Holiday gifts

Dave tried to talk me out of exchanging gifts for the holidays this year-and into the future. I don't like that idea. I know that a lot of couples do that over time....but I'm not ready to let go of that part of the holidays.

I love gift buying and receiving!!

SO we reached a compromise. We agreed to buy one "big" thing for us both, and still do stocking stuffers.

What we agreed on was to get our first piece of exercise equipment for the home gym we hope to gradually build in our shed.

The shed used to be a garage, but a previous owner took away the usual garage door, and put in a horribly made wall with the old front door in the middle of it.

Anyway, the garage/shed still needs a lot of work to get it ready to be usable, but we, on the other hand, desperately need to exercise NOW, having lost our access to equipment when we moved out of our apartment.

Dave has access to an underground tunnel, where he walks regularly, and to a 4 story building with stairs, which he climbs.

I, on the other hand, have no access to exercise right now. I took a hiatus from dance to deal with my stress-related issues, and in the interim, the space we were using was closed for renovation, and the troupe disbanded.

I can't take daily walks at work unless the temp is between 55 degrees, and 95 degrees (my own guideline *wink). If conditions are right, and it's not too hot or too cold, or raining, or ice-covered, then I can take a 15 minute walk on my break, or around the neighborhood on weekends.

We didn't have our bikes with us until October this year, after storing them in the winter of 2010 at my inlaws. We only got to take 2 bike rides this year. It's now too cold, but in the spring we will get out and ride at every opportunity.

Meantime, though, we need an alternative!

We shopped around for ideas, and settled on a combo unit that's a bike and an eliptical, and it was really, really affordable--especially if we applied for the credit card for the store where we got it! It should be paid off in 2 payments. We probably would have spent about the same amount on one another if we'd bought each other individual gifts.

We, mostly Dave, assembled it yesterday, and it's going to help tremendously. Dave is under doctors' orders to exercise more (and he walks and climbs stairs daily at work already), and lose weight, and he is REALLY EXCITED to have this machine freely accessible!!

In other news, after searching around on the internet, I found what I HOPE is a good source for our sacred Virginia Hams for Christmas eve dinner.

Our previous source raised their prices beyond belief (with shipping, to about $100 per ham!). $40 more than a year ago....with no warning or explanation.

Wow.

So, the hams I found are about the regular price we are used to seeing, and are ordered, and will be shipped out in a couple of weeks, if I read the website correctly. Fingers crossed that they will be good!!