Black Friday Planning (Budget Friendly)

I saw this idea to buy GC each month so when Black Friday comes around you have a stash of GC ready to go! OH yes budget friendly is the name of the game and I'm all over it! I can't find the lovely person who suggested this so please forgive me for not giving them credit.

 Every month or whatever works for your budget buy gift card or cards for the places you shop on Black Friday. This way when Black Friday comes around you have a stock of gift cards ready to go and will make your budget not grown when it's time for Christmas shopping. I've been buying a gift card every other week when I do my grocery shopping. Buy $25 gift card this way in 10 months I could have close to $500 in gift cards for all the places I shop (like Walmart, Fred Meyers and Target).

Hope this gives you a way to budget! 

Click HERE to see who I link with.

Let the Shopping Begin!!!

Yes I'm one of the crazy people who will be out on Thanksgiving night shopping and into the wee hours of Friday.  It's the only way I can get the Christmas presents for the boys.  This year I'll be cutting it a little tight.  I fly out to Boston Friday afternoon so I'm actually thankful most can be done Thursday night.  And I know some of you are against this.  Having worked retail for many years and working Thanksgiving, Christmas ... I know it sucks but I also know I needed the money and the time and a half was always nice.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you that brave the stores be-careful and remember to be kind to those around you.

A funny I had to share:

It's a Wrap

Yes I'm one of the crazy Black Friday Shoppers.  This year with only one steady income coming in this year I really had to budget and shop with a purpose.  I worked retail for many years and had to be that holiday worker, and now I'm on the other end of it.  I always go with a list but with the understanding that I will get whatever I get.  I usually wait for the crowd to go crazy then I step in and grab what is left.  I was really lucky this year and got everything on my list.  Thanks to Winning a $100 GC on A Nut in Nutshell's website and some saving by hubs I has enough to get all the kids gift.  I wrapped them all, now just to get Rick to get my Christmas tree down and I'll be already for the season.

Since my check engine light came on (and it's our only working car) we took it in to the Kia Dealership.  With some luck on recalls that reduced the tech time we spent $240!  YUP for a tune up!  So here we go no Christmas Gifts for the adults this year, but it really is for the kids so no sad faces.  I'm just happy to have ONE working car.

Weekend to be Thankful …

What a fun weekend it was like a 4 day break, but I had to work a short time on Saturday like usual but 3 hours was nothing.

As most of you know I spent most of Wednesday after working prepping and cooking and then cooking before my guest arrived for Dinner.  Sadly my dad was sick so he stayed home and my cousin and family didn’t stop by so it was very small with lot’s of food … lol.

If you’re needing some yummy weight watcher friendly holiday foods here are my two post of what I made.

First off I noticed that wow my roots are looking crazy long … then I counted and I was a few weeks overdo for a color.  I gave our cousin a call and she was so sweet and squeezed me in after hours.

Thanksgiving was a great day, my mom and grandmother stopped over for dinner.  The boys even got to stay the night with my parents! Yeah!!

Now the stores went and moved Black Friday up to Thursday PM which wasn’t bad it was kind of nice to do it early.  So I put my teenies on and my hat (Well at first the wrong one … lol).  Rick decided to work for his security job they took on security for Walmart shoppers.  That left me shopping by myself.  I was a little nervous to go by myself.  Then by God’s hand I ran into a old friends mom, I hadn’t seen either of them in almost a year.  We said hi and then I went on.  I looped around and again and ran into both of them got to talking and I had instant shopping buddies which was really cool.  So we finished up Walmart & went on to Target.  NOW the only bad thing was Fred Meyers stuck to their 5am so after we tried two restaurants to come to the conclusion who is going to be open Thanksgiving pm, we headed to my friends house for a snack and coffee.  We killed 3 hours watching Son’s on Anarchy, my first time watching.  By 6am I was done with my Christmas shopping.  I finished the boys, the boy at church Cole picked to buy for, Rick and even for me.  Plus I had a pile of things to go back, I have the grab and return later if I don’t need theory .

