My Black Friday Adventure

I look forward to Black Friday shopping every year. I can't wait until the ads start coming out and there are posts online talking about the deals. I especially can't wait for the paper on Thanksgiving day and to go through every single ad and make lists of the best deals. Then I go through the lists and figure out which stores I need to go to and what order to visit them in. This year, Toys R Us was opening at midnight, so I decided to go there first. I didn't need any of the doorbusters, so I decided not to go early to wait in line, but just to get there a little before midnight and then wait for the line to go in and then I would follow. When I got there, the whole parking lot - from Michaels to Barnes and Noble - full plus half of the parking lot at Target, and they were all there for Toys R Us (there was a small line at Old Navy because they were opening at 3:00 and giving away Lego Rock Band for free). The line to get in was so long and they were going to limit the number of shoppers they let in at a time. I waited around just to see it open, but then decided to leave - after all, none of the stuff I was looking for were doorbuster specials. I went home and went to bed for 3 hours and then woke up at 3:30 and headed to Walmart. I had to get in line for electronics and get a ticket for the item I wanted. (I can't be specific about what I was buying because my kids read this blog). I took a book, so I sat down and read and waited for 5:00. Once 5:00 hit, the store was hustling and bustling, but our line was standing still. It was frustrating because there were other things I wanted to look for, but I had to wait in line and watch everyone go by with the good deals. I wish that I had a helper to run get things while I stood in line. Finally, around 6:30, I checked out at the camara center and then was able to go see what was left to buy. Luckily, I found all but one item that was on my list. It was great! I left Walmart around 7 and stopped at McDonalds for a breakfast burrito. Then I went to Sam's Club, but they were out of the thing I wanted. I did buy some butter though (we were completely out). Then I decided to go to Office Max because they had just opened at 7 and I've never had problems with lines there in the past. I bought an LCD monitor for $70. Bart was very happy. Then I went back to Toys R Us and was able to get a few of the things I was looking for. The line was at the back of the store, but it went by quickly. Then I went to Target and again got most of the stuff I was looking for. There was no line when I checked out. Then I decided to go to the mall. My plan was to just run in JC Penney to look at a coat and then come back out. JC Penney did not have the coat, so I walked all the way down to Macy's for some door busters that I had on my list. I bought two $70 blankets for $9 each because they accidentally had the wrong one labled on sale. Pretty good deal! I bought a couple of other things and then headed back to my car at the other end of the mall. Then I got home around 9:30 - 6 hours after leaving my house! My car was full and I was happy with my purchases! Bart had some other stores he wanted to go to, so we left at 11:00 to do some more shopping. We went to Kohls, but the check-out line was so long, we just left. Then we headed to Riverdale Road and went to Sports Authority. I tried out the treadmills and Bart bought a shotgun. Then we went to Sears to try out the treadmill that I have been wanting for months. It was nice, but not worth the extra money over the one I liked most at Sports Authority. The door buster special on the treadmill was ending at 3:00, so we had to hurry back to Sports Authority. Unfortunately, it didn't fit in the Tahoe, so Bart is going to have to go back and pick it up with a truck. We ended our shopping trip with lunch at Cafe Rio - Yum! What a great shopping day!