Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying some time off, taking it easy, and loving big helpings of home cooked meals. Within our family, we host Thanksgiving at our house. So Thursday was a pretty big occasion for us. Mrs MMD out-did herself again and cooked an outstandingly delicious assortment of food. While visiting, we also managed to find a pretty hilarious Thanksgiving song. Someone auto-tuned a remix of the William Shatner Deep Fried Turkey public service announcement from last year (which by itself is also kind of ridiculous in its own way). Enjoy:

We did go out on Black Friday around 11 AM. The first thing we saw was two people at the mall getting hauled away by the police. We went to a couple of places and got a few good deals. We managed to pick up a discounted Blu-ray player, wireless modem, and probably the best of all – a 32 GB flash card for $19.99. I don’t even want to tell you how much I paid for a 16 GB card just a few years ago!

Blog News:

Next week, I’m going to help out my bros by sharing a few of my Christmas present ideas for the ladies. Hopefully this list gives you an idea you hadn’t considered yet, and you can finish that list!

Later in the week, I’ll lay out a little dilemma I’m having with my investments. It’s a controversial one – should I NOT max out a tax-sheltered retirement account and fund a taxed one instead so I could possibly retire earlier? Check back and let me know what you think!

Link Love – Blogs You Should Check Out:

In case you missed them, here are a few great stories you should check out this weekend:

• Are you unhappy with your Google PageRank?  Jeremy from Modest Money has some things you may want to check beyond simply back-linking.  Read Google PageRank, Not Just About Links.
• Cat from Budget Blonde does a great job of defending budgets in Being On A Budget Doesn’t Mean You’re Poor
• Ever wanted to know about annuities?  If you do, there is a one-stop post that will give you a very comprehensive overview.  Read Jason’s post on Work Save Live: Understanding the Basics of Deferred Annuities
• Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has a guest post from Retirement Investing Today with a great perspective on early retirement.  Read Reader Profile Friday: Retirement Investing Today.
• Lance from Money Life and More sadly points out how many low income earners believe Winning the Lottery is the Most Practical Way to Fund Retirement

Carnivals & Mentions:

My Money Design was featured on the following sites this week:

• Nurse Frugal – Fridays
• Eyes on the Dollar – Can’t Take My Eyes Off These Blogs #14-Happy Thanksgiving
• Budget and the Beach – Link Love/Week in Review 11/17/12
• Street Smart Finance – Why Do You Want to Become Rich?
• The Family Finances – Friends of the Family: Fighting Irish Edition

Thanks to everyone for linking to my site and enjoying my posts. I really appreciate your support and hope you continue to visit!

Posts This Week:

1) My Nine-Year-Old Daughter Received a Credit Card Offer

2) New IRS Contribution Limits for Retirement Accounts in 2013

3) Affordable External Hard Drives vs Online File Backup Service – Which is Better?

Image Credit: Clip Art