Black Friday Madness

Did you shop Black Friday?  I live for this day.  I have memories of when Black Friday actually happened on Friday.  My mom and I would be standing outside the stores, in the cold (FL cold) hitting up all the deals at like 4 am.  I distinctly remember one day that we were at WalMart and they had all the "deals" in the middle of the aisles wrapped in brown butcher paper.  Then they made an announcement and the sales associates tore open the paper and ran.  It was a free for all and you hoped you were close to where you wanted to be.  Mom picked the right place because we were right in front of the DVD players we were searching for.  However she got pushed to the front and ended up throwing boxes over her head to everyone that was reaching.  It was probably one of my most fondest Black Friday memories.  Then when I started working retail, I'd go Black Friday shopping in Leesburg (2 hours away) then hop in the car and drive to work where I'd close the store.  It really is a great day for me.

Well the Hubs has a different opinion.  He thought it was crazy that I went to Bealls at midnight last year and then to the mall at 3am to get the most amazing pair of boots.  He'd rather forget about the savings and go shopping when it's not crazy or just buy online.  And this year, I kinda felt the same way.  I wasn't in the mood to shop, or deal with crazy people, or start Black Friday on Thanksgiving (which is a crime people).  But I did log on to Toys R Us to take advantage of their BF deals.  I ended up getting about 90% of Em's Santa shopping done. Pretty proud of that I must say.  Then I went to Target's website since it had the bike we're getting Em on sale with the best price I'd seen.  Well once I figured out that there was over $20 in shipping and the bike was in stock at every Target around my house, I couldn't pull the trigger. That shipping cost would pay for her helmet.  So I took the plunge.  Got dressed and headed to Target to get my Black Friday on...at 11pm!

The parking lot wasn't too bad since the store had been open for over 2 hours.  I was shocked when I saw tons of TVs still waiting to be loaded into carts.  I even contemplated buying one.  We're sorta in the market for one since we only have 2 TVs....the one in the living room and one in Noah's room.  I've caved and agreed to put one in the bedroom.  Well I didn't leave with a TV but I did leave with the last princess bike the store had.  I can't wait for Emmy to open it!  She's going to flip!

via

Then, of course, I just wandered and bought more stuff.  PJs for the kids, Legos for Noah, a bike pump so we can actually pump up Noah's bike tires, the stroller tires, and the tires of Em's soon to be bike.  Yes, we did not have a bike pump until now.  Losers.  We know.  Scored a $4 copy of Princess Bride for the Hubs.  Oh and coffee.  I bought more coffee.  Just what everyone needs to be buying at 1130 at night.

Does it look like I need more coffee?!?

Then I did convince the Hubs that I "needed" to go to Bath and Body Works to buy more candles (which I did need).  I sweetened the deal with lunch at Lee Roy Selmon's so he was happy. Until he had to wait, with the kids, for over 20 minutes because I was stuck in the checkout line.  It was worth it because you could stack coupons, which doesn't happen on a regular basis.  I spent $70.05 and saved $179.58.  I'd say that was worth it!!!

Hope everyone had a great day filled with deals and memories!  Now it's off to finish up my decorating before the Florida/Florida State game comes on and the Hubs gets body snatched and I get the angry, loud, obnoxious version.

Happier Times are Here

Thanks for all the love and support over the past week with the loss of my grandpa.  His service was on Saturday and it was so much harder than I thought it would be.  But it was a great showering of love for an amazing man.  My family is kinda a big deal in Largo, like one of the first families of the town, so there were a handful of old time Largo people there.  It was also nice to see the outpouring of love from Orange Blossom (where he used to work) and from the rest of the family.  It's also been awesome having my aunt in town for so long.  We don't get to see Aunt Robin that much so it was nice to see her almost every day.  Hopefully she'll move her family back home and be closer!!!

But with all of the saddness going on, I'm ready for some happiness.  I'm ready to move on.  I think that sounded wrong but I hope you get what I'm trying to say. 

Although my Rays are making me sad.  We're down 2-1 in the series.  After an amazing Game 1, we've now handed the Rangers the last 2 games.  Tomorrow's a huge game.  It better be good.  Oh something cool about tonight's game.....if you watched the game during the 7th inning (I think), TBS showed a great image of my brother!  There he was, close up on Justin, for a good 4-5 seconds.  He's kinda famous now I guess.  I'll have to get the picture (my other bro took a picture of Justin on the TV) and post it because his face is priceless!!!

This week we're gearing up for the big Fun Fair at St Pats.  Noah's going to be performing.  I'm sure we'll end up with at least 3 goldfish per kiddo, who of course will die within 3 days and we'll be heading to WalMart for replacement fish.  We also have a Disney weekend planned in 2 weeks.  So a lot of good things coming!!!

Oh I almost forgot....I scored the best deal ever.  I just love Target's sales.  I find the most obscure things in their clearance sections.  I scored big time a few weeks ago in the school supplies section on Transformers stuff....coloring books, folders, book covers, etc all for about $0.30/item.  On Friday, I stumbled into the 75% off section and found picture frames for $1.48!!!  I am now the proud owner of very nice picture frames (of all sizes) for less than $10.  And I now proudly display this picture:

The best picture of my Grandpa...ever! 

Hope everyone has a great week!!!