Black Friday

Well I decided to join the crazed masses that attempt to score hot deals on the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent several hours pouring over the adds, planning my strategy, and making lists of things I thought I might need. Diana foiled my plan to go to bed early when she found the musical "Legally Blonde" on TV last night. It had a few questionable parts just like the movie, but it was fun to watch a real Broadway production nonetheless. Thankfully Diana fell asleep and did not see much of it. I was reading something about it being the first time, that a current production allowed cameras to film a show and put it on TV. Finally it ended at 11:00 and I set my alarm for 3:30 am.

When my alarm went off, I actually did get up. Arming myself with my camp chair, down coat, water, snack, book on tape, list, camera, and competitive spirit, I set off in search of victory. When I opened the garage door, I woke Marion up. He came down to the garage just as I was pulling out. He then called me on my phone to see where was I going at that time of day. I said the sales, of course. He said he just wanted to make sure I wasn't sleep walking or that someone wasn't stealing the car. So off I went.

First I drove by Circuit City. They had a great lap top for $300. Even though they did not open until 5:00 and I was there at 4:00, there was already a huge line, probably 500 people. So I decided that it would be useless to stop there.

Next I headed to Mervyns. It was 4:00 when I drove up, which is when the store was suppose to open. There were huge lines here as well. The item I wanted the most was a Zume 30 gig MP3 player at Toys R Us. Since Toys R Us is right next to Mervyns and did not open for another hour, I decided to to just go on over to Toys R Us and get in line. Taking my camp chair with me and bundling up in my down coat, I took up my position in line which was rather far back I have to admit. Here is a picture of me. It was taken by the man in front of me who said he could not work digital cameras. I wish he had gotten more of me in the picture, but I felt it would hurt his feelings if I asked someone else to take my picture. I am sure that those around me found it humorous that I would even bring my camera to such an event. During this time I kept myself entertained by talking to my sister and sister in law in Utah. They had already been to several stores and were standing outside of K-Mart. It was pretty funny that I would have someone to talk to at 4:00 am in the morning. Finally the hour passed and the line began to move. Of course I had to carry my chair with me through the store. I went right to the electronic section, but of course they only had 16 of those MP3 players and so I struck out there. This was actually good news because I did not have to stand in the ridiculously long check out line that was forming.

Next I went down the road to the mall to go to K-Bee toy store. This is where my luck began to change. I scored a really close parking space. This time I traveled much lighter with just my purse and sweater, no coat or chair. Things at this store were much calmer than Toys R Us. Although it should probably be a danger sign when they give you a ginormous bag as you enter the store. They had all of their advertised specials at the front of the store. I proceeded to succumb to the feeding frenzy that was going on inside, buying pretty much one of everything. Perhaps in the light of a new day I will need to make some returns. The past two years I have put off shopping, and have not been able to get certain items on Diana's list. I think this year I have over compensated, but I can take things back, right? Finally I emerged, with a bag that looked like something Santa carries around Christmas eve.

Dragging my purchases across the way, I checked at Radio Shack. This is when I discovered that I had made a crucial mistake. Radio Shack had not been open when I first got to the mall. In fact I noticed that there were only 5 people waiting outside. If only I had stood in that line, I could have purchased the MP3 players for $99, but by the time I got over there, they were all sold out. Oh well, but it really irritates me that I was that close to getting it and just didn't plan correctly. Next I drove over to the Radio Shack that is close to my house. They didn't have any either, and so at this point I gave up on that dream.

Now I was already in the Wal Mart parking lot, so I figured that I would stop in there. It was now 7:00 am. I wondered aimlessly around that store for about an hour. Of course by this time the DVD players for your car were sold out. In fact the Wal Mart employee laughed at me when I asked her if there were any left. I think that was uncalled for. I did get several things that were on my list and so it was not a total loss.

After this, I drove across the street to Target. There was one thing I wanted there and they still had that, so yay. I can not be very specific about my purchases due to the fact that my children do sometimes read my blog.

By now I was feeling quite hungry. I snacked on my wheat thins and drank some water, while I drove over to game stop. Our play station II broke last Sunday. This was pretty much a tragedy since Jared had just purchased Guitar Hero III several days before. We went to Gamestop on Monday to replace the broken system. The worker there was kind enough to tell me that if we waited until Friday, the Playstation would be $20 cheaper. Sadly I had to wait in another line at Gamestop. This was due to the fact that, they only let a certain number of people in the store at a time. Finally I was allowed to enter and purchased the sought after game system.

So I returned home at 9:00 after five hours of shopping. I had some wins and some losses, but my trunk was full of loot. My children of course are dying of curiosity to get in there and see what I bought. They spent quite some time trying to get the keys away from me. Here is some good news, my new car has an alarm on it. I did not really know about this, but when they tried to open the car without pushing the button on my key fob, the alarm sounded. This then scared them away from the car. I wonder if I am going to have to keep things in there for a whole month. I don't know why they want to spoil the surprise, but neither Diana or Jared are especially good at waiting for things. Happily I did get a bit of a nap, but I still feel a little bit woosey. So I don't know if I would do this again, but I do feel like I learned some valuable lessons that I can use in future years if insanity strikes me again.

Science project gone wrong.

