This is pretty exciting.

I didn't think it was possible to get excited about Black Friday. Sure, I did, in the beginning. It didn't take me long to realize that the crowds and the chaos just weren't worth the money I saved. (In my opinion.)

Black Friday is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving. It's the biggest shopping day of the year, with amazing deals, and amazing crowds to go along with.

A few years ago a brother in law wanted one of the dirt cheap laptops that Circuit City was selling. He arrived at the store the night before Black Friday, and sure enough! He got his laptop. It was a screaming deal but he had to stand in line all night for it.

I admit, occasionally I think about going out & just seeing if anything has changed. But I never do, and I never have any regrets.

There's a website that will change the way you think about Black Friday. At Black-Friday.net there are no lines. No one to trample over your feet, no being squished up against someone with a bad case of body odor. Just the comfort of your PJs and a steaming cup of hot cocoa (with whipped cream, of course).

At Black-Friday.net you enter your zip code and you'll receive email updates when ads from your area are posted. How cool is that? Then you can see the Ikea ads, for example, or the ad for Kohl's, or even a list of the Sam's Club specials.

It's been years since I've been this excited about Black Friday. I can't wait to sign up at the website for access to all of the 2007 thanksgiving specials.

Wherein I subscribe to a stereotype

I'm the woman of the house. The kitchen and laundry room are my domain. The garage? Not so much. But I admit I was intrigued when I heard of Diamond Plate Garage Cabinets. Diamond? I'm there.

So I visited the website to see just what diamond plate cabinetswere, exactly. And here is something I never dreamed I'd say:

Those garage cabinets are pretty dang stylish. They almost make me want to hang out in the garage and I don't know, weld something. Or something.

I wouldn't dream of ordering them by myself and then giving them to my hubby for Christmas. Actually, I would dream of it, and did, but only briefly. Because I can pretty much guarantee you that what I buy will not be what he wants. It must be a man thing, and I haven't figured it out yet.

But if you're a smarter girl than me (not hard), or you know your man, or maybe you don't need a man because you know how to pick out garage cabinets all by yourself. If you fall into one of those categories, I suggest you check out these Diamond Plate Cabinets.

Hint, hint

I've got a birthday coming up next month. Number 36, to be exact, and I'm hoping that it merits a gift from Blue Nile. I've been dropping hints, like saying, "If you buy me diamond earrings for my birthday, I'll never complain about paintball outings again," changing my husband's computer wallpaper from a Dodge Viper to a 3 carat princess cut ring, you know, all the usual subtle stuff.

Fortunately, I know about a website that makes it a little more likely that I'll get my wish. It's Coupon Chief, and they've got oodles of coupons for online stores, including Blue Nile coupon codes! I've explained to my husband that when you see a good deal, you must act right away. With a coupon or a sale, the more you buy, the more you save. I can't tell if he agrees with me, but he hasn't divorced me yet. ;)

The box.net widget

Now here's something cool. The Box.net Widget lets you share files with anyone and everyone. What I like about it - besides the obvious fact that it rocks - is that it's super easy to set up. Case in point, my widget.


Get your own Box.net widget and share anywhere!

I harbored some concerns that it wouldn't run on my Mac, but it did. It took me almost no time to upload my test files, and it automatically generates the code to put on your website. This is a keeper, and it's going on all of my blogs.

PS. Did I mention the unlimited bandwidth and the fact that they will host 1 gig of files? For free?!