Black Friday 2009

I subscribe to a few of the Black Friday websites. They send me updates when a store releases a Black-Friday-dedicated circular. I perused the ads repeatedly, as I do every year, and after realizing that I can't even begin to afford anything that would be worth the wait in line (a conclusion I come to every year), Cale and I decided that we should go see what the fuss is all about.

At about 1:45am, we drove to the Best Buy parking lot. Holy Mother of Pearl! It may not have surprised me to find a person or two outside the doors, but there was a line! A line that began at the front door and literally wrapped around two corners of the building!

There were tents and tarps and lean-to type structures and portable stadium chairs. Caleb and I discreetly pointed and laughed at the huddled mass of crazy, sharing a moment of what almost seemed like superiority. Silly little crazy shoppers.

Then it happened. Across the street a giraffe beacon beckoned us. The curiosity overwhelmed us as we saw tens of people walking great distances with full bags. Looking around we could clearly see every parking lot within view was completely full. Toys R Us had been open since midnight, and in the two hours since, parking lots had filled up. As we entered the store I saw a crowd the likes of which I'd never seen before. I've seen movies that show shoppers in a frenzy and I've heard stories on the news where people get hurt or worse during Black Friday shopping, but I'd never really believed that kind of blind, obsessed chaos really existed. We did go ahead and make a round through the store, but of course we didn't buy anything. In fact, there were so many people we were barely able to even get close enough to items to actually see them. If we had decided to purchase something, it would have taken an hour (at least) to get to the checkout. The checkout line wrapped from the registers and snaked in and out of the aisles. Employees stood guard opening and closing ropes as a new space in their aisle became available.

Tonight we took a leap to crazy and back, and I've seen enough of Black Friday to really appreciate the idea of waiting for Cyber Monday!

Here's to time with friends and family and enjoying our times of love and serenity when we can. Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew! It sure has been a while since I posted anything. The end of summer/beginning of autumn brought a type of hectic I just wasn't entirely prepared for. I've been writing like a ...I dunno...an obsessed writer? I must have used up my supply of metaphor for the week: I've been writing a lot is the point I'm trying to make. Regardless of how fast the speed-of-life is moving, there is always something just around the corner to leave me completely joyful. My squirrelly pal [pictured above] has been amusing me daily.

He has a daily routine. He shimmies up the pole,

does a trapeze dive for the feeder,

grabs a handful of food then swings back and forth (upside down) while he chews! When that mouthful is done, he gets upright and does it all again! I tried to tell him he might choke, but being that I'm not fluent in Squirrel I was never really able to get my point across.

Another delight just outside my window are the birds whose food my squirrel has been eating. Chickadees are plentiful and apparently they're also always hungry!

This pair stopped by a few times in October. I'm new to actually caring about what birds are doing and what song they sing and although I suspect this is a common bird, I can't find it online. I'd appreciate it if anyone has a spare moment and might be able to drop me a line to let me know the name of this bird.

Testing blogger texting

Roma Tomatoes!

This is the first tomato I've ever grown and picked! It finally came up in August. I'm so excited and terribly impressed with the gorgeous color. I used it (and others from Cub Foods since my plant had only produced one at the time) to make my fabulous Bruschetta. Perfecto!

Window Markers

While we were out running errands, Cale and I happened upon "window markers."
The joy of these is that you can draw on the windows, but it's not paint, doesn't run, and comes back off when I want it to!

Cale and Grandma took a little time to draw on the living room window together! Awww...so pretty!

Happy Birthday!

July 29 is my niece's birthday! The geographically closer members of the family gathered at her house for dinner, ice cream and cake. Then it was on to the presents! You know, for some of us, gift bag is just a synonym for hat!
I'm sure she loved all her gifts, but from the look on her face I'd say there's a distinct possibility that her Ipod Nano may hold a special place in her heart!

And after all the domestic festivities, we headed to Valley Fair! What a great day-of-your-birth-celebration-destination! How awesome is that!!!? Now that's a party!