Black Friday

okay, so I am now doing a post in response to my friend, Laura J., doing one on her blog. I had asked her what she scored on her Black Friday shopping and now I will do the same and record it as well.

I am honestly still not over the itch to shop and get those great deals. I just love it. I have to say that I never went shopping on the day after TG because we were always at my grandmother's house in Colmesneil, TX, which is not near anywhere to shop. Plus, it was always the big UT/atm game and that was the focus of the day.

Somehow a few years ago, we spent TG with David's family, and I was introduced to Black Friday shopping by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Wendy. It was quite the experience. Since then, I've been hooked!

Okay, so this year, my mother-in-law and I traveled over to toys 'r us before midnight. The line wrapped all the way around the building and then some. People were already bickering, cutting in line when it moved forward and calling people names. I only saw a few items I thought would be good to get but not even stuff I was wanting badly so we did venture in and noticed things were out already. I picked up one toy and went looking for another but got stuck. You couldn't shop, you couldn't move! People weren't moving and had baskets blocking the way and claimed they were "in the checkout line" but really didn't know if they actually were. Suddenly, I began to freak out.

If you know me, I don't like feeling like I can't get out of a store or a building. Ever since that fire in that nightclub where people burned to death because they couldn't get out... so scary, but I digress. So, I start to panic and tell my mother-in-law, "we need to get out of here." I drop the toy I have, don't even look for another and just try to get out of there.
I have to say toys 'r us is terrible - they may have a line so you get in there in an orderly fashion but once you are in there, it's a complete fire hazard and you can't get out. There is a limit on how many people can be in that store, right? So, let's just say toys 'r us is out unless we stand in line for hours before it opens because I desperately need something they only sell.

On to my other adventures... we are on our way home and see my local Walmart. I was headed to the really big walmart a town away (thinking they would have more supply) but I thought since I was driving by, we should checkout if they have the same stuff I'm looking for. So, we got to Walmart at 12:35 and never left! We scoped everything out and then asked if they were selling the battery-powered ride-ons and when they showed me the line to stand in and there was already someone first in line (we were second), we got in line and never got out of it.

So, during the hours we waited, we did our Black Friday shopping. My mother-in-law and I would take turns going and getting something on our list, finding sizes of things, etc. and filling up our basket. At 3 a.m. they handed us our tickets for the ride-ons and yes, I got one of each so I don't have to stand in another line next year for Dilan's toy. But even though we had the tickets, you still had to stand in line until 5 a.m. Staying up all night paid off when at 5 a.m. we could go straight to the checkout line and we were out of there in 20 minutes!

I got David and Drew winter boots for $7 each, both of them winter coats for $7 and even one in the next size up for Drew for next winter, $3 pajamas for the kids, $3 track suits for Drew (one in his size for this year and one for next year), the musical table for Dilan's first birthday in Feb (orig $40 on sale for $19), the train ball popper so Drew can give Dilan that for her birthday ($9) and the movie, Up.

I proceeded to go home and sleep for three hours, and go to Target at 10 a.m. They still had everything there I wanted and found things there that I had wanted at Toys 'r Us. So, it all worked out nicely until about 8 p.m. when I got really tired and hit a wall. It was fun though!!! :)