I LOVE Black Friday! It's one of my favorite holidays! I love that Bet and Dani sacrafice sleep to go with me! I don't like how much OLDER I look in this picture than them....
Here's how it went down. Thanksgiving Day, Bet and I went to Old Navy, got some killer deals (card holders deals). Then we went and had Thanksgiving. After that, Randa, Kayla, Danica and myself went to JoAnn's...SERIOUSLY great deals there. Tons of stocking stuffers, ribbon and other junk. Then to bed early (11) so I could get up at 3:15 for Target's 4am start. (thanks for the midnight call Ash, you'll get yours soon!)
BLACK FRIDAY MORNING: Bet slept in!!!!!!! I got nervous that I'd be going alone. I headed out alone...texting Dani, Kayla, Randa, Cara, whoever would go with me. Dani texted back and said, "I'm on my way" whew! But then a couple of minutes later Bet texted, "Sorry, I'll be there ASAP". So we started at Target. TARGET!!!! I STINKIN LOVE BF at Target. Love it! I love that there are billions of money saving moms and weirdee teenage and 20 something boys wanting gaming stuff.
So there were about 50 or 60 of us at one door, and there was a sign that said, "line forms at other door". But some big mouth lady said, "well, I KNOW they have to open both doors, it's a fire code". Um, but at 4:01, target workers came to our door and pointed to the other one. So I rushed over there, Dani came right then too. And they let the line go in first while the other now 100 of us had to wait. Um, NO!
Dani and I went around and saw a big gap in the line from some slow poke, and another girl said, "if you guys jump in right there, I will too". So we did! And the hoochie meanie behind us said, "Oh, no you don't, I'm with my sister right there, you can go behind me". (which I would have said too) um, so we did. And luckily the next people weren't so mean, they just kept saying, "I don't remember these people being in line with us before"...a few times kinda loud and rude like...but you know what...we were walking towards the door....towards binoculars, towards, play doh, houndstooth cheinlle throws, cheap DVD's, and most importantly, the pushing and shoving and black friday shoppers.
We did it! We were in! Bet still hadn't made it yet, but Dani and I went STRAIGHT to the toys to get the night scope eyeclops binoculars...one of only TWO things Jaden has asked for this year (the other being a big huge plain hershey's bar..which I will get later). We got there...huge $25 sign (usually $50) and a huge EMPTY SHELF!!! We asked the worker if they were going to restock...he said, yea, they should be soon. But then another worker said, "Are you talking about the night vision binoculars? There's more on isle C26". Um, there were a few of us needing them, so we started going back there fast...it was a few isles away...I got cut off, so I yelled for Dani to go, and to be strong! And she did! She got 3! And she made 3 mother's of boys very happy that day.
THEN to the houndstooth throws...yea, we got the last 2 red ones. Whatev.
Then to the playdoh...which I didn't know we were even going to get, but as I was looking at the huge 24 pack (full size tubs) and realizing that $5.26 was a really great prices, mother's hands were snatching away, and Dani reached for the 2nd to the last one (the last one was opened) and some other lady touched it about 1/2 a second before her, so she let her have it...but she did snatch the last one, which was just opeend, but comletley fine. Everyone kept eyeing my toy story 3 too. But they later realized that they restocked that movie every 2 seconds. In fact, there are still a ton. Target was AMAZING!
Then, the 3 of us loaded into one car and went to Kohl's where we quickly left because the line snaked the WHOLE store! But now I wish I would have because they had an awesome waffle maker, under cabinet sterio and a 7" digital frame that were later over $200 all together, but that morning they were only about $70 all together. Blah!
Then to BB& Beyond. Fun stuff there, not too great of deals. You did get 20% off of your entire purchase though, so we found the most amazing head scratchers for $3.20 after our discount. Bet and I bought 5, Dani bought 2. All together, we're making 12 people very very VERY happy. I mean VERY happy! Oh my gosh so happy! I also got a sweet RC ride for my nephew. Back to the head scratchers. AMAZING~! Bet would scratch mine and Dani's head, and we'd almost wreck w hen she scratched mine..it made my eyes close every time. And dani, wow, the sounds she would make. Head scratchers are better than better than sex cake. They're the top of the best chain.
Then over to somewhere, I can't think right now, but on to breakfast, which is usually IHOP because it's in Flag, but we did paradise bakery. Lovely. It was lovely. Then to charming charlie's, then done. It was a lovely morning...but not the end of my black friday shopping. I had to help Jase put a Crazy 8 order through...probably my best deals of the whole week. I had a coupon for 20% off, PLUS they were having t heir own little sales, so I got tons and tons and tons for only $101 (no shipping). Then it was time for us to head out, but on our way we hit walmart, target again, kohl's again and Bass Pro Shop. And then we had to drive home.
Again, NOT the end of my BF shopping spree.
This morning, woke up, got on line, filled a target shopping cart, filled an amazon shopping cart, and finally put in my PearTreeGreetings order. I'm also doing a snapfish order in a bit. Seriously I want to not shop all year and save all of my $$ and go crazy every BF and following Saturday...and let's not forget Cyber monday is um, 2 days away!!!! I love how much you can get when you're broke on these days. It's amazing.
I'm starting to get post black friday blues already. I'm sure once the packages sstart coming in, and more Christmas stuff starts happening I'll be fine. But i fyou see me in the next couple of days, just give me a good pat on the back and let m eknow that it'll all be alright.
