wittenlover

I feel this. I have piles of baking to do but the "want to" just isn't there yet. I did, however, put myself on a bit of a clock for at least getting my much-loved peppermint brownies baked - sent out a "peppermint brownie advisory is now in effect" to two of my good buddies that most look forward to these and said they'd be available next week. Basically gave myself a kick in the tail to at least get things started. Best of luck finding your "want to" and give yourself grace if/when you don't. You've been through some things lately, to put it lightly. Those who love you will understand if the "want to" just doesn't come this year.

You can definitely order online for delivery/in-store pick-up, at least with PetSmart.

Lots of Swifties in my area and one of my best friends needed a hand getting the TSwift items, as she is a fan, though not insane level. (Her nearest Target is over an hour away from her and she had to work at 7 am on BF.) That said, I planned accordingly. I set my alarm for 2:30 am. Got up, put on my BF is dead shirt (thanks, Brad!), layered up for the cold and snow and headed out the door. Arrived at my Target around 3:30 am. There were about 5 or 6 other cars that weren't employees and all of us were temporarily content to stay in our nice warm cars, though there were three brave (crazy?) folks already lined up at the door. Right around 3:45, a slew of cars rolled in within minutes of each other. People immediately started piling out of those newly arrived cars (dang rookies). Oof. Two gals in car next to me who had quickly figured out I was a BF veteran were watching to see what I would do. I resigned myself to being stuck standing outside for over two hours and zipped up my coat, giving them a distinct look of "well, not happy, but here we go". They began preparing themselves to get out as well. We joined the line with about a dozen or so in front of us. Found out first one in line had been there since midnight. The two behind her had arrived around 2. Snow kept falling the entire time we stood in line. Felt like BFs of old in some ways. Line quickly grew very long behind us. If I'd waited till 4 to show up, I very likely would have been too late. About 20 minutes before the doors opened, the store manager came out to have a look at the line and inform us that the vinyls would be limited to 1/person and that they would have folks inside to direct us to the area where the merch was. 6:00 hits. Doors open. They allow the first group in, stopping the line briefly just before they got to me. A minute or so passes and they let the next group in, myself included. I headed to the line for the merch. Turned out the store manager himself was handing out the TSwift items to each person. He had the process down to an art form and the line moved quickly. I got one of each item (Vinyl, Book, CD) and headed straight for the checkout, as that was all I needed in-store at Target. It was now roughly 6:05 am. (Sent my buddy a pic of the stuff and told her "you're welcome". LOL) Next stop was Home Depot for the Grinch and Max (dog) inflatables. Crowds were light here. HD was also, as always, passing out munchies and drinks in the form of muffins, fresh fruit, water, juice, and coffee. Score. I grabbed a couple other smaller items and headed for check out. Quick and easy (and now my tummy was happy). Headed over to PetSmart for their 7 am opening to stock up on kitty litter. Grabbed about 300 lbs worth (should last me most, if not all, of this next year), picked up a few other things for the furbabies, and headed for the check out. Again, crowd was light here. Had everything loaded in my car by 7:30. Off to Menards. It was busy, but not really any more than a typical Saturday crowd. Grabbed the power banks, some electronic hand warmers, phone charging cables, cheap fleece throws to donate to local animal groups, batteries, and a few other little things. Wandered a bit, knowing they were my last stop before my first off-load at home. Left Menards around 8:30 and headed for home. Unloaded at home and prepared for my Torrid shift that began at 11:30. Knowing I wanted to hit Bath & Body Works first, I left my house around 9:45. B&BW was busy (as I expected) but I made full use of my multiple coupons and walked out with darn near $200 worth of stuff for $63. Not bad. Clocked in at Torrid on time. Worked till 6. Snow continued off and on throughout the day, making road conditions treacherous on my way home. I hit the nearest Meijer, as I needed some grocery items and then started the slow trek home. What normally takes me roughly 25-30 minutes from that point took me well over an hour. Black ice everywhere. Was relieved when I finally walked in my door safely around 9 pm. Whew. All in all, got what I needed/was hoping to get while I was out.

Happy December! Now starts my busiest time. Added even more to my pile when I got rear ended Wednesday night. Now I'm navigating having to get my car in for repairs, securing alternate transportation, and still juggling all the stuff that was already filling up my schedule. (I'm, thankfully, fine.) Oof. I'll manage but I expect to be exhausted for the foreseeable future. Such is life. So ready to start my baking and prepping for Christmas/NYE, though. That'll keep my mind off of all the other stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving, GD fam!

