually any product at all. From computer hardware, photography equipment, kitchen appliances or even cars, you’ll find troubleshooting information, tech support accessories and Manuals.

You can search the vast database or go straight to one of the experts with your question. If you have a special area of expertise, you can also register as an expert and answer questions. FixYa combines an easy way to find the information you need with a helping community to give consumers a much needed helping hand.

I first put FixYa through a few tests to see if it would really be useful. First, I searched for my old computer monitor, entering Hitachi CM772. Sure enough, it was listed along with a list of questions about monitors, a link to accessories and one to the owner’s manual.

I also searched for accessories for my daughter’s old camcorder. She lost the battery charger a long time ago and it’s been sitting in her room, not being used at all. It took just less than a minute to track down a battery charger for the camcorder. Not bad.

I also searched for some generic terms like CAT5e cable, vacuum (I need a new one) and Bunn (as in coffee maker). Every term brought up usable information.

I haven’t yet tried asking a question but I’m sure I’ll do that soon enough. Heck, maybe I’ll even offer myself as an expert – I’m just not certain what my area of expertise is. Oh yeah, drinking coffee.

Before we even start here, let me assure you that I am not currently on a weight loss program. I’m not going to bore you with details of my attempts to lose weight. Nope, not going to do it.

What I will tell you about is CalorieLab, a very handy website that lists the nutritional values for lots of foods as well as a huge number of restaurants. I know, there are other sites that do that but this one is very thorough and easy to navigate.

One of my favorite parts of the site is the Calories Burned database. Just enter your own weight, the activity you want (or choose from a group of activities) and click search. You’ll see how many calories you can burn in 15 minutes or an hour of each activity. Just in case you miss you, there’s one group of activities that I found especially interesting. Yes, there’s a breakdown of calories burned during various sex activities. Fun read!

CalorieLab also has a diet review section and some excellent news articles. I didn’t see a listing of weight loss products or exercise equipment but I did find plenty of information about dieting, food and fitness. Before you head out for a meal, be sure to check in to CalorieLab. Whether you’re watching your weight or not, it’s good to know what you’re eating.

Every time I visit my cell phone provider’s store, I walk away with my head spinning and sometimes with my blood pressure boiling. If I refuse to consider whatever featured product the sales people are selling, I tend to get a cold shoulder and the representative’s bright, happy smile turns to a stone cold grimace. Not always, but often.

One of the problems with these places is the huge array of phones and very little understandable information. I suppose I feel the same way a computer novice would feel when purchasing a computer.

The next time I head into my local Alltel store, I’ll be prepared by doing my homework at Phone Arena. Not only can you get the latest news and phone specs there, but they also have excellent reviews of various phones.

I really appreciate being able to go directly to an Alltel section to see the phones there, rather than having to wade through every other carrier’s line. Most of all, I love the forum. I’m all about community and this one is quite active. I’ve been reading about unlocked cell phones and I think I’m beginning to understand. I also found an interesting thread on the Verizon acquisition of Alltel (or is it a merger?) and I’m not quite as upset about it as I had been.

Oh, and if you’re curious, I kind of want the LG Scoop. It isn’t the highest rated, but I like the keyboard on it.

Back in the day (when I had a regular job and regular paycheck) I would occasionally (like a few times each week) bid on items on ebay. Loved that site. It was the best way to feed my inner packrat and at a bargain.

With no job, I didn’t feel right spending money on non-essentials and eventually my ebay obsession faded. I’ve heard, though, that both buyers and sellers have not been terribly happy with the new fee structure at the old auction site and I’ve been expecting someone to step in and swipe disgruntled ebayers. Someone is trying.

I’ve spent a little time looking around Wigix and I like what I see so far. For one thing, it loads quickly and has a clean layout. I don’t really care for sites that are so busy that you can’t possibly take in everything and sometimes, that’s how ebay is. Part of the reason Wigix loads quickly may be due to the fact that there just isn’t as much stuff there. Smaller database, faster load time.

I did a few searches of some favorite terms to see what would come up. “Dandelion” brought only books and CDs, no household items at all. While there’s quite a large list of shoes in general, I couldn’t find specific brands like Doc Marten, Nine West or Asgi shoes. Nor could I find a single Stratton compact.

