All day long my son Alex serenades our family with his rendition of the top 20 from XM.         is his first broadcasted performance :)

I've caught the BUG!

In the last year I've made up for all the previous years of my life that I hated shopping.  I completely blame my partner in crime who may look completely innocent but in reality is my enabler. There may be a long and treacherous road between us and the mall, but thankfully the Internet has brought us back together. Last week we shared what may have been the most inspiring virtual shopping trip ever.  I clicked till my heart's content, feeling secure with my free shipping and free returns.  Besides, 3% of my purchases went to Upromise.  Which meant that if I were to spend just 1 Million dollars before my boys became college bound, I would have 30,000 to get them thru - oh maybe their first semester. So, while that aspect may have been completely unrealistic I did learn some valuable lessons...

In those 2 hours I gained a box of mostly unflattering clothing that was returned.  Lesson #1, everything looks better on the online models. Lesson #2, and most importantly, should agoraphobia and I ever cross paths, between Peapod and Nordstroms.com I would survive. 

Goodbye 2008

Mid November means 2009 is just a whisper away, and even sooner is Christmas. I'm not even sure what happened with October, and yet it's gone. Usually I am right on top of early Christmas shopping, and now I feel that if I blink it will be too late. I'll be forced to double the cost of my last minute present with one painful click next to the overnight shipping bubble.
So, what to get the kids? The question is harder to answer every year, as their toys continue to accumulate. Making it even more difficult is the fact that we're still quite unsettled in a temporary house. The kids think its fun that we don't have any furniture blocking their path during their intense imagination sessions. The strange part is that I'm getting used to it too. The rooms never look cluttered, and best of all- hardly a thing to clean!
So, goodbye 2008! Hopefully next year I'll remember to linger a while in October, knowing it will be November all too soon. And, hopefully next year we'll be able to send Santa a change of address card before we say hello to 2010. Yikes!