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I think we've got our slogan for next year's t-shirts!

She's got the sit part down: http://www.olsonnet.com/images/hazel.jpg but she's not good at anything Black Friday-related yet. Hopefully she'll be trained by next year.

OK, exclusively for you club members (and anyone else who reads this thread ), here's this year's BF shirt design. If you've been following this thread the design of this shirt won't be much of a surprise. Front: http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2018_front.png Back: http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2018_back.png Many of you wanted to bring back the classic tagline on the back, so we did that along with a simple "15 years" design on the front. Also, exclusively for club members, you'll also receive a pair of these matching zipper pouches: http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2018_zipper.png Use them to store money, cards, tech accessories - whatever you can think of. You'll each get two of these and they won't be available anywhere else. I'll open up orders if you want additional shirts on Monday.

In my honest opinion, the "adult" children are grown, so the fact that they get any gifts @ all should be appreciated!!!! Especially the one that has children of their own, because in my house they would get more than the parents. Now, don't get me wrong because I still buy my grown children gifts, but I concentrate more on my 15 y/o because he is still a child and most of the things he wants he can't buy on his own. I already made it very clear to my 22 & 21 y/o that they are grown w/ jobs so they can buy themselves just about anything they want, but I will still get them some gifts. Now if my funds allow then yes I will splurge on them and get my oldest the Wii U that he has been wanting (mind you he has a Xbox One on lay-away @ Walmart) and I may get my daughter a new 32" tv for her bedroom (for the apartment that she claims she will have by the new year). But to EXPECT more @ their ages is a bit selfish and spoiled if you ask me... I am sorry if I sound harsh, but you asked for honest. These grown kids have taken the meaning out of Christmas, it's about giving a gift to show love, it's not about how many gifts or how much each gift cost!!!! Who's keeping a running tally?!?!. Sorry, but this really upset me and I would have a few conversations with the older children (and you shouldn't have to) because @ their ages they should be more understanding. Ok, I am done ranting...lol...and to answer your question, no you are not being unreasonable!!!! I usually ask everyone what they want and try to fulfill their lists... I only did that with my youngest this year!!!!

"Is it just me or do the ads suck this year?" When we bring back the t-shirts next year, that's going on the back

One year, my son really wanted an Optimus Prime Transformer toy. We couldn't afford the retail price, but were excited to see it on sale at Toys R Us. It was a madhouse and by the time I got to the correct aisle, there was only one left of the shelf. I quickly started heading towards it when a woman came from behind me and shoved me in to the shelving. I fell down, and she rushed towards the toy. I was so upset, but a young guy had seen what had happened and just before she grabbed the toy, he pulled it off the shelf and held it out of her reach. He walked over to me and asked,"Is this what you were after?" I said yes and he handed it to me, gave her a very mischievous smile, and walked off. She was so mad, but I don't know what made me happier, that my son would get his toy or knowing that, in the midst of chaos, that man cared enough to help out a stranger.

