“Again?” Sorry, dude. I think you’re too late.
You know, I almost - almost! - put “I sold one of the kids,” but I figured it’d be over the top.
I love being eerily accurate!
Hey…we have a set of twins so those could be a two-for-one type kind of deal.
Even better - sell one of them, and since you’ll still have one it’ll be like you never lost one! Whee! What fun!
Plus the Buffy Season Five DVDs never ask you to get them more juice…its a win win.
This whole thread is hilarious, but the above quote just added that special snorting laugh that I needed.
FB
May I suggest the newspaper or asking around? I desperately wanted a piano as a teenager - I’d taught myself to play, but it was difficult to practice my scales on the crappy bandroom piano. My neighbors had an upright piano that they wanted to get rid of, and we bought it for $400. It’s actually an old saloon piano from the '40s but it’s in great condition (although it needs to be tuned). My mom doesn’t want it, so when mr. avabeth and I get a house, we’ll be taking it along with us (somehow, I don’t think our apartment neighbors would appreciate my Bach and Mozart as much as my cats seem to). Finding the piano was pure luck - just keep asking around or checking the classifieds - sometimes people are so eager to get rid of the piano that they’ll sell it for an unbelievably cheap price. And you guys have small kids - piano’s awesome for teaching a small child self-discipline. Some of my best piano students were three and four year old kids.
Ava
That’s a great idea, Ava and we intend to look around.
I was classically trained at a fine arts conservatory from the time I was 7 until I graduated from high school and thought I knew everything and quit. I miss it more than I can say. There’s just something about sitting down at a keyboard and playing that is magical for me. I haven’t touched one in 6 years. 
My parents had a beautiful upright that they bought for me when I started but they sold it when I quit.
We have discussed getting one when we pay off my credit card…even more incentive to do so!
Thanks!
Why does “better” mean “the most expensive”?
Sometimes you can get people to GIVE you pianos for the cost of moving them. They don’t tend to be Baby Grands, but a lot of people will have a spinet that they are sick of taking up room.
Two of my girlfriends have free pianos gotten in this way. Ask everyone you know and be patient.
My piano is the family white elephant (or family heirloom). No one wants the darn thing (which is a beautiful 120 year old solid oak upright in bad need of a tuning), so I have it.
It doesn’t, to me. Sorry if my earlier posts made it appear that way.
His gifts are always meaningful, thoughtful and way better than anything I do. My gifts are your usual type things…clothes, a book, a CD…stuff that isn’t as considerate…at least in my opinion. Things that don’t take a whole lot of thought.
Just once I would like to be able to think of something and get it for him that is “the” gift.
Ya’ know? 
How about some Hobbit porn?
Waitaminute. How does a Buffy Season 4.5 (averaging) DVD set count as thoughtful, but CDs you get him not?
One way to keep him from going over the spending limit: eliminate the spending limit. Just tell him that you trust him – completely – to know how much is too much, and that you know he’d never do anything to jeopardize your finances just to get you a gift or two.
Push the trust button often enough and he may be scared to spend any money at all!
(I must confess I also make it hard for Mrs. Interrobang!? to come up with funky cool unexpected gifts, because I tend to want specific things – namely, CDs, DVDs, books, etc. Frustrating, I know.)
What Dangerosa said about pianos. It ain’t cheap to move one, but I see ads in the local papers all the time that are all variations of “if you can move it, it’s yours.” You’ll invariably have to pay for cleaning and tuning as well, but that’s still cheaper than buying a new piano.
I’m generally the good gift buyer in the family. The WryGuy is sweet and well-meaning, but totally clueless in the gift-giving department. He is WONDERFUL about getting me exactly what I’d like, because he asks and I tell him, and frequently it’s stuff I simply cannot justify the expense of buying for myself. But… just once, I’d like to be surprised well.
On the other hand, this year I’m a complete loser in the gift-giving department. I could find NOTHING special, unique or wonderful, so he’s getting books and CDs.
Last year money was tight. Really tight. Knowing how tight it was, my wife and I had a tacit agreement not to get each other anything, to spend our Xmas money on our (then) year old little girl, Sophie.
Now, Mrs. JohnT is an incorrigable snoop. It’s freakin’ ridiculous how that woman will go about ruining her surprise, even one year just telling me what she got me and then expecting me to rattle off a list of items that I got her. What I got was pissed, but that’s another subject for another thread.
Anyway, last year I finally saw the perfect opportunity to remind her just how nice Christmas surprises were. So I got her a number of items, probably totalling $200 (credit cards, damn their soulless souls, do have their uses at times), wrapped it up and kept it at the office - there were a few gifts for Sophie as well, including a still-favored Barney doll (her squeal when she first saw the Barney was so precious - better yet, it’s on video. 
)
After my wife went to sleep on Christmas Eve, I went to the office, got the gifts, came home and put them under the tree - all of them from “Santa” of course. She woke up early the next morning, and couldn’t believe her eyes - she actually went over to the tree to touch the presents, thinking that she was possibly dreaming. According to her, it was the best Christmas of her adult life and I rarely felt more like a man. It was great. And it’s on video.
Ha!
I’m just sayin’.
Be grateful that you two bought each other presents and that your only concern is that you spent too much.
Some people aren’t getting anything for Christmas because their boyfriends hate shopping.
I’m sorry gobear. Maybe he has something and is going to surprise you with it? I hope so.
And I hope you guys have a stress free holiday.
We’ll see. His “Oops, I didn’t go to the store or shop online to get you anything. Make me a list and I’ll see on Friday” speech last night had better be a Christmas prank.
Dammit, man! Why didn’t you say something sooner? My contact at the Vatican could’ve thrown another marital aid in the cart!
Seriously, Aries28 is planning on being in your neck of the woods in February. If you want, she can deliver a big ol’ can of Whoop-Ass that you can open and share with your boyfriend when she gets there.