Unlike last year's killer $399.99 deal for those SWA gift cards, they're only marked down an additional $20 right now ($429.99). So, while still a solid deal, I definitely liked last year's deal better... LOL

PetSmart is doing 50% off everything holiday, deals on various other things as well. Their BF sale is live online today if you want to peruse it. Here's one snuffle mat that popped up there for $15.99: https://www.petsmart.com/dog/toys/plush-toys/joyhound-classroom-snuffle-puzzle-pizza-burrow-and-play-mat-dog-toy-76716.html

My shopping for my SS is well under way. Should be able to wrap things up (literally and figuratively) by the end of the weekend. Yay!

Side note: I've not had corrosion issues with the HDX batteries myself. I use them in my NASCAR scanner and only need to replace them about once/race weekend. For reference, I go to four race weekends/year and they are each a couple to a few months apart from each other. [I do not remove them in between races (though maybe I should).] YMMV.

So what I'm seeing is I should get the Ryobi deals I was looking at today. Nothing better on those for what I need/can use in the BF sale. Might add the Grinch inflatables to my collection for $20 each if they still have them when I get over there (after I battle Target). Otherwise, yeah... Meh...

Got my shirt yesterday! Thanks, Brad! Can't wait to wear it proudly on Friday! Might honestly even wear it for my retail shift on Friday... Guessing it'll draw a fair amount of amusement/bittersweet-ness from folks once they realize what it says. I actually miss going into some of the stores that are no longer with us (Bon Ton, Pier 1, etc.) even though I wasn't always looking to buy something directly from them - was just part of the overall BF experience for me.

Right. Just means the bag itself isn't part of the B3G3 sale. Whatever else you're buying (even B3G3 items) will count toward getting the bag for $40 , as long as the other items you're actually paying for (B3 part of B3G3) add up to at least $40 themselves (as Bopeep said above). Make sense?

Right. Mine was set to renew on 11/22, so I cancelled it and prepared to need to use a different email address (I actually have and actively use at least 3, so... options) when sale went live this week. Luckily, since I was now a "former" subscriber, I was able to re-up on my current email addy registered with Peacock for the deal.

Update: I was able to renew with my existing (expired) email address using the deal that went live today. (REALDEAL code) Hooray!!! No need to establish a whole new account (and I missed nothing over the weekend because I was busy). Win!

I am, as usual, slow to get going on my SS shopping but... I do have a couple things already. The rest, I'll be getting this week/weekend. Dad and I are to a point where we trade gift cards to our fave stores (he's a fisherman, gives him an excuse to replace worn out gear/lures/etc.), so he's easy. Brother and his wife live out of state and are just getting settled into their finally finished new house, so they're not sure what else they may need just yet. Therefore, GC for them as well, to use as they see fit. Likely will send some homemade cookies along with it, just because. Got baking to do for basically everyone else on my list, so not quite time to start that yet. That'll get started next week.

Yep. Menards. And the full Home Depot ad. Also... PetSmart. What. The. Heck? Come on already! I need to know my best cat litter deal!!! lol

Right now, it is just a single page. So not posted here in the forums yet. We are (per Brad) expecting a more extensive ad from HD still (which I am anxiously awaiting myself!!!).

I have the day off from my “day job” but will be working from 11:30a till 6p at my side gig. The late morning start allows me to get all my shopping done before my shift, so I’m good with it.

I was up! Got a pair of Skechers I wanted (no coupons but still decent price) and a bunch of smaller things (that the coupons did work on). Added up to $30 in KC coming my way. Win!

I'm waiting on HD, Lowe's, Menards, and Sam's Club... Crazy, with some sales already starting.

TCL 55" is $179.99 today at Best Buy... Crazy. If I needed a TV, I'd likely grab that on the spot.

I cancelled mine, as it was due to renew tomorrow (11/22) at the $79.99 rate. Nope. Will try the code with a different email address at some point next week but there's nothing I currently need to watch on Peacock so I'm not missing anything in the gap at the moment.

Thanks, Brad! And congrats to all the other winners! (And I enjoyed reading everyone's shopping sprees - always entertaining to see what we'd spend our "free" money on!)

Thanks, Brad! This is very helpful!

Now that I've got a few more deals to work with... Amazing the fun things $1000 will still buy, tech-wise this year. With that said, here goes: Walmart: Hisense 50" TV - $138 TCL 65" TV - $228 Meijer: Corelle Dinnerware set - $59.99 (been years since I've gotten new dishes and my old ones are showing their age at this point after a couple decades of (ab)use lol) 2 pairs of Skechers (B1G1F$1) - $76.00 (my styles are running $75/pair these days... Eesh...) String of Christmas lights - $0.99 Home Depot "Black Friday Savings" (so pre-BF but still): Ryobi 6-tool Kit - $199 Genie 1 1/4 HP Garage Door Opener - $189 Kohl's: Arcade1Up Pac-Man Countercade machine - $99.99 Big One Throw - $8.49 (Yay $30 KC to spend later!) Grand Total: $999.46