Floridasunshine

Yep, today in the Orange Park FL store, they had diddly squat on clearance!!! I left with only a quad of Loreal eyeshadow for $1.43 and a pair of panties.... Well, actually 2 pair of panties including the ones I was wearing.

In todays sale paper they are showing as a night owl/early bird special for Friday/Saturday.... any size .... down comforter/pillows/featherbed all in one set for $59.99. I am going to try to get a set for my sofa bed to make it at least tolerable!

Awwww,,, I found this one also from Lillian Vernon... this one is really cute! You can have her 'elf' cap personalized, like put "to Jill 2006" or something .... And it is VERY affordable at $14.95! http://www.lillianvernon.com/catalog/product_display.jsp?searchParam=LV&pdId=6555&addOn=685&sid=eas

This site has some very cute homemade clothespin dolls...this Christmas one is especially cute, I think: http://www.clotheslinecuties.com/christmasannie.html ... But these are very small, only 5 inches ...and probably not dolls to 'play' with. But here are some bigger elf dolls: http://www.countrysmiles.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=Winter Your story reminds me of when my daughter was 7 or 8.... she was convinced there was no Santa. So the top thing on her list was a picture of Santa with one of his REAL Reindeer. I thought, "uh oh!" Getting no picture of Santa and his real reindeer would prove to her beyond a shadow of any doubt that there was no Santa! But then I found out the zoo (in Florida) was selling pictures of children with Santa and his 'real' reindeer. So, I trekked about 30 miles to the zoo, paid my $10 or so admission fee and went all the way across the zoo. They looked at me weird when I said I only wanted a picture of Santa and his reindeer (no child). I think I paid $15 or so for this picture. Of course, in Florida, I worried because there was no snow and palm trees in the background. So 'Santa' wrote a long letter with the picture about how it was falltime when he had the picture made and that was why there was no snow, but it was very cold in the North Pole and that is why he had his 'suit' on. The picture showed the reindeer all decked out in holiday reins and stuff. His collar said "Comet" on it. I put the picture in a gorgeous ceramic Christmas picture frame shaped like a Gingerbread house and was planning to put it under the tree. I spent about $50 in all on the mess, but it was priceless! That year, a relative suddenly died on Christmas Eve and I had to go to Tennessee on Christmas Eve, leaving the job of Santa Claus to my husband and oldest daughter who was 15. My younger daughter was CONVINCED there was a Santa after that.... after all, how else would her stuff get there without mom there??? And plus, she had her picture of Santa with a REAL reindeer, Comet!!! She still keeps her Santa picture by her bed, even though she is almost 12 now.

(Regarding the ipack messenger bag)... ooh I don't know if it works! I never thought to try it and just wrapped it up for my daughter.... But for $3.48 I guess it will at least make a decent book bag even it it does not work. Oh well. I got it where the luggage clearances usually are in Orange Park, FL.

Although not a 'perimeter' markdown, today's sale paper had a really nice ping pong table. It has electronic scoring, playback feature, and comes with paddles/net/balls. I have been pricing ping pong tables for a while and this seems the sturdiest and most complete set for the $88 sale price.

Got this ipack messenger bag at Target on the clearance aisle for $3.78 ... It said it was regularly $69.99 and is even $39.99 on clearance at target.com. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-2/qid=1164506274/ref=sr_1_2/601-3800275-7980145?ie=UTF8&asin=B000EEW0NM

My 11 year old daughter begged all week to go to the midnight opening, so I finally gave in. We went to St. Augustine, FL Outlets... originally went to the left side of I-95 to the Prime Outlets. That was a total bad joke! All the good stores were closed! Wasted an hour there and then went to the right side of I-95 to the Premium outlets and it was a complete mad house! My 11 year old daughter and I drove 45 miles there, 45 back, and spent 4 hours total ...... all to buy two headbands at Limited Too and $5.00 worth of jewelry at Claire's.... NEVER AGAIN!!!

I only missed out on the $249 laptop at BB, the $4.99 DVD-R 100 pack at BB, and the $1.48 lightbulbs at Lowe's, so I think I did okay .....

We live in Orange Park FL.... my friend and I went to about 10 stores today looking for a Nintendo Wii. Early in the day, the replies were very apologetic and the clerks advised us to check back later. By midday, other stores were much less empathetic, but not rude. Finally at Target, the clerk immediately just broke into hysterical laughter, like as if I had asked him if they sold Ferraris! Our very last store was ToysRUs... I half-heartedly asked the clerk if they had any, and was totally surprised when he said YES!!!! They had JUST gotten in 11 of them about 15 minutes before we walked up! So my friend scored her Wii!

I spent $167 at circuitcity.com on a 7GB Samsung camera for me and an el cheapo video camera for the kids...then $175 at Kohls (got some GREAT deals there), then $159 at Best Buy (but at 7 pm I was able to still get the $49.99 car stereo/w-speakers/installed, the 2GB memory stick, and 1GB SD card for my camera, and a game boy game); at Target, I spent approximately $150... and then about $150 at miscellaneous stores. So I think it has been around $650-$700

I say go for the TIVO...it has been the best gift ever from our in-laws!

Honestly, I would go north of Orlando,,,,near any large 'retirement' areas. A couple of years ago I stayed with my in-laws near Apopka (near lots of retirement communities) and the stores were a ton quieter and calmer than here in Jacksonville. 'course I should probably not let out my little secret...