I went shopping today. I spent a lot of money. I spent a lot more money than I expected to. Still, I'm happy and excited about my purchases.
I decided to do something radical, radical for me, that is. Even though Christmas is still six weeks away, I started my Christmas shopping today. Now, I'm the type of person always running around the week before Christmas buying last minute gifts, so for me to have bought four Christmas presents today was quite an accomplishment on its own.
Hit the bookstore on my journeys and found, to my delight, that since "The Two Towers" books are available now that all the left-over "Fellowship of the Ring" books are selling at astonishing discounts. Hard-cover books that were $32.00 at this time last year are now $4.99. So, I bought one and looked at the TT books and promised myself I'd buy them at this time next year when the "Return of the King" books are out and the TT books that are $33.00 right now are $4.99! Any LOTR photo I want to see right now is on the Internet, anyway. And as for info on LOTR, I could write most of these books :).
Dropped into Arlene's, an accessory store, and bought a copper ring with Celtic knotting (love copper jewelry, love all things Celtic) and three pairs of goofy socks. Buying goofy socks has become an obsession of mine in the last few years. I blame Teddy, a filker from England. When I returned from the filk convention in England in 2000 Teddy sent each of Urban Tapestry three pairs of goofy socks- a striped pair, striped toe socks and neon yellow socks with chocolate bars on them. I loved them. I wanted more. I started haunting sock displays to find more cheap and goofy socks (my rule is they must be $5 or less). John despairs when he sees me heading to a sock display now. I've collected a drawer full of such socks. I bought 3 pairs for $10 today, a blue patchwork pair, a black pair with silver dragons and a leopard-patterned pair.
Once upon a time in September, Allison got a free digital camera. She had saved up teacher bonus coupons from the Scholastic Book Company for four years to buy some new cool electronic device. I finally had enough coupons this fall for a Canon Powershot digital camera. I was thrilled when it arrived and I still love it. Free toys are the best. Soon discovered, though, that the "free" part was deceiving. I had to go out within a week and buy rechargeable batteries, a charger and more memory chips for holding photos. So much for free, but I still didn't pay for the camera. Then I realized how dangerous it was to leave all my photos vulnerable on my hard-drive and started thinking maybe I need a CD-burner for archiving my photos. And I started realizing that I wanted the power to print out my photos, so I needed to upgrade my printer. Free was getting further away...
Which brings us back to today. We went into the Best Buy just to "price" CD-burners and printers. They were cheaper than I feared so with only a few qualms I broke down and bought a CD-burner and a combination printer/scanner/fax/copier to complete my present cyber needs.
Yikes, I spent too much money today. Still, my new printer is set up here now and I've already scanned and printed out my first photograph, so I am thrilled with my new toys and I'm eager to learn how they all work. My digital camera has ultimately been far from free, but it's still opened up whole new computer worlds for me, so the investment is worth it!
I decided to do something radical, radical for me, that is. Even though Christmas is still six weeks away, I started my Christmas shopping today. Now, I'm the type of person always running around the week before Christmas buying last minute gifts, so for me to have bought four Christmas presents today was quite an accomplishment on its own.
Hit the bookstore on my journeys and found, to my delight, that since "The Two Towers" books are available now that all the left-over "Fellowship of the Ring" books are selling at astonishing discounts. Hard-cover books that were $32.00 at this time last year are now $4.99. So, I bought one and looked at the TT books and promised myself I'd buy them at this time next year when the "Return of the King" books are out and the TT books that are $33.00 right now are $4.99! Any LOTR photo I want to see right now is on the Internet, anyway. And as for info on LOTR, I could write most of these books :).
Dropped into Arlene's, an accessory store, and bought a copper ring with Celtic knotting (love copper jewelry, love all things Celtic) and three pairs of goofy socks. Buying goofy socks has become an obsession of mine in the last few years. I blame Teddy, a filker from England. When I returned from the filk convention in England in 2000 Teddy sent each of Urban Tapestry three pairs of goofy socks- a striped pair, striped toe socks and neon yellow socks with chocolate bars on them. I loved them. I wanted more. I started haunting sock displays to find more cheap and goofy socks (my rule is they must be $5 or less). John despairs when he sees me heading to a sock display now. I've collected a drawer full of such socks. I bought 3 pairs for $10 today, a blue patchwork pair, a black pair with silver dragons and a leopard-patterned pair.
Once upon a time in September, Allison got a free digital camera. She had saved up teacher bonus coupons from the Scholastic Book Company for four years to buy some new cool electronic device. I finally had enough coupons this fall for a Canon Powershot digital camera. I was thrilled when it arrived and I still love it. Free toys are the best. Soon discovered, though, that the "free" part was deceiving. I had to go out within a week and buy rechargeable batteries, a charger and more memory chips for holding photos. So much for free, but I still didn't pay for the camera. Then I realized how dangerous it was to leave all my photos vulnerable on my hard-drive and started thinking maybe I need a CD-burner for archiving my photos. And I started realizing that I wanted the power to print out my photos, so I needed to upgrade my printer. Free was getting further away...
Which brings us back to today. We went into the Best Buy just to "price" CD-burners and printers. They were cheaper than I feared so with only a few qualms I broke down and bought a CD-burner and a combination printer/scanner/fax/copier to complete my present cyber needs.
Yikes, I spent too much money today. Still, my new printer is set up here now and I've already scanned and printed out my first photograph, so I am thrilled with my new toys and I'm eager to learn how they all work. My digital camera has ultimately been far from free, but it's still opened up whole new computer worlds for me, so the investment is worth it!