My turn! (I think I may be the last one) My Secret Santa gift arrived today! Yay! Thank you! It was perfect! But not in the way you might guess! And the timing actually worked out perfectly! (I always have preached that miracles are as simple as "God placing the right people (or things) in the right place at the right time". If you have the eyes of faith (doesn't matter which faith) you will see miracles right and left. Any way..here's the story. My poor 83 year old dad, slipped and fell outside the old people's home when he and my mother were returning from a doctor appointment. Off to the hospital they went. Being the dutiful daughter and DPOA I left my hospital (work) and went to theirs. Dad was shaken up and upset and chattering a mile a minute. Of course we had to go through all the CT scans, Xrays, blood work etc. and he was placed in observation. RN took one look and him and how he was acting (he has vascular dementia from his stroke 4 years ago.) and immediately said 'You are staying the night aren't you?" Of course. Well. Poor dad was up all afternoon/evening with tests et al. AND up all night for tests and just simple checks to make sure he was still alert and could squeeze hands etc. 83 year old men do not take well to being up 24 hours straight. So by 6am Dad is becoming more and more confused and very grumpy and fussy. This soon turned into an all out dementia temper tantrum which lasted 5 hours. We could not calm him down or redirect him. He was both physically and emotionally exhausted. I finally told the nurse, "I hate to do this, but can you give him something? We need to hit his reset button somehow." So poor dad got a wee bit of happy juice and was sound asleep quickly. He was rouse-able a few hours later and we were able to finish his tests and be discharged. (Yay! Nothing broken, no bleeding.) Got him home Wednesday night and spent the night at the old people's home as Dad was still very groggy and disoriented. Fast forward to Thursday afternoon, Dad is now awake and back to his old self after 13-14 hours of sleep. I had to leave mom and dad for a few hours because I had to lead the candlelight service at my hospital. When I returned home, my secret santa package had arrived! But I did not know it was my secret santa because it did not say "secret santa". I thought it was an Ebay purchase. I fed the cats and grabbed my package and headed back to the old people's home. I found a very contrite and embarrassed Dad who was trying to apologize right and left. Mom told him how he had been behaving. (He could not remember any of it.) I reassured Dad that I was not upset, that I knew it was his dementia and that everything was OK. But he was still upset. Then I opened my secret santa gift.... it was a snowman night light (a very glittery sparkly one.) And my dad has always had a thing for night lights. (He is afraid of tripping and falling,) His face immediately lit up and he asked "Is that for me??" and he began laughing when I plugged it in. (Totally forgetting how upset he was.) Needless to say, it is now in his bedroom and his guardian angel night light was moved to his bathroom hallway. (And a plain night light was "retired".) He is SO happy (and thus I am happy) with it. Every time I have assisted him with overnight bathroom runs tonight, he points and it and chuckles as I take him back to his bed. It is an absolutely perfect gift and more importantly, it came at just the time. Thank you so very much! Now as, promised.....Mom's Secret Santa gifts from Chief Elf! Two pretty leonx bird bowls for Mom's chocolate. (As you can see, she has already enjoyed almost all of her chocolate.) Sorry, thought the picture was clearer... Mom also got a beautiful pin. Mom has sent a thank you note to Chef Elf. She really enjoyed her Secret Santa surprise! And thank you to my Secret Santa! Because you brought a big smile to dad's face when he needed it!

Y'all.....y'all.....y'all....y'alllllllllllll..................You win. I give in. I give into the Christmas spirit and the hopefulness I seem to have misplaced for far too long and to the belief that good people exist. I bet you can guess what I am about to say.....there was another package waiting for me when I got home from what was a horrible day that included a huge blow up with my father over some serious non-packergurl-responsible nonsense but I digress..... After crying yet again, I decide to open all the packages. There have been 5 packages in all: 1) The first package (see picture #1) had some awesome old school taffy that I can guarantee will be gone before the week is over along with some mini Twix (yummy!) and Russell Stovers as well as a gorgeous watch that I LOVE and gingerbread anti-bacterial hand stuff. I love this all, thank you!!!. 2) The second package was the previously posted package (see post #180 in this thread) that had a box of peppermint tea, Reese's Pieces and Twix - my 2 favs!, and a Starbucks card. This the perfect comfort package, tea and chocolate! Thank you!! 3) Package 3 was from the Chief Elf and had an adorable angel ornament with the word "Believe" on it that is now proudly front and center on my tree (see post #223). It's perfect! Thank you Chief Elf! 4) Package 4 (see picture 2 marked #4) is the package that arrived on Friday and is mentioned in post #224. This package had 2 inflatable Packers tailgating buffet tables!!! OH THE IRONY!!! I was so pumped from the pep rally that I had a party for the game yesterday and I received one of these at my office white elephant exchange last week and I love it and I used it at my party yesterday and I was seriously telling everyone that I needed more of them because one wasn't enough and there sat two more RIGHT UNDER MY TREE!!!! BAHAHAHAHA Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait til next Sunday, it's going to be a Packers buffet heaven in my house! 5) The package that arrived today (see picture 3 marked #5) is the one that broke the dam and spurred the opening of the packages under the tree BUT by the time I got to this one, I felt like I was cheating myself of Christmas morning excitement so when I discovered the gifts were wrapped, I stopped myself. There are 4 tea packages I can't wait to try and there are 5 wrapped packages in all, 3 are Christmas and the 2 with the puppy paper say Happy Birthday. You don't even know what it means to have birthday gifts NOT wrapped in Christmas paper!! I wanted to rip into them but I decided to save them so I will update this next week. THANK YOU!! There are also 2 other people who sent me Christmas cards with Starbucks cards in them to whom I want to say thank you. I also want to say thank you for all of the Christmas cards too. My mantle is very appreciative I've tried to send a card to everyone who has sent me something but if I missed you, please, please, please, please let me know so I can fix that You all have made me feel very special and loved. I feel like I've been blitz attacked into a better mood and a better outlook and it has worked. It's not even about the "things" but the fact that all of you, people who don't even know me, care enough to try and perk me up. It has definitely shined a light on all the not so good people I let hang around - family included - who are life sucking energy drainers that don't deserve the access to me. You all have reminded me that there are positive people still out there and you have shown me that I deserve better, quality people in my life. I cannot say thank you enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love ALL of you and if you EVER need ANYTHING, say the word and it's done. Gottadeal has definitely shown me THIS is what family is about and that family is more than just DNA. Thank you a thousand and one times over. Merry Christmas.

