Lusha121

Bath and Body Works! 20% off, and a free item.... not to mention the B3G3 (or some concoction like that) I have two teenage boys... we go through a lot of soap!

http://www.amazon.com/Terramar-1069-1-Battery-Sock/dp/B00U3CB2SE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1445959305&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+heated+socks Great for people who have to stand in line at the stores (outside) for 12+ hours! In keeping with my theme... again.... I live in west michigan.... we get some of the largest snowfall totals in the US.... Its a thing. Anyways everyone is always jealous of my socks too. yep. heated. with batteries. two little 9 volts, they aren't bulky at all, and keep me super warm sledding, skiing, building an igloo, or digging out the car from the 2 feet that has fallen overnight.

Don't feel bad, the #1 thing on my list is Pj's. and I need new slippers... yeah. NOT exciting thus far.

my first real Black Friday was when I was low man on the totem pole and had to work... 1996 or 97... Witmark. we were right next to a toys r us. One of my best friends worked there. 20-30 people max. The next year I worked at meijer.... the year of the furby. That was just stupid, but I was hooked. I've been doing it every year since then. Its a tradition for my mom and I, and now my sisters and daughter. But I wish it would go back to the good old days........

http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Mens-Bugaglove-Electric-Gloves/dp/B00573RKD0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_468_19?ie=UTF8&dpID=51H6b6RmKQL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1MGMBT8ZFEAWEQ6XJVJZ Because, keeping with the theme... who doesn't need lithium ion heated gloves! I think they are great! and would be a wonderful gift for people who live "in the north", people who have to shovel a driveway, dig out a car etc... and people who live in the south that seem to think 40 degrees is cold. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/710ttDPak0L._SX522_.jpg * Also please note that I hail from the land of "LAKE EFFECT SNOW" which means that sometimes the temperature and overnight snowfall totals can be the SAME number! ie... 14 inches and degrees at the same time. yall can have my address if you want to mail me a pair for christmas... I have a long driveway!

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCHJ060C1-L-Black-Heated-Jacket/dp/B00CIM7YQG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1445604715&sr=8-2&keywords=craftsman+heated+jacket Battery heated Jacket... one of the best gifts I have ever been given! great for hunting, standing in line, sledding etc. Mine is a craftsman, but I like the makita and Dewalt ones as well.... I always stay warm, no matter the weather. Makes 14+ hours in line a simple breeze.........

I get anxiety while driving to the store too... but that's because there are about a gajillion people are out driving around sleep deprived on icy mid west roads. At the store, not not nerves, just adrenaline! I think that's because i never go for small appliances. anywhere near those things and I'd be terrified! Truth is: I love the rush. When 8,000 people are dead silent for 30 seconds and all you hear is the rip of the plastic.... only time i was ever actually nervous was the year a walmart 'temporary employee' threatened to cut me, then i started a near riot. My hands were not near anything, I was waiting nicely. one of us was escorted out of the store, and it wasn't me.

Does it count if I am shopping online while waiting IN line for the B&M to open? oooh... my favorite is shopping online while waiting in the checkout lines If its a must have, I get it in store if i can. heck, a few times for the critical item, I bought it online, then hit the store to try to get it... just in case! I figure my bases are covered that way! Had to do that with some skylanders thing last year, and thank goodness I did! The online order was cancelled, but i got that kit in my hands at the store!

Worst gift i've ever given was apparently a computer.... DD12 (at the time) wanted a computer in her room.. family of 6 one income. Couldn't get her a brand new fancy machine, but my mom works at a hospital and they were upgrading everyone's systems and were selling their old ones (less than a year old!!!) for $50! with lcd monitor and everything! Here I thought i scored big time! nope, she got angry at me and cried for the rest of the day because it wasn't a laptop. Incidentally, that was the year she learned the value of a dollar earned and now has to go BF shopping with me! Worst gift I've ever gotten wasn't "bad" but the whole situation was. I acknowledge the effort, love and thought. I was 6 mos into my 3d pregnancy in 3 years (read low self esteem and over emotional) I needed new underpants. Hubby tried so hard. he got me "sexy" patterned underpants! Unfortunately he did not know that women's underpants sizing is NOT the same as pants sizing... Bring on the size 16 underoos! The whole family could have gotten into them... at the same time. * note to all the men out there, if you're not going to get the size exact... buy the tops to big and the bottoms too small! best gift I've ever gotten... either the computer I am typing on right now, or the year my mom quit buying us stupid random crap she finds on clearance and just got us a gift certificate to the butcher shop down the road!!! Not that I don't appreciate the randomness, or the fact that atleast she got it on sale, but i really don't need a cupcake maker, and icee thingy, popcorn maker (i do have a microwave, and also... I can't eat popcorn. it makes me sick) a cotton candy maker, ONE candle stick, chipped dishes, christmas place settings that were on sale because all the cups were broken etc. ok quit laughing at my completely dysfunctional family! We put the FUN in DysFUNctional!

