My Husband Loves Me! A LOT!!

Hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving and was able to spent time with their families.  I also hope that everyone got the bargains they were looking for on the day after Thanksgiving!  We did both!

When I got home on Wednesday, I grabbed a bite to eat and then started in on the cooking.  I think I had said before that I was going to try to bake a couple of cheesecakes.  Do you know how long those things take to make?!  I worked on two cheesecakes and a sweet potato casserole and finally was able to finish after 8 hours.  All I could say at that point, is that those things better taste good! 

I had to get everything baked and ready to go because we were getting up at 5am on Thanksgiving to get into town so we could go to the Big Lots and K-Mart sale.  There were a couple things at each place that were high on the Christmas lists that we were going to try to fulfill.

The first cheesecake I made, we took to my Grandma's house.  It was Peanut Butter Cup flavor.  I thought the middle seemed a little less set than I would have liked, but Crazy Man had no complaints about it, so I guess it was done.

This second one was Turtle and we took it to Crazy Man's cousin's house.  We didn't eat until around 8pm and by then I was actually starting to get a bit hungry!  Crazy Man said this one was good too.  If I wasn't certain about the first one, then this one I really had my doubts about.  When I poured it into the pan, it was like soup.  And there was no way that it was done when the recipe said it would be done!  I ended up baking it for nearly double what it called for.  

I guess all in all, the meals were great.  The family time was a bit strained in both houses, but at least we were all together and everyone tried.  

Once we were done with our second meal, Crazy Man and I headed back into town.  We had decided that we were going to hit the Black Friday stores for some shopping.  I had my lists all made out as to what we needed and where we were going to attempt to get it.  

The Boy had gone to spend the night with his DNA Donor around 3pm, and would be back on Friday around 10am.  So, without him to have to worry about, we made our plans to stand in line. 

What we didn't really take into account however was the fact that the lines would be stupid this year.  Now, I have done this for the past several years.  I have a blast!  I hate to shop and this is the one day out of the year that I do all of my Christmas shopping to get it done.

We started out at Toys R Us.  They were supposed to open at midnight.  We decided to drive by at 10:30 and see how long of line there was.  If it was too outrageous, we would go get the second vehicle and my coat and then come back.  I had borrowed his dad's jacket just in case since it was supposed to get down into the 20s.

We ended up staying!  The parking lot was completely full.  Where our store is located, there are also two other stores (Big Lots and a fabric store), in the same plaza area and they share a huge parking lot.  Right across the street is the mall.  There were people parking at the mall and walking over.  

We were probably close to being number 300 or so in line.  By the time the store opened at midnight, there were probably at least a thousand in line.  It was unreal!  When we made it out of the store at 1:30am, the last person in line was standing where I was standing when I got into line.

Once we made it out of there, it was over to Kohl's.  They didn't open until 4am, but since we were up anyway, why not go get into line there?!  I got into line (about 10 people ahead of me) while Crazy Man took a nap in the truck.  Around 3:15, I decided that I was freezing and needed to use the bathroom, so Crazy Man came and took my place in line while I drove over to the Wal-Mart to use the facilities. Their parking lot wasn't too full at all at that point.

Once Kohl's opened, I made a mad dash in, got what I wanted and got in line.  Ended up that we spent longer in line than we did getting what we wanted!  But, I have to say, it did move faster than the line at Toys R Us.

Our next stop was at Wal-Mart.  Crazy Man dropped me off at the front door at about 4:55 and went hunting for a place to park since the lot was now full. He ended up parking halfway between Wal-Mart and Kohl's in the Sam's lot!  That Wal-Mart was so full, that there was absolutely no way you could have pushed a cart through the big main aisle by the registers.  Matter of fact, you couldn't even walk through that area.  We stood in line for over an hour to checkout.

Crazy Man then ran me across the street and dropped me at Target.  He went to K-Mart to get the one item we needed and came back to get me.  He was able to drive to K-Mart, find a parking spot, hunt for and get what we needed, wait in line for 40 minutes to pay, drive back to get me, and I was still in line.  I ended up being in the checkout line for nearly two hours at Target. 

We got Crazy Man back to the house a few minutes after 9am.  He went straight to bed!  I got into my vehicle and went back out to the fabric store that was next door to Toy's R Us.  The fleece that I use to make blankets was supposed to be 75% off and I was to meet my parents there.  I was in that crazy store for three hours.  And nearly all of that was spent standing in line!  However, I did manage to get enough material for at least 8 blankets and 4 new scrub tops for me!  

I finally made it home about 1pm.  The Boy had gotten home around 10 and he and Crazy Man met a friend for dinner.  I came home and crashed around 2pm.  I slept until about 5 when they wanted me to get up for supper.  When I woke up though, I was pretty sick to my stomach so I didn't end up eating.  Went back to sleep about 8pm and we all slept until noon on Saturday!

The worst part about Black Friday this year was the standing in line.  There really was not a lot of pushing and shoving and rudeness going on.  And, I managed to get about 95% of my list completed during those hours.  On Monday and Tuesday, I ordered a few things online and so today as I type this out, I am 99% finished.  I still have to find something for my mom and my grandfather.  Everything else is complete!

Crazy Man says that he won't be going to another Black Friday!  He says that he would have just as soon spent the extra money.  But, my thought is that we saved more than we spent.  I am not quite sure how that worked, but it did!  Probably because some of the things that I bought for $10 are regularly $25.  All in all, I think that we got some excellent bargains and I definitely plan to do it all again next year!