I was completely shocked when my parents rolled a gigantic box, wrapped in the typical Christmas wrapping paper!  Most Christmas's I have an idea of what my present could be from my parents, but this year I was in the dark.  I've found, that since having kids, most of the attention is focused towards the kids and their Christmas Season, so when the big box was rolled out, I was lost!

I had mentioned to my wife a couple times that I'd like to find a used table saw at some point to help on some woodworking projects I had wanted to do.  I had tried a cutting board, blog post found here, and had some difficulties due to not having a table saw.  I unwrapped the edge of the paper when I saw the famous Ridgid orange!  Holy cow!  My parents had bought me a table saw for Christmas (and my birthday, upcoming in February)!!!  I couldn't believe it, I was completely shocked!  It was a Ridgid 4513, contractor saw with a rolling and collapsable stand!  

I couldn't wait to get it home, get it assembled, and try it out!  I was my first table saw, and I couldn't have been happier to receive it!  

So for quite some time, my wife had been trying to convince me that she needed more counter space and we needed to buy a new microwave and hang it above our range.  The overall goal was to get our old microwave off of the counter.  

I had been resistant to this change, seeing a little too much effort and too much tearing into the kitchen...  But I knew I was in trouble when my parents bought a new house, and ended up with a brand new microwave, that would fit our space.  The deal was struck and the microwave was going to get installed.