We are a musical family. My husband is a superb guitar player. The kids are following in his footsteps. We currently have *AHEM*: TWO electric guitars, ONE bass guitar; SIX acoustic guitars, FOUR amplifiers; ONE keyboard; ONE microphone and stand; TWO amplifier stands…. and just one tiny little guitar stand. :S And six people who are CAH-RAZY about music!

In all my meticulous planning for the renovation, I did not think of a place to store all that stuff. Oops. So it’s all piled up in the dining room and in the kids’ rooms. *sigh* Well, next year, I hope we can gut the garage and convert it into a music room (I’m calling it The Conservatory). I will rig up a super high-def sound system in there. We’ll have nooks and crannies for all the instruments, comfy places to sit and play, and all the gear to record stuff.

Anyway. Back to the pink guitar. Cute, huh? Buy.com has a lot of nice musical instruments for beginners (and advanced musicians). They have a special page of musical instruments under $50, just in time for the holidays. This is a great time to get stuff on sale, before the inventory is sold out. Things at Buy.com sell VERY quickly, believe me. I might get an email in the morning, showcasing their special deals, and if I procrastinate to the next day, stuff is sometimes gone. Right now, there are sales on all sorts of very nice instruments: guitars, keyboards, bongos, maracas, cabasas, accordions, violins, etc. They also have stuff for the music studio: microphones, headphones, mixers, equalizers, cables, and more. After I get the garage converted, I’ll be looking at mixers and recording equipment. Buy.com has everything!

Pink Guitars and Other Nifty Stuff

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It’s an HP iPaq 210 Enterprise Handheld. A mini-mini computer! I love it!

The hardest part about being a technology researcher and writer is seeing ALL these delicious gadgets. I DO SO want to try them out! I love this thing!

It’s a PDA, or Personal Digital Assistant. Kind of like a mini “home away from home” gadget. I like those. I am joined at the hip to the Internet (it’s my career). When I travel or am away from the computer, I have to be able to check in on my email and assignments. I have my iPod (which I adore), and I can connect to wireless hotspots, where available. I have no desire to find a replacement for my iPod just yet. I’m very happy with it. But I think eventually I will upgrade to something more. The iPaq is nice because it’s Windows-based (has Windows Mail, Windows Mobile Office Outlook, MSN Messenger, etc). And it takes an SD card for adding more memory (something the iPod seriously lacks). If I ever want to upgrade to something like an iPaq, I can give my iPod away to one of the kids (oh wouldn’t they love that! They love my iPod!) and get an iPaq and claim in for my business. That’s the nice thing about being self-employed– you can get gadgets and claim them for the business. Tax deductible.

Buy.com has the best price I’ve seen on these babies– under $400. That’s still a very very pretty penny. Not in my immediate future, that’s for sure. But it’s nice to know that there’s something out there waiting for me. See more deals and super sale at Buy.com. They are magnificent!

Your Tiny Home Away From Home

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Buy.com combines the bets of the best in online household stores: Alice, ANTOnline, Baby Universe, Tool District, UnbeatableSale and others. The prices are very good and the shipping is free. Plus, Buy.com provides some really nice specialty items for great prices! There’s Starbucks coffee and exotic herbal tea like Numi White Rose tea and more. If you like to make gift baskets for the holidays, you can order all sorts of delectable, exotic products and have everything shipped to your door. Can’t beat that!

And this is all on top of their other stuff that they always have on sale. And then there’s the outstanding customer service and fast shipping. Buy.com is the way to go!

Buying Household Supplies Online

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We bought some beds for the kids about 5 years ago. They seemed very nice (and cost nice, too). But now, they are totally junked. I remember in the Good Old Days that beds would last many years before the mattress and box springs gave out. These new things are awful. They are lumpy, bumpy, torn… what gives? This seems to be the plague of modern shopping today– nothing is built to last like it once was.

Anyway, I’m skipping the box spring and mattress stuff from now on. It’s so uncomfortable. The Hubs got me a Tempurpedic mattress from a local retailer a few years ago and I love it. (Although the foundation we got has severe defects and we’ve had 3+ replacements so far). If the memory foam mattress is on a solid, firm foundation, it’s the BEST bed ever. If it’s on a creaky, shifting foundation, it’s horrible. Needless to say, we’re going to get a better foundation box that doesn’t break down every 6 months…. and I’m going to be getting memory foam for the kids as soon as I can. I think it is better for their spines. And they will definitely sleep better.

Memory foam mattresses are not exactly cheap, though. The local store sells them for about $1000! I have four kids, you can see where this would lead me…. but once again, it’s Buy.com to the rescue. They sell memory foam mattresses, can you believe it?! There’s a nice 10″ model (twin size) for about $300. And the shipping is free. VERY nice.

The best thing to do with the memory foam mattresses is to place them on a solid base. I have plans to make very simple bed bases, out of lathe stock wood pieces, a wood frame, and a slab of thick plywood. This will provide the foundation as well as the bed frame. And it will be as solid as anything. The kids can even paint them or decorate them in any way they desire. I had a bed like that when I was a teen (we had a regular foam mattress, not “memory foam” back then) and it was solid and comfortable. These kinds of beds are also very durable– no cheapo particle board and Chinese glue!

So that ends one problem. I love Buy.com. I have ordered tons of stuff through them over the years, and I have never been displeased! They ship fast, their service is incredible, and they don’t sell me junk! Plus, they always have one outstanding sale or another. Even on memory foam mattresses! Kudos to Buy.com!

Why Is Stuff So Junky These Days?

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There’s this one. It’s a Westclock Deerfield, on sale for only $20 (free shipping, too!). I like it because it’s simple, elegant, and made of wood. Its something I can see from across the room without having to squint.

But I really like this one, too. It’s the Ashton Sutton Discover Clock. It’s got a reproduction of an antique Dutch map created by Fredrick De Wit. I love that!! It’s a large clock, too– 18 inches. But it’s $60.

I’ve said before that I am bananas about clocks… I would like to get some really nice ones… $60 is a bit much right now, but it’s still a great deal..

What do you think? Do you have a preference or any advice to add? My dining room is very traditional. Here’s what it looks like with the new flooring.

So I’m trying to build around the classic, traditional style. NO cheapo plastic Walmart clocks for me! Hmmm, choices, choices…

Choices, Choices

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