By Friday I had the presents wrapped and the boys home.  Rick brought down the tree and put it all up for me and even put the presents underneath.  The rest of the weekend was kind of lazy, except Sunday for church and then the boys and I helped decorate the church.  Now to finish up the stocking stuffers and we’re done!

So how was your Thanksgiving?  Did you Black Friday shop?  Is your shopping done?

WWW ~ Kids Clinic, Playdates & Thanksgiving!

Wowzer time is just flying by and you add in the holidays and it seems like it is harder and harder to fit everything in. Does the early nights with the sunset make anyone else feel like your day is passing you by??? Gosh I am sick AGAIN, I swear these little germ carriers I call kids keep making me sick and it stays FOREVER!! I've missed a few Wednesday Weekend Wrap ups so I merged them all together for a quick overview :). Yup I'm always thinking about you ... hehe yes I know my life is so not the do or die but it's still fun.

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We've had a few Lowe's Kids Clinics. Ok if you haven't done one get your butt up on every other Saturday, you go it's free and the kids have fun!! Here is a few we've done in the last few weeks!

We've had a few playdates and a fun Birthday party at a gymnastic place. The boys and I have been having some fun, staying in from the cold outside!

Second I had a baby shower to go to. Usually I make a huge diaper cake that takes me like 6+ hours I whipped up one real quick in about 4 1/2 hours. OK so I get there a girl takes the cake I warn her it is not stable. About 10 min later Cole comes running up and whispers in my ear mom they are putting your cake in a bag. OH no she didn't I go down to the gifts to find them shoving (YES shoving) my cake not even into a gift bag but a brown bag! I walk over and they are like oh it fell apart we're just putting it in a bag. YOU got to be kidding me 4 1/2 HOURS of work and you're not even going to come get me to fix it! They go oh do you want to fix it, I snap you THINK I only spent 5 hours on it (I gave myself a 1/2 hr ... lol). Finally someone did come help but say the least I was a unhappy camper! So sadly not my prettiest cake and a little worse for the ware but hey it was thought that counts I guess.

Thanksgiving brought us a dinner at church with all our friends there on Sunday. Tuesday brought us a snowstorm of no school for the week! And Thursday came for family coming over! Ok so I have a friend that I offered to come over she said she had no $ for dinner. Then it became her mom & son. THEN Thursday AM she called to say her brother was coming also?? Ok she kicked this person out for drugs. I'm sorry I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, also my family doesn't care for this person I initially invited so I was already sticking my neck out. So I told her sorry this isn't going to work. She was going to go with me BF shopping since I didn't have anyone to go with. She then says I have a $1000 & I'm going with my family. So she was going to bring the whole fam here for dinner and do a dine and dash! Yup the doormat is rolled in, no more welcomed! Then I was blessed my mom said she was surprising me & taking the boys over night!! This is the FIRST time both boys have spent the night, and Cole's like 6 time staying there. THEN Rick surprised me and said he was going to go with me!! He even had to work the next AM. YUP so all works out in the end. I learned a valuable lesson and actually had a good family dinner. Only a few comments when I wasn't in the room about Cole and being hyper and how another grandkid would NEVER be like that :). The favorites are always the favorite but no matter what Cole did a pretty good job!

Few that is the world we've been having, some highs and lows but over all so much fun and no matter what anyone says my boys I'll take you hyper with all the hugs and kisses and I love yous :).

WWW ~ Thanksgiving, Black Friday and a Birthday Party

Wow is all I can what a weekend and some! Thanksgiving was GREAT, really everyone was on there best behavior and no one (meaning me) was in tears later that night! We had my parents and my grandmother over for dinner. My cousins stopped by to say hi and it was great to see them both and her baby!