Wigix could be a nice alternative to ebay but first they need to get the word out. It’s still in Beta so maybe there’s still hope that it will catch on. If anyone has used Wigix, either as a buyer or seller, drop a comment and let me know about your experience. I’m curious. And hopeful.

With our economy in turmoil and our military still in Iraq, some other important issues have been pushed to the backburner during this political season. One such issue is the problem of illegal drugs and our nation’s drug laws.

This blog isn’t the place to express my opinion about drugs or our laws but I will encourage everyone to learn as much as possible about this issue. One of the best books ever written on the subject is Licit And Illicit Drugs by Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine. The book is out of print but has been made available online by the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy.

I do have the hard copy of the book and I’m happy to report that the online version is complete. It’s important to note that Consumers Union accepts no financial assistance from the government or advertisers, making their findings unbiased and trustworthy. The information they provide through this comprehensive report is eyeopening.

Whether you’d like to become better informed about the various types of drugs, from alcohol and marijuana to diet pills, coke and heroin or you’re curious about the history of our drug laws, this book has the answers.

If you get a chance to pick up a copy of the book, don’t pass it up. As I mentioned, it is out of print. But do be sure to bookmark the online version. You just don’t get this kind of information for free every day.

My mom is a retired nurse. Back when I was a kid, it was not at all unusual for my mom to get a phone call in the evening from a friend or relative, needing to pick her brain regarding some unusual medical condition or confusing diagnosis.

With the internet and sites like WebMD, everyone has access to their own family nurse or doctor. And yet, those very technical sites leave something to be desired. That “something” is a Been There story from real people. And that’s just what Keith Schorsch had in mind when he created Trusera.

The site is relatively new, launching just this year. And yet it already boasts thousands of users, people who share their own personal health stories in order to help others.

Just clicking through the site I found two excellent articles on Ayurveda and a timely piece about the elderly, dementia and the right to vote. While these articles may not be written by doctors or other professionals, they are well written and speak from the heart.

After registering at the site, you can tell your own health story, ask a question, browse or build a network of trusted people. You can search for topics from family health insurance to breast cancer to elder care.

Trusera has taken the idea of social networking and combined it with a caring environment to assist those who are dealing with pressing health issues. This is a site that every one of us should check out.

I’ve always been impressed by those who can sew or knit or crochet. I can’t do any of those things, and not for lack of trying. I had to face the fact long ago that fabric is not my friend. And so I turned to other creative outlets. Like soapmaking.

Making soap with lye and various oils takes a bit of patience and practice. I was looking for a fun activity that would be faster than making soap and just as fun when I found a great tutorial on making candles. After reading through the basics and moving on to the more detailed instructions, I ordered my supplies and waited for delivery.

My first candle making attempt worked out well. The candles were lovely and I thank Candlewic for providing so much information, especially the safety guidelines. If you use these instructions for children, be sure to take note of the History of Candlemaking. Quite an interesting read.

Even though I prefer to buy my container, taper and tea light candles, I’m glad I gave candle making a shot. It was a great learning experience and now that I have the equipment, I can share the fun with my kids and grandkids as fun craft projects.

There’s always someone on the internet who knows how to do something cool or interesting and is willing to share it with the rest of the online world. Take, for instance, Sherwood Clay Randall Jr. or just “Clay” as he prefers. His site looks a little old, like maybe it’s been there since the mid 90s, but it’s just as entertaining and informative as when he put it there.

It’s true that I enjoyed reading his mom and his family but my favorite part of his site is his Money Origami page. Seriously, this guy has step-by-step instructions on making a pair of glasses, a serpent and a spider, a Christams tree or gift box, all using a dollar bill or two or five. How cool is that?

My first thought when I saw this was that my younger kids would love learning Origami using a dollar bill. Then I realized that the little gift box with a candy kiss inside would be a cute birthday party favor. Heck, even most promotional products cost more than a dollar each and aren’t nearly as fun. Oh, and then my older kids started practicing money origami because they said it would be a cool bar trick. Ha!

If you’re looking for a fun project for the kids when they’re hanging out being bored or you need a cute party favor or even an interesting bar trick, check out Clay’s money page for more than a dozen cool things to do with a dollar or two or five.