New laptop and new 'ventures

I bought a new laptop this morning (my Christmas present).  I'm so excited to have a machine that can actually browse pages faster than 1 page per minute (or 2).  I chose an HP Laptop from Costco but it has been a 2 month process figuring out what I want.
Ways to research a laptop/future computer purchase:
1.  Visit an electronics focused store.  We visited Frys.  I talked to a couple salespeople and finally found one I was comfortable with and "spoke my language".  Maybe he just had the gift of being a great salesman but he was very informative and helped me decipher processors, hard drives, memory and pricing.
2.  Have a budget but know what your money can buy you.  We had a budget of $300 ish dollars.  Black Friday makes you believe that you can buy a brand new laptop for under $200.  When I told the salesman at Frys what I use a laptop for and that we needed to replace our currently slow laptop... he told me the $300 laptops will continue to be slow for what I want to do.
3.  See the dream and find the compromise.  I walked away from Frys wanting a Surface Pro 3.  I-5 processor with a Flash drive.  We didn't buy a computer that day, but now I knew what I really wanted.
4.  Research and Price Compare.  I Googled every price match site I could find and Frys was definitely the best price for the Surface Pro 3.  The issue I had, the Pro 4 is coming out sometime by mid-2015.  I don't like that you have to spend an additional $125+ to buy the keyboard.  I would want a large external drive since the Surface was only 128 gig.  By the time we walked away with a new computer - if it was a Surface - we would spend over $1200, when we started with a $300 budget.
5.  Be Realistic.  Because I had a toddler in tow, it is hard to concentrate on all the minute details when picking out a computer.  I took pictures of the specs for each laptop at several stores and then  went home to review the details before deciding what my options were.
6.  Eventually you have to just jump.  I researched when computer prices are cheapest (April, End of Summer for back to school, and Black Friday), I looked online and offline.  I considered waiting until after Christmas, in case there is a crazy new deal... but eventually, you have to just make a decision and go.  I made a decision, found out it was now out of stock at my local Costco and started on my search for other local Costco stores.

Long story short... I'm happy to have a new laptop.  Now, I just have to learn Windows 8 (had Windows 7 on my last laptop) and how to navigate with a touchscreen laptop.

Product Testing: Step2 PlayHouse Toy Tester

image from Facebook.com/thestep2company

If you are a parent like I am... then you have built in product testers in your house.  Why not get rewarded for their talents?  I found this opportunity to be a Step2 Toy Tester through ThrifyMommaRamblings. I've applied and hope I get it.

I have over ten years in the child tech education sector but the last 18 months of being a parent have opened my world to all new products and brands.  If you want to know a brand for kids that makes educational and safe products then Step2 is a brand I would endorse (not paid to say this). I am constantly searching for their products on Craigslist and OfferUp.  We check out their section in ToysRUS.  So, if you're interested in testing something out...  sign up.  You have only FUN to gain...

To go directly to the application: Click here.

Paint your Interior doors...Black, white, yellow, blue, green.

Currently our interior doors are flat doors with a light wood color stained/painted on it. I'm assuming they are the original 1959 doors. I just came across a great article: 11 Reasons to Paint Your Doors Black by Fred Albert at Houzz. I love all the picture examples of the black door options in his article. Some of the reasons I found interesting was it helps make the ceilings feel taller and helps things feel cleaner. I like that the crown molding in most of the pictures remains white - it's just the doors that are black. I've even wondered if I'd be bold enough to paint our doors a fun color. Have you seen that done?  Here's one of my favorite pictures from the article:

Picture by Phillip W. Smith General Contractor, Inc.

Here is a sample of a Blue door

This is similar to the door color we currently have

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If I painted my door this color of green - I know it would make me happy everyday.  

But would I want every door this color?  I'm guessing this is the interior color of the mud room and that it's probably white on the otherside.

Have you painted your doors a fun color?  I'd love to see what you have painted a unique color or design?