mgmckny

I will do more online, unless something really awesome is in an ad. I don't need any big items at this point. I may go to Target though for old times sake, don't know yet...

I remember having to open the store I managed in a mall at 8am and nobody would be around and my employees would take turns going for the freebies from the big stores. Sometimes we even went back later in the morning and got a second round of them... We wouldn't even see customers before 10 am in the rest of the mall and the big stores weren't really busy either. I even stopped at KMART one year for wrapping paper and their giveaways and still when I got to work, the parking lot was empty! When I left retail in 1995, I started doing the Target giveaways and would meet up with the same people from across the border in Georgia each year until Target quit doing the nice goodie bags...

Right now in the Online Deals section of the forum, there is a thread about a $99.99 refurbished Zune (black only). I ordered 2 last night to go with the 2 new ones I got from Woot for 129.99ea a couple of weeks ago. I'm almost done with the big stuff!!! Yea

My dad used to make a variation of this for parties using dried beef (comes in jars) and he would shape it into a candy cane shape and use pimientos as stripes on it. You chop the dried beef and mix it into the softened cream cheese and horseradish. Then he used crackers around it, never any leftovers for us kids! Rats!

When the boys were little, I had outfits for them every year. I tried to find a Christmas shirt that would survive little boys... LOL. Now, I'm haapy if every one is clean and reasonably neat!!! I still like Christmas shirts but I settle for a red tshirt a lot.

My kind of person!!! The only real difference is that I usually do cinnamon rolls at breakfast, but now that the boys are older I want to make sausage balls again for breakfast (used to do this all through the holidays for weekends, days off, etc.).

Sorry, my kids know that I have strong feelings about some things and they would be disappointed if I supported someone elses greed and unethical behavior. We discuss the fact that "things" are just that and and that there are more important things in life. My oldest has already stood in line to have people cut in and the very items we stood in line for were not available for us because some people were raised without any decent value system.

THe Kodak v803 is a nice camera, I have it and like it. (2nd kodak, the first works great, just wanted a purple camera to be different.). ANd you don't have to use the dock to charge it, it has an ac adaptor, so I can keep both charged. My first camera was a silver one but I went to skinit.com and got a pink skin for it so it's pink and silver now.

Sorry, I say unethical because there are people that did come early and camp out and still weren't close enough to the front to get a ticket for something they did want. If you don't want the item and are lucky enough to be in the group that is offered a ticket- don't take it.

I have a list, especially for the boys and I tend to stay pretty close but I still deviate if I see something special. My mother and mil both say "don't get me anything" but would be extremely hurt if I didn't. So I usually wait for the ads for them-- and if something doesn't hit me, I fall back on movie passes and restaurant gift cards, especially for my mil. She does lunch and a movie with friends a lot.... If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to allow myself one big BF blowout....

Count me ready! I check the board at least 2 times a day, more on weekends.... LOL I have no life! And I don't even have a big item left to buy (got my Zunes that were the biggest thing on the list this year at a great price! Woot Woot!). But I love the build up and the excitement.

I love the smell of cookies baking, hot cocoa, good hot coffee, the lights, the packages. I like to go out driving and looking at the lights. My MIL can't drive at night anymore so we picked her up last year and went out a few days before Christmas. I got Starbucks for me (no one else wanted it and I know, in NE Florida it's not really cold, but I can dream...) and had the radio on low on a station w/ 24 hour Christmas music. We had a blast and I'm already planning another tour of the city!

My brothers and I coordinate for Black Friday. My youngest one takes my mother down to my middle brother's house in the Orlando area and so the 2 bros are willing to hit stores down there (they like bargains too). ANd my oldest brother is in St Augustine so he will go out, not as willing to get out of bed, but his Walmart doesn't seem to get the same traffic as Jax or Orlando. And I usually pick up the presents that my MIL gives my boys so I do her shopping every year now.

It depends on what I need and what's in the ads. Last year I didn't do Best Buy so I really didn't have to spend my night outdoors. I waited outside a Walgreens for about 15 minutes with some other people and then went to another Walgreens (m&m's for goody bags...) and then I did Harbor Freight for my brother (the lines inside were bad, but I was the only woman shopping and chivalry is not dead in the south) and then another Walgreens on the drive home. My brothers picked up my stuff in Staples for me. THe rest I had done online or came home and completed online.

I started BF shopping in the 80's-- not sure exactly what year. THe big stores opened before the smaller stores in the mall where I worked and I would go get the giveaways from them before opening my own store. I know I went to my local KMART for wrapping paper and some other things 1 year as well... But my first exclusive year to do the BF shopping was 1995-- my first year out of the retail rat race. I was at Target with my 1 yr old son in his stroller, sent my husband to Toys R Us for stuff there as they opened at the same time. It was the last time he did any BF shopping, the coward!

Ridelo, where were you the 15 years I spent in retail!!! I would have loved a customer that handed me a candy cane or even wasn't grumpy after 6am on BF. And that's in the days before everyone camped out all night...

The rule is, if you don't believe, you don't receive. I still believe....

I promise to do the hinky pinky in my luxurious shirt while I drink coffee under the monkeyshines Black Friday. ****** That would be a gotta deal shirt of course.

Ads, I need ads. I'm ready but not ready at the same time! LOL

Small stuff usually ends up in my dresser drawers (most of my clothes end up folded and on a table in the garage, too tired to move them (LOL) and the boys wouldn't think to snoop in my dresser. Plus dh spends most of his day in there because of his disability so they don't get much chance to snoop.. DS10's computer spent 4 months on top of the freezer in the garage in plain site and he never made the association. Too much junk out there I guess!

If you are looking for some inexpensive silver pieces, check out silverjewelryclub.com. My niece has enough earrings and pendants to last a lifetime and they aren't big pieces, nice for that preteen age (although Suzanne is 15 now and still looks for me to send a few pieces). You pay 5.99 for shipping and 4.00 if you want a silver chain for the pendants. I bought 2 apple pendants last week for my ds10's teachers. (with chains, 10.00 each). The only thing is, if you see something you want you need to jump on it, They rotate every 15 min or it sells out.

My oldest is in middle school now and although I would like to do something for his teachers, it hasn't always been feasible (last year he had 8 classes, this year he only has 6). But I usually do something for the elementary teachers. And this year I hope to include at least the PE teacher. She's been there for both boys and we were in high school together! She deserves something special!!!!

Depends on the year, never before early January and one year the tree didn't come down til March (we did take the decorations off, except the lights- it was a pre=lit). Life was really hectic then.

Best-- My oldest son, 12/1/93 Worst--double boiler and ceiling fan 1992--husband still trying to live it down.

I use to take just what fit in the pockets, but now as the wait and lines are longer, I take a fanny pack for the DS lite and MP3 player. I also schlepp a chair, my back's not what it used to be...