Happy Thanksgiving....and Black Friday Madness!!!!

(just a little top note...I've written this post 3 times now, and blogger has been having problems every time, and it's never posted or saved. If it crashes again this time, I may just have to cry)..



We had a great Thanksgiving with Cole's family. I worked the 2 nights before, so I slept til around 11, got up and ready, and prepped my portion of dinner. We headed over to Cole's parents around 2:45. Cole's dad ended up having to work this year, but otherwise it was great. We talked and relaxed, the kids were good, and it was a really nice afternoon/evening.

We headed home, and I started looking through the Black Friday ads, making lists. After making my lists for each store, we decided that Target would be our first stop. We put the kids to bed, and we went to bed too. I was exhausted. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't sleep. Every time I would start to drift off, something would wake me...Talia woke up crying, my brain wouldn't shut off, etc. We got up, dressed warmly, and headed out the door right before 3 am.

We got to Target at 3:10. Cole headed out to stand in line, while I waited in the car a bit longer. I ended up joining him at 3:40. I LOVE shopping at Target on Black Friday. Hands down, they have the best organized, best run system. You do have to wait outside, but if you dress right (and we did...I wore my ski base layer, sweats, a t shirt, a hoodie, my coat and gloves with hand warmers in my pockets and toe warmers on my socks) it's not too bad. At 4 am(1 hour before opening), Target Security informed everyone that if you left the line, your place would no longer be saved(although I think they should give a 5 minute warning, so that people can dump their stuff in their cars). They passed out maps of where all the doorbusters were, and free reusable shopping bags. The best part is, that when the doors open, Target security stands guard, not letting anyone through until the whole line is in the store. After all, why should the line crashers get to compete, when I've given up my time and comfort to stand in line in the cold? We went in, and split up. We got a couple of new DVD players (to replace 1 that's broken and 1 that's on it's last leg), 700 thread count sheets in a beautiful shade of turquoise, $6 jeans for the boys, and 1 other item that shall remain nameless at this time ;). We met up at checkout. We were back in the car b 5:12 am. Total, ruthless organization, with tons of employees to direct you to what you want...Target is the best at Black Friday.

After that, we drove over to RC Willey to look at their line. It wasn't too bad, so I dropped Cole off to stand in line, and headed over to JC Penney just to see what the deals were like over there. Plus, I just didn't want to wait in the car for an hour. I found some incredible deals there, and tons of selection. Cole ended up with a pile of new clothes, and I got a couple of things as well. I was glad I went in.

I joined Cole in line at RC Willey at 6ish. We were about 60 people back in line. We wanted a certain doorbuster for Kyle's birthday present. They said they had 65, so we felt ok waiting in line til they opened at 8 am. However, about 10 minutes before 7, a whole bunch of people crashed the front of the line. Still, since the ad said "1 per family", we felt like we had a shot. They started handing out tickets for the doorbusters at 7:05, but to anyone who wanted them. They ran out of tickets for our item 6 people ahead of us. It was really disappointing...if you're going to post rules, you really should follow them. RC Willey has lost my business for electronics...they completely wasted 2 hours of my time.

We left, dropped off above unnamed package at Grandma's for secrecy, and headed home. I crashed into bed for 4 1/2 hours, then got up and got ready to go back to work. I started out the shift really tired, but as the night went on I got energized and I was completely wired by the end of the shift. Of course, I've been tired all day today...but that's just life when you work nightshift.

Overall, it was a successful day. I'm excited to start getting up my Christmas decorations....