For two year now I have gotten up in the dark of night as my family slept the day after Thanksgiving and driven to Walmart, lured by their black friday ads. (To those of you who are pro-union... I’m sorry. I have a brother who will not walk through the doors of a Walmart. I really don’t shop there often.) But last Thanksgiving the ad featuring the Hannah Montana sweat shirts and Hannah Montana t-shirts and Hannah Montana outfits. Well, I have a little girl and you try to get them what they want. Anyway, I drove in the darkness of night and arrived at Walmart at 5 am. I had to park in front of Sally’s Beauty in a nearby strip mall because Walmart was already full. It was snowing outside and the beauty of it brought me to tears. The realization that Christmas was near, the snow... I had just begun to sip my coffee. Seriously, what’s wrong with me? I stood with dozens of other moms and dads, along with a few grandmas, around a skid piled high with sweatshirts that we were not permitted to touch until 5:30 am. At 5 am the Hannah Montana stuff was already surrounded but I managed to elbow my way in and stake out a spot near the bright pink and gray, size 8. We all behaved ourselves and waited until the announcer said “go.” The skid was empty at 5:31 am. I took my two sweatshirts and stepped three feet away to find her an outfit. That skid was empty except for two little size 6 outfits. What do you think? Should I try it again? If Black Friday shopping interests you be sure to study the ads first and start early at the items most important to you. Search black friday ads, target black friday, black friday deals, black friday sales and day after thanksgiving sales. Some places have online black friday sales so you can stay in your jammies and avoid the crowds.
Friday, November 20, 2009
to ds or not to ds
Last Christmas we gave my daughter the Leapster 2. Actually, I had bought her the Didj. It was the package from Target that came with a special Star Wars game. She opened it when we tried to start it up something was wrong. I can’t even remember now. Anyway, we took it back to Target to exchange it. In the toy aisle my daughter found the Leapster 2 and it also came with a Star Wars game and she chose that instead. I did like the math games but she’s always been slightly annoyed at having her Star Wars laser fights interrupted by math questions. I really thought we would get more than a year’s worth of play out of that toy but a couple of months ago the touch screen stopped working and I couldn’t figure it out. Finally, last week, I discovered a blog that shows me how to recalibrate the Leapster 2 touchscreen and viola! It works again. Too bad, she’s already lost interest. Now I have to decide... do I buy a new game for the Leapster 2 or do I give in and get her a nintendods this Christmas? Then I would get the ds games, super mario, ds lite... There’s no end, is there?