I'm Exhausted!

Happy Black Friday everyone! For those of you that were out in the crowds, way to go and for those of you who weren't well, I can't really blame you for staying home!! I have gone shopping on Black Friday for several years now and today was no different. I was out the door and on my way to the stores at 3:30 am. I normally start at Target and work my way around from there, usually only hitting 2 or 3 stores but today I decided on a new plan. I started at Carson's (whch opened at 4 am) and picked up new pillows for the family and some flannel sheets for my aunt. Carson's must have opened the doors a little early because I was standing in line waiting to get into Toys R Us by 4:20 and I know that I was in Carson's for at least a half an hour!

Anyway, this is the first year that I'd gone to TRU because I always thought that it would be a madhouse but I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The line went from the doors, around the corner and all the way to the end of the building by the time they opened the doors at 5 am. Fortunately I was near the front and I got in pretty quickly. I have say that TRU was very organized and I will definately be going back there! They gave out numbered tickets for certain "big" electronics but you had to actually be in line to get a ticket and it was first come, first serve which I thought was really fair. Another thing that I absolutely LOVED is that there were employees standing outside making sure that everyone that stood in line got in before all of the people that stayed in their cars and tried to just sneak in once the doors opened (I hate when people do that, I think it's SO rude)!! They were also very organized when it came to standing in line to check out and even taped arrows to the floor so that people knew where to stand to wait in line. The staff was fantastic too! I had to check out in the electronics department because I had some stuff to get there and the employees would actually get your stuff for you while you waited in line - it was great!!

After leaving TRU, I went to Target, Macy's, Costco and the Carter's outlet. I wasn't planning on going to the Carter's store but I had some time to kill before Costco opened so I decided to stop in and boy am I glad that I did. The whole store was 50% off and an employee at the door was handing out additional coupons at the door so everything was 80% off!!! I got the kids at least $500 worth of stuff for next to nothing and that totally made my day!!

After 6 stores and 7 hours of shopping I finally made it home, cold and hungry and ready for a nap. The kids were excited to see me, which is always nice and Bill was glad that I didn't come home battered and bruised! I ended up putting off taking a nap so that I could (sort of) help Bill finish putting up the Christmas lights outside and make lunch. I fell asleep on a wing chair in the frontroom around 2:30 and slept til about 4:00. Bill was kind enough to keep the kids from disturbing me (although really I'm sure there could have been a reenatcment of D-Day going on in front of me and it wouldn't have woken me) and he also unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, threw in some laundry, folded the mountain of laundry that was in our room and got us dinner. He may have done more but I'm still a little fuzzy about this afternoon.

This year the stores didn't seem as crowded as they have been in the past and I managed to get in and out of stores in a decent amount of time. I'm pretty sure that I've finished all of my shopping for the kids which is a huge relief and I even picked up a few things for others who are on my shopping list. And even though I am ready for bed again now, I'm glad that went out today. It's such a good feeling to know that you've gotten something accomplished. I think it's a great way to kick off the holiday season and I'm (sort of) looking forward to next year!