My family surprised me with this quilt on Thanksgiving. It was my sister's idea (Doresia on here), and I guess they all got together to plan the layout and remove the stitches from the tshirts, then my daughter sewed it. I had no idea and was pretty excited about it .

Happy December, all! Had the company Christmas party Saturday night, so got all dressed up & had a great time. Proud to say I am SEVEN dress sizes down from where I was last year. Still have a ways to go, but making good progress. [emoji16][emoji106]

Best Black Friday memory. . .when Black Friday was actually FRIDAY

The end of February brought me grand baby number 7. I'm so in love with her.

You may remember that we didn't give away t-shirts last year due to some unforeseen events that took up much of my time. This year we will be giving away some fun t-shirts on a limited basis. Introducing this year's Black Friday t-shirt: This year's shirt pokes fun at the common sentiment that Black Friday has passed it's usefulness and has nods to some of the stores we've lost along the way since GottaDEAL first started covering Black Friday. The shirts will be given away in our traditional forum contests so be on the lookout for the first contest in the next week or two but know that they will be extremely limited compared to past years, so be sure to enter every contest that pops up if you want the best chance of winning one.

Happy February! My daughter just won a silver medal this morning in the Empire State Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, NY. The weather is brutal, with the wind chill currently around -40 degrees. The race was originally supposed to be tomorrow morning, but was moved to today, because tomorrow's wind chill will be worse. She is currently an athlete on the USA Luge Jr. National Development Team.

Update on the BF survival kits we'll be giving away this year in lieu (kind of) of t-shirts. They'll all be full of GD merch items (details to come) and as of now, approximately 1 out of every 5 will contain either a gift card ranging in value from $5 to $100 (as of now we have Amazon, Walmart & Target included) or a certificate for one of the ultra limited edition BF t-shirts. I'm going to try to get more gift cards, shirts and possibly other "premium" items over the next few months so those odds should be a little better by the time we actually start giving them away. So winning one will be your first thrill and then opening it up to see if you were one of the lucky ones to win something extra will be another.

46 of 49 have posted so far this month

Here’s my most recent side-by-sides. Left is mid-January (at the beginning), right was about a week ago. [bathroom selfies at work are easiest for me to do... lol] Sent from my iPhone using GottaDEAL

Listen folks, take it upon yourself to make BF more enjoyable. I might be getting old and sentimental, but I plan to do just that this year. In fact, 2016 has been a back to basics adventure for me and I am LOVING it! Dumped Netflix and Prime. Relying on an antenna for television. Turning off the computer after supper. Getting to bed a little earlier. Shopping locally -- Kohls, Staples, Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buy No more warehouse stores -- thank you Aldis for freeing me of bulk purchasesI AM going out to shop on Black Friday and the Farmer's Almanac is predicting snow! I'm taking my youngest (he doesn't know this) and we are going to stand in line to get one thing to remember. Then we are going to have breakfast and shop. I am going to shop at least four times between BF and Christmas Eve. I may not buy anything, but I want to take in the atmosphere, frenzy. I am assembling a collection of Christmas songs and audio books to listen to as I drive around. Merry Christmas!

