Black Friday

I realize it has been a while since I have written on this blog, but I figure what better day to start blogging again than the day after Thanksgiving. Let's start at 3:15am:

I woke up well before my alarm went off after having a dream that I couldn't make it inside Kohl's due to the lines coming out of the doors after I got there late. So, I was up. I showered, did not wash my hair to save time (apparently I am high maintenance now, and straightening my hair from wet to done that morning did not seem like a good use of shopping time. I got dressed (jeans and a easy shirt for trying things on) double checked my coupon pile, ate my high protein breakfast for energy (turkey and a string cheese), grabbed my bottle of water, and explained to my less than bright eyed cats why I had woken them up in the middle of the night. they didn't seem to care, gave me a yawn, and made themselves comfortable in my bed. Lovely. I got in the car at 4:04am. I hit the parking lot at Kohls at 4:14 (yup, I live pretty close) and circled a couple of times to find parking. I called Jessica, who was supposed to be meeting me there. She was still at home, supposedly awake and on her way. Likely story. i headed inside, and right to the sheets, my 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets for $40, marked down from $160. I then headed over to the clothes to check out the clearance. Pretty much crap. Moved on to the baby clothes for certain friends with babies, found some pretty cute stuff. Then Jessica calls to tell me she is over at the jewelry counter, with a number which is about to be called. I met her over there to make some jewelry purchases, and then we continued on with our shopping in the toys and the household goods. I eventually got in line to save our place while Jessica went to buy pots and pans. I am proud to say we made it out of Kohl's by 5:30am and $50 in Kohl's cash between the two of us. At this point, jessica decided she had had enough (it was her first year, she has to start off slow), and was going home. I continued on, this time to Old Navy, in the scary mall area. Old Navy was less than exciting, with very little interesting sales or even interesting clothes. I will rethink this store during next year's planning. By now I was slowing down, and I needed some coffee, so I drove over the Starbucks, passing Michaels in the process. People were lined up outside Michaels, waiting for it to open. Well, my curiousity was piqued, so I grabbed my coffee (in the red holiday cup!) and headed over to Michaels. Once inside, I ran right into my friend Alissa, and she filled me in on the Michaels deals. Apparently they were selling prelit garland and wreaths for 10 bucks. Well it wasn't in the plan, but I figured, i probably need that for something in the house. So, a box of garland went into my cart. As did a picture frame, and a predecorated wreath (sorry mom) for my front door, and some candy canes (I had a coupon, I figured this was as good of a place as any). $50 later, I left Michaels with a bunch of stuff I didn't even know I needed. Movingon, I then decided to head down to Macy's. Well, part way down the freeway i got distracted by WalMart, and decided to make a stop. Holy moly was that a mistake. I first had to circle for parking. Then once I got to the front, there were 2 carts outside. Now, actually, in Moorpark there were generally no carts. But, once inside, I realized this was way more than Moorpark. The lines were out of control. Crisscrossed across the whole store. Cops everywhere, people pissed, carts with boxes piled sky high (apparently there was a good deal on Bissell vacuum cleaners?). I gave up the cart about half way back and took it on foot. I made it to the CD area, took one look, turned around, and walked out. it was chaos, and so not worth the five bucks I was about to save. I moved on to JCPenneys, dropping another chunk of money on some gifts and clothes. it was now 8:30 and time to call it a morning. I was home before 9, and passed out on my couch by noon.

I did make a return trip to Michaels, that evening to work on a picture project I have been thinking about starting, but otherwise, am happy to report my shopping is basically done and I had another successful Black Friday shopping experience. The only stores I will be visiting before 2009 are the ones that are closing (CIrcuit city and Linens N Things) to check out their price drops.

=)