Monday, December 05, 2011

Let the busy season begin....

And begin it has!!!  I am so far behind in my blogging that I hope to remember all that I had wanted to blog about!

Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving was a quiet one for me.  My parents and I had plans to visit my sister in Texas for Thanksgiving but I was unable to go as I had to work starting Sunday after Thanksgiving. It would have made a round trip to Texas a very short one so I could be back in time to work.  So, my Dad made a complete dinner for me, including a fried turkey, before he left so I would have a meal.  It was quite yummy!  All I had to do was re-warm everything. 

Black Friday
This year I went Black Friday shopping with my friend Jenny.  This was my first experience.  Not her, she is quite an experienced shopper who goes every year.  Our adventures began at 7:30 pm on Thanksgiving evening.  We started out at Michaels for all of our holiday crafting needs.  From there we headed over to Toys R Us to get in line because it opened at 9 p.m.  We stood in line for about 20 minutes ( a line that wrapped the building once, and they were only letting 50 people in at a time) before abandoning that plan to walk over to the Walmart as they were already open.  That wasn't the best plan.

Walmart was insane!  Because it  never closed on Thanksgiving day, people had buggies of sales items and were waiting in line to check out at 10 pm when the sales began.  You could barely move in there.  I stood in the women's underwear aisle with a pile of toys as Jenny went racing around trying to get what she needed from there.  I didn't need anything myself from Walmart.  Once that was done we were in line for at least 20 to 30 minutes to check out.

Then it was back to Toys R Us.  Once again we got in line to wait to get inside.  It wasn't too bad.  The line was only halfway around the building and moving adequately fast.  While in line some women who had been in the store came by and suggested that since there were 2 of us, that one stand in the check out line while the other shopped and just swap back and forth.  At first we thought they were nuts, but upon entering we found out that the line for the check out started at the beginning of the store, wove through half of the store to the back and then back again up to the front.  I saw at least 2/3 of the store that night standing in line.  We were in line for at least an hour.  But we did get what we needed. 

Jenny when we finally reached the check out stand at Toys R Us.

After Toys R Us we tried to go to Target. There are 2 Targets in our city.  The first one we drove by, we couldn't even get into the parking lot. The streets were backedup at least a 1/2 mile all around the store.  The 2nd store was further out away from other shopping areas so I thought it might not be that bad.  We got into the parking lot quite easily but that was the end of the easy time.  There were no parking spots left, well, legal ones that is and the line to get in the store was so long, we couldn't even see the end of it!  So we decided to head to my parents house for a quick break and reassessment.

After the break, we decided to go to Kohls.  We implemented the same plan we had at Toys R Us.  One stood in line for the check out and the other would shop.  Once again we were in line for at least an hour. We did have some purchases but I blame those mostly on my exhaustion at that point in time. 

Now I'm not sure if this little story was really funny or if I was just so tired at that point that anything would have made me laugh.  We had just left Kohls.  It was almost 3 am in the morning.  We were headed back to my apartment for a nap.  We were just leaving the parking lot of Kohls when we saw these 2 girls running with their carts full of stuff.  Now why is this odd or something even noticable?  Well, these buggies were from the Toys R Us in the next parking lot over.  Toys R Us had a very interesting security feature on their buggies.  As you approached the end of the parking lot, the buggies front wheels would lock so you can't leave the parking lot area.  So once again, we saw these 2 girls RUNNING with their buggies full of purchases as they headed to the end of the parking lot. Before you could blink, the front wheels locked and the girls pitched forward over the buggy!  Jenny and I laughed so hard we were crying.  I blame it on lack of sleep!!!

We were back at my apartment for 3 am and slept for 3 hours.  We started again at about 6:30 am and went to several more stores.  I did get treated to breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, which if you have never tried, is quite yummy!!!

One of the items that we did find while we were out, but didn't get (but totally want!!!) was this HUGE package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Each cup is 1/2 pound!!!!  Yummy!




We finished shopping around 11 am.  I was so tired but couldn't take the chance of taking a nap in fear that I wouldn't wake up in time for the LSU Arkansas football game!  I actually didn't go to bed till 10 pm that night.  How?  I have no clue.  Delirium???

New Orleans
Starting that Sunday I worked a conference with Jenny in New Orleans for 4 days.  It was a huge conference, bigger than I am used to.  It had almost 2000 registrants.  Over 100 vendors, so probably about 300 or more representatives.  It was insane but I have to say that Jenny did an excellent job planning it!  While we were there we ate some very good New Orleans restaurants.  For a conference, it was a fairly enjoyable time!  Even though I was out of the office Monday thru Wednesday, back in the office on Thursday with a meeting that lasted 4 hours so not much was done in the time I was in the office.  I took off Friday because by the end of the day on Thursday I had already worked 50 plus hours.

Christmas preparations
I finally managed to get my little tree.  Augie's stocking made (my sister's new dog). And all of my Christmas shopping complete. Yep, I'm on top of it.  At least that part I am.  I even mailed off all my Christmas cards yesterday and tonight I signed a whole box more to be sent overseas to the military.  On Wednesday, Jenny and I will be ringing the bells at our local mall.  All to get into the holiday season!!!


 Too funny how Duke knew exactly which stocking was his!

I made this snowman myself!!!  Not sure what I'm going to do with it.  I have more I want to make.  The idea is to put wire on them and make a wreath.  We shall see if that gets done!


LSU Football
For those who don't know, LSU is THE #1 team in the country, undisputed!  We are 13-0 and are headed to the National Championship game in New Orleans.  The two previous times we have played the National Championship game in New Orleans, we have come away with the win.  We will be up against Alabama again.  Not very happy about that, but should make for an interesting, nail-biting game!!!  But having 2 SEC football teams in the National Championship means that the SEC will have won for the 6th year in a row!  So now it is time to stock up on some new LSU gear and wait, as patiently as possible, for January 9th to roll around.


Ok, I think I have covered all that I wanted to.  Sorry for it being so long.  It has been quite a while since I blogged.  Maybe in the New Year I will take more time to sit down and blog!!!

1 comment:

Maureen said...

The whole Black Friday thing thankfully hasn't reached the UK yet - it sounds manic lol! And your story about the shopping carts - that would have made me laugh at any time of the day...