I got Patrick a really spectacular digital camera (Canon SD800 IS) through Amazon for his birthday. I gave it to him early on Christmas Eve so that he could take Christmas pics. After using it for only an hour or so, he discovered a dead pixel in the display screen that also appeared on all the images downloaded to the computer. Disappointing, but not terrible in that I assumed I could just return it to Amazon and have it replaced. When I tried to do this, Amazon sent me an email saying they no longer had this camera in stock and would instead issue me a refund. Now this wouldn’t have been all that bad since I could find the camera somewhere else….except I got an unbelievable price from Amazon–55% off retail!!!

So I decided to do nothing for a few days. Today I checked back on Amazon’s website and there it was! They had it in stock once again! I called them and they agreed they could replace the defective one and a new one is being shipped as we speak. Patrick is thrilled and I am extremely grateful I don’t have to try to find this camera somewhere else. And I’m very happy I won’t have to spend any additional money and can still enjoy getting such a good deal.

After getting the camera replacement taken care of, I decided to go visit Kohl’s and spend my gift card from Patrick and Veronica. Of course I wound up spending more than the gift card, but it was a great shopping trip and I got a ton of new clothes. How fun it was knowing I was getting all kinds of discounts! In addition to the gift card, I had a $10 cash coupon and another coupon for 10% off my entire order. I ended up getting about $75 off the final total. How cool is that! I bought 4 sweaters, 1 sweatshirt, 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 nightgown, a Christmas table runner, some bibs for Robin, a kitchen towel, and 2 Hallmark Christmas ornaments for Robin for the next two years. Whew! After this trip I won’t need to buy any clothes for myself until summer…..or until Kohl’s sends me a discount card I can’t refuse!

No matter what anyone says, I absolutely LOVE getting gift cards! I got so many bargains today and I got things that I really wanted. Keep the gift cards coming, and thanks Patrick and Veronica for a great day of shopping.

And now tonight I’m going to play some Animal Crossing on the Nintendo DS that I got from Kevin and Soula. So far I’ve paid off the first mortgage and enlarged my house. I’m planning to do a bunch of fishing tonight for all those big fish in the ocean so I can start filling my house with lots of cool furniture. Thanks you guys for giving me a fun way to occupy my time….instead of dealing with all the stuff I brought home from work!