What's a good starter lens with a Nikon D40

[crystalflipz]

After lots of looking around, I'm probably going to get a Nikon D40 camera body for a new camera. It looks like a nice camera to start with, and I can upgrade later. What is a good lens to get to go with the camera body? I keep hearing that the lenses that come with the camera as a kit arn't always the best ones, so any recommendations out there for a good lens for taking pix of beads as well as some general photography - i.e. not a macro. I can't afford to spend as much for the lens as for the camera, but would love some recommendations.
Thanks

[Glacier]

If the kit hasn't changed, the lens that comes with the D40 is actually pretty good. Mine came with an 18-55 lens a couple years ago. I like it for beads and basic photography.

I do prefer a bit more zoom for my everyday photos. I take a ridiculous number of pictures! My favorite lens is the 18-135, that was actually the kit lens with my D80. (I bought the D40 after I dropped the D80 and had to send it back to Nikon for repairs. 6 weeks without a camera was unthinkable in my world!)

When lens shopping for the D40 remember that it doesn't have an autofocus motor in the body. That has to be built into the lens. The Nikkor DX series all work on the D40. Older Nikon lens will fit, but have to be manually focused. Same with 3rd party lens. I have a big zoom Sigma that is useless on my D40(even manual focus doesn't seem sharp on it), but takes amazing pics on the D80.

Tamara