These ads are given to mods to post. They dont chose to post them with the watermarks. Im very thankful for this(free) site that even takes the time to post ads for us. if you have clearer ads for us to look at feel free to submit them. Given the fact all the hard work that goes into this site im happy to view what ever ads are posted.

- stores having more than one "Black Friday sale" (especially when they take place on a random Thursday in October) - stores no longer having paper ads (or in some cases no digital ads either)

Found this in my mailbox today didn’t think we had one this year

Christmas was never better than when our kids were young. I never slept Christmas Eve -- assembling this, wrapping that, and drinking...Christmas cheer. My kids are grown, my wife has passed, and things are a lot different. I have a lot of the things I used to stand in line for. I don't need much at all. I rarely stand in line. Despite all of this, I am 'into it' more this year than I have been in a decade. I can't explain it, but I will be in the stores even if I don't have a shopping list. I content myself to vicariously share in the joy of young families. Christmas cheer is not achieved at the cash register. If you are not enjoying BF as a consumer, shut off your computer and walk around the stores. Enjoy the decorations. Watch the kids with Santa. Remember how it was. Clicking stuff on a computer is not the same as shopping at a B&M. Get out and enjoy the holidays with other people.

Hey everyone, and welcome to the unofficial start of the 2019 Black Friday season here on the site. We're still likely more than a month away from the first ads leaking but as always we're getting a head start on opening up the forums and we encourage you to start posting right away (posts you make now will count towards the soon-to-be-announced annual Black Friday forum contest). We're going try something new with how the forums are organized this year, and that is, well... less organization. The main change you'll notice is that we're not going to create the individual store sub-forums this year. They just weren't getting enough threads in them to necessitate dedicated sub-forums. So any topic about a specific store can just be posted in this main BF forum this year. We'll still have dedicated threads for each store's posted ad in the "Posted Black Friday Ads" forum. We're also not going to create the "official" product threads this year for things like TVs, video games, laptops, etc. Some of those threads got so big and had multiple "mini threads" of conversation going on at once so it might be better to just create individual threads about different topics relating to those products. It should also help if you need questions answered or recommendations about certain products because more people will see your exact request/topic when it is it's own thread with a descriptive title and isn't buried in a master thread that many people don't bother checking that often. As I said this is a trial and we'll see how it goes. If nobody likes it we can always go back to how things were for 2020 but this should give you fewer individual sub-forums to check each time you visit the forum and should hopefully spark more discussion overall on the board by giving you more freedom as to what can be posted in this main BF forum which tends to get the most views each day. As always we welcome your comments and suggestions about these changes and anything else. Feel free to reply or PM me directly

Update: It's now December 1st and the contest is closed to new entrants (so trying to sneak in with a post now won't work ) As of the end of November there are 71 members still eligible to win a shirt.

I know some of you look forward to this each year, haha. Just got (via email) the Walmart legal letter. The physical copy should be here any day now as well. Black Friday season has officially started

SS GIFT RECEIVED! THANK YOU SS! [[[[ ]]]] Actually it's Reinholt1 posting on behalf of my 84 yr old mom. When I stopped by today, mom met me with the box in hand saying "This just arrived, who is it from?" I pointed to the "SS" in the return address and said "It's your Secret Santa". At that, her face lit up and she said "Oh Boy! Oh Boy! Oh Boy! I am opening it NOW!!!" and she turned and ran back into her building and that was the last I saw of her. 20 minutes later she calls me on the phone: "Do you want to know what I got?? I got CHOCOLATE!" Boy you sure made Mom's day! She's happy. (She's probably eaten it all by now too.) Mom also said that she received a mug with a purple design that matches her new jacket. (Mom has gotten into some of her Christmas presents already...::sigh:: She is opening one every day, advent calendar style, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (And if she doesn't like me telling everyone, then she needs to learn how to write her own dumb posts! ::ducking out of mom's reach very quickly: ) Mom also found 2 knit summer shirts in her box that she is very happy with...one is a bright solid green which she says she can't wait for St. Patrick's Day to wear. ("You can't find sold green shirts with this kind of green in March. I can't wait to wear it.") and a summery white shirt with a bright blue and yellow design with flecks of black. Mom says she will "wear it with black pants to make the black flecks pop right out." I know Mom is happy with them because she is already matching them up with pants and deciding when she can wear them! I'll post pictures after I go over and take them. (Well, as I said, I think that small box of Russell Stover chocolates is gone by now so I think I missed that photo!) Thank you very much Secret Santa...Reinholt1sMom is very happy with her surprises!