oh yeah, I buy for myself. Kitchen bath/ home gifts usually. I look at it as helping the hubby out! an extra gift if you will... LOL. He doesn't have to stress and I get what I want. My kids are older "teens-ish" and are with me shopping now. If I look at something that I like, that is a GREAT deal and put it back, they get mad, throw it in the cart and say "well I guess i'm getting you THAT for christmas. I get to wrap it and you can't have it until then". They have come to the age that they have figured out that I won't do for myself, before they are taken care of. ..It is an ongoing argument in our house. Mom "you need to get yourself SOMETHING" good kids.

I honestly haven't run into too many rudies. On the occasion that I do, I just smile, laugh, joke and continue to be as happy as I can be just to make them feel like crap! My family has a different opinion though. They say people are generally kind to me because of "that crazed look in your eye" you know the one... the "She has been off medication for a week and you might not want to get too close, so just humor her and maybe she won't go bat $h!t crazy today" I'm really fine with either.

#1~ on the next episode of tiny house nation......... #2~ who needs wallpaper, I can just use TV'S! #3~ Why go to Barcelona when you can go to sears! Wait, why am i going to sears?

Worst memory : BF circa 2001 Shopping with my mom on BF... (she is a "browser" UGH! NOT the day lady, not the day). : 2006 ~ the year I took a 'friend' 14 hours in line at best buy for a lap top, freezing rain and her complaining the whole time. then when she didn't get the ticketed item she was waiting for......OMG you woulda thought the world ended. Thanks to the wonderful people in line ahead of us, i was slightly loaded by that time... Hey, I wasn't driving~ and omg her complaining, the weather, the people, the crowds, the items offered, i think even the cement was the wrong color for her that day! I figured out right quick what kind of a person she was and we are no longer friends. Best memory: Honestly i think it was last year!!! although I loathe the Thanksgiving opening the late night opening was cool to be able to bring my two older kids with me and the hubby. DD14 was able to shop the mall and get CRAZY deals with grandmas christmas money... which made her super happy (100 pairs of earrings for 8$) and DS13 was able to get this disney infinity thingy at walmart! They saw the madhouse that is walmart.... realised what I have done for 15 years to give them a spectacular christmas. It kind of changed their perspective of things. Going to be the best memory... Taking all 3 older kids with DH and I this year! It has become a rite of passage now when you turn 13 you are old enough to go black friday shopping! And this one has a job, and has been saving since spring, and is a super couponer and gets even more excited about things when you tell him how much of a deal you got and your savings! BRING ON THE DEALS!

ok, ok I'll bite. My last shirt is starting to get worn as I wear it pretty much everytime i go shopping in november-december, and sometimes for the "black friday in July" just for a laugh... so I need to win a new one, and this years design is kinda super awesome! Old navy. doesn't matter when it will be released since it has been the same ad for the last 4+ years...50% off the whole store, 5$ t's , $14 jeans etc... just a different giveaway. A real date for the next released ad will be on October 24th. Harbor freight. Just because I am super busy that weekend and all the cool stuff happens when I am busy!

Started with meijers on thanksgiving at midnight... we got everything we needed. went home, napped, had steaks instead of turkeys and got ready for the shopping rush. Hit the 6pm @ Walmart by us. It was crowded, but not the insanity that i have witnessed/been a part of in years past. I took my dd 14 and ds13 with me this year and they looked at me like i was crazy! I'd been telling them the horror stories from years past, how to stay safe, not to let go of me, no matter what!!! etc.... there was no need for all that. walked in at 5:40, found the infinity whatever game, grabbed that, some pj's, socks, video game stuff, jeans and were checking out by 6:10. no crazy lines, no fights, no nothing just a typical walmart in 'december'. our best buy had a line, but nothing like in years past. Kinda disappointed LOL! Went to dunhams (next to a target that looked pretty empty) couldnt find one stupid thing in the ad. UGH! went to our mall across the street... busy anchor stores had long checkouts, but no more so than usual. bath and body works was a 5 minute checkout. aero was less than that! payless was empty, debs empty, hollister empty, gap empty..... i think the thanksgiving opening was a total loss for retailers! The busiest store was menards Friday morning. but in and out in less than an hour...with everything that we went in for (last year it was 3 hours just in the checkout line). Sad shopping 'weekend' it just didn't "feel right" this year.

