Patriotism, American Style

Happy Independence Day!  How is your family spending this fine holiday?  Ours has decided to follow what I used to think of as the Bush Doctrine, but that I now realize transcends political parties.  That's right, we have been out spending gobs of money we don't really have on things we'd truly like to believe that we need.


Starting out at Home Depot (Mad calls it The Depot Store), we purchased fertilizer, a spreader, light bulbs, special glue and a set of grips to repair damage that Tom did while putting up the Christmas lights (yeah, it's been bugging me that long, but at least we've figured out how to fix it now), and a barrier to keep the grass from invading the planter beds at the top of our front yard. 


Once we dropped that off at home, our next destination was Best Buy.  Why?  Because or computer took it's final dive last night.  I loved that computer (as much as I can love any piece of technology, anyway), but we have put too much money into upgrades and repairs in the past year. 


What did we select to replace my custom-built, once upon a time near top of the line computer with the cool gel lights on the tower?  Two Toshiba laptops.  Now we won't have to worry about keeping the computer locked in the office (thereby keeping Corey away from it to reduce by 90% the problems we've had) or worry about Corey trying to go in through the window (note to the home inspector who said that was impossible... you were wrong) and I won't have to worry about the computer crashing every time Tom installs some new software or update from his business.


I'm getting around fairly well on this one, but it has been seven years since I used a laptop (and that was a Mac).  Remembering where not to rest my thumbs has been the hardest part so far.


Along with the laptops we picked up cases, cooling trays, software, an MP3 player and docking station.  So we might not be having potato salad, fried chicken, barbecued steaks or friends over, but we have pumped serious dollars into the local economy (well, and the larger national economy, since neither store was truly local).


As Tom has said, now all we have to do is figure out how to pay for it.