abentley

This should liven things up a bit!

Woohoo! I can't believe I won! Congrats to all the other winners!

My tip is to not take it so seriously that some one gets hurt. I go every year, and LOVE to shop and enjoy the experience. With that being said I have never "not gotten" something on my list that was that important. Enjoy the experiences with he other shoppers!

25 years now! I will celebrate my 10 year anniversary at gottadeal as well! They are 2 of my favorite things! Amazing that in 10 years I have never won a tshirt! .

Harbor freight 10-16........

Someone i work with told me about his favorite one through out the years: a box of chocolates...... Each one with a bite eaten out of it! Made me cringe and laugh, and i might do it next time! He also recalled a " california snowman". A ziplock bag of water with a couple button for eyes and such.

The news doesn't surprise me as I realized 2 things. There are only so many t.v.'s/computers/tablets a household needs, and I must be getting old because I now see a pattern of the same things being offered every year! LOL! The other thing I think on everyone's mind is the economy with the new healthcare issues looming.

Family deaths and growing kids are making an impact on me as well. I am lucky enough to be crazy busy in life with a lot of great things, and work in a school. That place makes me so very happy! I know Christmas will be bittersweet for me as my family has forever been changed with2 people gone this year. I am not looking forward to that feeling, as it brings tears to my eyes even typing this. One loss in particular will be the hardest, as I think she was my Santa and Christmas spirit and joy for my entire life.

I preorderd ps4 and and considering the xbox one. 2 teen boys make my list a little boring!

Well now that a couple of days have passed....i am totally doing a holiday make over next year. I really tried to see what " brought me the most joy" this year. Sad to say it wasn't purchasing or giving gifts to certain people, yet others sent me over the moon! I think my list should start to reflect it. I have joked about the "ungratefuls" and i cannot figure out why i bother. No more "equal" moneys being spent on family members, just because you are a member. Nope! It is going to be based on favoritism i guess from here on out! If we don't see you or hear from you 364 days a year UNTIL you expect a gift.....to dang bad!

I have finally prepared all the gift baskets, neighbor gifts, friends, and gotten 90% delivered. All the kids are delivered, and others shipped. Now i am stratigizing for next year....how to domit better and wondering how others lists change from year to year. Do you continue to give gifts to people if: Your paths never cross anymore? You never recieve a gift from them? ( like my own mother, not just friends) Do your purchases get bigger or more expensive every year? Do you scale down to just cards some years? I hate the thought of sending gift cards, but i need to redo our plan for next year! Ay suggestions are welcome! Yes, i do have quite a few of the " ungratefulls" on our list, and i honestly donot know what to do.

I remember getting a letter from santa when i was 4 along with a gift i didn't ask for....a cassette player. My next vivid memory is going to mass with my neighbors and coming home while parents were setting gifts out, and being told the reality of the guy in the red suit. I have spent too many Christmas eves in hotels due to parents fighting!lol! I guess that is why i LoVE the holidays now, i can make it magical for my family.

I am so sorry you are going thru all of this. My season is a low one as well. My 2010 car died 2 days ago, and i had to buy another. That night my grandmother fell and broke her back and during a cat scan they found a large tumor in her lung. She has made it thru surgery for her back, but everything else is unclear. My mother wants me to fly out immediatley, but i am still a mom to 2 teenage boys, as my dh works out of town. Thanksgiving will quiet as well as our older children wont be home either and my ds15 wants hamburgers every night for dinner INCLUDING Thanksgiving. I am definatley grateful for all we do have, and will enjoy the weekend.

Something that concerns me is the lack of sleeping hours will make crowds meaner and crazier.hoenstly if i go it could end up being 36 hours with out sleep by the time i cook AND show up for all the sales. I think it will be a crazier year, some bad incidents will happen and blamed on the lengthy duration of sales. I like it being spread out, just not on Thursday. I think they sectioned the sales for crowd control issues, but what if we want things from all of them! Lol!

So Brad.....do you have it already? Are you teasing us while you wait for the "green light" from Walmart? I have always wondered when you actually got it last year.

We can hope! I predict not though. I am still hopeful for any news on " super Saturday" and they seem to be dragging everything out!

my favorite thing about BF is people watching! I love it when I see newer parents get their hands on the toys they wanted! I guess my kids are older and I miss that excitement.

I bought cards this last weekend and will be actually filling them out and preparing to send in some of my " wait time" while i am waiting for kids to be finished from sport activities. I am so excited about them!

I tend to shop all year, but try to save some for this time of year. I will order a few items as i see them, but tend to spread out my shopping all season. This year, i am feeling the urge just to go get it all done( what i know i want) and pick up anything i need later. I am worried about time and my crazy busy life and not feeling the excitement if i am stressed for time and shopping oppertunity! Of course i am ready to put up my tree as well for those reasons! How do you shop? Planned and organized or as oppertunities arise?

Another harbor freight on 10/11

I took my boys last year. They were 13 & 14. The 14 yo went with his 24yo sister to appliances, the 13yo stayed right next to near video games. He ended up with a black eye and i almost got knocked into the cooler( the video games were next to cream cheese!!). He is a very lean muscular well built5'11" boy. Notaggressive, not timid, just normal, and he got taken down!! A guy got picked and thrown towards me! This is in a small town that i thought the ladies at the towels and sheets were rough! If anyone does take kids.....please be prepared and not suprised by actions of others. I consider my boys "big" enough to go if they want, but i was freaked ut last year, and it was their first year.

My boys are too old as well! Thankfully we are lucky enough to have a granddaughter! That and shopping for "angel tree" brings the joy right back into shopping!

I told myself taking all the kids/spuses/gf would be their gifts.......WRONG! I have to have gifts to open too! Looks like i will be spending more.

We are taking everyone to Disneyland for the week before Christmas. Flying in my son and his girlfriend, my daughter, husband and my granddaughter. We will arrive a day before, decorate their rooms with a tree, as have gifts for them every day to open. That will be the adult kid gifts this year. The challange is going to be my 2 boys still at home. they have everyhing and i have run out of ideas! Most of the rest of the family i have already purchased or i have ideas for. I really need to think of employee, friend and neighbor gifts too!!

I am about $300 behind on ds13. As far as everyone else goes, we are FINISHED except for DH business partner and stockings. I need to figure out what to get caught up on for my son quickly before I go nuts!