*yawn* DONE! Tales of my Black Friday.

Well, besides a couple stocking stuffers, and one animal figurine type toy for Miss Allie, I am DONE with Christmas shopping for my family! And for my extended family, I making them something, so after I pay for part of those supplies, I will be done *buying* Christmas presents for the year! (Don't say anything about all the December birthdays, like my Grandma's b-day on the 23rd, Liam's 1st b-day on the 28th, Spencer's 9th b-day on the 30th... Oh and my b-day is the 2nd, but I don't have to buy gifts for myself, thank goodness ;)

I have thought for *months* that I was pretty much done with everyone. I even wrapped all the kids presents and put a number in the bottom corner of each present with a corresponding number on a list of what was in the boxes. Genius idea...until I lost the list and had to tear/open up the dang things last night so I could know who I needed to buy for. (I bought them forever ago and had forgotten what I'd bought vs. what I wanted to buy...doesn't that happen to you ever?

Lo and behold, I did not have near the booty I thought. Either that or someone had plundered my chest, aka big, ugly, unassuming(camouflaged in the junk room) Tupperware tote full of presents. I didn't have a single thing for two boys (granted, one had his b-day in Oct and I gave him his...). It was just frustrating. I had also planned on giving the two oldest boys Tae Kwan Do lessons, but now we won't be able to swing the $70 a month (total...I know, that's a good deal still) for that coming Jan. (I have to take Ethan out of preschool Jan too, but it's ok.) SO there went their "big presents".

But itsallgood. I bought some crapola online at Kohl's last night at midnight, and got free shipping AND 15% off of the early morning door busters! Score!

Then I got up at 5am (Ok, my *alarm* got up at 5am, *I* got up at 5:24 when dh kicked me out of my nice, warm cozy bed.), met my mom at Kohl's at 5:34 (I was 4 min late, but ain't I good?!? And no, I wasn't in my pjs). We entered and holy mackerel, as we entered deeper into the store, we saw the line NEVER ended. The store has a circle layout, so I honestly think, that line literally did not end. Wouldn't that have been HILARIOUS fo some genius salesperson pulled that? *snicker snicker* I would get up at 5 am to watch them discover *that*.

We decided, 1) We could not get into any isle without convincing 4 or more people that no, we are not cutting in line, our hand are empty, we would like to see if there are any items to purchase in the store. Thankyouverymuch. 2) We really didn't have a game plan as to what we wanted(dumb, I know. This was a last minute decision to go) 3) There cannot be anything in that store that is such an incredible deal that would warrant standing in a line for several hours.

So at about 6am, dazed and disorientated by the sheer number of desperate people, we made our way back to the fresh (FREEZING) air and to my car. As we past Target while heading to the freeway, the line, or should I say, mass of people, went past on store and around the entire building....don't know how far it went, glad I didn't *have* to know.

We headed to Shopko, where we knew the items we wanted (I'd even printed out a "shopping list" from their website.) Not many items we wanted were there, but there were at least 75% less people than at Kohls, so that was fine. We found a couple deals, and a short line (at the Optical Center desk. Waited behind 3 or 4 people with a couple items each.).

8am, we went to Kmart, HUGE lines, not much stuff that we wanted either. But we kept wandering and I found a VERY comfortable pair of warm boot/shoes($7!), but my mom took them and paid for them so they were part of my b-day gift, lol. I also scored a backpack for my soon-to-be-nursing-student hubby, clearanced at $10, but rang up $5. SCORE! Oh yeah, and by the time we were ready to check out, we only had ONE person in line in front of us. DOUBLE SCORE! (And I normally *hate* Kmart)

My sister called to say they got the doorbuster brown microfiber $299 couches from RC Willeys Outlet and did we want one too? (cause they were holding one for us.. they also got one for my brother, said brother was in line at RC Willeys and after CAMPING OUT overnight scored him self a wicked deal on a ginormous TV) It was that or a kitchen table (we use old plastic church classroom chairs, lol) for mine and Eric's present (we're not buying each other stuff-shhh...it's ok if I by him that backpack...he needs one anyhow.). So...it's the couch, to go with our soon to be painted living room! This is the first couch I've ever bought new! (we've had one set Eric's "old" fiance picked out, one $40 yard sale find, and now my grandparents handme downs that are getting pretty shabby and, well, grandparent looking, lol)

9am, we grabbed breakfast at MacD's and since we'd had pretty good luck at the last two stores, we decided to try Toys R Us... I'd tried to buy the door busters online, but the shipping was soooo outrageous(like almost 50%!!!), it was just, well, outrageous! Guess they really wanted you to get off your buns and hit their store.

We walked in, and this tired little old lady waves a rolled up ad at us motioning to join a line. We thought, um...no thanks, and walked around. Once we got into the "open", we saw that was the start of the line to PAY. 15 feet from the door. And it wound in and out of every other isle, and went around the ENTIRE STORE. Once we realized what it was, and that it was not a line to another service desk of something, I asked a lady near the front (maybe had 8 carts to go before she entered the checkout area where lines normally start, lol) how long she'd been in line. She said, um, uh...I don't know. A half hour? And hour? Ok, well thanks. I ask another lady two people in front of her how long. She said, and I quote, "One hour and 43 minutes." I said, Thank you, and put down my 2 silly little items RIGHT THERE. I think the first gal must have been in a time warp and lost all track of time. Seriously? Is it worth it to save $20 by standing in line for 2 hours? We were thinking of the time your losing getting deals at other places, etc. Wooooooow.
But I guess if that's what you wanted, and that was ALL you needed then you'd be done...maybe.

As we tried to leave the parking lot, a lady was wandering back and forth in the middle of the street looking a little tipsy. She had recently left the store, as she was struggling with two big, full Toys R Us bags and I think she was blinking from the sunlight. Poor thing. She can't remember what day it was or even how to drive a car, if that is indeed what she came there in. Heck, she might have ridden her horse and buggy.

We then went to Wal-mart and they price matched all the junk we couldn't get at Toys R Us. Oh, my, gosh. Wal-mart is good for something! *doing the happy dance* Really, I think I just really needed to pee. It's been a loooong morning.

But we decided we'd try Kohl's again to see if the line had died down. It was 11am now.

HA HA! Not even. At least now it had a break in the line (from one side to the other), so you could see there were two different lines that wrapped around the store in two different directions. I really didn't want anything else there, but my mom did...then I pointed to the line and said, Oh yeah.

Eric had to go to work, so I took my mom home and came back. After getting the kids settled, I decided to peek at Kohl's online to get what my mom wanted. I ended up getting her her stuff, and one more thing I needed and a $2 shirt for Allie, plus I got to use my 15% off and free shipping again. Yay me!

So...that's my story. And tonight, I've bribed Eric into helping me wrap these presents. Can I get a "Whoop whoop!" ? Whoop whoop!