BLACK FRIDAY!

Well, hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was great. Went out to the farm to my roomies mom's place. We had great food. You know the usual turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and the worlds best mashed potatoes!...haha..I only say that as it was my virgin run making mashed potatoes. They were pretty good of course so was the rest of the meal. Kris was in charge of carving up turkey or should I say giving it some sort of after death torture, poor old bird. Just kidding you did a great job Skip!

After the meal we sat around and chatted which is always fun. I of course had get in my few plays on words and jokes so it was a good day....then came black Friday!

I decided to do the black Friday thing since I have never in my life done this. For some odd reason I woke up at 4:30am Friday morning and was drawn to the ads on the counter in the kitchen. I went through the paces of making notes as the where I was going and what I was looking for and the times the stores opened. I thought I had a great game plan and would out smart the regular Black Friday Shoppers! I pull out of the driveway at 5:30am and start on my adventure. I hit the first store...Office Max. They had a Zune player there that was pretty cheap and so I thought it would be good to download pictures to. I was the 12th person in line. I am feeling GREAT. It is a bit cold but I am excited until this lady walks up and asked, "what time does this store open?" Of course I am ready to say 6:00am but the lady in front of me says "7:00am!" I had to double check my notes. Rookie mistake....I was to be at STAPLES not OFFICE MAX! So I get in the trusty Sidekick and head out to Staples. By this time it is 5:45am and the line at Staples is LONG! I have no idea what number I was in line but it was an amazing event to say the least. I am hanging there all bundled up when I hear people behind me talking about what they have encountered from previous years. This one lady said she was after a foosball table last year at Walmart. They get in the store and she makes a dash for the foosball table while her friend gets the cart to haul it out. I guess in all the frenzy there was only one table left so this lady sat on the table waiting for her friend to bring the cart! She even told one lady that she could have the table if she could get her off of it! I could not believe it! Ok, so we are still standing in line waiting for them to open the store. Then some people tried to cut in line and the WHOLE CROWD yelled at them! I WAS AMAZED! Then the ladies behind me plotted out their strategy. The one said "Ok, now you are going to the checkout counter while I go and get the item right?" Can you believe it? These chicks were seasoned professionally Black Friday Girls. Well, long story short, I was after the 4GB memory card and by the time I got in the store people were pushing and shoving and the cards were gone. No big deal. I decided to head back to Office Max before Staples emptied out. I hit the parking lot and look to be around the 70th in line. Not what I had hoped but it was ok. I ended up talking to some nice people in line. They were after the same thing I was which was not good. The had said they were at Toys R Us earlier that morning when it opened and it was a mess. I guess the police were called for some unruly man that took all the call tag slips for the Zune and walked out the door thinking he would come back and pay later. He would pay alright! The Office Max line was a bit different and I quickly learned new tactics. I found out that sometimes it is best to scope out the inventory through the windows to see exactly if you can spot what you are going to purchase there. I did this a few times. Then to my surprise they opened the doors. Everyone was so EXCITED then I heard them yell out something and people raising their arms in the air so our group did the same. I have no idea what it was for but we were jumping to get attention. It didn't happen. I figured out that they brought out some call tags and the people in the front of the line got pretty much what they wanted by the time they got back to us the Zunes were gone........DANG IT! The guy behind me said that Walmart had them also for about the same price so off I went...AGAIN...they were sold out. OH WELL. I have to say that it was an adventure. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. Glad there wasn't any REAL violence and I did get a DVD player for the basement at the Clubhouse for $30 so that was good...WOW! I have to have a better game plan for next year...LOOK OUT BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPERS, I AM CREATING A BATTLE PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR!

Hit the Parade of Lights...OOPS...AVERA Parade of Lights on Friday night. It was a great time as always!

FUN HOLIDAY.........

Done shopping yet?