After everyone left we loaded up the boys and hit the sale at K-Mart, love Layaway put a Wii on layaway! Then home to bed, because you know a girl got to get up early. Well that was while I was gather my ads for the next day I was sitting on the floor when I looked over to movement! WTF was that? Nahhh it can't be anything right? Then I saw it again, I'm not sure who was more scared the mouse (yes a mouse) because he was afraid the fluffy lady might step on him or me! Rick found that there was a hole in the wall where the wall heater was! Not only a hole but the little poo made a tunnel threw the drywall! Talk about some patch work! Well I guess we'll move onto another home improvement project! Oh yeah, please Lord I don't know where this money tree is but I hope you let it appear soon :).

So here we go Black Friday!

It was trying and hectic.

Walmart decided that they would do a ticket system for laptops, crazy! My girlfriend wanted one we got there an hour early and they had passed out the tickets like an hour before that! WTF? Then crazy pushy people.

All I have to say is Walmart needs to take tips from Target they rocked it!

Got home looked in the mirror oh crap I forgot make-up today!

I need a glass of wine ... ummm this is good wish mom would have left a whole bottle of this and not just this little sip!!!

Some presents for mommy!

Yippee new rubbermaid

A broom and a silverware holder

And a new sassy pea coat!!!

I'm a simple girl!

Organized my closet that night! Jealous?

Don't be check out the bottom shelf ... LOL

All the boys are taken care of!

Rick some socks, movies, wii stuff (the wii is his present)

Cole car stuff, pj's and movies and of course sheets

Caden blocks and Leap Frog toys!

New DVD player for the boys room

Dual DVD system for the car. Oh please give me sanity!

And the birthday gift!

And why not add a birthday party in the mix!

Bounce Room Party, Cole loved the slide

Caden refused to go in but loved the car.

A cousin pushed him around and he loved it!

Oh Treats why must you tease me!!!

Doesn't that frosting look yummy!!!

And skittles ... really??

So the mouse created a fire under Rick!

bottom pic shows what it looked like when the heater was removed

He decided to put up paneling for a chair railing

he got the wood up, painted and the new smaller heater in!

Even got a little paint on the remote :)

And the Grand Daddy of all surprises!!!!

My mom heard me complaining about my dishwasher.

It's been broke for like 5 years!

So my early Christmas present!

You know it my parents bought me (oh ok us) a new dishwasher!!

Look at that old one and the whole .. Yucky!

Rick had to do a little repair there too!

So there you have it our crazy weekend!!!

This weekend is even better, we head back to Great Wolf Lodge to do a review!!!

I'm so excited, I maybe get to relax and read a book again!!!!

Ode to Black Friday

Oh Black Friday how much do I love you and all the craziness that comes along with great deals! The manner that fly out the window, to the pushing and shoving and the long lines. What would I do with out this day each year. Sleep in that's what I would do, but no I put myself in this Olympic race for the best Christmas Gift at the best price! So to you Black Friday I dedicate this Olympic race!

Ready Set Get Your Engines Started! Go ...

Alarm set for 4am, yes it's midnight the night of Thanksgiving. You've been up since 6:30am cooking, cleaning and pleasing all, but still you have more to do. You finally fall into bed to double check that the alarm is set for 4am! If feels like the alarm goes off as soon as your head hits the pillow, you know why because it did! Look in the mirror, take a step back yup that is really you! Run a comb thru your hair, and don't forget to brush your teeth. At least your hair will be frizzy (but combed) and your breath and teeth will be clean. Hop in the car and head over to the only other person that you know that will be getting up this early. I want you to know I made it there 2 minutes before I said I would be there (see what happens when I don't have to get kids ready). Lucky for you she has coffee and a mug ready to go, now that's what friends are for. Double check purses and notice she forgot to throw in the wallet, grab that and your in your friends car. It is now almost 5am and with the help of coffee you can actually see (guess that was a smudge on my glasses and not on the road).

