And Found, Found, Found!

We have been pretty lucky lately.

I know that I have mentioned things in previous posts, that we have been looking for.

We found a good deal on a new garage door, during the summer, and we purchased that.

After meeting with a lot of window salesman I found the company that was the most cost efficient, and we had our basement windows replaced last month.

Our freezing basement has been the bain of my existence (that, and potty training, and getting rid of Reagan's binky's). I'm "batting 1000" on solutions on all counts.

I have had half-a-dozen companies come in to give me a quote on putting gas heat in our basement. Because of the way our basement was finished, it was going to make the process very difficult. Several companies just told me that it could not be done. The companies that did come back with quotes gave me prices in the $13,000.00 range! And that didn't include finish work after the ducting was installed.

Needless to say, gas heat in our basement wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Instead, we went a different route and had a pellet stove installed. It is a lot more maintenance than the gas-burning fireplace that we have upstairs (ie- it needs to be cleaned all of the time, and the pellets don't refill themselves :), but it is cheaper to run and it heats our basement like a champ! Thumbs up on the purchase of the pellet stove.

Our Toshiba laptop has been limping along for some time now. It is 6+ years old, and honestly, I am surprised it has lasted this long. The Dell laptop that we tried out was awful. Nick and I thought about getting a Sony laptop at the outlet store, while we were in Seattle, but decided against it. After some research, and motivated by our like of the Toshiba laptop we already had; we decided to purchase another Toshiba. The Toshiba website was having Christmas specials so we got our laptop for a steal! Even though it will be our Christmas gift to each other, we didn't want to wait until then to use the new computer. We broke that puppy out of the box immediately; and I must say that I am impressed already.

Nick moved "old faithful" Toshiba downstairs to use in his office. We'll see how long of a life it has, without running the risk of losing pictures or important files when it finally dies (the existing information has been moved to our external hard-drive).

And, after a great deal of searching.... Seriously, I have been scouring the KSL classified ad's multiple times on a daily basis for MONTHS! I finally found a 4X4 truck that met all of our criteria, for Nick to drive during the winter. Thank Goodness! I can have my Acura back now! The biggest deterrent in my search was our budget. Trying to find a truck with 4-wheel drive, an extended cab, tow package, air conditioning, clean title, etc... was proving very difficult- considering the amount I had to spend. But patience paid off! We got this truck for a song! We paid $1,000 less than what we sold the Toyota for, back in June.

Of course, it isn't brand-new. The miles are high. It "rides" like a truck. And I spent over 2 hours detailing the interior (with more that can still be done). But I feel like we got a good deal.

A great deal has been accomplished in a short amount of time. BUT... I'm still left with the need to get Christmas shopping done!

In years past, I have had my Christmas shopping done by September. Not so, this year.

Another anomaly: I didn't leave my house to go shopping on Black Friday. This is the first time in OVER a decade that I have not braved the cold to stand in line at some store at 4AM.

Strangely enough, I managed to get everything I wanted from the ads, though. Yes, I did my shopping online and had far more success than I ever have at procuring Christmas items! I think I am going to make this my new Black Friday M.O.

I had a few hiccups with Walmart Online. But they have been surprisingly gracious to work with; and it looks like Reagan will be getting the Barbie Power Wheels from Santa, after all!

Tis' the Season, and I love it!