BF in Iowa

After the very informative Perimeter Perusing thread, I drove the 35 miles to the nearest SuperTarget (the town where I live has just a tiny Target) and found some great deals: the overstuffed backrest for $10.XX in hot pink, a "tavern wench" camisole for my daughter's Shakespeare play costume and patterened, rough doormats for $2.48 each - and they had stacks of these things (including far too many of the modern art ones with "Go Away" written)!! Sadly, they did not have any of the bargain pairs of Clorox wipes. Winter germs are just around the corner! The extra nice part is that the cashier put my purchases in the big, dark red "peek proof" sacks - so they are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. :)

12/24 - quick final tidy of the house, wrap some presents with the kids to get them in the spirit, quick trip to the mall to sit and watch the frantic men looking to buy gifts for their wives ( ), simple supper (homemade soup), then drive to see the lights/favorite DVD (Grinch or Hooves of Fire) then open 1 family present (traditionally new PJs for the kids), their favorite Christmas book storytime (Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree), then kids to bed and time in front of the fireplace with hubby.

Store gifts in the canoe hanging from the garage ceiling, boxes marked "old FHS yearbooks" or "Dad's computer books" (boring items; kids will never think to look there). The back of the front hall closet is also useful - push them way back there and be sure that the coats hang in front!

A coworker had this problem last year; her job is secure, but she has three high-needs sons and an unemployed husband who was very down-in-the-dumps. A friend and I bought misc. $10-25 gift certificates for Pizza Hut, grocery store, drug store, and fast food restaurants. We figured they could buy necessary basics, and either enjoy family meals so the kids wouldn't realize the severity of the family's financial situation or, if necessary, the kids could give the gift cards to friends as presents. Then I got her a $200 gift card to Target so she could put something under the tree for her own sons and husband. I think it helped their family have a more normal Christmas which helped lower her stress level. I made sure she had these anonymous gifts from the elves about 2 weeks before the holiday. It was a stretch to spend the money that I did --- but I also felt there was no better recipient than her and her family. My kids may think they don't have enough Polly Pocket and board games, but they really do.

I, too, find some of my best deals at Mendards - but those nasty folks who choose not to wait in line with a cart then try to cut in at the front doors when the front doors open, well, I don't think they play fair!

Wednesday's Des Moines Register (newspaper) features an article about a wayward 8-point buck (a deer) that wandered through the automatic doors into the West Des Moines SuperTarget store. It was successfully chased out. An employee quipped that it must have known that day was "Reindeer Run Day," which was partially-explained as being the day that "head honchos" inspect the store's holiday decorations. What other types of tasks do store managers and staff do in the days preceeding Black Friday, tasks we shoppers often do not know about?