We make it to Wal-Mart to find that not everyone is not having the economy problems you were counting on. The parking lot is filled to the brim, drive around 2 times and just say who cares a little brisk air will help keep us awake. Walk into the store which is a crazy madhouse of pushing and screaming! Yup we've entered the zone and we're on, now if you ever need a person to go Black Friday Shopping with it's Amy. This girl rocks she bobs and weaves and gets right in there and grabs what you need. Yup I told here what I had highlighted on my ad and she was like a bullet being shot out of a gun. She came back with her hands full, plus being the AWESOME thinker she brought cloth shopping bags, so we could load up. The big deal was $2 movies, those cloth bags came in handy as I was loading up as quick as I could. There was hands all over grabbing and pulling. We make it out to the check out area within 1/2 hour! Then we get in line and think ok this should be so bad, yeah right 45 minutes later we make it up to the front of the line. Mind you we had to be behind the Psycho shopper who complained the whole time about the lines, the checkers, the people, she even yelled at different workers (I gave up counting after 5 times). Oh joy this is so giving me a look into our future of the day.

Back in the car we go and off to Target, now you walk in here and you can see the difference from the beginning. People were calm, no pushing or shoving or climbing over people to get to whatever toy is on sale. Amy and I both looked at each other and commented on how different Target was to Wal-Mart shopping. We got a lot of the items we had on the list (minus a few DS Games I was looking for). We did the whole 1 person stands in line while the other shops, I had to run around the store to see where Amy went. You would think with the line wrapped around the store and back up, it looked like a giant U. The funny thing is it went faster then the little line we were in at Wal-Mart, they had someone at the front directing you to which lane. We were out of there and head to the mall around 7:30am.

Off to Old Navy to pick up some deals, you would never believe the line there. It was so short, usually it is wrapped around like a U. Usually one of us hops in line while the other shops, this time I tried to get in line but it moved so fast that within 5 minutes I was to the front and jumped back out to do my shopping. I picked up some super cute sweaters for work and a few items for the boys. 8:30am I'm doing awesome in time, since Rick has to work and I need to be back by 9:30am.

Off to Bath & Body Works for Amy, I hop in line while she shops since the line was rather long. We finish up there and we're off to the next store.

Sears here I come, I find the saw thingy that Rick picked out and head to the check out. Not too bad of a line, a little slow but over all it went rather quick.

By the time we made it back to the car it was time to head back to Amy's house so I could make it back home by 9:30am. Plus I still have one more store I need to go too before the sale ends at 11am. We rush back to her house get the bags transferred to my car and I'm back in the car heading towards home. With just a little prodding Rick has gotten all kids dressed for me and ready to go.

Back in the car we go and off to Fred Meyers for the awesome sock sale, plus a few other items that add up. But not as much as the lady in front of me, wow oh wow her total was over $600 I almost fainted. We checked out and even got a box of mini donuts they were handing out, yeah breakfast for the kids. Mom calls and wants to meet to pick Cole up, did I mention Cole is spending the night there? Yup oh yeah it's going to be quiet around my house for once! Drive to a few exits down meet my parents and do the drop ... LOL. Back home for a little rest before we go out again.

Rest over back in the car and this time K-Mart return a few items and pick up a few more. I'm doing pretty good at keeping the receipt thing! I forgot how easy it was to shop with just 2 kids, it was a breeze and no one asking if they could have anything. Just two more stops before we can retire for the night. Hit the Dollar Tree to picking up wrapping paper, hey why spend outrageous amounts on something that will be torn up and put in the recyclers later that same day? One more stop I promise boys, Over to Micheal's to pick up that scrapbook I've been promising Rick I'd buy to put all Cole's school stuff in. And finally home for the night.

But what the Olympics aren't over just yet, you still must wrap all the presents. Perfect timing since Rick is at work and Cole is not home. So you know it all the presents are wrapped and just because I'm crazy like that color coded for the person! Oh yeah I'm so done, well ok just a couple little items and stocking stuffers but besides that I'M DONE!!!

Check it out wrapped presents under the non-decorated tree!