Family Wish List

House

• Gift certificates to Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Ikea for pretty household things & useful kitchen stuff
• A 12" non-stick frying pan with a lid, preferably somewhat deep
• A new hi-def TV sure would be nice, so we can actually use the Blu-Ray player to full capacity. I don't care if it's flat-screen or whatever, but it would have to fit inside our TV cabinet as I can't stand seeing the TV clutter up the room when it's not on. I found a note online that says our cabinet "holds most 32 inch TVs". If the TV can stream Netflix directly and/or access the internet so we can watch Hulu, that's even nicer.
• A source selector switch box for the TV. We get so tired of trying to wire all the various components to the TV and switch between them. Even nicer would be one of the ones like this that can independently reach the internet and turn the TV into a web browser, so we could watch our Netflix discs on the TV through the Wii and then swap over to Hulu or YouTube for more viewing since we are looking at getting rid of cable soon. Of course, I think those are a LOT more expensive, so probably not really feasible.
• Digital picture frames to hang on the wall, like one of these. We would prefer something in the 8"-10" territory so it's large enough to see the photos.
• Serving dishes, like dip dishes, serving platters, and serving bowls, for when we have company over.
• Carry out dishes to make it easier to carry food to potluck dinners. For example, the casserole dishes with lids and insulated carry bags. Or something to carry pies in to keep them from getting squished. That sort of thing.
• This one is a real biggie!! We would love to be able to replace our worn out and falling apart sofas with new ones from Ikea. The line of products is named Ektorp. We desperately want a corner sofa for the living room, a regular sofa for watching TV, a chair for the living room, and two footstools - one for each sofa. We'd prefer the Svanby gray slipcovers but white would certainly do as they are cheaper. Even just getting one piece of the set would reduce our expenditures greatly, and would be very much appreciated! A few brightly colored throw pillows to liven up the furniture would be appreciated as well.
• A fire-proof, water-proof locking safe for the garage so we can protect valuables without having to pay for a safety deposit box. Should preferably be big enough to hold 8.5" x 11" papers, as well as some DVDs of back-ups, a tiny bit of jewelry, passports, etc... I've seen some nice ones made like file cabinets with hanging files inside. That seems ideal.
• The ongoing water problem in the dining room area continues to worsen. Eventually, we have to get some foundation guys to repair the crack so it will stop flooding. When we have that fixed, we will have to replace the carpet and we will have to replace some of the kitchen cabinets that have collapsed from the water seepage. I expect we also need to rip out the drywall through there and replace it. I don't even know where to begin on this. :-(

Yard

• We need to replace the fence around the pool, as it's falling apart and the gate won't even go on. It's extremely dangerous and I worry about the kids falling in. That said, a new fence is going to cost $500-$1000 (maybe even more). If you would like to donate money or labor to the cause, it would be very appreciated.
• A new ladder for the pool as the old one fell into pieces. Only Bill knows the specs for the ladder.
• A safety pool cover that locks in place so if a child fell on it, it wouldn't pull them under the water. They are also usually mesh so rain water passes through without weighting it down in the center (and thus creating a water hazard). The pool guys tell us that such a cover would also keep our pool a lot more clean because we have a lot of trees hanging over our pool. When the leaves fall off the trees in the fall/winter, the weight keeps sinking our current cover which then means that all those leaves drop into the pool.
• Speaking of the pool, it is incredibly expensive to maintain. Incredibly so. Chemicals run multiple hundreds of dollars. Just sayin'...
• An edger to go around the sides of the driveway to keep it neat. Not one of the fancy ones with strings or one with a motor. Just an old-fashioned metal wheel with blades on a long handle.

Golf Cart (we have a 2003 Yamaha G22 Electric)

• A locking dash cover so I don't have to worry about people stealing things

Work

• We'd love to get some much needed software packages for our work stuff. Adobe Creative Suite 4 sits at the top of the list.
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007 (Full version rather than Upgrade version)

Family Movies

We prefer the Blu-ray/DVD combo packs when available, but plain DVDs are good too; basically, we need to be able to play them in the car's DVD player

• 101 Dalmatians (Animated - NOT the Glenn Close live action one)
• 101 Dalmations II: Patch's London Adventure
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, The
• All Dogs Go to Heaven
• American Tail, An
• Antz
• Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
• AristoCats, The
• Atlantis: Milo's Return
• Babe: Pig in the City
• Bambi
• Bambi II
• Bartok the Magnificent
• Beauty and the Beast
• Bee Movie
• Black Cauldron, The
• Brave Little Toaster, The
• Brother Bear 2
• Bug's Life, A
• Chicken Little
• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Dinosaur
• Extremely Goofy Movie, An
• Fantasia
• Fantasia 2000
• Flubber
• Flushed Away
• Fox and the Hound 2, The
• Goofy Movie, A
• Happy Feet
• Hercules
• Holes
• Home on the Range
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
• Jungle Book, The
• Jungle Book 2, The
• Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
• Knight In Camelot, A
• Kronk's New Groove
• Kung Fu Panda
• Lady and the Tramp
• Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure
• Land Before Time, The
• Little Mermaid II, The: Return to the Sea
• Little Mermaid III, The: Ariel's Beginning
• Madagascar
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
• Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
• Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
• Monsters vs. Aliens
• Mulan II
• Neverending Story, The
• Oliver and Company
• Over the Hedge
• Pebble and the Penguin, The
• Pete's Dragon
• Peter Pan (original Disney animated classic)
• Pinocchio
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Pocahontas
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
• Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
• Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
• Rescuers, The
• Rescuers Down Under, The
• Return to Oz
• Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause
• Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
• Shrek 2
• Shrek the Third
• Shrek Forever After
• Song of the South
• Stitch! The Movie
• Swiss Family Robinson
• Tarzan
• Tarzan 2
• Three Caballeros, The
• Thumbelina
• Toy Story 2
• Toy Story 3
• Troll in Central Park, A
• Up
• Wild, The
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original Gene Wilder one)
• Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo
• Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Christmas

Misc

• Any of the classic Christmas movies or TV shows on DVD or Blue-ray, other than The Year Without a Santa Claus. For example, The Original Christmas Classics
• Decorations for the yard/golf cart/inside the house for the various holidays. The boys have really taken to enjoying decorating for holidays, and we have almost nothing for any holiday other than Christmas, and even those decorations are mostly limited to Christmas tree ornaments. Any holiday, from Valentine's Day to Veteran's Day to Thanksgiving to whatever, is appreciated.
• A gift certificate to some place that does family portraits, like Sears
• A family-sized toiletries bag for family trips away (I like the plum color, but black will do if plum is sold out)
• Pushing Daisies on DVD, season 1 or season 2
• Any of the new Doctor Who seasons
• We would like to get little ceramic plates with baby pictures of each of the kids to hang on the wall. Meaning, three plates - each one has a baby picture of one of the kids. There are places online that do this if you upload the pictures.
• Gift cards to Disney in any denomination, so we can start saving for our next Disney vacation
• Any family-friendly games for the Wii

Last Updated 6/14/10