Life has been pretty good ever since I offloaded all web-browsing to a hefty server I access via RDP, bought a laptop which outperforms everything else in the house combined, got my work laptop back, and bought a 27" inch flat-panel half price at Best Buy with 0% financing.
The kids have their new video cards, and now, I finally doubled my desktop memory - kids are next. I did look for an upgraded processor I could plug into the AM3 slot on my motherboard, but it turns out despite the newer six-core Phenom-II X6, my "Black Edition" X4 965 is still the preferred processor for [AMD] gamers in that form-factor.
Go me.