Y'all, I cleaned up! There were several gifts in the box, so I thought I'd open 1 every couple days. WELL, with every package I got more excited and had to open another until before I knew it I had devoured it all. OMG, I love it all! Especially the kitchen towel that says "I just want to bake stuff & listen to Christmas music". That is so me! I also got my favorite body lotion, some lavender bath bombs, a super cute snowman tray, some icing spatulas, a "Cookies for Santa" cake scraper with measurement conversions on the back, a notepad and pen, some peppermint print baking cups, a $10 Sonic card, and some fluffy OU socks (Boomer Sooner!). Santa, I am just blown away by your generosity. Thank you so much!

I've been planning on getting new totes made with the new logo so maybe that's what we'll do for next year's club. Either way, I'll start next year's club thread in a few days. Let all the people who leave after BF and CM leave and then we'll start

I am confused ? This is YOUR house. You set the rules no matter who they are. I have family members that curse, smoke and drink., It is not allowed on MY property, and will not cross my threshold. I make sure everyone understands and have no problem asking them to leave or helping them out the door. This is your sanctuary and know one should disrespect it. Your husband should address it as you come first and it is his family. You deserve to be happy and enjoy the holidays. If they can not abide then more food for you....... Sorry if I was a little to direct but I got worked up just reading your post.

Don't be surprised if at least 2 of Walmart, Target and Best Buy (and maybe all 3) are out by the time you wake up Tuesday morning. Tomorrow could be veryyyy busy.

Hello Everyone! I am here and I am back. The Black Friday webcasts will be back this year. It looks like we will start in late Oct/Early Nov. I will create a line up for everyone and post it. The reason I have not been on until now is I have been trying to wrap up projects so I can focus on BF, the webcasts and the jobs Brad has me do for him. Also I was in a very serious relationship that ended and or is up in the air so I took time off to find myself and deal with that. Anyhow life is good and I cant wait to be back in the saddle. Have any questions or ideas let me know and post them here.

I say this every year...but my best deal was my hubby . Was kinda shoved with the crowd into him in the middle of the madness at Walmart in 1997. (I will have to say we knew each other in jr high, but he moved out of state in high school and we had not seen each other for roughly 7-8 yrs.) I went to go say I'm sorry and was ready to move on to my doorbusters. Instead, I stopped to chat for a few minutes as best as possible. We had a connection in the middle of the opening mayhem and I looked him up in the phone book that night and called him. We've been together ever since.

