Another Day in the Life...: Black Friday 2011

I hope you all had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving!! I had so much fun. So I'm going to write about it.

I went with Melissa, Mom, Dad, Tyler, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Other Aunt, Other Uncle, Other Cousin, Other Cousin's Boyfriend, Grandma, and Grandpa. In case that was hard to keep up with, there were 14 of us (including myself).

When we got to the house, we started a puzzle... We always do puzzles with this side of the family. It's nice and relaxing. Melissa and I had it started. We found out after a while that we hadn't been doing it right. Well, Melissa was doing well. I was the one that failed. We were doing the easiest part - the words and the boarder. By the time I was finished, there were two large gaps in the frame. Evidently one side ended up 6 inches longer than the other, and I still had leftover pieces. That's bad-news-bears. So I gave up and went upstairs to get a soda.

After a short time, Thanksgiving lupper (the cross between lunch and supper) was ready (approximately 3:00pm). We had turkey, stuffing, broccoli, orange potatoes with rosemary (Melissa's favorite), rolls, and I'm pretty sure there was other stuff. This was all after we had appetizers of chipotle cream cheese + crackers, sundried tomato & basil cream cheese + crackers, vegetables and spinach balls (again, I'm sure I'm missing something).

So basically I went calorie-free this weekend.

Anyway, before we sat down, we said grace. Grandpa started us off (just a couple of words), and Grandma followed his part by asking "is there anyone else who would like a turn?" to which 8-year-old cousin Anna shouted "Amen!"

I thought that was the most hysterical thing ever. She's great.

We have this long-standing tradition of the "adults table" and the "kids-table". To give you an idea of how this works, my grandparents have a beautiful dining room with limited seating. It fits mom, dad, aunt, aunt, uncle, uncle, grandma, grandpa. That's it. Well... Kiki, their schnauzer, gets floor space.

Grandma came over and sat with us for a few minutes. She was explaining that now, Melissa and Tyler could eventually join the adults table since they're married. (There's no hope for me. I will forever be a resident of the kids table.)
Grandma followed this comment by saying "...when Grandpa and I pass on." So Anna (wanting to give her two cents) says "That seems silly, Kiki will die first!" Another point for Anna!

My thought after she said that was "Oh great, Melissa and Tyler are going to inherit floor-space!" They would take it gratefully. They're good people. :)

The family left at around 5:45pm to head to their respective homes. Aunt LB and I decided to take a nap so we could go shopping at midnight. Yes, we are crazy.

We left grandma and grandpa's house at 10:30 (with Anna in tow... she wouldn't be left behind!) to head for walmart. I haven't seen so many people stuffed into a walmart in my life. EVERY aisle had nearly 20 people that were sitting on the floor in some sort of line. You couldn't tell what went where because there was yellow "caution tape" wrapped around everything. After stubbing my newly-reconstructed tootsies on LB's heel (my own fault), I got hit in the heels by two different women pushing carts. I said to the second woman who rammed her way through, despite the fact I couldn't move a half-centimeter (let alone enough to let her and her cart through), "SORRY I was in your way, it was wrong of me. I will try harder next time to accommodate you and your blatant disrespect." and took a bow. Rude!

We decided walmart wasn't worth the two ninja's and a pillow pet LB had on her list and left. We drove over to look at Best Buy and all of the people that had been camped out there for 10 hours, and realized the Kohl's line was minimal. We parked the car and sprinted to the line. We were #50. Probably not necessary to sprint in, but it was part of the experience.

We were in line between 2 (eventually 3 + a girlfriend) basketball players from Waldorf College. They kept good conversation pretty much the whole hour and 15 minutes we waited. I used all of my unleashed whit (not without Anna's occasional contribution) and made friends fast! Typically my sense of humor can either be understood and enjoyed or misunderstood and disliked. They liked.

I bought my parents Christmas gift for $164 at Kohl's. On my receipt it said I had a "$574 savings! Score! Totally worth the late shopping spree.

We went back to the hotel and slept for 3 hours. Anna is an abusive sleeper. She kicks and punches and I definitely drew the short straw. At 5:20 we woke up, headed out for coffee and went to the mall to do more shopping at stores that opened at 5. We previously decided that we'd much rather pay the extra $3.00 than get trampled (especially since I was still recovering from franken-feet) so we would go an hour later, shop while lines dwindled, then pay for our "leftovers". It worked out well! I'm almost done Christmas shopping!

Our journey included:
Walmart
Kohl's
Younkers Home Store
JC Penny
Younkers
Best Buy
Menards

I think there were more in there but I can't remember. I was sleep deprived.
I went home after a little breakfast with LB. I was surprisingly awake/alert! I crashed at 6:45pm and slept for 12 hours. It was luxurious.

Here I am today, unable to sleep later than 5:45am and talking to you fine folks.

I head to WI this week, by way of airplane, so you should hear from me soon!!

By the way, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving (taken on my phone). More of the good pics will come as soon as LB posts them!!