Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Time for the Back-up plan

G-man is having a hard time giving up the idea of the computer for the kids for Christmas.  We looked into it last night, and it would run us $200-$250 minimum to get them what we would need. 

We have $150 left in the Christmas fund (I purposely left a little extra out of the budget, just in case.  I was hoping to roll that into the Cat Care fund, but oh well).  We do have money in the emergency fund, but it is low because of the recent car purchase (we had to float $300 from the EF to cover the first payment because direct deposit just kicked in and wasn't going to be there in time).

What we found out was that our netbooks have an operating system of Windows CE, which is what is used in a cell phone.  The current version of Flash Player isn't compatible.  4 years ago, it would have supported Flash 4....but we are up to Flash 11 at this point.  It would take a whole new operating system to make it work.

We kicked around the idea of getting them EACH a tablet or laptop of some sort...but I really can't spend that, or at least Santa can't.  We kicked around the idea of getting ONE for them to share, and are concerned about fighting over it.

So I think we are going to have to give up this idea for now.

The back-up plan....I think we are going to get the kids some sort of scooter.  EACH will get one.  We have just about enough left in the fund to cover this, and once we sell the now defunct netbooks, it will replenish the fund. 

Like a few of you said...at least we found out before Christmas morning!!!!!

Oh, and a word on Batteries....we open boxes and make sure the batteries are already in a toy before we wrap it up.  We also free a toy from its wire bondage, so as soon as a gift is opened, it is ready to go...no fighting with it!

It is a major disappointment, but this is the best we can do right now. 

9 comments:

  1. That REALLY sucks. And I think the timing is awful because the technology is changing. I know for a fact Flash is phasing itself out of the market. They already opted out of mobile platforms. You can always save the money and look into the Kindle Fire. It runs Android and the apps on Android are pretty cool-- great games! That's where things are heading game-wise anyways. At least they're getting a toy that gets them outside!

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  2. My kids LOVE their scooters that make sparks. You push down on the back and sparks fly as you scoot!

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  3. What about a Nintendo DS, if you're just looking for the gaming capability?

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  4. @MSM - They aren't into gaming per se. They are pretty specific about what they do. Maybe a Kindle in a few years!

    @Shauna - ooohhh sparks!!! That is cool.

    @Hawaii - they won't play a DS. Again, they are very specific.

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  5. at least you found something that works and they will still get their christmas.

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  6. That really sucks for you! You got me worried because I got my son a netbook and I know he will want Flash on it. When I looked though - ours is a Gateway and running Windows 7 Starter - 32 bit, which Adobe Flash accepts.

    So it is just certain netbooks. Now, Windows 7 Starter is limited in that you cannot open more than 3 applications at one time, but for kids, this should not be a problem. They can run i-tunes, open a document and surf the web all the same time.

    Is a Windows upgrade an option? I know ours says we can upgrade.

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  7. No plan is a real plan without a plan B! And the twins won't know about all of the drama - they'll be happy with the scooters for sure, and I agree, sharing one tablet or whatever just wouldn't be right.

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  8. Hey, that's a good idea about the wires and batteries! It's always a drag watching kids all excited about opening a gift, and then the adults have to wrestle with the packaging for 10 minutes before they can actually play with it.

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  9. We do the same thing with the wire ties and the batteries. When I was a kid my Dad used to take out all our electronic toys and play with them to make sure they worked. That way no problems on Christmas morning.

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