Accepting Applications

Whoa!!! What a couple of days I've had! First of all, Thanksgiving went without a hitch and executed perfectly with the help of the home-made-like pies (from Costco)... I mean, after all, it's tradition right? I mean the Costco pies of course!!! So I scarfed the yummy turkey dinner and headed out promptly at 3 p.m. to stand in line over at Michaels only to find that there wasn't a line... well, why the heck not? Then I checked out their black Friday ads (that actually began on Thursday) and discovered that EVERYTHING cool and worth waiting in a line for was marked "EXCLUDED" in ultra fine print on their Black Friday ad! And the "great deal" they had for Cricut cartridges were easily $15-$20 higher than what you can get them for everyday on Ebay. Finally, when they DID open their door at 4:30 p.m. the Ott Light they advertised (one of the VERY FEW items that was actually a great Black Friday deal) wasn't even in stock.... bait and switch much? Oh, this wasn't going good. Note to self: Michaels might be one to skip next year.

Next, it was off to Walmart at around 9 p.m. to wait in line for the incredible deals that would be "released" at 12:01... and there WERE some INCREDIBLE DEALS!!! I was there, and STARTED the line for the Cricut Lite cartridges that were going for $20. I got FIVE lite cartridges: Twinkle Toes, Inspired Heart, Slumber Party, Handyman and Celebrations with Flourish! HOW great was that?!? After that, I headed over to Sears for their opening, then Target for their opening and finally Office Max for their opening.... WHEW! What a Black Friday!!! Now for the sadness.... I MISSED THE JOANN'S SALE!!! I moved a few months back and forgot to change my address to receive their fliers in the mail and never received their sale information!!!! I CANNOT believe that I missed the opportunity to get my hands on the Picturesque cartridge for $28!!! I'm so sad that I missed it, but if there's one thing I've learned from my previous experience of the Black Friday festivities is that there WILL be the sale item casualties. Whether it be from being number 20 in line for an item where only 19 were stocked or failure to change one's address so the sale is completely missed.... it's sad, but it happens. I mean, I DID managed to get most of my holiday shopping finished and some scrappy staples snagged at ridiculously low prices! But still, missing that cartridge brings a little tear to my eye....

SO NEXT YEAR..... I'm gonna get me a buddy! Tag-team shopping!!! And we'll dress in matching clothes for easy recognition while in the throws of the Black Friday madness. We'll synchronize our watches and wear walkie talkies with headsets for constant communication. We will work on stealthy infiltration to get the "inside scoop" of next year's upcoming sales and will spend the entire year training for this one day (actually, now it's two days) sale event.... I'm talking rigorous gym time and raw egg breakfasts people!!! Who's in? I will be accepting applications immediately! I wanna get started as soon as possible so we are ready for the 2011 Black Friday!!! ;) LOL!