It's looking more and more like this year's Black Friday will not look anything like anything we've experienced before. Most stores will be closed on Thanksgiving and it's doubtful we'll have the massive one-day sales with long lines and huge groups of shoppers. So rather than create new t-shirts which you might not even be able to wear on Black Friday, we're going to do something different this year. This year we are giving away GottaDEAL Mystery Shirt Prize Packs through our contests here on the forum and on social media (including our Discord server). These Mystery Shirt Prize Packs will each contain around 10-12 items including at least one "vintage" GottaDEAL or Black Friday t-shirt! I went into the archives and found nearly 40 different GD merch items from the past 15 years that found their way into these boxes. Besides the guaranteed t-shirt, all boxes are also guaranteed to contain a reusable GottaDEAL grocery shopping bag. Many boxes also include baseball caps, winter beanies, backpacks or other vintage GD swag. A few even contain one of the rare orange 2019 Black Friday shirts from last year. The GD warehouse was completely emptied to create these boxes as I crammed as much stuff as I could into each box. And if that weren't enough, one lucky box contains a $25 Amazon gift card and two lucky boxes each contain a $20 cash prize! T-shirt sizes range from medium to 3XL with a good number of each size available to start with. You will be able to specify your size preferences and those will be first come, first served so the first winners will have the best size selection. I had enough items to create 50 of these special prize packs so these will be more limited than our normal t-shirt and other giveaways. They also will obviously have a higher value than our usual prizes because of the sheer number and quality of items included. I know many of you will be disappointed that we're not doing new shirts again this year, but nothing this year has gone according to plan. I had a great design that I was going to use this year but it would be better saved for a more "normal" year. I'm going to try to supplement these giveaways with other fun contests on the forum as well for gift cards and other prizes so stay tuned. Look for the first mystery prize pack contest thread in the coming weeks.

Maybe I should look into getting GD snowglobes made for next year. Bring back the tradition in some way at least.

Happy July everybody! Counting days till I’m next at a race track (31). Missing my track family but enjoying the summer. Considering a trip to Cedar Point this year - now that I’m no longer concerned about fitting in the seats well (this was my reality until I got serious about getting healthy early last year), I figure it’s high time to indulge my love of roller coasters again. After all, it’s only been 20 years since I was last there (yes, really! Where did that time go???). Some updates on my journey: - The scale readings are still trending downward but more slowly these days. No surprise, since I’m down to the last 45-50 lbs that need to leave. - I’ve been doing more working out (both strength and cardio) to build lean muscle. Another reason the scale isn’t dropping faster. Body composition changes over just straight weight loss. - I’ve learned I don’t love running in the heat but I do love the way I feel afterward, especially when I jump into that nice refreshing shower. Body basically is telling me to keep after it. Latest “before and after” side-by-sides (Jan 12 2018 L, July 3 2019 R): Hope all of you are well! [emoji4]

Found a box on my doorstep today. I beleive I recognise the address so it must be my Secret Santa! Thank you! Thank you! (I do believe I know who you are Secret Santa! This will be exciting!) I will be waiting to open mine on Christmas. Reveived my last item today for my secret santa box. So I will be wrapping mom and mine gifts this week and hope to have them in the mail by Saturday. Our Christmas cards all went out over the weekend. On the Christmas card note: My mom (Reinholt1sMom) is having so much fun with all the Christmas cards. She is saying things like: "What beautiful cards!, Such a nice bunch of people!, Oh this card is more beautiful then the last!" She is hanging them all up around a door frame as part of her holiday decorations. She takes note at where they all come from and is thrilled with all the different states they are coming from. (I think she wants 50 cards next year - one from each state!! BoPeep! You had better start recruiting for that now! ) At 88 (and still living independently) Mom hardly gets any cards anymore. Most everyone she used to exchange cards with has passed or they are just not able to send cards any longer. I cannot express how much fun receiving these cards has been for my mom. Having Christmas cards out as part of the holiday decorations goes back decades for my mom. Having a few cards show up addressed to her just brightens her holidays. I really do appreciate our little group here! Thank you to all!

What a crazy month it’s been! My Christmas lists got bigger...using DNA , I found my biological parents! My bio mom has passed away but I have 2 half-sisters from her and my biological father is still alive. He didn’t know I even existed so we have been getting to know each other. I have 1 half-sister from him. So long story short...I started 2018 as an orphaned only child and now I have a father again along with 3 sisters, a step mom, 2 nieces, a nephew and aunts, uncles and cousins! Sent from my iPad using GottaDEAL

IMPORTANT T-SHIRT UPDATE! OK, going to get a jump start on things for the t-shirts. Assuming you are still in the club, send me a PM with the subject T-Shirt Club and include your choice of size (small through 4XL) and your mailing address. I'll start a list and assuming you all post in September, October and November (or win another contest before then) you'll get your shirt. Sizes are first-come first-serve. I'm doing this early so I know the quantities of each size I'll have left for giveaway and selling and if I need to order more of a certain size.

