It's time, once again, for our Cookie Bake-Off Bonanza!

I was supposed to have my closing yesterday (Tuesday) but of course it did not go through. The closing was set up by the buyer's team, with the impression that the buyer was good to go, but at 4 p.m. I got a text from my real estate agent informing me that the buyer's bank was holding up the deal.

On the phone, I asked Leah what was outstanding on credit cards. Now that the house is hopefully off their backs, we can start to put together a plan to pay off debt. I started getting really worried as Leah shared the details of her debt. Let's just say it is hard enough for a family to live on the $44,000 a year Eric is now making, let alone trying to put a dent into debt of the magnitude of Leah's and Eric's.

All together, it's over $45,000 -- more than a year's salary!

As if I needed another excuse to go in and drool over the new Stella McCartney collection for Gap Kids. The ridiculously amazing clothes and accessories for fashion-forward tots have been calling my name for awhile now (seriously, the zippered-skinny jeans and MJ-inspired jacket are to-die-for). I have been a good girl, though. After all, the holidays are quickly approaching and I concede that the last thing my daughter needs are more clothes to stuff into her already overflowing closet.

But my inability to pass up a sale, coupled with a desire to give back (can't you just see the glowing halo over my head?), supersedes that nagging frugal side (read: my husband). Lucky for me, The Gap Inc. is participating in the Give & Get Program benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and is offering a downloadable 30 percent off coupon valid for four days only (November 12 - 15) at The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy stores. Five percent of your sale goes straight to LLS.

That's right, cute kids in cool, discounted clothes can now literally cure cancer. Argue with that one, hubby.

Dan and I are not good at Netflix. We put a bunch of stuff in our queue and forget about it until we’re ready to watch a movie. Then we open up the red envelope and find that we’ve gotten some lame, stupid movie that neither of us admits to actually adding to our queue. When I’m stressed or anxious, we always end up with something scary or action-packed. When we’re feeling romantic, we end up with a kids’ movie. We cannot plan it right to save our lives.

In the last month we’ve sent back several movies without ever watching them. I even pulled one movie out of the envelope at the mailbox, took one look at it, put it back in the mailbox and lifted the little red flag. So, when Little House on the Prairie, Season One arrived a couple of weeks ago, I almost did the same thing. I loved the show as a kid, almost to the point of obsession, talking like Laura, dressing like Laura (my mom made me the complete outfit, bonnet and all), pretending in all ways that I WAS Laura Ingalls Wilder.