I think it's the lackluster inspiration and enthusiasm you feel about building Lego rather than the money-spending; sometimes I feel the latter but end up enjoying what I buy.
Hope you get out of this little phase soon. :)
Man, I feel really bad for this kid. :( Hopefully he did get back most of his pieces; I applaud the people who commented saying they'd donate their own bins of Lego to the mom. Epitome of selflessness and caring right there.
Went to Chapters earlier tonight and took advantage of the 20% off for the 75000 Clone Trooper set; had a gift card with some money left so I only ended up paying about 9 bucks for it.
I'd go with the Corporate Alliance set; to me, advent calendars are most of the time not worth what you pay for it, and you can always get the Endor battlepack later.
If I remember right, it was 6470 Mini Dump Truck and then the first Anakin's Podracer. Still have the minifigures from both of them but the sets are pretty much dismantled and all in the basement.
My guesses for the Orthanc, if there are any, would be Gandalf the White, Saruman, Grima, and a bunch of Fellowship members since I doubt all of them would be included in a single set.