We Shopped, Then I Dropped

Thanksgiving Day was a blast! I woke up early enough to look through the ads and create a plan for Friday. The house smelled WONDERFUL as my mom finished cooking things to take to my Mamaw's house at 2:00. My mom's homemade stuffing is SO yummy and it did not disappoint, even though she left out the eggs because Brett thinks he is allergic to egg whites.

This was the first time that Brett's mom came to one of our family gatherings. She had plans to go see her sister like she always does for the holidays, but car trouble reared it's ugly head and plans changed. But I thought it went really well. For the most part, she looked comfortable. Maybe a little bored while people were watching the game. But all in all, there were no major incidents. Thank goodness!

My grandma also came with us, and I was SO pleased! She is not well all of the time and it has been a long time since she left her house to come to a holiday event. I was so happy to see her looking so happy =-)

Thursday night I checked the ads one more time and then I had a decision to make. I am notorious for not being able to wake up in the mornings. We had a plan in place, and that plan was to begin with me leaving my house at 3:30 to go get my sister Jenna so we could be in line at 4:00 at Toys R Us. When I was done looking through the ads at 11:00 or so, I didn't really feel tired. So I had to decide between going to bed for 4 hours and risking not waking up, or just staying up. I decided to let my eyes decide. I finished watching the movie that was on while I was looking through ads (Never Been Kissed... love it!) and then I laid down with New Moon. I finally closed my eyes around 2:15, but I left the light on in hopes that I would wake up easily when my alarm went off at 3:15. IT WORKED! I left the house on time, grabbed Jenna, and we got to Toys R Us at the perfect time!

Shopping was a success for both of us. Our usual third partner, my sister Laura, had to work and was really upset about missing the fun. But Jenna and I both got a lot done. Here is my store summary, and these are all based on our experience, not every store that was open:

Best Ad: Toys R Us
Longest Line Outside Store: Target
Longest Line to Pay: Kohls
Shortest Line to Pay: Walmart (I know,it's a miracle what they can do when they have cashiers)
Most Knowledgeable Staff: Toys R Us
Biggest Let Down: NONE! We actually found everything that we came for!
Most Helpful Employee: Tie: The woman stocking tables at Barnes and Noble and the boy who helped me find the ball pit at Toys R Us.
Biggest Find: Medical Terminology flip cards (for my sister in nursing school) at Barnes and Noble
Runner up - Buy 1 get 1 free kids digital camera at Walgreens

Everything is still in bags. I am not going to wrap presents until I am able to make some space in my room. But I am very thankful that I got so much done. I finished shopping for all 10 children who were on my list and I got halfway through with the family member whose name I drew. I have started Brett and his mom and I got a present for my grandma. I have one friend to shop for, but for the most part I am not buying friend gifts this year. We are all on tight budgets! (Well, I say that, but I did see a really cute gift at Ross yesterday that I thought I might snag for a couple of girlfriends. I didn't, but I haven't stopped thinking about it, so I might go back and get a couple).

I laid down at 2:00 p.m. yesterday. Brett called at 7:15 p.m. We talked for about 10 minutes and then I went back to sleep. I saw the clock at 10:00 p.m., 5:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. I got up at 7:15 so I would have time to check my email and blog before Weight Watchers. (Brett is making me go). But I think I could've kept sleeping.

I'm SO thankful today is Saturday!