I just can't believe i am going to brave menards on BF for a bathrobe, slippers and heated socks, a dancing frog speaker, dog bone and the meat logs! totally worth a 2 hour checkout? no, but we do it every year! kind of like walmart... i need socks undies and sweat pants... UGH! traditions!

most embarrassing moment? every year! My mother refuses to go BF shopping with me because " you get this crazed look in your eyes, i just don't even want to know you". To be fair.... she is a browser. most memorable? The dazed expression on DH's face after (and i admit... knowing full well what was going to happen) i sent him to get me $2 towels and the $4 blenders etc. at walmart. He had never been bf shopping with me before. To be fair to me though, the year before i spent 10 hours outside @ BB waiting for his laptop. it was sleeting on top of the foot of snow we already had. It was a trial by fire.... he made it out alive, and has went with me every year since, even venturing to go after video games at walmart! ::shudder::

dd9 wants socks, sausages and a wheel of cheese. insane? yeah, slightly.

it depends on your location and how many they get in. Call ahead of time. they can tell you " we will have a minimum of XX per store" and base your time in line, vs. cost off that. go with a friend. one of you sits in line, the other fills the cart! Where I am, 2 am is good enough to be first in line for 6am thanksgiving day. midnight for BIG ticket black friday sales. but then again, I am close to the corporate offices and we have 20 stores within a 30 minute drive.... seem to always have enough.

Big shout out to our football team this year for potentially messing up my black friday shopping! Kinda makes me sad they are so good, and have the potential to go to state championships that saturday. They won their game this weekend and we have a 9 hour bus trip ahead of us on the 22-23d. There is NO WAY i can do 37 hours + awake again this year. I start the real shopping @ 4 am on turkey day, then to hit the 8 pm sales and stay awake to hit the mall, then ride with 78 band kids across the state, nope. you'd see me in a news cast! so I had to start this week. I did pick up some CRAZY deals a few weeks ago at JCP (ALL CLEARANCE WAS MARKED DOWN TO .97 CENTS!!! I just have to sort it) Picked up a brand new colombia coat for DD13 (30$!) a desk for DD8 and some odds and ends at hollister on stupid prices clearance. ds11 and ds12 nothing. zip nada. zilch zero. ps: big thanks to my mom for giving my DD12 MONEY to buy her own gifts and wrap them, then gramma gets to open them to see what she got herself this year, and she is a true BARGAIN shopper like me, so I will be hauling her out with me on black friday to spend it! ok ok, enough ranting. yup. about 10% done and have NO idea when I'll get the rest of it finished.

know the return policy BEFORE purchasing! always ask for a separate gift receipt and put it IN the item right away so you can't lose it, even if it is a gift!

6 am, and it shows everything that is on sale, but when you add to cart... regular price. bastards! oh well, to the store i go i guess.....

Bring on the crazies! Thanksgiving Day will be partly to mostly sunny and mild with temperatures getting close to 60°. Friday will feature partly sunny skies with a few showers possible. Highs will be in the upper 40s although remember that a weather forecast only has to be 50% right 50% of the time to be called accurate,and I live in michigan.. so I'm going with a forecast that looks more like, "90% of stupidity" 5 months of snow amnesia leads to idiots on the road pretending snow is something they have never seen before! it will snow, this is michigan, there will be lake effect. and considering you have either warm or cold and either precipitation or not... hm. I think i got into the wrong field! I needed to be a weather girl!

and can we reverse that question, are giants compatible with original portal and game?

I do every year! Just a small candy cane. but a reminder that not everyone has lost their minds and there is humanity and kindness left in the world.... end of shift can be hard, especially after you have been yelled at for 8+ hours by angry people! With a smile, and a thank you. I've been there, and something as simple as a thank you means a lot.