Snapshots of a life...: Black Friday

You're going to think I'm nuts - I love Black Friday. I love getting up at the crack of dawn for shopping. I love getting my Cruisin' Coffee coffee. And I love buying socks at half price - even if I don't need any socks.

This year was no different, except for the fact that I probably got less sleep than usual. I feel asleep somewhere around midnight and woke up at 4:00 AM. I set my cell phone, in case I slept in and woke right up to the cell phone, and proceeded to get ready. Only, to hear about 30 seconds later my regular alarm clock going off. Poor Chris got a very early wake up call. But he has a talent that lets him fall right back to sleep, no matter what disturbs him. I wish I had that talent.

Here's me at 4:00 AM - no shower, no coffee and very little sleep:

It's not a pretty sight. This picture just screams "Give this woman some coffee!!"

I hopped in the car and drove to meet my shopping crew at my parents house and the funny thing about shopping as early as we did is that there are more cars on the road than you'd expect, but at the same time, it's eerily quiet.

We arrived and took stock of our coupons and ads and determined our first stop was Fred Meyer. They have half-price socks, and for me I had an added bonus. Because Chris works at Fred Meyer, I get a discount on everything (except food). I also had my Fred Meyer rewards cards and coupons as well as a $25 Fred Meyer gift card. So...off we went.

My sister-in-law Renae, her daughter, Lena and my mom and I all piled into the SUV and went shopping.

Suprisingly the crowds weren't bad. Of course, we avoid the stores with notoriously long lines and crabby people - Kohl's and Wal-Mart. I once went to Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving for a game boy color that was $34. It was early in my shopping days and I didn't realize that they only stocked 5 items of their "doorbusters" so that everyone runs to try to get their item, but you never get the one you want. After hearing about the worker at a Wal-Mart in New York get trampled to death, I'm glad we avoid that place.

I had a successful shopping trip at Fred Meyer. I had a purchase that, before coupons and discounts was over $250, and I ended up paying only $96 for the entire lot. You can't be that!

After Fred Meyer we were off to Target. I didn't really needanything so I meandered around. I found a few things for good prices so when I saw the line started getting really really long, I hopped in line. I lined up near the shampoo aisle, close to electronics. By the time my mom got in line, she was standing 1/2 down the game aisle in toys. Target does their lines well and it moved quickly.

After Target it was time to recharge.

Lena's actually the only one who looks tired here. I know that I felt it, but as I said before, I love Black Friday.

(Note: my mom isn't the best picture taker. As you can tell, her finger is covering the bottom left part of the picture on the left. Oh mom).

We really did shop until we dropped. I completed my shopping for the most part and had a great time doing it. I was pretty tired on my way home...