Here's how it went down. Thanksgiving Day, Bet and I went to Old Navy, got some killer deals (card holders deals). Then we went and had Thanksgiving. After that, Randa, Kayla, Danica and myself went to JoAnn's...SERIOUSLY great deals there. Tons of stocking stuffers, ribbon and other junk. Then to bed early (11) so I could get up at 3:15 for Target's 4am start. (thanks for the midnight call Ash, you'll get yours soon!)
Those were even our crappy ones. I thought i took a picture of them covering our kitchen last night, but I didn't. And now half are at school (the kids took them to their teachers) and half are in our fridge, so yea. Oh, we made cake pops too. They were red with sprinkles, but ALL of them went to school. the kids decided they want cake pops for their birthdays now. yay!!!
They're for a friend's daugher's wedding, but I LOVE them! I wanna make some to leave on my kitchen cabinets for real. 
Ok, but now for MY inspiration. Jase and I went on our first date (besides the temple) since NYC...in A MONTH, and we went to Flag and watched Morning Glory, and my review is that Rachael McAdams is the prettiest girl ever (not hottest, prettiest). She is sooo pretty. But back to my inspration. I LOVE that she wore whatever. A lot of the time it was businessy stuff, but she wore some fun casual stuff. And I realized, in the movie she was supposed to be 28...I consider 28 to have been my prime. I felt soo good at 28, working out everyday, able to run and play with the kids all day, go hiking, etc....but then I thought...wait a flippin second. Who swam 2 miles this summer, and at least a mile every other day and all through the fall ran 2-3 miles? yea, and I'm 31 people...THIRTY ONE! My prime is yet to come. So I dont' want to keep wearing mormon mom clothes. I wanna dress fun and spunky and crazy (still modest though). I just wanna wear whatever colors I want. I wanna wear rainboots when it's not raining. I want to wear tight red pants with a pink shirt and leopard shoes. I told Jase outta nowhere last night on our way home, "I want to wear what I want to wear!". He asked "what do you mean?" I said, "I just want to wear whatever I want to wear!" So, I'm going to slowly change my wardrobe...as budget allows (not much for a while). But be forwarned, I'll be the weird girl again.
Ok, then today I got in all of my chocolate chips from our big annual bulk order from Sister Bushman, PLUS I have bags and bags and bags all over my pantry because they've been about .75 a bag with coupon sense, so I decided to stock up. So I decided to bottle a little over half of them with our food saver. Um, it only took two times of doing it and Boston did the WHOLE process by himself! NO LIE! I really have a little sweat shop here. He loved it. We even did a big bag of M&M's....that will not stay bottled long due to our Peanut Butter M&M addiction.
You can't deny the awesomeness.
I'm grateful for my change of mind. Just in the last couple of years I've learned to be happy, and YES, I do think you can learn to be happy, no matter what your circumstances. I've had friends over the years let their happiness depend on the actions of their parents, their husband, their kids, even their town. And I've had friends be unhappy because of things going on in the world, health issues, financial issues and other parts of their life. But really, ANYONE can be happy. It doesn't matter how much you make, what your husband has done, what rumors have been spread, or what ailment you have. And I know, many things make it hard to keep a positive outlook, but I've learned that when you focus on what matters, it's easier to be happy. And trust me, we've had pretty much EVERY issue listed above in the last 2 years, but when I look at my kids, my husband, my cozy bed, running water, my fridge full of food, or just the fact that we have somewhere to go home to each night, it's soo easy to be happy. I'm smiling just typing this. I found a quote:
Now to other things I'm grateful for. My day yesterday was just full of them. I loved my day! I was in my PJ's ALL DAY LONG! It was fantastic! I'l start with this amazing ice cream. It's soo good! I'm a fan of mint ice cream, and this is just over the top. Every other year Schwans carries in, but we haven't had it in about 8 years, so I'm EXTREMELY grateful for it!
My MOM!!! I'd die w/o my mom right now. I'm soo stupid and decided to take on a million projects that I don't know how to do. So yesterday after I got all of the patter cut out for the kid's Christmas PJ's, she had to come help me figure out which ones I needed for each kid. And then she left me....and I was scared. BUT...WAHLAH! One pair of PJ pants down, only 3 more to go...and 4 tops to go. haha. It's going to be a long month of sewing.
A new fridge! yay! I had no problems with our last fridge....the ice maker went out the year we got it and the water thingy needed a new filter for the last 3 or 4 years,b ut it was a good fridge. But bam, one day, just gone!. So looky here, a beautiful new Samsung. It's really fun for us to just open the doors and look. And the light slowly comes on when you open it so it's really calming. It makes me shove the pumpkin pie down much more slowly.
I'm grateful for my MOM! Haha, did I already say that? Yea, I decided to can a bunch of salsa yesterday because my neighbor gave me a ton of tomatoes. Again, i was nervous, but it was sooo easy, and now I wanna do it everyday. Thanks ma! (oh, notice crock pot #1)
And crock pot #2 and #3! I'm grateful for good friends that are willing to experiment with me. We're doing dinner exchanges. I have Monday nights....so we had chicken noodle soup and homemade rolls and bread. I LOVED the way my house smelled, stayed warm, and looked with crock pots all over the place.
Her friend Zoe wanted to be in ai few. As you can see the kids all went crazy with hair color spray this weekend....
And I told Kam to sing like Ariel...this is what we got.....
Um, I'm not going to be modest...she's the prettiest mermaid ever made!!! She's perfect!!!!
Oh and just a little tid bit. Jaden is ALMOST a Bear in scouts. And today he came home and said, "mom our teacher let us make wahtever we wanted with wood scraps, and I made you this recipe holder and door stop". Um, I'll DEFAINTELY be posting picture. He's got some mad craftsman skills!
