I survived!

OK so it's Monday. Who knew it was called Cyber Monday? Not I, and not that I will be doing extensive online shopping, but it's good to know that if the need should arise, I might get a good deal!

So I survived my first official Black Friday shopping experience. True, a couple of years ago I went shopping on Black Friday, and bought a few things, but that time I didn't roll out of bed 'till 8ish and get to the mall at 10ish...and it was more like "hey let's see what's left" than "I gotta get the best deal!".

It all started several weeks ago. My newest friends, MV and KM, and I were planning to get together for shopping on Black Friday (which will be BF in future references) in Gainesville. Funny thing is, none of us live in Gainesville. KM and I are both about an hour away, MV, 2 and a half! But we all hail from G'ville and consider it our Mecca so we decided it would be a fun day to finally meet in person. We are all members of an online community of moms in Gainesville, or the surrounding areas, or native Gainesvillians.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving. Not one, but 2 late day family things was hectic, but gave me the chance to buy a paper and find my bargains in the morning, instead of waiting until the tryptophan induced coma kicked in. I found some good deals, made some plans and decided where to start. And called my new buddies to see where they wanted to start. Bonus, same as me! So I set my alarm for 3:45 am and after all the leftovers were put away and the kids were all nestled snugly in their beds (alright, not their beds, and probably not actually nestled since it was on a futon with Grandma.). Well since we weren't at home, it was really hard to go to sleep and it wasn't my bed, so it was really hard to stay asleep (I'm such a homebody).

At 3:30, after much tossing turning, I decided to get up and good thing I did since I was a full hour away from my destination and I was supposed to be there at 5. And I was moving extra slowly. I literally walked up to my new friends at 5am. Thankfully, they had gotten up and out earlier than I so they got a good spot in the line at Toys R Us. Good for me! Lateness finally pays off! So since this is my first offical store opening shopping experience, I admit I was unprepared. We blew through that store like a hurricane, filling a cart as quickly as possible. And I found out the meaning of the phrase "hurry up and wait" because we were in the store about an hour and a half...an hour of which was spent in line!

Store number 2 was Target. I actually found better deals in there for stuff I already bought. No big deal, I can take it back! Same drill, plow your way through, get that cart full, stand in line. This time, there was a woman directly behind us in line who had 10, maybe 12 items in her cart. Small stuff and no toys. Turns out, she is buying a few things for her bedridded husband who is in the hospital and I guess she forgot that this was the biggest shopping day of the year. So I had the girls watch my cart and helped this lady to the express lane. It felt nice to help someone, since by this point I had seen the looks some people were getting and they weren't smiles and rosy cheeks.

Then we headed to the mall, but decided that it was too early for our planned lunch so off to some other stores and more shopping. Here's a funny story...I left my cellphone chargers at home. And I was facing a day with a dead cellphone. And since I was driving alone, but meeting up, a cellphone was really vital (how did we ever do without cellphones?). So we all pop in Kmart where we think I'll get one of those nifty chargers that works with an AA battery, but those things are 20 BUCKS! So I settle for a car charger. So we all check out, go to the cars and head to the mall, but not before I rip open the package and plug 'er in. And it doesn't work. I don't know if it's broken or if it's my phone, but the darn thing doesn't charge my darn phone!!! Great, more returns.

NO worries. We head to the mall where we are supposed to meet up with some other Moms for lunch. Which was a blast. We talked and shared stories and I met 2 other new friends. Really cool! After lunch, more shopping, but I was pooped. Really pooped. And not feeling so well. See, we had decided that in order to recognize each other we would wear Santa-type hats with our site names in glitter. And since they messed up our hair, we refused to take them off. So I was overheating. Literally. I couldn't get cool enough. I left and it took the whole ride to Ocala (where my family was) to cool off and feel better.

All in all, we had a great time, got the kids together the next day for playing and had dinner after that. I met some great new people and have more to be thankful for. So even after Thanksgiving, I have reason to give thanks! You girls know who you are :)