bluebear

My dad doesn't have much space, and doesn't need much stuff. He is simple, but hard to buy for. But, he likes to eat and snack. So I'll buy him Hickory Farms sets, 5 lb bags of pistachios, little gift tins of flavored pistachios, little treats and stuff like that. He always appreciates that, because he won't buy that himself. Sometimes my sister or I will buy him a book that he wouldn't buy for himself.

I am kind of a Type #1 and #3. Although I don't really think of it as a vulture or being lazy, it is a treasure hunt for me! Just like holiday clearance, I just like to see what I can find. Half the time I don't even buy it, I just like to find the deals... And I don't get there crazy early to camp out or anything, but I am always super prepared and try to be helpful.

I don't listen to music. But, my son's sign language group starting practicing Christmas music last week, and I'm sure tonight will be almost all Christmas music practice, so now I have it in my head and will be singing (and signing!) it.

I saw about 10 things I wanted in the ad, for me! Including that rotary attachment kit, good to know it's nice. My husband doesn't do power tools. But he told me to print it and circle what I wanted.

I have the 7in Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Had it since May. My mom also has one, and we both like them. And I've noticed that the price has come down, so that's nice. My nieces and nephew (7-10 yo) all play great on it. It has lots of games they like, and it has held up to them, and has been easy to use. It has front and back cameras, which not all tablets have. So you can take picture and video, and also skype (not sure if those are important for your use, but we use Skype). It also has a SD slot, so you can put SD memory cards in it if you want to take a lot of picture or video for a trip or something (this feature saved my son for a video project he had for school...).

I would second that! I have a Windows phone, so an app would be awesome. And I woudn't be surprised if we end up with at least 2 Surfaces in my house.

That is a really nice tablet, and looks like a pretty good price. It is more powerful than the less expensive tablets. 16gb is a good bit of space, so that's nice. And it has a card reader for extra if you need it.

Okay, cool, thanks! I was wondering if that would work. I have neither, so I've never looked into it.

Well, from what I know, you can't read Nook books on a Kindle. It may be different on a Fire, since you can put apps on it, but I don't know for sure. If that's the case, then you will want to stick to the Nook, so you can keep your existing library. Or go with another Android tablet that you can put both Nook and Kindle books on.

Ha! I've done that myself! I usually am off work the week before Christmas, but because of the way it falls this year, I'm not. Which is good in a way, because I'll shop all week up to Christmas Eve, even when I promise I'm done! I just hope I'm not too stressed trying to do everything last minute, probably will be...

Well, we have actually been eyeing those for a while. I was sure we were getting 2-3 of them. Now I'm actually not so sure. My youngest son really wants one, so he probably still will get it. My husband wants the pro version (will run a full windows desktop as well as the tablet interface), but it may not be practical right now to get it. For now, there aren't a whole lot of apps out for it. I expect a whole lot to be released tomorrow with the tablet, but we'll see. We have Windows phones, so this interface is familiar to us. We are also a Zune/Xbox family, so we have a lot invested in MS products. I really like the interface, and all the features that win 8 has. The Surfaces look really nice, very slick. I think it will be nice to run Windows interface on them. There will also be other Windows 8 tablets, Asus and Lenovo I know for sure have them as well. That might be a little cheaper alternative to the Surface. I agree, the price isn't quite what I wanted (but what I expected). I did not expect the keyboard to be so expensive however. And that's part of the fun! As far as being competitive, they are competing with Apple and the iPads, not the less expensive tablets. Much more licensing and such on Windows and Apple than there is on android. What is your husband used to? Does he have any other devices that he has purchased apps for? Some of those are transferrable between devices, so that might be something to consider when choosing a platform. I am really excited to see and play with one. And I do hope we end up getting at least 1, my guys have really been looking forward to it. I guess it will all come down to the apps. If they aren't there, then probably we will get a pro for husband, and I don't know about son. He got a gaming laptop for Christmas last year, so he doesn't need another laptop-type device. That was a lot of babbling, hope it makes sense.

You can put a password on buying apps, even in-app purchases. I know you can do this on iPad and also on Android tablets. I would imagine it would be a feature of all Android, but I don't know that for sure. I don't know about passwords for deleting apps or music. But, once you purchase an app, you can re-download it for free. Of course if it's a game, then you will probably lose your saved games.

Last year my DS12 asked for a bow tie. No where to wear it to, or with, but just wanted a bow tie. He finally got it last week, to wear to the Homecoming dance. Love the story with the foil!

I read something yesterday that seemed very descriptive. It said that the mini iPads were not for those that were not willing to spend a few hundred dollars on a tablet, they were for those who wanted a smaller iPad. And it looks like that's what they've stuck to. Even my husband who has always been Mr. Microsoft and has been lusting over the Surface, said last week he may consider a mini instead, as he already has a lot invested in his 1st gen iPad, and likes the small size of my Galaxy Tab. So that's a lot of the people they are going after. Also, if they had them at $199 or even $249, that's awful close in price to the iPods, they wouldn't want to cut into that... But yeah, $329 is still kinda high, I agree.

Every year I say I'm going to send out cards... I even buy them on clearance so I have some... But I never do. Maybe this will be the year. We have a family member that every year writes a letter about the whole year and includes it with the cards. That's always neat. I bet it would be neat for her to go back and read all those later when her kids are grown.

Start checking for stores to start clearing out their BTS laptops and making room for the holiday stuff. Especially with Windows 8 coming out this week. I have already started seeing a few at Best Buy. We got one last year the middle of November that was clearance and also the display, so we got an awesome deal on it. Also, it should only be another week or two I would think before they start offering good deals. A couple weeks ago Best Buy already had some "special offer" laptops, of course they were probably not with the specs you are looking for.

Hmmm... Maybe Santa has a rule, no live animals??

On the website the price is $139.99. It's on sale this week for $10 off, so $129.99. So my guess is for the Toy Book, it will be $99.99, $40 off the reg price of $139.99.

Best Buy had iPads and Macs on sale last year. Macs were $60-$200 off. Ad doesn't state amount for iPad sale.

Swiss backpacks with the laptop sleeve were 70% off, $13.xx. But my son's laptop is too big, and the bag itself isn't terribly big, but his zippers are broken and he needs something now. So that will do for now for the price. Ladies workout pants 70% off, ladies knee socks 50% ($1.75). Also, I had been stalking some boots online, not available in the store. I found a lone pair today, IN MY SIZE! Was my 2nd color choice, but that's okay. Even better, when I checked out, they were $10 cheaper than the online price/price tag. Yippee!

Jinx.com also carries them. Sold out there too, but at least it's an additional place to check. http://www.jinx.com/p/lego_minecraft_micro_world.html?catid=

They replace the paper signs that were on top of the clothes racks and such. I hate them. They are not very visible from an angle, and are hard for me to see. I also have seen some wrong ones in places, more than I would see before with paper ones...

I agree. Especially not for the 16yo. My mom got one and returned it the next day. It didn't do/play the things she and the grandkids wanted it to. She got a Galaxy Tab 2 and they all love it, she was much happier with it. One thing to make sure is that it will have access to the Google Play store. The Pandigitals do not. There are other ways to get apps, but that's where the main ones "live".

I've seen 70 and 85%, but not 65%. Interesting...

Thanks, great idea! I found a couple to play with for my Android tablet and for my Windows phone.