We had no school on Friday in celebration of Nevada Day. It was a nice relaxing day, but of course this means the kids have extra time on their hands. Diana did have some friends over in the morning which provided her with a nice diversion. Marion was working on an electrical job up north a bit and he got done about 1:00. Diana and I went up and met him at my favorite restaurant "Sweet Tomatoes". I had a coupon that will expire this week and so we had a fun, yummy lunch. After that I sent Diana home with Marion and I went next door to my favorite store JoAnns where I also had a coupon. I may be going broke saving all this money with coupons. JoAnns was having a midnight madness sale in honor of Halloween. I can't remember the last time I went there, but I spent a good hour drooling over the many craft choices they have to offer. I spent most of my time in the scrapbook section. Ignoring common sense that tells me I have enough scrapbook paper to scrapbook for my entire ward, I gave in a bought a fun Christmas paper stack. How can you pass up 180 pages of Christmas paper for $12.00? Obviously I could not. Perhaps when I die, I will have to buried with all my paper, because there is no way I will ever use it all up. It is kind of a good news/bad news situation. I have replaced my fabric addiction with a scrapbook supplies addiction.

Friday night Marion and Jared went on a scout camp out. I went to a very fun adult only Halloween party. Thanks Shauna, I don't when the last time was that I laughed that hard. Probably, at girls camp.

So that brings us to Saturday. After soccer I told Diana that we could make sugar cookies. I figured that it might be easier to get that project done on the weekend, instead of after school. So with her eager help, we mixed up the dough. At one point a friend called her and she was trying to talk on the phone and crack eggs with one hand. I think only a few shells fell into the cookies. So what I hoped would satisfy her craving for kitchen activities only wet her appetite. I was attempting to restore order to the kitchen and rest of the house. Taking leave of my senses, I left her concocting an experiment in the kitchen. She was raiding my cupboard for ingredients. Perhaps I should have been concerned when she asked for a canning jar, but naively I filled her request. I didn't pay much attention to what happened next, but it involved a lot of food coloring and sprinkles. In fact I decided that a short nap would be nice. So while I was laying down, she decided to move onto a new project called "Let's paint a rock from the front yard to be a Halloween decoration." She has been complaining all month that we do not have enough decorations in the front yard. What a rough life to be stuck with a mother lacking in Halloween spirit. So I wake up from my nap to find that she has cleared off the craft table in my room and covered it with a towel and an entire roll of paper towels rolled back and forth over the table. I am less than thrilled with this and ask her why isn't she doing this down on the kitchen table or not at all for that matter. She doesn't have a good reason. A little while later, another friend came over to play. I was now absorbed on the computer with the project of trying to print out my blog. So Diana has Alison make a science project also. They then decide that they are going to paint some more. I tell Diana to help find some painting clothes for Alison and figure that they are painting in the kitchen. I then had to leave and take Jared to his last Lacrosse game. That went well and I returned home and go upstairs. I find Diana in my room with about 10 paper plates covered with paint. There was a lot of paint on the towel on the table, the light switches, bathroom floor, and my bathroom sink looks like something Picasso would be proud to call his own. Also two additional towels are covered in paint. Oh Mylanta! I throw all the plates of paint away and get most of it cleaned up. Unbelievably there doesn't seem to be any paint on my carpet so I make it through one more day of keeping the commandment "Thou shalt not kill". I think I am going to throw all my acrylic paints away. Why store dynamite near an open flame, right? But chances are if you throw out all your paint, some kid will need it at 11:00 pm to complete some project for school that will determine his grade and future success in life. Good thing Wal Mart is open 24 hours a day and is just a mile from my house.

So Saturday night about 10:00 pm Jared asks if we can make sugar cookies to take to his priesthood lesson the next day. Normally I would have shot this idea down, but the dough was already in the fridge, so it was his lucky day. I did have to make a late night trip to the grocery store because as fate would have it, we were out of powder sugar. Inconceivable! I also made some cookies for my class as well.

Sunday morning, we were hurriedly frosting the cookies and guess what I don't have any food coloring left to make orange for my pumpkins. Good Grief! Oh well, they still tasted good no matter what color the frosting is. But it would have been nice if my brain was functioning and I had realized this would be the case. Then I could have bought some more the night before. Oh well maybe that will be on the list of banned substances for my house. On Sunday afternoon, I was cleaning the kitchen, AGAIN, and it occurs to me that I have not seen any canning jars filled with disgusting colored liquid anywhere. With a feeling of dread and despair, I question Diana about the location of her "science project". She gladly shows me that they put them in the freezer. Oh, of course, where else would it be. So now we get to experience the law of science that says that a liquid will expand when frozen. We also learn that frozen water is stronger than glass and will crack a jar. This then means that blue ooze will run down over all the frozen food in the freezer. So right now I could be cleaning out my freezer, but it is so much more fun to be writing about it so all of you can share in my adventures. And the batteries on my camera are dead and I have no new ones yet, so sadly I missed this photo opportunity so you will all just have to use your imagination. And perhaps I need to be better at supervising my child, huh.

Tooth Fairy makes a comeback!

Diana lost her second tooth in as many weeks. What are the odds of loosing two teeth in a row on Sunday? Two weeks ago the tooth fairy was a no show, and boy did she hear about it. This was due in part to exhaustion and in part a temporary cash flow shortage. My kids always clean me out of cash as fast as I ever get it, and how was I to know she was going to loose her tooth that day? The tooth fairy did suffer from extreme guilt feelings of failure, but both the disappointed tooth looser and the guilt ridden tooth fairy did manage to go on living. This time the tooth fairy was fortunate enough to have both the funds and the memory to perform her duties adequately. I know it is hard to see in this picture taken on Jared's phone (the only digital camera in the house) but she is now missing a tooth on either side of her two top front teeth. She says her teacher calls it a window when you loose one tooth, but it is a garage when you loose two teeth. What do you call it when you loose all your marbles?