Braving the Crazy (and House Pics)

So, Thanks Giving is one of my most favorite Holidays, not only because of the good food and the chance to be thankful, but also because it's more or less my gateway drug to the Crazy that is Christmas shopping. Yes, I am a junky when it comes to that blackest and most addictive Friday of the year. This year, same as about three years ago, we were in the Dallas Texas area. Now, I'm not sure exactly why the Dallas area doesn't have the greatest of deals, but it's my distinct impression that they get shorted quite a bit compared to other parts of the nation, such as the Pacific Northwest. Of course, that didn't stop us from getting started at Midnight, Thanks Giving night. And even though there wasn't anything in particular that we were shopping after, we did manage to pick up a couple of nice to haves at a pretty good price. But, oh, the sheer fun and frolicking amidst the madness... I really can't think of a better way to kick off the holiday cheer.

So, all that aside, Lilah and I have taken a frugal's challenge this year. We each have 11 gifts to buy our significant other. However, there are rules: each of 10 of the gifts can't cost more than $10 each; the 11th gift can cost $50. Any two gift allotments can be combined to buy one gift of larger value (i.e. $20 or $60), but only once. AND on Christmas morning receipts are compared to see who got closest to the $150 limit - the winner gets a prize (undetermined yet, so don't ask cause we don't know).

As for Cadence; well, she gets whatever she wants, really. Good thing she's not much in want of anything special at this age in her life.

To the house: we're in! We received our house hold goods from Japan and have a messy house; but we're making progress and there is a ton of space to put our ton of stuff. It was quite a show, really, because we had new carpet installed in all the bedrooms and just about every surface in the entire house repainted - and we started everything 3 days before our stuff got here. It was pretty hectic, but we managed to pull it all off. The pictures included here don't show the new color scheme or carpet, but should give you a good idea of what our house looks like. The fence installers will be starting on the brick this week and we'll have the aluminum "wrought iron" fence finished hopefully by Friday or Saturday. And that's it for now. Not a whole lot left for us to accomplish until we settle our debts and balance our books. But wow; what a house!

Okay, that's all for now. If we don't talk in the next 10 days, Merry Christmas!

EDIT: There are more photos, but Google is giving me fits right now, so this is the start of more to come.