I am pretty much DONE, yes, DONE shopping. Only a couple more presents to get and those will be easy ones. Of course there is the getting everything wrapped part which seems to wait until a couple weeks before Christmas...why?...I don't know. Maybe it is the fear of wrapping something and then finding out it has not been crossed off a list and that someone else purchased it and so it would need to be returned...could be...just not sure, but anyway it will get done in time for the unwrapping event and that is the important part. You know I spend a lot of time making sure that every present gets at least one piece of Abe's fur wrapped with it but people do not care, they just rip off the paper anyway. Of course there are always those people that take the paper off perfectly and fold the paper as if they will use it another year. Regifting the wrapping paper? I think not. I am a ripper, not a paper saver! There is another individual that I will not mention his name, but he lives in Pierre, that wraps each present with three pieces of tape, YES, THREE PIECES OF TAPE! I get even by taping his box shut with duct tape...hahaha...take that! It is always a fun time!

Yesterday was Rose's 74th birthday! She is out in the Carolina's with her family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Shout out to you Rose......HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

In a couple weeks we will head to the Clubhouse for a Christmas of sorts celebration! We have tickets to A Christmas Carol being presented by the Lewis and Clark Theater Company in Yankton. I think we have 8 people going to the play and of course we will consume food and beverages before the play. Should be a fun evening with family, friends and laughter!

For all you people not done shopping.....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?....GET IT DONE SO YOU CAN ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS WITH LESS STRESS!!

Other Clatter..........

Happy Thursday EVERYONE!
Not much going on today. Hitting the Crow for some grub and socializing over lunch time.
We are almost done Christmas shopping! YEAH! I think this is pretty darn early for us to almost be done. We have three gifts to finish yup and then of course there is the wrapping of the gifts. I would like to get this done ASAP so we can enjoy the Holiday season but we will see what all shakes out!

This weekend should be busy. Kris's sister and brother-in-law will be in town so we will hit breakfast someplace and then do some shopping with them and then they are off to a play. We will catch up with them later that evening. Should be a good time.

I suppose we should decorate for Christmas this year or at least put up the tree. We have not done this for a few years. So should just bite the bullet and get in the spirit! Speaking of spirit we had a great Pinot Noir the other night. Erath from Oregon. Very good and mellow with a little longer finish but very good. Maybe open a bottle of wine, spin some Christmas music and put the tree up....sounds like a plan.

In other clatter...Abe, our dog, will be 4 years old on December 4th! We can not believe it! Seems like yesterday this little guy that looked like someone put him in the dryer on the fluff cycle arrived in our lives. He is the best dog anyone could have!

WOW...It's November!

I can't believe it is NOVEMBER already! Where did this year go?

One of my friends dad passed away a few days ago. They were no that close and he was not really part of her life but still hard since you only have one dad. I am so proud of them going to a "party" for him next week in Florida. Shows how much you have grown as a person bud! LOVE YOU GUYS!

We went to my home church this past Sunday for the remembrance for the people that have passed away from that congregation in the past year. Very cool service. Good to get back to Church with great people! Saw a lot of people I have not seen in awhile which was really nice also then over to the Godparents for a wonderful meal! One of my "family" members had placed three roses on the church organ in honor of mom....they were so pretty! I am sure mom was very happy for us to be there together.

So the anniversary of mom's death lands on Thanksgiving Day this year. WOW, hard to believe it was a year ago already. Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday, sometimes it feels like a long time ago and sometimes it is so surreal. I do miss her so very much. I have been thinking about how different our lives were last year at this time. Lots of road miles back and forth to visit mom, take her to appointments / treatments, and just to be with her. How did other things in my life get done last fall? I have no idea. I think a lot of us were on auto-pilot and just going through the motions. We were so drained mentally and physically. Thank GOD for great friends.

Looking back I am so very thankful for having a great, understanding, funny, giving, caring, wonderful mother. Not a lot of people are blessed with a parent like that! Laying in a hospital bed fighting her cancer and found it in her heart to SING to put a smile on our / my face! Not a lot of moms around like that anymore in this fast pace world! She was truly one in a million. I guess it is appropriate for the anniversary of her death to be on thanksgiving this year. I give thanks for having the best mom a person could have and that in the face of death she still found it in her heart to give and ease the pain of others around her. Love you mom!