Our Early Christmas

There are just a few things that can't wait. This Christmas our big presents fell into that category. They just couldn't wait under a tree.

Tiffany has been debating picking back up music for a long time. We decided that this was the year for her to try. She decided that she would try the violin. In high school she played both the cello and the viola. A cello is just too big for our little apartment, and there isn't all that much music for a viola. It will also probably be easier to find a teacher for the violin. So we set out to buy a violin.

Shopping for the violin was exhausting. There is only one store in town that deals with violins. We made a few trips there to look and get advice, but we were not quite ready to lay down the grand or two for the violins that they were selling. So to eBay we go. Wow they were selling for as cheap as $70 with a bunch of accessories. Looked like great deals until we did the research on them. Every website that had reviews said to avoid eBay for violins, and the violins sold there were expensive kindling that resembled violins. My favorite review said, "These are the quality you would expect to see wrapped in cellophane at Walmart, if Walmart dealt in musical instruments."

Luckily, while were were shopping we found a name brand violin. Actually it as a name brand recommended by the violinist in the shop in town. I won't give the play by play, but we eventually won it, after nerve racking bidding. Then we had tons of trouble paying for it because pay pal didn't want to cooperate, but we eventually got it. We took it into the shop and they said that it was money well invested.




Andrew's big present doesn't have a long story. He's been begging for a big monitor for a long, long time, and now he finally has it. Great day after thanksgiving sales online. Since monitors have a very limited 30 day return policy, I just had to open it up and make sure that it works and doesn't need to be returned. It works great by the way. I love it. So much screen real estate, and anyone who has seen how I work can attest to the fact that I need it.