Black

This past Friday we went shopping during Black Friday. I've gone out before but this year we went all out. Looking back, I'm already getting tired just thinking about it! For the past few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I've been planning my trip and circling items that either Nate or I wanted or things that the girls wanted. I was planning on going with a friend of mine but plans changed at the last minute and I decided to go with Nate. I was getting so consumed with not getting all the things on my list that I thought that 4 hands were better than 2! Call me greedy if you want but I was trying to save myself some money and trips to the store. I asked my mom if the kids could sleep over on Thanksgiving night and then I would pick them up around 8AM the next day. I told her that we would get them in bed at her place and once they were asleep we would head off to Toys R Us. We got to "Toys" at 10PM and immediately after pulling in the driveway knew we had problems! They opened at midnight and when we got there, the main parking lot was completely full! We parked on the side parking lot and made a mad dash to the "line". When we got there I felt this surge of energy to only have my bubble busted with the onset of the rain. That's right...rain. Nate and I stood in the rain for two hours while Nate promised that he would never do this again. All in all, it wasn't that bad...minus the wet shoes, cramping legs and frozen nose. We talked with those around us and laughed at people getting in the line that started to go across the front of Costco's. It was really starting to get humorous that people were actually getting in line when there were more than 500 people in line. If it were me and saw this many people I would make a mad dash to my bed! Nate and I were probably one of the first 100 people so we didn't feel like it was hopeless. There were a few cars that choose to wait in the line with mobs of people inside them. It was quite funny that they thought of it. Even though we all laughed at them we secretly knew that it was a great idea and wished we thought of it first! My brother and his wife were about 30 yards in front of us but I never once saw them. Nate went up to chat but I wanted to secure our place in the "line"! Once we were inside, it was absolutely crazy. The aisles were full of carts...3 carts wide, mind you. No one was moving, except to do a little dance to keep their toes warm in their shoes! We had gotten in two lines before we found the correct line to check out. It was kind of fun to hear other people stories of what they got and how they got them. Once we were out, Nate and I were kind of happy that we had a few hours before Wal-Mart opened...or so we thought. We headed to Wal-Mart on 23 and I told Nate that I wanted to run in to check out some prices. Once in, I found out that lines were already starting to form. I ran out and told Nate to come get me in an hour. I thought he could sleep and then I could go out and sleep. That plan worked out until Nate came and found me 30 minutes later telling me that they had some really good deals. He decided to walk around the store instead of sleeping. So, here it was 1:30 and the deals don't go into effect until 5am. That's 3 1/2 hours people!! I walked around a little, while Nate stood in our GPS line, to get a few extra deals. I was able to break threw some of the boxes to get jammies and a few other "gifts". I felt like such a bad person for breaking into the "sales" early but if other people were doing it, so was I! After a few dozen people did it ahead of me I started not to feel so bad! It gives you quite the high!! Hours later it was time to grab our GPS and check out. At this point, everything hurt...I mean everything! The only thing we could think about was getting home and going to bed. We walked out at 5:10am and headed home...very happy at all of our savings! We got home a little after 5:30 and headed to bed. I didn't get too comfy because I knew I had to go get the kids at 7:30. Yes, it came all too quick...I really didn't want to hear the alarm after only getting 2 hours of sleep. But I reluctantly got up! After getting the kids, we headed to Tim Horton's and then to Target. Two bad ideas in a row! #1: Taking the kids shopping AND #2 Taking the kids shopping at TARGET! The only cart that was left was one of those train carts that was about the length of a limo. Have you ever tried to maneuver one of those things, let alone on Black Friday? At one point, I asked the kids if they cold get out and walk and the answer was of course, "NO!". After running into at least 2 dozen people, hearing Ana crying to get outta there, Aiva singing Jingle Bells at least 100 times...it was time to leave. I grabbed my items that I wanted to purchase and headed to the check out line. I could hardly believe that I was going to actually check out something but I wasn't making this trip empty handed! With both girls crying and me about ready to drop dead due to lack of sleep I handed my credit card to the lady and begged her to help me out to the car. She kind of laughed at me and I could tell that what went through her mind was, "Yeah lady, I'll help you out to your car if you help me to mine!"Needless to say, I had to head to the car in my four foot limo with kids whaling and me about ready to lose it...literally. I know know how people feel who are mentally insane...maybe not totally but I was getting a pretty good idea! Inside the car, I swore that I would never do that again. It was finally time to head home! Yeah...I could finally get some much needed rest...or so I thought! The girls were ready to do something...they didn't know what they wanted to do but they wanted to do something! At 11AM, I finally had enough so I laid Ana on the couch, Aiva sat with me in the recliner and I turned the TV off covered us all with blankets and everyone drifted off to sleep! Thanks God! I woke Nate up at 1:30 and it was finally time for me to go to bed :) I was a very happy girl until I heard the girls fighting at 5 which prompted me to get up and head back to Target...yes, you heard me right. I went back to Target to finish up my shopping. Am I crazy...or am I crazy?? All in all, it was a great day and one that I will have many funny memories from. At least now we can sit back and laugh at ourselves. What we do for Christmas savings though :) Sorry this is such a long post but I had to include everything. If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me and hope you got a good laugh! If you braved the lines on Black Friday hope you had some luck...and some good memories as well!