Hello Everyone! I just logged onto GD a few days ago and saw this great thread about the webcast. You and Brad have been very supportive of me and the webcast so I thought I would write this post and explain my situation. The last 12 months has had its ups and downs. As I said in the last webcast when Black Friday season started last year the relationship and engagement I was in ended mid-summer of 2015. I really did not get over it until recently when a small army of Indian aunties and uncles gave me a lot of great advice on the situation. Other things that have happened is my business (Selig Polyscope Co) is growing and has gotten into digital projection. Other things have happened like my good friend being ran over and killed at a film festival. The big situation that is holding me back is both of my parents fell ill and were in the hospital over the last few months. My dad has cancer surgery and had some setbacks. He is expected to recover fully but it will take some time. My mom had some neurological issues and had to be in the hospital as well. Both are living with me since they are fall prone. With taking care of them and working I just cant put the 1000% time into a weekly webcast. It takes about 10 hours a week to prepare for one. This includes reading the message boards, studying the ads, reading the news wires, reading other BF sites and such. If someone wants to take up the webcasts please do so and support them 10000% like you have done for me. I am not done with BF and will be back next year. I may do one big webcast in Nov if no one else picks up the torch. Thank you for the kind posts on here and the kind Facebook messages that some of you have sent. Dev

Yep, Walmart came Saturday and Sam's Club (from the same lawyer) came yesterday. They are both hanging on my fridge with pride

As an added bonus, several of the prize shirts will contain Amazon.com gift card codes in various amounts, so check your package closely

Now THIS is what Christmas is about. THIS is what keeps me coming back for these exchanges, Everyone is so sweet, thoughtful, and giving. Strangers but yet family. Gottadeal is just the best pick me up.

Just hoodies this year. Info coming in the next week or two. Next year is the site's 20th year so there will be more kinds of merch for that milestone

46 of 49 members have posted for October so far I'm probably going to send out your shirts this month just to get them out of the house, so you'll be on the honor system when it comes to posting in here in November

Halloween is my favorite holiday! We will add pumpkins in a couple weeks after a trip to the pumpkin farm.

This is going to sound cliche, and not really going to be helpful to you, but I just want to be thought of. My favorite gift last year was one I didn't get. My daughter in law took the time to go online and look up weighted blankets. I would love to have one, and she knows it, and she did some research. Now, it turned out she couldn't find one she could afford. But the fact that she put thought into it made me cry. I honestly don't even remember what I ended up getting from them, but I'll always remember that she thought of me. I raised (and spoiled) 2 boys, and I just never get that out of any of them.

Let's see if we can get 46 likes on this!

Happy September! My favorite orchard opened for the season on Saturday and I went straight out there for apples and fresh orchard doughnuts. I hit at just the right time, as the ones I got were STILL WARM! YUMMMMMM!!! Well worth saving my "cheat" for. Update on my weight loss progress - I am down SIX pant sizes since I started in mid-January and I am halfway to what my doctor and I have agreed should be my goal weight. Feeling great and finding the longer I'm doing this, the easier it's getting (it's becoming routine) and the more ways I'm finding to make different things and truly enjoy my food even more than I did when I was eating all the junk I thought I loved. I'll post up a side by side set of pictures when I get a chance a little later. For now, off to a "Monday" morning meeting.

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The biggest thing that I'm getting tired of is all of the complaining about the Thanksgiving sales. I understand that people don't want to have to work on Thanksgiving, and I don't either, but my job requires me to so I do it. We are still able to have a nice family day together, it just may not be on Thanksgiving day itself. That doesn't really matter to me as long as we all get together at some point over the holiday weekend. When I decided to do the type of work that I do, I understood that it would require me to work holidays. It's just part of my responsibilities. That being said, I also understand that some people don't want to shop on Thanksgiving. That's ok too. But the shaming of people who DO decide to go out shopping on Thanksgiving really needs to stop. I'm so over all of the negativity. For a lot of us, this is a fun time of year and a tradition that people share with family or friends. I just hope it stays that way!